IDE disc Read test fail

red sean wrote: »

Hi folks,
I've a Dell Dimension pc running on XP pro. When I tried to boot up it went into a blue screen. Tried everything with no change so I booted with the Dell diagnostics disc. When I got it to check the blue screen it came up with
IDE Disk _ Read Test Fail
Error code 0F00:0244
Msg: Block 6344754:
What does this mean and is it repairable?
Any help appreciated.

Sounds like its a dead hard disk, worth checking anyway download UltimateBootCD and burn it on a blank CD on a working machine. Boot off the CD as if installing Windows (Usually pressing [F12] while the Dell is starting to enter "Boot Menu" and selecting CD ROM drive source although on some machines you must enter bios and change Boot settings to CD-ROM First) with the UltimateBootDisk CD in the drive then choose HDD>Diagnostics>SeaTools For DOS latest version.
Seatools works well even for non Seagate drives. Do a short and long test. If either fail well then you need a new hard drive

Nick

red sean wrote: »

Thanks yoyo. Got it sorted with the Hirens boot cd.

I would still check the hard disk for errors jic, it may fail again shortly if the disk is broke!

Nick