Dell Dimension XPS T500

[CompNewbie]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Ok it's an old computer I agree. Anyway, today I went to a local
University Auction and picked this computer up. When booting it up it
told me there was no operating system. I headed off to the Den to get
my Windows XP Pro disk to load it up. When I popped the disk into the
Drive the setup came up as normal. But when the setup was formatting
the Hard Disk it sped along at normal speed until it hit 86% then I
slowed down alot! I said to myself "Ok, ill leave it to do it
business while I go read the paper".

I come back in a half hour to see how the progress was going and it
was only at 87%. It had moved only 1% in a half hour. I let it sit
longer and finally after a few boring hours it got to the end of
formatting and said it couldnt load windows. So I went to get my
Windows 98 disk to see if a lower copy version of Windows may help it
load faster and be successful. Well I pop in the disk and started the
disk formatting as usual and sure enough, it slowed down at 86% and
slugged along as the Windows Xp version did and finally it told me
that it could not load.

My best guess is that there is something wrong with the Hard Disk that
came with the computer and maybe something happened when the did a
flush for auctioning. Does anyone have any suggestions, I'm all
ears.

~Thanks
-CompNewbie

(By the way, the Hard Disk is at least 8 GB from what I remember by
the sticker I removed off the Computer Case)

==============
Posted through www.HowToFixComputers.com/bb - free access to hardware troubleshooting newsgroups.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Did you try deleting the partition(s) first?

"CompNewbie" <j.m.dobyns@comcast-dot-net.no-spam.invalid> wrote in message
news:40eb7779$1_3@news.athenanews.com...
> Ok it's an old computer I agree. Anyway, today I went to a local
> University Auction and picked this computer up. When booting it up it
> told me there was no operating system. I headed off to the Den to get
> my Windows XP Pro disk to load it up. When I popped the disk into the
> Drive the setup came up as normal. But when the setup was formatting
> the Hard Disk it sped along at normal speed until it hit 86% then I
> slowed down alot! I said to myself "Ok, ill leave it to do it
> business while I go read the paper".
>
> I come back in a half hour to see how the progress was going and it
> was only at 87%. It had moved only 1% in a half hour. I let it sit
> longer and finally after a few boring hours it got to the end of
> formatting and said it couldnt load windows. So I went to get my
> Windows 98 disk to see if a lower copy version of Windows may help it
> load faster and be successful. Well I pop in the disk and started the
> disk formatting as usual and sure enough, it slowed down at 86% and
> slugged along as the Windows Xp version did and finally it told me
> that it could not load.
>
> My best guess is that there is something wrong with the Hard Disk that
> came with the computer and maybe something happened when the did a
> flush for auctioning. Does anyone have any suggestions, I'm all
> ears.
>
> ~Thanks
> -CompNewbie
>
> (By the way, the Hard Disk is at least 8 GB from what I remember by
> the sticker I removed off the Computer Case)
>
> ==============
> Posted through www.HowToFixComputers.com/bb - free access to hardware
troubleshooting newsgroups.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

My old XPS T750 and an older 4100 at work both came with IBM DeathStar
drives(should I say DeskStar) that had that problem. Every couple of months
(~ twice a year) the computer will stop booting, I needed to re-install
windows. However, when I wanted to install the formatting will stall or it
will fail to copy files to existing partitions. I needed to download the IBM
tools disk (now hitachi, http://www.hitachigst.com/) and format the drive
from this tool. After formatting from there, I could install Windows with no
problems. Now, this kept happening until the 4100 drive flat out died and
the old XPS is sitting somewhere (got tired of it). It might be a similar
situation. Check the drive's brand and format with the Manufacturer's tools.

Good luck,
Diego J.



"WSZsr" <nospam@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:lzRGc.313$fl1.14@newssvr22.news.prodigy.com...
> Did you try deleting the partition(s) first?
>
> "CompNewbie" <j.m.dobyns@comcast-dot-net.no-spam.invalid> wrote in message
> news:40eb7779$1_3@news.athenanews.com...
> > Ok it's an old computer I agree. Anyway, today I went to a local
> > University Auction and picked this computer up. When booting it up it
> > told me there was no operating system. I headed off to the Den to get
> > my Windows XP Pro disk to load it up. When I popped the disk into the
> > Drive the setup came up as normal. But when the setup was formatting
> > the Hard Disk it sped along at normal speed until it hit 86% then I
> > slowed down alot! I said to myself "Ok, ill leave it to do it
> > business while I go read the paper".
> >
> > I come back in a half hour to see how the progress was going and it
> > was only at 87%. It had moved only 1% in a half hour. I let it sit
> > longer and finally after a few boring hours it got to the end of
> > formatting and said it couldnt load windows. So I went to get my
> > Windows 98 disk to see if a lower copy version of Windows may help it
> > load faster and be successful. Well I pop in the disk and started the
> > disk formatting as usual and sure enough, it slowed down at 86% and
> > slugged along as the Windows Xp version did and finally it told me
> > that it could not load.
> >
> > My best guess is that there is something wrong with the Hard Disk that
> > came with the computer and maybe something happened when the did a
> > flush for auctioning. Does anyone have any suggestions, I'm all
> > ears.
> >
> > ~Thanks
> > -CompNewbie
> >
> > (By the way, the Hard Disk is at least 8 GB from what I remember by
> > the sticker I removed off the Computer Case)
> >
> > ==============
> > Posted through www.HowToFixComputers.com/bb - free access to hardware
> troubleshooting newsgroups.
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

.... BUT (and it's a big BUT!), if the manufacturer's diagnostic software shows
even one bad sector, replace the drive. One bad sector is a sign of a failing
drive.

