Possible to Diagnose Hardware without Operating System Present?

[Ultralight]

Can this be done? Here is the issue: My sister brought me her Dell Inspiron streamline 660S (manufactured 2012) and told me that her operating system has totally disappeared. Dell told her it was due to a virus and that the hard drive was probably damaged and she needed a new one. Her company's IT department did a diagnostics and said the operating system was not present.

When I started the computer up, it went to a blue screen and said there was an error with nostkrnl.exe (parts corrupt or missing) and error 0x0000185 which is a very serious issue.

It gave me 3 options:

Enter to try again
F8 to enter set-up
Esc for UEFI Firmware.

The first is a no go and the F8 is also not possible. Under the UEFI the system's BIOS is keeping the date and time correct but nothing else can be done.

The system was installed with Windows 8 and was a gift from her fiance. There was no Windows installation disk that came with it but she will be sending me the disc with drivers and utilities.

6 months ago she updated to Windows 8.1 and had no issues until 3 weeks ago. So...

1. Its a possibility a virus/trojan corrupted the OS.
2. A recent Windows update might have caused the problem.
2. Its a strong possibility that the hard drive crashed but I don't know for sure.

So as my subject line has asked is there a way to diagnose this system, particularly, the hard drive in any way? Can I do it via Linux and if so what distro and any tutorials you can direct me to so I can see how it is done?

Thanks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

So as my subject line has asked is there a way to diagnose this system, particularly, the hard drive in any way? Can I do it via Linux and if so what distro and any tutorials you can direct me to so I can see how it is done?

Thanks.

www.linuxmint.com

Burn a GNU/Linux Mint17.1 MATE AMD64 DVD ISO. (Using another PC.)

Go into UEFI, disable "Fast Boot", "Secure Boot", and enable "Legacy Boot" or "CSM".

Boot off of the Mint DVD.

Open the "Disks" tool. There should be a way to read SMART data, and to perform a Short and a Long self-test.

If the HDD isn't totally FUBAR, then you can also access her files using Linux, and back them up to a USB flash drive or external HDD.

 

[TheELF]

It's always better to do this test with the actual tool the hdd manufacturer provides,they have instructions on their pages.
Hiren's boot cd has all of them collected and has a menu so it makes it easier than trying to figure out how to create a dos boot disk
You can also legally download a copy of windows 8 and just reinstall.

 

[inachu]

Majority of all DELL computers today have a built in Diagnosis program in the BIOS.

Hit F12 and arrow down to diag portion.

I've seen many DELL hard drives where the platter data is fine but the boot sector is permanently messed up.

 

[ArisVer]

You can also try to repair the operating system using a Windows 8.1 repair disk or installation disk. This is provided that the disk is still working.

I would try the linux Mint suggestion first to backup any files that are necessary. It's also a good idea to do a virus scan with a bootable version.

 

[Ketchup]

The ELF and inachu have the best answers here. You can try burning an ISO of Seatools for DOS and:
1. Seeing if it can find the drive, and
2. Letting it run diagnostics on the drive, BUT

If you can see the drive, and it comes up with no errors, it's very likely bad RAM.

 

[Ultralight]

Thanks all. I never owned a Dell before and knew nothing about the Diagnostics program in the BIOS until after VirtualLarry posted.

All hardware passed except the hard drive that failed both the short and long DST tests. I could put a new hard drive in and install a new operating system. The thing is the processor is a Celeron G465 @ 1.9 GHz. with 2 gigs of DDR3-1600 memory. I would add 2 more gigs but is it worth it? If the processor was even a Pentium dual core I could see doing the other upgrades but with the Celeron I'm hesitant to do so especially since it is 3 years old and the power supply is a blistering 220 watts. My sister said it was slow even doing simple tasks. Otherwise the system is in great shape; very clean.

I could upgrade the cpu as well but then I am getting into more $. What do you think?

Here the motherboard: http://www.findlaptopdriver.com/dell-dib75r-pinevalley-mainboard-specs/

Thanks.

