Dell Inspiron 531s Vista

[gypsyrosegracie]

This is a friends PC he has been running it with free internet virus protection...now its very very slow or no go at all...I tried to reinstall the dell windows vista disk that came with the pc but no luck...the pc doesn't recognise the disk even in safe mode. I have verified the disk is good via another pc and his disk drive is also good....this pc won't even allow me to format the hard drive via f12...any clues would be helpful...thanks

 

[rclarke250]

I don't understand the in safe mode part...Shouldn't you be booting from the disk? Have you moved the cdrom to the top of the bootlist? Have you run any diagnostics? I see a lot of issues with this model being resolved after replacing the cmos battery, something to think about.

 

[gypsyrosegracie]

rclarke...yes I am using the windows vista install dsk via the cdrom trying to boot...have run diagnostics and I have moved cdrom to the to top of bootlist....I even tried using the cdrom drive in the safe mode no luck...all bios are set to default too...you think the cmos battery may be causing the problem...i'll try that next...thanks

 

[xwb]

To format the hard drive you need to switch off boot sector protection from the BIOS. It is normally switched on to protect the boot sector from viruses.

 

[BadBigBen]

let's look at the symptoms at hand:

1. CD/DVD ROM does not boot...
2. PC is slow in HDD access...
3. PC does not recognize CD/DVD in normal or safe-mode...

conclusion (from my experience):

Faulty CD/DVD drive...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[gypsyrosegracie]

BadBigBen, I am able to use the cd/dvd drive just not with the dell windows vista install disk.

 

[rclarke250]

Will any other bootable disk work in that drive?

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

perhaps?

 

[gypsyrosegracie]

Rcclarke...yes other dvd's work in the drive..also, I checked the cmos battery...it showed 3.2v so I didn't replace it I cleared it ...I also reseated everything I could...no better results..thanks for your help

 

[FredWagner]

How is the disk space ? A full hard drive can cause huge slowness and other problems. We don't see it much anymore, but some other problem or malware might be filling up the C-drive...Check disk space, empty the recycle bin, see if things improve....

Fred Wagner

 

[gypsyrosegracie]

Fred, the hard drive is not even 1/3 full the recycle bin is empty...I think the problem is hardware related... I'm just not sure which part....when I checked the cmos I booted the pc with min memory...same problem so I think I rule out memory problem...thanks for your input.

 

[FredWagner]

Could it be that the Dell Vista install disk is bad ? have you tried to explore it (not boot from it) on any other PCs ? Was it shipped from Dell, or created on the PC that has the problem ?

Fred Wagner

 

[gypsyrosegracie]

Fred, as I stated in my initial post I have verified the Dell Vista install disk to be good via another pc...also verified the cd/dvd drive to be working....thanks

 

[FredWagner]

Have you scanned the disk for malware while it's connected to another PC? Preferably with different malware scanners or virus protection than the owner was using. It may be that whatever has happened to it is not recoverable - considering the value of your time, have you considered just replacing the hard drive with a fresh one, and installing Vista and the apps?

Fred Wagner

 

[rclarke250]

ok, so, the dell restore disks boot in another pc, and won't boot in the laptop, the laptop will boot to another bootable disk. That just doesn't make sense. I'm at a loss.

 

[DrB0b]

Go into the BIOS and reset to default. Then after the restart, go back into the BIOS and reset the Boot order to CD/Optical drive first then Hard drive second. Put in Ultimate Boot CD and boot off of it. Does it work? If yes, open the CD tray and put in the Vista disc and restart. You should see "Press any key to boot of disc" or something to that effect, press a key and boot the Windows disc.

If that doesnt work, be very descriptive as to what part it hangs on or what it doesnt do.
Thanks

"Silence is golden, duct tape is silver...

 

[EmuDan]

rclarke - it's not a laptop. Looks like this pc is a very small form-factor desktop, kinda like the old Optiplex sx280 I'm using right now.

gypsierose - check your sata cables and connectors inside the pc. Make sure everything is getting a good connection. Also, you might want to check the condition of the capacitors on the system board. Make sure the tops are not bulging or leaking.

Dan