.... Ben Myers

On Wed, 7 Jul 2004 13:58:24 -0500, "Diego J. Diaz" <diegod@nospam.edu> wrote:

>My old XPS T750 and an older 4100 at work both came with IBM DeathStar
>drives(should I say DeskStar) that had that problem. Every couple of months
>(~ twice a year) the computer will stop booting, I needed to re-install
>windows. However, when I wanted to install the formatting will stall or it
>will fail to copy files to existing partitions. I needed to download the IBM
>tools disk (now hitachi, http://www.hitachigst.com/) and format the drive
>from this tool. After formatting from there, I could install Windows with no
>problems. Now, this kept happening until the 4100 drive flat out died and
>the old XPS is sitting somewhere (got tired of it). It might be a similar
>situation. Check the drive's brand and format with the Manufacturer's tools.
>
>Good luck,
>Diego J.
>
>
>
>"WSZsr" <nospam@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:lzRGc.313$fl1.14@newssvr22.news.prodigy.com...
>> Did you try deleting the partition(s) first?
>>
>> "CompNewbie" <j.m.dobyns@comcast-dot-net.no-spam.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:40eb7779$1_3@news.athenanews.com...
>> > Ok it's an old computer I agree. Anyway, today I went to a local
>> > University Auction and picked this computer up. When booting it up it
>> > told me there was no operating system. I headed off to the Den to get
>> > my Windows XP Pro disk to load it up. When I popped the disk into the
>> > Drive the setup came up as normal. But when the setup was formatting
>> > the Hard Disk it sped along at normal speed until it hit 86% then I
>> > slowed down alot! I said to myself "Ok, ill leave it to do it
>> > business while I go read the paper".
>> >
>> > I come back in a half hour to see how the progress was going and it
>> > was only at 87%. It had moved only 1% in a half hour. I let it sit
>> > longer and finally after a few boring hours it got to the end of
>> > formatting and said it couldnt load windows. So I went to get my
>> > Windows 98 disk to see if a lower copy version of Windows may help it
>> > load faster and be successful. Well I pop in the disk and started the
>> > disk formatting as usual and sure enough, it slowed down at 86% and
>> > slugged along as the Windows Xp version did and finally it told me
>> > that it could not load.
>> >
>> > My best guess is that there is something wrong with the Hard Disk that
>> > came with the computer and maybe something happened when the did a
>> > flush for auctioning. Does anyone have any suggestions, I'm all
>> > ears.
>> >
>> > ~Thanks
>> > -CompNewbie
>> >
>> > (By the way, the Hard Disk is at least 8 GB from what I remember by
>> > the sticker I removed off the Computer Case)
>> >
>> > ==============
>> > Posted through www.HowToFixComputers.com/bb - free access to hardware
>> troubleshooting newsgroups.
>>
>>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

100 % agree. 1 bad sector is 1 too many. Now, even if the drive works after
formatting it from the Diag. disk,
I think it is a sign of a failing drive. In my case, I was not able to make
it go using the Windows Setup format, a Win 98 boot floppy nor Partition
Manager (only that silly tool). I got to the point that if it is an old 40
or 60 GB IBM, run away from it (they make nice paper weights).

Diego J.

<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:40ec558f.829827@news.charter.net...
> ... BUT (and it's a big BUT!), if the manufacturer's diagnostic software
shows
> even one bad sector, replace the drive. One bad sector is a sign of a
failing
> drive.
>
> ... Ben Myers

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Diego J. Diaz wrote:
> 100 % agree. 1 bad sector is 1 too many. Now, even if the drive works after
> formatting it from the Diag. disk,
> I think it is a sign of a failing drive. In my case, I was not able to make
> it go using the Windows Setup format, a Win 98 boot floppy nor Partition
> Manager (only that silly tool). I got to the point that if it is an old 40
> or 60 GB IBM, run away from it (they make nice paper weights).
>
> Diego J.
>
> <ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
> news:40ec558f.829827@news.charter.net...
>
>>... BUT (and it's a big BUT!), if the manufacturer's diagnostic software
>
> shows
>
>>even one bad sector, replace the drive. One bad sector is a sign of a
>
> failing
>
>>drive.
>>
>>... Ben Myers
>
>
>
Back a couple of years I was having big time hard drive problems, the
thing was going down for sure, then a friend of mine came to the rescue,
he had bought this little jewel from Steve Gibson, SpinRite, and told me
to run it from the floppy drive, I did and it fixed numerous bad sectors
and was able to use it for two more years. BTW the thing ran for like a
whole day doing its thing, if I was having serious HD problems I would
certainly give SpinRite a shot, peace out,

Rufus