HD problem-dead, or just messed up?

[paulpaul]

Hey, hope someone out there has some good advice. I defragged my folks' computer (Dell Dimension 4100, 40 gig HD, Windows ME), and the next day my mom called me up to say their Dell's mot working. I go over there, and try to start it up. All I get is "Loading Windows..." and it just hangs there. I tried using the startup disk, but it would get a few steps down in the boot up then hang, making the same sound, a little whisper every 3-4 seconds, like a record skipping but fainter. The help files on the startup disk suggested trying "scanreg /restore" or "scandisk /all /surface", but I can't even get to the C prompt. When I try to change to the C drive it won't go (I don't remember EXACTLY what it said, I was in a hurry before I had to go to work), just the message then that "Retry, Abort, Fail" response. Does anybody have any ideas?

 

[techfuzz]

Yeah jump on Dell's website, download a utility called Dell HDD Confidence Test. Put it on a floppy, stick the floppy in, boot the computer and run the program. See what it spits out. If the drive is toast, call Dell and have them ship you a new replacement drive after giving them the error code the HDDCT spit out after they've determined that it is toast too. If the drive is ok, you might try using the ME repair utility if there is such a thing. I know it exists with Windows 2K and XP, but I don't know about ME. Good Luck!

techfuzz

 

[paulpaul]

Cool, I'll download it tonight before I go over there. Thanks.

 

[techfuzz]

No problem!