Laptop doesn't boot

[Replicon]

My laptop started acting weird again today (Dell Inspiron 5150).

It kept stalling for long times, and my cpu monitor reported that it was a surge of interrupts (sounds like i/o failure to me - scary!)

I shut the thing down, and it stayed on "saving your settings" unnaturally long, so I held down the power button. From then on, booting up just didn't work... it would get to some point and stall (now it stalls on a black screen).

When I try to boot in safe mode, it says something like C:\windows32\system32\config\system is missing (not sure about EXACT name of path). I will try to correct it with the installation CD, and hopefully be able to boot it up for at least an hour, so I can back up a few outstanding things from my previous backup. I'll also run the diagnostics (i forgot how... was it F11 at boot or something? or F8? can someone remind me please?)

Anyway, the weird thing is that since then, whenever I shut it down, it gives off a faint 'beep' as it goes. Has anyone seen this strange behaviour? No more Dell for me .

 

[Replicon]

DAMN IT!!!

I went into repair, and I copied c:\windows\repair\system into c:\windows\system32\config\ (backed up what i have), but now I think i totally messed up the passwordage... like, asfter the progress bar, right when it would give me the screen where i can click on the users to select them (login screen), I get a lsass error messagebox that says something to the effect of "the password is screwed, etc."... also, when I try to boot with windows CD and log onto the console, it asks for my admin password, and i tried every passwd it could possibly be (including blank, etc.) and it might be screwed... ack!

 

[OritionX]

Look for a utility on the internet called XP reset it will reset the administrator passwd on any machine

 

[Replicon]

I'm thinking of creating a small partition and installing winxp there in parallel, and then it might at least solve my backup problem. Would that work, assuming I don't think I use any encryption for my HD? How much space would I need?

 

[Replicon]

Originally posted by: OritionX
Look for a utility on the internet called XP reset it will reset the administrator passwd on any machine

Hmm that's even better! I hope I don't lose any data from that.

 

[OritionX]

another utility as I dont think that is the name of the program it is what I wrote on the cd *thwap* http://www.loginrecovery.com/

 

[Replicon]

This thing says it will take max 2 days (no, I won't pay the 10 pounds)... I will look for something else in the mean time.

...If I were to reinstall windowxXP, will it give me the option to do a "repair install" that leaves all my files intact without asking for the admin password, or will I be forced to format? To the best of my knowledge, only ESF-encripted files will become unreadable...

 

[Replicon]

loginrecovery.com
We couldn't find out this password. The number of question marks shown gives you an idea of the passwords length (7 question marks means 7 or less letters and 14 question marks means between 8 and 14 characters). We couldn't find the password probably because it had symbols in or because it is very complex. Another possible reason for not finding the password is because the password was reset using a password reset tool (eg. The Offline NT password editor). The tool has probably removed the old password incorrectly leaving a corrupted user acount. Try using the tool again to try to repair it. Also try rebooting the computer a few times as this sometimes resolves the problems.

Fun times ahead =(

 

[OritionX]

there are other utilities out there if you can not find one I will check later when I get home I can send you a copy of the utility it just boots off of the cd and asks if you want to reset the administrator passwd and you hit 1 for yes and VIOLA it is done.

 

[Replicon]

Ok, here's the bootup error message box contents occuring just as the login screen should show up:

"When trying to update a password, this return status indicates that the value provided as the current password is not correct."

 

[Replicon]

Originally posted by: OritionX
there are other utilities out there if you can not find one I will check later when I get home I can send you a copy of the utility it just boots off of the cd and asks if you want to reset the administrator passwd and you hit 1 for yes and VIOLA it is done.

Thank you, that would help a lot. I'll hold off on my reinstall until I try that. Just want to back some stuff up before wiping out the world.

 

[Replicon]

Question:

With my inspiron 5150 Windows XP pro reinstallation CD... will I be able to install Windows XP over my old installation WITHOUT losing data? If not, what about if I create anoither partition using... soemthing that supports partition resizing (i know there's a free tool, but didn't think that far ahead)? I heard somewhere that I would need a real WinXP install CD...

 

[OritionX]

if it is really crucial that you back up the data that you have on that drive you can go to your local computer shop and buy a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter and take the hard drive out of your laptop and put it in your desktop this will allow you to pull the data off if the utility for some reason does not take care of the passwd issue.

 

[Replicon]

That's probably a last resort, but definitely on the list. Or I could borrow someone's proper windows xp install disk and just not activate the ah heck, since I'll reinstall the dell one afterwards anyway. But if all else fails, I'll get an adapter... Though I don't know how easy it is to grab a hard drive out of this laptop. How expensive are said adapters?

 

[OritionX]

usually around $10

 

[Replicon]

Ok, resetting the password to something trivial using a tool DID NOT WORK. Or rather, it worked, but the 'system' file is probably completely corrupt (or dell did something to make sure it can't be done).

I also tried doing a "repair install" to no avail (from a borrowed "real" winxp cd, not the silly dell one).

I will now try EBCD (Emergency Boot CD), which claims to provide password-free access to files. So I might be able to set things straight, since I backed up my stuff. If that fails, I will have to resort to taking out the drive, smashing it aghainst a wall, and using the adapter (maybe in different orders...)

Just as a pre-emptive question, since I've never taken a laptop apart before:

- Are all the drives shaped the same way for the adaptor, or are there multiple types?
- What do I need to know beforehand about my drive before I plug it into the adaptor?
- Does it just convert it into a IDE-pluggable thing, or can I have it act as a USB device?
- Taking apart a Dell Inspiron 5150, assuming I don't have warranty anymore anyway... is it a pain in the ass, especially to put it back together afterwards?

 

[Replicon]

Just my luck, EBCD doesn't support NTFS after all....

 

[OritionX]

Yeah laptops are fun to take apart... Dell I dont think anymore uses any different type of connector from a reg connector on a 2.5" hard drive. Depending on the laptop there are sometimes an access door to pull the hard drive out or you can usually find access through the keyboard... depends on the machine.. I forgot to send the util yesterday I will send myself a note so that I will not forget this time.

 

[Replicon]

There IS an access door to look at the hard drive, and I may not have looked at it well enough, but it looks like it's just there so you can gaze at it or something. I need to find a tutorial for playing around with it... My drive is located directly under the CD-R/W (brilliant place, right under a mega heat source, but anyway), so I HOPE I don't have to take it apart, cause it could be a major pain.

 

[OritionX]

http://www.laptopsolutions.plc.uk/manua...0utilities/inspiron5000manuals/hdd.htm

 

[Replicon]

Success! I've managed to retrieve my data by means of UBCD4Win! Now I can go and format, and run some diagnostics, etc., without fear of losing anything important!

Thanks for all the help!

 

[OritionX]

NP Anytime