Hi there, I'm not sure if I need to put this in the hardware section (I think the problem is my hard drive) or the software OS section (The problem started due to Windows XP). Anyway, I'm down my computer and using someone else's and don't really have the money to buy a new one so I'm really hoping that I can fix the one that's no longer working.
I've had this computer since 2003 and bought it brand new. My husband and I play computer games together (WoW atm), graphics intensive, so since I've been getting more lag as time progresses I decided to format the hard drive. I run Nortan, Ad-Aware as well as defragment quite often so I didn't want to format due to a virus or anything, I just simply wanted to reformat and start over.
Anyway, I went to reformat and partition with the Windows disk I got from Dell but couldn't do it because I was trying to do it from the hard drive and not off of the CD. (Didn't realize that was the problem BEFORE I tried to format... =( ) So, I looked online using another computer for a way to format a hard drive with Windows XP on it. I found that I needed to format and partition with a Windows 98 boot-up disk so I put that on a floppy and moved it to my computer. This disk changed the cd-rom drive to R and the dvd writer to S. Then I'm pretty sure it formatted and partitioned but I think it did the partition in FAT32.
So, then I put in the WinXP disk from Dell into the cd-rom drive and went into bios to boot from cd. (What I should have done with the winxp disk in the first place it seems..) It seemed to have begun the setup/install process but then it stopped and I got an error saying it couldn't find the file "asms" and to put the windows cd into the drive. Well, it was already in the drive but I took it out and put it back in. That didn't work so I got the other disk (it came with another computer we'd purchased from Dell and was exactly the same) and that disk didn't work either. It said it couldn't perform the task and needed to exit setup.
Now, I go back into the bios to make sure it's set to boot from the cd-rom drive first, put the cd into the cd-rom drive and restart. I no longer get the request to hit any key to boot from cd. So, I went into the bootup thingy to manually tell the computer to boot from CD and the computer beeps twice at me then says to retry press F1 or press F2 to enter bootup menu or something very, very close to that. I've reseated all of the ribbons and power cables. I've also tried using the dvd drive and that doesn't work either, same exact thing. It seems that the floppy drive works alright (from what I can tell) so I tried putting WinXP on it that way but I still came to a point where it asked for the CD and when I put it in, once again, wasn't recognized. I've spent three days off and on with Dell paying them to talk to me and the only thing they could tell me is that the hard drive must be fried and that I should buy a new one from them. I simply don't believe that there's nothing I can do to fix it.
I've also tried resetting by pulling the battery out and holding in the start button. I've also gone into the BIOS and hit the CTRL or ALT E, F, E (or something to that effect, it was a few days ago and Dell told me to do it).
I wasn't sure if maybe a zero-fill program or something to that effect might work. Can someone please help me? Oh, the hard drive is a WD800, not sure if ya need that or not or what else you might need.
Thank you in advance, I sincerely hope someone can help me.
I've had this computer since 2003 and bought it brand new. My husband and I play computer games together (WoW atm), graphics intensive, so since I've been getting more lag as time progresses I decided to format the hard drive. I run Nortan, Ad-Aware as well as defragment quite often so I didn't want to format due to a virus or anything, I just simply wanted to reformat and start over.
Anyway, I went to reformat and partition with the Windows disk I got from Dell but couldn't do it because I was trying to do it from the hard drive and not off of the CD. (Didn't realize that was the problem BEFORE I tried to format... =( ) So, I looked online using another computer for a way to format a hard drive with Windows XP on it. I found that I needed to format and partition with a Windows 98 boot-up disk so I put that on a floppy and moved it to my computer. This disk changed the cd-rom drive to R and the dvd writer to S. Then I'm pretty sure it formatted and partitioned but I think it did the partition in FAT32.
So, then I put in the WinXP disk from Dell into the cd-rom drive and went into bios to boot from cd. (What I should have done with the winxp disk in the first place it seems..) It seemed to have begun the setup/install process but then it stopped and I got an error saying it couldn't find the file "asms" and to put the windows cd into the drive. Well, it was already in the drive but I took it out and put it back in. That didn't work so I got the other disk (it came with another computer we'd purchased from Dell and was exactly the same) and that disk didn't work either. It said it couldn't perform the task and needed to exit setup.
Now, I go back into the bios to make sure it's set to boot from the cd-rom drive first, put the cd into the cd-rom drive and restart. I no longer get the request to hit any key to boot from cd. So, I went into the bootup thingy to manually tell the computer to boot from CD and the computer beeps twice at me then says to retry press F1 or press F2 to enter bootup menu or something very, very close to that. I've reseated all of the ribbons and power cables. I've also tried using the dvd drive and that doesn't work either, same exact thing. It seems that the floppy drive works alright (from what I can tell) so I tried putting WinXP on it that way but I still came to a point where it asked for the CD and when I put it in, once again, wasn't recognized. I've spent three days off and on with Dell paying them to talk to me and the only thing they could tell me is that the hard drive must be fried and that I should buy a new one from them. I simply don't believe that there's nothing I can do to fix it.
I've also tried resetting by pulling the battery out and holding in the start button. I've also gone into the BIOS and hit the CTRL or ALT E, F, E (or something to that effect, it was a few days ago and Dell told me to do it).
I wasn't sure if maybe a zero-fill program or something to that effect might work. Can someone please help me? Oh, the hard drive is a WD800, not sure if ya need that or not or what else you might need.
Thank you in advance, I sincerely hope someone can help me.