Mega Laptop Problem

[rka765]

Hey guys,

I have a mega mega problem with my laptop - it is a Dell Inspiron 1501 and it is really frying up. I had it on for a lengthy duration one day and next minute I was presented with a black screen as well as the hard drive really burning up. Didn't seem too good but it gets worse - I cannot get it past the BIOS at all. Vista is the operating system I am using.

When I first turn it on, I am presented with the message SMART Failure Predicted on Hard Disk 4 etc. press F1 to continue. After this, I can select from launching startup repair (which never loads; it results in an UNMOUNTABLE BOOT VOLUME screen) or start Windows normally. Selecting the latter, I am presented with the Windows loading screen which takes quite a while, although it then displays "ERROR 0200: Failure Fixed Disk 0. Press F1 to resume - results in screen displaying Operating System not found - F2 to setup - it actually displays the hard drive's name after expanding which is cool since I guess I can conclude it is not completely gone - F3 to reboot - results in a cycle of the aforementioned stuff happening again. Enabling Safe Mode doesn't even work, loading my Vista installation disc and selecting repair my computer does not work likewise with system restore or anything. One of my friends said I should burn the ISO image of Linux, boot from the CD drive and transfer whatever files I need from my Vista operating system to that but I've tried that and cant even access the files on my hard drive, I am just presented with the Linux OS I guess because it is running from a CD. Don't know if I misinterpreted what he said though it sounds like an ingenious method. He also stated that the hard disk should be fine if it can run the BIOS.

I even ran the diagnostics testing that came with my laptop and it literally shuts down during it. If I manually configure the testing to check out Hard Driver errors, it displays SMART errors and then shuts down.

There is one saving grace, if you can even call it that, a couple of days ago I was able to be presented with the Vista log-in screen (my custom display picture (Sonic yay!) and password input box) although it only loaded up the mouse pointer and a pink background. That was such a great moment because I thought everything was going to be cool! :) Its like I really just want my files from my laptop and figure out what to do with it after because this is not the first time something like this has happened, although the first time it did, I was able to run safe mode. I think if you cant run in safe mode then there is a worrying problem. I was able to run safe mode once but just like the previous incident, I was just presented with a mouse pointer and nothing loaded up after waiting for so long.

Guys any help would be greatly appreciated and sorry if this is too big a problem. Its greatly appreciated for you guys to go out of your way to help people. Awesome  :)

[PCBruiser]

Your laptop's hard drive has failed and there is nothing you can do to fix that but to breathe deeply, replace the hard drive and reinstall Windows from scratch.  This shows the reason why I advocate a proper backup strategy.

If the data is exceptionally important to you, there are services which will remove the hard drive platters and put them in a new housing so that the data can be recovered.  That service often costs several thousand dollars so it is usually only used by companies with "mission critical" information.

Sorry, I wish we had better news.

[Mister2]

Just to add:

He also stated that the hard disk should be fine if it can run the BIOS.

You should tell your friend this is plain wrong and unfortunately has given you false hope.  The BIOS is stored in a special memory location and is the program that tells your computer (amongst many other things) details of your hard drive and how to communicate with it. 

It is only after the BIOS has loaded that the drive can start loading the operating system.

[Hoov]

I know this will not help now, but it may help in the future. Learn how to dismantle your laptop. There is very little area for dust to collect and move around. If you take your laptop out and around, it is possible that you get all kinds of dust and hair building up in the laptop preventing proper airflow. I was having a problem with my Inspiron 1502 getting hot, and I started having problems with it. So I did some research, and then disassembled my laptop and removed a big hairball from between the fan and the exhaust vents. Put it all back together, and it was like I just bought it. Now it is almost cold again. And this is running two copies of Folding at Home flat out, so my CPU is maxed.