 

[Ketchup]

$30 for 4 GB of Crucial RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148539

$55 for 128 GB SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171646&ignorebbr=1
or $93 for a 250 GB SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148945&ignorebbr=1

Get recovery media from Dell if you don't already have it, and you're set with a much faster laptop for as little as $85!

 

[Ultralight]

Oh nice! Thanks much. So you think that Celeron should be okay then and just do the upgrades you suggested? Appreciate the time.

 

[VirtualLarry]

All hardware passed except the hard drive that failed both the short and long DST tests.

Yep, the HDD is toast then.

I could put a new hard drive in and install a new operating system. The thing is the processor is a Celeron G465 @ 1.9 GHz. with 2 gigs of DDR3-1600 memory. I would add 2 more gigs but is it worth it?

I think it would be worth it. I'm using a 1007U w/8GB RAM to type this, and it performs pretty well.

My sister said it was slow even doing simple tasks. Otherwise the system is in great shape; very clean.

Was that before or after the HDD started to go?

Get recovery media from Dell if you don't already have it, and you're set with a much faster laptop for as little as $85!

If the laptop shipped with Windows 8 or 8.1, and has the key in the BIOS, then the freely-downloadable Windows 8.1 Refresh Media from Microsoft should help. You won't get the Dell drivers or accessory programs though. You'll have to download and install them from Dell.com.

 

[Ketchup]

... If the laptop shipped with Windows 8 or 8.1, and has the key in the BIOS, then the freely-downloadable Windows 8.1 Refresh Media from Microsoft should help....

Just to be clear, every Google hit shows me that this model is a desktop. And that is the type of RAM I quoted in post #8.

 

[Ultralight]

This was an Inspirion 660S slimeline desktop that came shipped with Windows 8 and she upgraded to 8.1. She had no issues at all with 8.1. She is sending me the dell disk with drivers and utilities.

The issue of slowness only started occurring 2 months before eventual hard drive crash.

Pardon my ignorance but where do I look for that key in the BIOS?

So the 220 watt psu should be fine as long as my hard ware needs don't demand the maximum?

Thanks again.

 

[VirtualLarry]

This was an Inspirion 660S slimeline desktop that came shipped with Windows 8 and she upgraded to 8.1. She had no issues at all with 8.1. She is sending me the dell disk with drivers and utilities.

The issue of slowness only started occurring 2 months before eventual hard drive crash.

Pardon my ignorance but where do I look for that key in the BIOS?

So the 220 watt psu should be fine as long as my hard ware needs don't demand the maximum?

Thanks again.

Sorry, I thought someone mentioned it was a laptop, my bad. I was wondering why a laptop would have a G465 CPU in it.

A desktop is easy to fix. Just grab an SSD, plug it in, boot the Win8.1 refresh media, install 8.1, then install the Dell driver disc.

Edit: If you wanted to upgrade it at the same time, I would get 2x4GB (8GB kit) of DDR3-1333 RAM, and a Pentium G630 CPU.

Edit: If the slowness occurred only two months before the HDD crashed, then it's very likely that the problem was due to the HDD, and replacing it would bring it back up to full speed.

 

[Ketchup]

Great that she has the discs (Dell does this the most.) Keep us posted.

 

[Ultralight]

Well I finally was able to eject the DVD drive and lo and behold the Windows 8.1 Recovery Media disk for Windows Products 64-bit was in there which I was unaware of. Now I am just waiting on her disk of utilities and drivers to arrive.

Btw, is the Windows Recovery disk the same as what VirtualLarry calls the refresh media?

Windows 8 came pre-installed and it just might have been a volume install. I don't think she has a Windows 8 install disk; just what I have mentioned.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Btw, is the Windows Recovery disk the same as what VirtualLarry calls the refresh media?

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2422882

 

[TheELF]

Oh nice! Thanks much. So you think that Celeron should be okay then and just do the upgrades you suggested? Appreciate the time.

Just get an usb stick and put puppy with persistence on it (use yumi to "burn" it on to the usb it even downloads it for you) ,let her use the pc that way, puppy boots form usb and runs completely from ram so no major disk slowdowns and linux is so much lighter then windows,web browsing will still be slowish but it is your cheapest and best choise.