My Daughter moved out recently 

 

In amongst the stuff she couldn't be bothered to take or dispose of is a Dell Laptop.  I reckon it's about seven years old.

 

It hasn't been used for about four years as she'd forgotten her password to get into it.

 

Rather than just bin it, I thought I'd fire it up out of curiosity.  After some loud beeps, it's now running a Pre-boot System Assessment.

 

If I end up at a Windows 7 log on, where a long forgotten password is asked for, is there something I can do, or is it bin fodder?

 

Ta

 

Gaz

Edited 27 August, 20187 yr by V6TDI

Is this worth trying/possible?

 

Reset WIndows 7 Password

If that's the CD ISO to run the commands it works quite well. I've used it on a few machines.

 

If you're up for it switching out the old spinning hard disk for a moderate sized SSD will probably make this into a decently fast machine.

 

Password finder is somewhere in here but I'm too tired to look.

 

https://www.hirensbootcd.org/old-versions/

Thanks chaps 

 

It currently doesn't want to play.  Battery is understandably cream crackered.

 

All I get to is 'No bootable devices--strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility Press F5 to run onboard diagnostics.' F1 just repeats the same message, F2 does get me to some options, none of which appear to make a blind bit of difference, F5 already done and it said everything was fine.

 

I was hoping to put my iTunes on it to save all the dippy shenanigans of this Mac putting files on the SD card that my Amundsen can't read.  Haven't given up yet.  If all else fails, I've got a good local IT lady who I'm sure can fix it.

 

Gaz

Edited 28 August, 20187 yr by V6TDI

34 minutes ago, V6TDI said:

All I get to is 'No bootable devices--strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility Press F5 to run onboard diagnostics.'

Sounds like you need a bootable Windows DVD?

7 minutes ago, SWBoy said:

Sounds like you need a bootable Windows DVD?

 

Sounds like I need to journey to the rarified atmosphere of mount Loft, in search of the box of origins, in the vain hope that said magical Window of enlightened DVD might herald its presence.

 

Gaz

You'll get a Win7 ISO easily enough on the interwebs. They license key will be on the bottom of the laptop.

 

Might be the time to delve into the wonderous world of Linux ;-)

 

Sticking Mint onto it would work well enough - https://linuxmint.com/

 

You'll get a bootable Linux system as well online - http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

 

 

Well the place of Loft was void of all things disk like.

 

I've switched it on and off a couple of times (well, you never know), and have a new message 'Internal hard disk drive not found To resolve this issue, try to reseat the drive.'

 

I'm not actually sure what that means.  Could be a harbinger of doom as her room used to get a lot of condensation - do hard drives go rusty?

 

Local IT Tech has said it sounds like the HD has had it.  £120 to replace.  No thanks.

 

My Son says he's got a Windows DVD.  Sounds like SSD is a good shout - 120gb Kingston one for £25 will do.  And if I kill it trying it's not really a biggy.

 

Is it hard to change?  Never done it before - soldering's not my bag, I'm more of a big amp arc welder sort of chap.

 

Ta

 

Gaz

 

 

dead easy to change the HD, however Dell have built in diags so turn on and immediately keep tapping the F12 key after a bit it will boot up and you can use the cursor keys to select diagnostics let it do its tests and see what it finds

 

John

23 minutes ago, jjc said:

dead easy to change the HD, however Dell have built in diags so turn on and immediately keep tapping the F12 key after a bit it will boot up and you can use the cursor keys to select diagnostics let it do its tests and see what it finds

 

John

 

Thanks John, that's doing just the same as F5, but I'll leave it running again.  If it's running all these tests, I presume that must mean it's accessing its hard drive?

 

Gaz 

A dead harddrive isn't that rare. Even if it sometimes does start, it still can be dead (well, or sort of)

 

If you remove the back/bottomcover you can see the harddrive, just search on youtube for <model> + hdd replace. 

Most vendors do offer a harddisk test utility. With this you can see if there is an error (so called 'smart diagnostics'). Smart is basicly whats your engine light: there is something wrong, no one can give you any warranty how long it will last.

 

If you're going to replace it: Dead easy, 4 small screws and you're done. You only have to reinstall the operating system.

 

Regarding the windows password: There are utilities to do this, but I would suggest a re-install. That way you get rid of the old crap your daughter has installed, and it performs usually much faster.

 

An cheap SSD is always a good upgrade, cost you <50 GBP. With a SSD the response is very fast and the laptop feels 'snappy'. An 'old' non-ssd drive will also do, but you'll have less performance.

