Dell Latitude C400 – DST Short Test FAIL

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Hello all,

Have a friends laptop (Dell Latitude C400) that when booting up runs into the Blue Screen of Death: STOP: c000021a 0xc0000005 (0x00000000 0x00000000).
I ran the Dell Diagnostics tools and it failed in the DST Short Test: Error Code 1000-0146.

So the question is: Is the hard drive able to be recovered by doing a format and reinstall or do I need to get a completely new harddrive?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

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The HDD is more than likely dead, from that result. If the rest of the hardware seems up to the task and you can find a suitable replacement for the hard drive, you could try adding the original drive as a secondary drive to recover the data.

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Hi,
I was able to take out the harddrive and connect it to my desktop through a USB 2.0 IDE Adapter. So I was able to recover the data. Wheew! But when running a windows check disk on it, all looked fine. So was just wondering what I could do with this HDD?

Of course this model laptop is older and does not have a CD drive or can boot from a USB. So if I do need to get a new HDD the next question will be how to install XP on it.

Thanks,
Mike

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You should be able to put the new disk in your desktop, format it with the system option to make it bootable, then copy the Windows CD into a directory.
Once it’s in the laptop it should boot and then you can go to the SYSTEM32 directory and run setup.exe.

cheers, Paul

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Hi,

Ok I broke down and finally got a new hard drive.
I hooked up the new hard drive up through the USB 2.0 IDE Adapter and it is recgonized, but for some reason there is no way for me to make it a bootable drive. Just gives me generic “Format” option.
Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Mike

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Not sure how you got to the format option, but if Windows is running you can use Disk Manager to create the partition and then format should allow you to create a “System Disk”.

cheers, Paul

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Hi Paul,
I was able to get to the format option through the Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management on my desktop after I plugged the Laptop Harddrive in through the USB 2.0 IDE Adapter.
Still don’t see a way to format this harddrive into a bootable drive tho.
Thanks,
Mike

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Hmm! Can’t do it if it’s a hard disk. You need to boot from the Windows CD and let it format the disk and install.

cheers, Paul

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Hi Paul,
Yeah that is the problem. The laptop is older and does not have a CD Drive and it cannot boot from a USB.
I have to think that I am not the only person out there that has a new laptop hard drive and wants to put Windows XP on it. But for the life of me I can’t figure out how to do it. I am definitely a software guy not a hardware guy.
Thanks,
Mike

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Research your board to see if it has an additional CD/DVD IDE port. Some of these laptops have an option to purchase a dock for them at time of sale. The board should have a CD/DVD IDE port onboard that is not in use. (in your case)
You may need to call their tech support to verify this.

This will mean opening your case and plugging in a portable laptop CD/DVD ROM device in order to instal os.
Also check for a bios update, specifically for usb boot functionality.

Dell Latitude C400

Another option would be to connect the drive to another computer as the primary drive and instal
the os, just the bare os and do not activate or register it. Then remove and instal it back in laptop.

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Research your board to see if it has an additional CD/DVD IDE port. Some of these laptops have an option to purchase a dock for them at time of sale. The board should have a CD/DVD IDE port onboard that is not in use. (in your case)
You may need to call their tech support to verify this.

This will mean opening your case and plugging in a portable laptop CD/DVD ROM device in order to install OS.
Also check for a bios update, specifically for USB boot functionality.

Dell Latitude C400

Another option would be to connect the drive to another computer as the primary drive and install
the OS, just the bare OS and do not activate or register it. Then remove and install it back in laptop.

Also possible to use ‘wintoflash’ to make a bootable flash drive and copy the windows XP disc to it and use it instead of a CD. Link below.
Be sure to go into bios and set removable device as first boot device.

http://download.cnet.com/WinToFlash/3000-2094_4-10974471.html?tag=mncol

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