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#1
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
I have a Dell XPS 8500, with Windows 7 Professional, SP1,
with Spywareblaster, Malwarebytes, Avast Professional, Windows Defender and Windows firewall. (1) TB HD Intel (R) Core (TM) i7-33-3770 CPU @ 3.40 GHz 3.40 GHz Ram 12.0 GB System type : 64-bit operating system I also have I have a Dell Dimension 8200 with XP, SP3, with Spywareblaster, Avast, Malwarebytes and Windows firewall. Seagate Barracuda 7200 160 Gb HD Intel (R) Pentium (R) 4 CPU 1.80 GHz Ram 1.79 GHz, 1.00 GB of RAM System type : 32-bit operating system and (external hard drives) Seagate Backup Plus 1(TB) 2.5 USB Portable HD WD BLACK SERIES WD2003FZEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive The problem is with the 8200; what happened was this. I had it running an Avast scan but the screen went black because I hadn't moved the mouse which is usually no problem, right? Well, for whatever reason I could not get the screen to respond so I finally just powered it off. When I powered it up, it gave me a choice of logging on in the safe mode(s) or normal which I selected but it keeps looping so I did a F8 and selected last known configuration where settings worked but it is looping. So do I need to install a Mrimg file? Thanks Robert |
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#2
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
Mark Twain wrote:
I have a Dell XPS 8500, with Windows 7 Professional, SP1, with Spywareblaster, Malwarebytes, Avast Professional, Windows Defender and Windows firewall. (1) TB HD Intel (R) Core (TM) i7-33-3770 CPU @ 3.40 GHz 3.40 GHz Ram 12.0 GB System type : 64-bit operating system I also have I have a Dell Dimension 8200 with XP, SP3, with Spywareblaster, Avast, Malwarebytes and Windows firewall. Seagate Barracuda 7200 160 Gb HD Intel (R) Pentium (R) 4 CPU 1.80 GHz Ram 1.79 GHz, 1.00 GB of RAM System type : 32-bit operating system and (external hard drives) Seagate Backup Plus 1(TB) 2.5 USB Portable HD WD BLACK SERIES WD2003FZEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive The problem is with the 8200; what happened was this. I had it running an Avast scan but the screen went black because I hadn't moved the mouse which is usually no problem, right? Well, for whatever reason I could not get the screen to respond so I finally just powered it off. When I powered it up, it gave me a choice of logging on in the safe mode(s) or normal which I selected but it keeps looping so I did a F8 and selected last known configuration where settings worked but it is looping. So do I need to install a Mrimg file? Thanks Robert Restore from backup, is a relatively easy way to fix a computer. I hope you have a backup with a recent date on it, your Macrium Reflect Free boot CD for the 8200 is ready to go. The only thing bad about Restore From Backup, is it doesn't preserve your Bookmarks file. The age of the Bookmarks, will be the age of the backup file. If you made the backup two weeks ago, the bookmarks will be two weeks out of date. If you boot the Macrium Reflect Free boot CD, and you look in the lower left corner, there is a blue icon. That icon is for "Macrium PE Explorer", a kind of file explorer. With your internal drive inside the 8200, and your connected external USB drive, start the Macrium PE Explorer (blue icon) and attempt to navigate around the 8200 internal drive C: partition. If you can figure out where the Bookmarks file is that you want, you can click it, and use the right-click menu to select "Copy". Then, navigate to the external drive as your destination, right-click into an empty folder pane and select "Paste" from the right-click menu. In that way, it is possible to copy a file from the "broken" setup, before you do the Restore From Backup attempt. Paul |
#3
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
On 02/21/2016 06:55 AM, Mark Twain wrote:
snip When I powered it up, it gave me a choice of logging on in the safe mode(s) or normal which I selected but it keeps looping so I did a F8 and selected last known configuration where settings worked but it is looping. So do I need to install a Mrimg file? Thanks Robert Before you restore from image, you may want to just try booting from a utility cd and run chkdsk /f Hirens boot cd has a mini xp install you can use |
#4
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
I wasn't worried too much about bookmarks
as its only a backup so I was going to just do a Mrimg but the 8200 didn't acknowledge the external HD when I connected it and I tired twice. So my only recourse I suppose is to replace the HD with the 320GB spare we already set up. Thoughts? Robert |
#5
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
Mark Twain wrote:
I wasn't worried too much about bookmarks as its only a backup so I was going to just do a Mrimg but the 8200 didn't acknowledge the external HD when I connected it and I tired twice. So my only recourse I suppose is to replace the HD with the 320GB spare we already set up. Thoughts? Robert So when you: 1) Connected the external USB drive to the 8200. 2) Booted the correct Macrium CD for the 8200. 3) And it couldn't detect the USB drive then ? Is that what happened ? Paul |
#6
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
On Sunday, February 21, 2016 at 11:28:19 PM UTC-8, Paul wrote:
Mark Twain wrote: I wasn't worried too much about bookmarks as its only a backup so I was going to just do a Mrimg but the 8200 didn't acknowledge the external HD when I connected it and I tired twice. So my only recourse I suppose is to replace the HD with the 320GB spare we already set up. Thoughts? Robert So when you: 1) Connected the external USB drive to the 8200. 2) Booted the correct Macrium CD for the 8200. 3) And it couldn't detect the USB drive then ? Is that what happened ? Paul correct |
#7
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
Mark Twain wrote:
On Sunday, February 21, 2016 at 11:28:19 PM UTC-8, Paul wrote: Mark Twain wrote: I wasn't worried too much about bookmarks as its only a backup so I was going to just do a Mrimg but the 8200 didn't acknowledge the external HD when I connected it and I tired twice. So my only recourse I suppose is to replace the HD with the 320GB spare we already set up. Thoughts? Robert So when you: 1) Connected the external USB drive to the 8200. 2) Booted the correct Macrium CD for the 8200. 3) And it couldn't detect the USB drive then ? Is that what happened ? Paul correct When the USB backup drive is connect to your other computer, is it detected there ? I'm checking to see if the drive failed. How the Macrium CD is prepared, can affect how a USB3 port works on a computer. As far as I know, your 8200 has USB2 and USB 1.1. And the USB2 was by means of a PCI card with USB2 chip on it. AFAIK, the WinPE environment knows how to initialize the PCI card type for USB2, at a minimum. On my test machine right now, with Macrium CD booted, there is the blue "PE Explorer" icon in the lower left corner (third from the left), and when I click and use that, my USB drive is visible in the Removable Media section. Which secion of PE Explorer it is in, will depend on the RMB (removable media) bit. So your drive might be in the top section of the window, while my USB is in the bottom section. HTH, Paul |
#8
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
You know, I didn't even think to check the
external HD. So I plugged it into the 8500 and its fine and the 8500 recognized it. So must have damaged the 8200 HD but I still can't understand why the mouse didn't light light the screen as usual and I moved it allot and nothing. Luckily I do have a spare HD still,.. Thoughts? Robert |
#9
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
Mark Twain wrote:
You know, I didn't even think to check the external HD. So I plugged it into the 8500 and its fine and the 8500 recognized it. So must have damaged the 8200 HD but I still can't understand why the mouse didn't light light the screen as usual and I moved it allot and nothing. Luckily I do have a spare HD still,.. Thoughts? Robert Is the 8200 alive enough to get to the BIOS screen ? You're sure it's just the content on the 8200 hard drive which isn't any good now ? Or is something more wrong with the machine at the moment ? Did the diagnostic LEDs on the 8200 have a bad pattern on them ? You have the materials to use your carefully prepared backup disk, with the emergency copy of C: staged on it. The one that allows you to get back up and running, right after you physically install it inside the computer. It definitely sounds like a plan. Then you can work on the busted drive, and see exactly how busted it actually is. Paul |
#10
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
Yes, I can get to the BIOS screen
I'm just assuming it's the HD, if it's the motherboard or something else I wouldn't know. All I know it keeps cycling in a loop. Even if I change HD how can I work on the busted HD when I remove it? Robert |
#11
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
Mark Twain wrote:
Yes, I can get to the BIOS screen I'm just assuming it's the HD, if it's the motherboard or something else I wouldn't know. All I know it keeps cycling in a loop. Even if I change HD how can I work on the busted HD when I remove it? Robert If the machine has two ribbon cables, you may be able to temporarily use one of the ribbon cables to "talk" to the busted drive. While the good drive is on the other cable. The hardest part of doing that, is usually getting the mounting hardware (rail kit) right. To mount a 3.5" drive in a 5.25" bay, you need adapter brackets. For example, these fill the space from a 3.5", to make it fit a 5.25" space. They make the hard drive, exactly as wide as an optical drive. http://www.ebuyer.com/124153-startec...racket-bracket Then, there are "slides" that you affix to the side of a drive. Each case uses a slightly different scheme, a mixture of plastic and/or metal, so that the drive can slide into the bay, before you connect the cabling to the drive. So those are a few details of how the drive fits. ******* With both the good and bad drives in the machine, with their sizes known (one 320GB, one 120GB or whatever), you enter the BIOS and use the hot key to get to the BIOS setup. Then work on the boot order, so that the good drive is the one that boots. As long as you booted the good drive by itself at least once after you created it, it should be safe to mix the drives. So at the moment, the sequence would be: 1) Remove bad drive. Install good drive. Boot with good drive and verify no other hardware failures have happened. 2) Shut down, install bad drive again. Put it on the second ribbon cable if you want. Power up, enter the BIOS, verify the good drive is still the one to boot from. 3) Now, with system booted, you can have a look at the bad drive. Are partitions visible in Disk Management ? Do all the files seem to be there ? And so on. COpy Bookmarks or whatever, off the bad drive to the bood drive, at a minimum. Then work on your next step, whatever that is. HTH, Paul |
#12
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
replaced the 160GB HD with the 320GB HD and
the 8200 beeped and the display lights show A and B orange and C and D green which indicates I have memory but there's a problem with it. I already had booted with this drive so it is got an OS and should be ready to go. Robert |
#13
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
btw the screen never came on so I had no recourse
but to press the power switch and hold it to power the 8200 down. So with the 160 HD the screen came on but it didn't complete the boot process and the 320HD doesn't even get to the boot stage and the screen stayed black. Thoughts/Suggestions? Robert |
#14
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
Mark Twain wrote:
replaced the 160GB HD with the 320GB HD and the 8200 beeped and the display lights show A and B orange and C and D green which indicates I have memory but there's a problem with it. I already had booted with this drive so it is got an OS and should be ready to go. Robert It's important to first look at the manual and see how many different memory error codes there are. And how those relate to a conventional computer. I'm trying to interpret what failure cases these might relate to, in terms of how that RAM type works. A B C D Yellow Yellow Green Green Memory failed to be sized or enabled --- Green Yellow Green Yellow Memory modules are detected, but a memory configuration or compatibility error exists. Green Yellow Yellow Yellow No memory modules are detected So we know some ways to get the middle code. With the RAMBUS stuff, there is a need to have continuity in a loop of memory chips. And if the CDIMM was not in place for example, that would give the middle code. And you didn't get that error. And the last error, would be a SPD (Serial Presence Detect) related error code. If that pattern showed up, the motherboard cannot get configuration info from the little SPD chip on each module. And you didn't get that code. For example, if the SMBUS serial bus was shorted out, then no attempts to read anything on that bus would work, and then you'd get the third code. So that leaves a few possibilities for why the first code shows up. You could have two RDIMMs, two CDIMMs, and only the SPD on one RDIMM is being read. Or, the SPD on both RDIMMs is read correctly, the BIOS does the sizing memory test (traditional peek & poke test) and detected the failure that way. A memory error on one DIMM caused the peek & poke to conclude the memory channels are not "matched". 1) I'm sure by now, you've completely powered off the 8200, by switching off at the back. Just in case some gremlin needs to be cleared in the chipset. 