# Dell Inspiron 1545 startup fail.



## Kelly6277 (May 3, 2011)

I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 and when I it on it goes to the 'Windows has failed to start' screen. It gives me two options - 'Launch Startup Repair' and 'Start Windows Normally'. 

If I try to launch Startup Repair, the screen turns black for a second and goes back to the 'Windows has failed to start' screen.
If I start Windows normally, it tries to boot and just ends up getting the 'Windows has failed to start' screen again.
And if I press F8 as it starts, it goes to the screen where I can choose to boot in Safe Mode or the last known good configuration. Problem is, when I try to boot in safe mode, I get a blue screen and then it restarts. Last known good configuration doesn't work, either.
So, any ideas on how to fix this?:4-dontkno
My laptop is just over a year old and shouldn't be doing this, please help as it is very important to me.


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

and welcome to the Forum

If the laptop is still under warranty, I would talk to Dell.

Otherwise I would run diagnostics on the hard drive 

Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.

See this for how to make a bootable cd:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f149/how-to-burn-a-bootable-iso-file-341778.html

If the drive checks out ok, Probably worth testing your memory . . click on the link to Memtest in my signature . . let it run on one stick at a time overnite or until it starts reporting errors


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## Kelly6277 (May 3, 2011)

I'm running the diagnostics option in the boot menu now.....is that what you mean?


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## Myg0t (Apr 25, 2011)

Is your computer running vista or windows 7? There should be a recovery partition to run a repair install of the operating system.

Normally you get into it by pressing f8. Can you list the options that come up when pressing f8?


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## Kelly6277 (May 3, 2011)

Windows 7.....the repair options on f8 don't work and i end up back at the 'Windows has failed to start' screen. The diagnostics test are running now so i can't list the options...I know some of them were boot in Safe Mode, Debugging or the last known good configuration. I tried those three and they didn't work. It's doing memory tests now and won't be finished for 30 minutes.


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

Kelly6277 said:


> I'm running the diagnostics option in the boot menu now.....is that what you mean?


That is good for starters, but I prefer running the drive specific diagnostics


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## Myg0t (Apr 25, 2011)

Alright, do you have your files backed up to an external source? Like an ext. Hard-drive?

It may turn out that your restore partition has corrupted, and if that's the case you'll need to order a restore disc from dell if they didn't package one with the computer.

Just to reiterate, this is if it turns out your hardware is fine.

Myg0t


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## Kelly6277 (May 3, 2011)

No I don't have them backed up. I'm not sure if they packaged one with the computer.


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## BieberFever101 (May 3, 2011)

Did you try turning your computer off and turning it back on again ? That just might help...


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## Kelly6277 (May 3, 2011)

Old Rich said:


> That is good for starters, but I prefer running the drive specific diagnostics


I'm doing that now. At the rate it's going this might take a while.


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

I can take a while, but it is worth the time


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## Kelly6277 (May 3, 2011)

It was running one of the test and it came up error coed 0f00:0244 can't read, replace disk.....what does this mean?


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

Which diagnostic? Is this laptop still under warranty?


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## Kelly6277 (May 3, 2011)

I'm not sure i got it about 17 months ago.


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

I would contact Dell before doing much else


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## Kelly6277 (May 3, 2011)

So should I stop running diagnostics?


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

Which diagnostic are you running? . . I thought you got an error


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