Vista (Re)Installation Issues

[sjv1988]

First time posting in this forum, so if I do anything I shouldn't, or don't do something I should have, let me know. Also, this may be more hardware-related, but since it's the software I want help with, it makes sense to post the problem here.

I'm trying to reinstall a copy of Vista onto a friend's laptop. It's a Dell Inspiron 1520, and as far as I'm aware, it has had no modifications to the hardware setup.

When I first received it, the owner told me that she tried to boot up one day and was faced with a message that wouldn't let her computer start up. I took a look, and yes, a message along the lines of "BOOTMGR NOT FOUND". I had a look on the internet for a solution, and the most obvious one was a rebuild of the Boot Manager, which I already had an inkling to do. I did that, but nothing changed, and the same message appeared.

I then tried to perform Startup Repair using the Vista disk provided by Dell. That proved useless, as the disk could not even identify the operating system. I tried to perform a System Recovery, but, even though the filing system (I copied the entire hard-drive contents using Puppy Linux to an external HDD) clearly had recovery states, the disk ensured me that no such saves existed.

At this point I tried to overwrite her current copy of Vista. This didn't work; instead I got a "Vista could not reinitialize the deployment engine" message. I tried fiddling with the ACPI settings and trying again, but still failure. I then completely emptied the hard drive, hoping that maybe the boot sector was damaged, and a fresh install would fix the problem. No, instead now I have a clean hard drive that I cannot install any OS to. Vista recognizes the hard drive but gives me the deployment message when I try to install anything. If I add the drivers from the Dell disk, it then tells me I have no hard drive at all. XP doesn't even recognize the hard drive, with or without the drivers.

I've read as a solution that you need to make an NTFS partition before you can install Vista. I've tried that, but no software, Vista or otherwise, can even create a partition. I waited two hours for Vista's default format system to check the space I wanted to partition for errors, and then it said "Build failed."

I'm at a loss here. Is there anybody who can tell me what is wrong? I don't believe it's hard drive failure, simply because I can still use it from Puppy Linux. I need a solution though.

[bailey]

when you first boot the laptop, press f11 at the first screen and it should do a factory reinstall of the orginal OS and place everything as it was set up at the factory, unless that recover partition has been removed, I belive all dell laptops has this feature built into the hard drive and it is a hidden partition.

[sjv1988]

Yeah, I tried that too. It told me that no recovery partition existed. Go figure.

Unfortunately, that partition is now gone, thanks to my clean wipe, so I can't retest it.

[bailey]

then I belive the hard drive is correupt and needs to be replaced.

[sjv1988]

Can you suggest a program to check the disk and confirm that?

[JohnMerlino]

Test it with a diagnostics utility from the manufacturer. For example, if it's a seagate, then there's a tool called seagate for windows which checks for hard drive failures.

[sjv1988]

Used the Dell diagnostic test disk, ran it through every single test I could find. No reported problems, but I *still* can't install Vista back on. I've also tried my own Vista disk, as well as 7RC, both of which I know work, but I still get "deployment message" errors. In a desperate attempt, I reset the BIOS, but it didn't do anything. I'm at a loss...

Please, help if you can, it would be greatly appreciated.