If you're planning it to use for Itunes and don;'t want to spend too much you can consider a non-SSD: 1Tb normal drive isn't that more expensive than a 250Gb SSD.

For music storage, you probably have more use for the more storage above the speed of an SSD. (250Gb will be full pretty fast, unline a normal 1Tb drive, which is 4times bigger in size)

If you have an external harddrive, nas or don't need huge amounts of storage: Go for the SSD. 

 

 

As for the operating system: On the back is usually a OEM sticker with the windows version. For windows 7, make sure the installation dvd matches the version (Windows 7 pro or home) with the license sticker.

 

If needed, i do have both and can provide you with a download link (along with instructions to burn them to an empty disk)

 

Edited 28 August, 20187 yr by DJSmiley

^ that.

 

But first...

 

the HD will be under a little flap about the size of a fag packet held in with one small screew.

 

If you undo that you'll see the HD it's a tiny wee thing 2" wide and about 3" long. you'l probably need to slide it back a little bit to disconnect it.

 

I'd try pushing it back in and booting the laptop again. Sometimes over the years thing just work their way out of their sockets and a wee shove is all they need.

 

Failing that a switch to a cheap SSD and a fresh install of Windows will probably make this a perfectly usable machine again.

No little flap, lots of screws and perhaps more importantly, no OEM Windows sticker - why on earth would a teenage girl leave something useful like that on it 

 

Think I'll go have a look at Youtube and see how adventurous I'm feeling.

 

Gaz

If you're not bothered about the personal data on it - Dell's normally have a restore partition to reload the Operating System. It's normally F8, give that a rattle as the system boots. 

 

Batteries aren't normally too expensive on ebay. 

 

It's got 3Gb of RAM by the looks, so if you want to do something different, try downloading Linux and putting it on. Mint is very user-friendly. http://linuxmint.com

Edited 28 August, 20187 yr by StevesTruck

You can try the restore partition indeed, but I recommend to make sure the hdd isn't defective. But you also can just give it a try and see...

 

This notebook isn't as easy as a HP or some other Dells unfortunately (which have the harddisk in a seperate compartment, or a cover which you can easily slide of). you have to remove all screws and lift the top cover (with keyboard) up to get access to the inside..

 

See youtube:

 

Its not a hard job, as long as you're carefull and pay good attention to all screws (and remember where they came from)

 

 

 

Looks like a full strip-down to get to the HD on that model

Edit. DJSmiley got there first lol

 

In for a penny (all screws present & correct):

 

 

Peek a boo.....

 

 

Out ya come.....

 

 

I was with Aspman until i saw which one it was.. stupid Dell changing the really easy access port!

I really wouldnt be surprised it just got a knock and dislodged the hdd.

Can get 2 1/2 external cradle to then make it a usb drive on another computer to check if it works once out, assuming the full seating check fails. If it doesnt work as an external its dead. If it does, then the laptop mount may be faulty.

 

I recommend get a sheet of paper, draw the layout of the underside on it and mark screw positions. Remove a screw and put it on your paper layout. Easy way of tracking them. Same on inside. Dell have a habit of using 17 different size screws when they could all easily be the same..

I was clearly typing while you were pulling it out

 

3 hours ago, Aspman said:

I'd try pushing it back in and booting the laptop again. Sometimes over the years thing just work their way out of their sockets and a wee shove is all they need.

 

Well I gave that a go, and now we're currently here.....

 

 

 

Well I never - fingers, toes and other things crossed 

 

Gaz

Edited 28 August, 20187 yr by V6TDI

...May be irrelevant but on the goggle-box yesterday, there was an advert running for a well known P.C. store, offering to part exchange old laptops for new ones. Might be a better upgrade in the long run!

Just a thought. Don't suppose the offer is gonna run and run, though!

 

I havd an old Dell Inspiron and had thought of it myself but mine is at least 12 years old.

I doubt if a repair will work. In my experience, if windows is f*cked that it needs such repair (without any hardware changes) its most of the time caused by a defective drive.

 

If you manage to get windows running (and get pass the password) I recommend running the WD Data Lifeguard diagnostics as described on https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=1083

 

You also can run this if you can connect the disk to another computer running a working Windows.

 

Another option is downloading a test CD (ISO) and burn it as a bootable disk or creating a bootable USB stick, re-install the drive in the notebook and run the test from there (eg http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ which includes the WD testing tool also)

 

Edited 28 August, 20187 yr by DJSmiley