Noob21

I have a Dell Inspiron 1525, a short time ago the laptop fell to the floor (which is when the problems started).
The problem basically is that the "busy" blue light disappears and the computer stops responding so I have to manually shut-down the computer


I called the support and they told me after a long chat that I needed to restore the system. I tried the Chkdsk application (which appears before startup if there's a problem with the hard-drive 10 times by now) and yet the computer still crashes often.


So my question, is there a program that can find corrupt files. I don't want to restore the system (even though I already deleted more than half of my files) only to find out that the problem is internal (derived from the computer falling flat on its face)


Now I'm getting a message that says "the file system/disk structure is corrupt and unreadable, please run the Chkdsk utility on volume C:"

Madcatz

I would suggest to run the hard drive diagnostic on the drive first, sounds like there may be something wrong with the drive.

Noob21

Is there a particular program, google turns up a bunch of them?

Madcatz

dells usually come with thier own diag software, you could also take the hard drive out and see who made it, go to thier website and download thier diag program, or you can get Drive Fitness Test from the link in my signature, download the cd image and you'll need to burn that to a cd and boot your computer to it.

Noob21

Not exactly proficient in computers, so taking out my hard-drive is moot. Is the diag software "chkdsk" if so it keeps deleting bad files repeatedly, just today it stopped responding on the 4th task.

As for your diag. I downloaded from seagate (the manafacturer of my hard-drive) "Seatools", is that what I'm supposed to be doing?

Madcatz

yes, its SeaTools for DOS is what to download, there is a tutorial on how to run that also on the same page you download it from.

Noob21

I'm more confused than ever, I burned the file with a freeware (couldn't install Nero). Now I can't understand what this means

"Once the bootable media has been created then boot the computer with the media in the drive. If it doesn't boot from the media the boot order may need to be adjusted in the computer BIOS. See Knowledge Base article 184971 or the user guide for your computer for information on changing boot sequence."

Madcatz

that means once you made the cd, put it in your computer adn start your computer, press the F12 button and choose cd drive from the boot menu. That will boot your computer from the cd you just made.

Noob21

Ok I finally got it to run, now I have a last question

I ran the long test and did the repairs, does this mean the hard-drive doesn't have an internal/permanent damage?

Madcatz

If the test said that it passed, then the drive should be fine to use. Diag tests will come right out and say if it failed the test.

Chkdsk has ran alot, has it ever repaired any problems or have you told it to fix errors and to locate bad sectors? if not then run chkdsk /f/r

Noob21

Scratch that, I just got back from another unresponsive moment. On top of it, Windows updates kept going on a loop for quite a time

Yes, the test passed and so did the hard-drive test you take in the Set-up (F2) screen

Chkdsk deleted corrupt files first time I ran it, then the next 15+ times I ran it went like this

Deleted corrupt files......none......nothing......nothing....deleted corrupt files.....nothing.....nothing

Basically as if the corrupt files keep reappearing and I have to chkdsk them again (after a crash occurs)

Madcatz

sounds like the hard drive is ok, but strange that you keep getting corrupted files. I have seen hard drives pass diag tests but were still bad in that they could not be written too, or had writing problems. Yours could be doing just that, but some other things can be done before replacing the hard drive.

Next I would suggest downloading and running memtest86+, again the link is in my signature, and you want the Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO .zip, burn that to a cd and boot your computer to it, i would let that run overnight.

Noob21

By overnight, do you mean it doesn't find any problems on the first few times? Yikes, maybe I have to run it again. I just have some questions

The two tests I did were they only for the drive or do they detect corrupt files?

&

Closely after I dropped this laptop on the floor (the day it became unresponsive) I started hearing a strange noise on the lower left side and I still hear it now

May not be after that incident, but it could be the reason. That's why I thought the damage might have been internal

Madcatz

By overnight means the test may not, some problems with memory are intermittent, it will pass some and get errors some.

Hearing a strange noise from the lower left side, is that where the hard drive is? Take the cover off the bottom so you can physically see the hard drive, hold your ear up to it when you hear the noise and see if its comming from the drive, if it is, then you need a new drive. Even holding your ear against it you should barely hear a faint whirrring sound of the drive spinning.