2) You can (while taking ESD precautions), pop out the RDIMM and re-seat it. You do that with the power switched off at the back, or for a computer with no switch on the rear of the chassis, pull the power plug from the wall outlet. You don't want power on the system, because in soft-off state, the RAM slot can still have DC power on it. With power fully off, you can try re-seating the RDIMM. If desperate, it's possible the computer will run with just the CRIMM and RDIMM plugged into one channel, and the CRIMM and RDIMM in the other channel removed entirely for a test. That cuts the memory in half, but eliminates the need for the BIOS to detect a matching dual channel config. For example, if the BIOS detected 512MB on Channel0, and only detected 256MB on Channel1 (because peek & poke method could not complete the test), then removing the contents of one channel *might* make a difference. You'll know your attempts at re-config are not working, if you get "Green Yellow Green Yellow", as that means one of the channels doesn't have "continuity". If a channel is populated, both slots in that channel have to be filled with "something". For example, maybe you could change from your existing... Channel0 Channel1 CDIMM CDIMM RDIMM RDIMM to a config like this. Which is a way to eliminate one channel from the picture, and no longer run in dual channel mode. If there was a peek & poke error, the machine might safely run with mis-detected RAM amount. Remember though, that at least one of the two Intel RAMBUS chipsets, has a limit on total memory chips. 24 chips total on a channel, meaning maybe a 512MB module and a 256MB module. As at least one of the chipsets wasn't really rated for 32 chips on a channel caused by two (double sided) 16 chip 512MB memory modules. So perhaps a 512MB plus 256MB module on a single channel, might work. Channel0 Channel1 RDIMM empty --- say, detects 512MB RDIMM empty --- say, detects only 256MB Or run it like this, just removing one side. Channel0 Channel1 CDIMM empty RDIMM empty --- say, detects 512MB ******* When the computer starts, and the BIOS runs, not only does the BIOS "size" the memory two ways (by SPD, then verify with peek & poke test), but it also writes the DMI/ESCD area of the BIOS chip with the newly detected configuration. If the memory configuration is stable and has not changed, then no writes need be done. If the BIOS is "confused", it can be writing the DMI/ESCD every time the computer starts. After the computer is ten or fifteen years old, the BIOS EEPROM can be nearing exhaustion from having the DMI/ESCD segment written over and over again. And I don't know what the symptoms might be if that happens, or if the BIOS even cares. I'm mentioning this possibility for the sake of completeness. The workaround for this situation, is to pull the BIOS chip from its socket and have it "cloned" to a newly purchased BIOS chip. A web site like badflash.com is an example of a site that specializes in preparing fresh BIOS chips. The era of your machine, the BIOS chip might be easily popped out of a socket it is sitting in. It might take something like a Port 80 display card, to extract more visual information from the attempted BIOS POST. Both the Port 80 method, and the four diagnostic LEDs on the 8200, fall short of really telling you what is going on, but they're the best you've got to work with. Another way to "tickle" the DMI/ESCD, would be to change the bus order. Channel0 Channel1 CDIMM CDIMM RDIMM RDIMM By swapping the modules on their respective channels, you could do this. Channel0 Channel1 RDIMM RDIMM CDIMM CDIMM When the DMI/ESCD is being considered for update, the original recorded config would say. Slot1 empty Slot2 empty Slot3 512MB Slot4 512MB And after swapping the two modules in their respective channels (and not getting a "Green Yellow Green Yellow" by putting them in the wrong holes), the DMI/ESCD would record... Slot1 512MB Slot2 512MB Slot3 empty Slot4 empty The DMI/ESCD doesn't just record the total memory (which hasn't changed in this example), it also records which slot the memory is in. And it does this for corporations that run DMI scans on computers at night, and take "inventory". It's to detect when users screw around with the memory in a computer. The DMI/ESCD is not important from a usage point of view, and I don't want you to get fixated on this (potential) problem. I really can't remember the last time anyone cared about this stuff. But on a really old computer, if the computer was never working right in the first place, so many writes can occur to the BIOS flash chip in the DMI/ESCD storage area, that the chip can no longer record changes properly. And that (might) cause the BIOS to get ****ed off. Anyway, that should give you some ideas on things to try. Either simplify the situation, so the machine has less stuff to check, or totally reconfig in an attempt to remove the (defective) memory from the picture. You might have had two 512MB RDIMMs and two 256MB RDIMMs in your possession, so you have plenty of materials for some config changes, as well as the two CDIMMs for when the slots are not being used. Paul |
#15
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
I took out the two older ram which were
empty I can't remember what you called them but single sided and left the 2 double sided for 50% max, but it still gave me the same coes,. so I need to switch or try the double sided one by one? Robert |
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