Harddrive & Booting Error

S

smalltrader35

I am looking for some advice as to what exactly is happening to my trading rig and if the hard drive is on its last legs. Its a dell dimension 9200 daul core nearly 2 years old. When I boot the machine up I am getting an error message "error occurred" port 1 with serial number. That has been going on for the last 2 days then when I went to booted the machine this morning I got the blue screen with message on it, then when I restarted I got message no bootable disk press F1 to boot up or F2 for set up.

Is the hard drive "Fucked" I have all my app's backed up. Should I just get a new rig or is this problem fixable?
Any advice from the tech guys on elite?

Thank you
 
Sounds like your hard drive might be toast. No NEED to get a new rig, your D9200 is plenty competent for trading. Just get a new hard drive and reload. If that doesn't fix it, then you might have a mobo problem, or orther.

As a general rule, when there is ANY sign of hard drive trouble, it's a good idea to be replacing it ASAP...
 
Thanks for your prompt response. I am not much of a tech guy at all so should I buy the exact same hard drive again from dell or a higher grade hard drive and just get somebody to install it? What should I be looking for when buying a new hard drive? Will I have any compatibility problems? Would a clean install of XP help at all or is the problem totally hardware?

Thanks again.
 
For your next hard drive, get Casper XP or Acronis. These software basically image/clone your hard disk so that you have a byte-for-byte identical copy ready to swap in if and when your drive goes kaput.

I'm using Casper XP. It was recommended (or at least discussed) by gnome and others on this forum. It's interesting that ET has some top-notch hardware and software advice. :cool:
 
Quote from smalltrader35:

Thanks for your prompt response. I am not much of a tech guy at all so should I buy the exact same hard drive again from dell or a higher grade hard drive and just get somebody to install it? What should I be looking for when buying a new hard drive? Will I have any compatibility problems? Would a clean install of XP help at all or is the problem totally hardware?

Thanks again.
More...

You can buy any SATA hard drive from any place... that's what is compatible with your mobo without using an adapter. Dell is likely to be overpriced, as they usually are on parts/upgrades.

You really should learn about reinstalling WinXP and hard drives for yourself... it's an ongoing maintenance requirement and concern. It's not really difficult but can be a bit tedious with all of the patches and service packs.

I made a list of instructions for reinstalling XP SP2 on a Dell. Send me your email address via PM and I'll send you a copy if you like. It's in Word.doc form.

However, you could take youR computer to Best Buy and have them install XP on a hard drive you buy there. They will charge you too much, of course, but at least you'll be up and running.

And by all means, do as prior poster recommended... include Acronis True Image or Casper XP in your backup routine. It will save you TONS of time. (I've used both. Acronis is more versatile, but Casper has a "Smart Clone (?)" feature which Acronis does not have, and is very useful. You can get a free, fully functional trial from their websites.)
 
Before doing anything major, try plugging the hard drive's SATA lead into a different SATA socket on the motherboard. Probably won't work but worth a try.

If you have access to another computer, you could also try plugging the hard drive in there to see if it works, which would save you wasting money on a new drive if it does, and confirm if it doesn't.

If you are set on a new hard drive, the Western Digital Caviar 'Black' 500Gb or 750 GB are my faves at the moment. Seagates have had some problems, I think.

If you felt morally obliged to microsoft/dell to spend a lot of time slogging with updates and service packs and SATA drivers, be my guest. Otherwise, I really like the customized XP version with all updates/drivers built in that I'm using right now: http://www.h33t.com/details.php?id=c31e51d4b525d229c49e3420592079a1de85588c
Takes less than an hour, you might have to go to dell website for a driver or two but most will be there or on windows update. You could plug your old XP pro key in if you want or search youtube for 'make windows genuine' if any problem: eg. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBTGcgIdSbk

Why bother with cloning software if it only takes an hour to reinstall? Or get two drives and do an install on both, keeping one handy in case of problems and using the other.
 
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