# DST Error 0146



## JeepCreap (Apr 25, 2009)

Have a Dell Inspiron 1501 which has ran decently for a while. However, a few days ago it started blue screening before windows could even load. I ran a diagnostic scan and it gave me a hard drive DST Short test error code 0146. I'm thinking I'm going to have to go in and re format the drive, but I was wondering if there was a tool that I could use to recover some of the data that I have not had a chance to back up yet. Or if there was a way to get into windows and fix the error w/o having to completely whipe my HDD? Anyone have any ideas?


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## N Raj (Apr 14, 2009)

Well DST means "Drive Self Test" which indicates that your HDD is failing. have you dropped your laptop by accident recently? If so, open it up and see if any of the cables are loose.

Do you still have your original Windows OS Disc? If you do then you could try booting the 
recovery console and run chkdsk /r

Hopefully you can get windows to boot, and you can backup your data


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## N Raj (Apr 14, 2009)

If that does not help, a quick search found this

ALWAYS CHECK THE WARRANTY BEFORE DOING IT YOURSELF
If this is a Dell computer , it indicates a hard drive failure. if so here is the solution:
Look at the bios and see if the hard drive is detected.
To get to the BIOS, when you turn on the system, you will be confronted with a black screen with the dell symbol in the middle, if you look at the top left of the screen, you should see something like
Press F2 for boot options
Press F12 for setup
Keep tapping the F2 or F12 key for boot options. this will take you into the BIOS.
Check also that it says enabled
Next see if you can boot the dell diagnostics partition. {F12}, then select diagnostics, once you have the diagnostics available run the memory tests and the hard drive test.
you should get a report when it finishes looking something like this:
DST Short Test: Failed
Error Code: 1000-0146
Msg: Unit 2 : DST LOC Contains previous error(s)

READ TEST:
0F00: 0244
MSG Block: 57301297

VERIFY TEST:
0F00:1A44
MSG Block: 57301297
if there are more than two errors ide suggest a new hard drive. BUT TO SAVE YOUR DATA BEFORE ------>Do you have anything important? if you do, you will need to do a repair install of XP and get your files before the hard drive fails completely. Use the service tag to obtain full specs of the computer at dells website. This hard drive has previous errors, and has generated new ones. It looks like it is getting ready to fail. You may be able to use a xp disk to perform an operating system repair, the dell operating system CD will do this also. Here is a link: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm If you follow the directions exactly, you will not lose any files. Please continue to post about this issue, and operate this computer as little as possible.

source


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## JeepCreap (Apr 25, 2009)

Thanks for the advice. I took and did a repare with the Dell OS disc and was able to get windows to running again. However, it's still acting a little goofy. Atleast I am now ablew to back up my data, then I plan on just completely reformatting the HDD. Mite run a registry mech. as well just to clean that up a bit. 
Again, I appreciate the assistance.


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