[Keeta]

Long story short, my grandkids were playing a store bought computer game on their computer that is apparently not Vista compatible. This caused their computer to crash and after about 6 hours of repair and restoring, we finally got it back and all seemed fine. After the second time of this occurring, we decided to uninstall the game to prevent future problems and everything froze up. Rebooted the system and now it is worse than before.

When we were repairing the first time we ran the diagnostics and everything passed without a problem. Now it says there is a problem and we need to update the firmware (error code 0F00:075D and 0F00:0248). But when we try to run the update (off a USB drive), we get a "missing operating system" message, possibly brcause we cannot get to the operating system. We cannot get past the loading of the drivers for safemode, the little green bar in repair, or a black screen with an active cursor after the "LOADING WINDOWS FILES", from the reinstallation disc. Also, occasionally it does not recognize the hard drive, but after a cold boot it is back.

Suggestions?

[shreader]

You might try using a retore point from before the game was installed if you haven't already.

Start menu/ All Programs/ Accessories/ System Tools/ System Restore (path in Windows 7).

[Keeta]

If I could get into Windows to do this, I would probably be able to fix the problem. But as I said, it will not boot up. Get as far as starting to go into Windows and it hangs. Or if I try Safe-Mode, it will load the drivers and hang for a while. Eventually it reboots itself from that point and usually when this happens, it will no longer recognize the hard drive. So I do a cold boot and the hard drive is back again, but still will not load Windows.

Any other suggestions?:

[yeshuas]

What kind of computer is it, be as specific as possible, Brand, model number, etc. you may have a partition to restore to factory default or you may be able to use your install disk to restore it to factory

[Keeta]

Sorry about not including this information to start with. Frustration has set in...

The computer is a Dell Inspiron 518, it has an Intel Pentium Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHZ processor and is factory installed as 64 BIt. It is about 2 1/2 years old

I cannot get the reinstallation disk that came with it new to run after it is done loading the Windows files, except on the rare occasion. And when it does make it all the way through, it usually does not recognize the hard drive and I will have to cold boot to bring it back. At this point the disk usually will freeze again. When it does make it all the way to the screen with choices to make, I am never quite sure which one is the best choice at that time because if it does not work, I will not be able to get back in again most likely.

I can get into Command Prompt, which is where I have it right now, being afraid to try to do something and not be able to get back in for a while...LOL

[yeshuas]

it could be a number of things, cables could have gotten loose, the BIOS could could have gotten changed, hard drives MBR could be corrupt, install disk, or the eye on DVD/CD drive could be dirty.
I would start with trying to fix what you feel comfortable fixing, e.g. make sure cables connected to HD and optical drive are making a good connection, clean disk etc

[Keeta]

I tried all of these ideas yesterday before coming here for help. Have tried to get into Safe -Mode without success. The boot order has been checked and changed when necessary. Disk is clean.

In Command Prompt I can see the CD and all the files so it must be reading. Also, can see the RAMdrive, and external drive but at the moment it looks like the Main Drive is not being recognized again. Funny that when I reboot and go to setup, the hard drive is there. But if I boot from the CD and go into command prompt, it does not show the hard drive, only the external, DVD and RAM drives.

Other than just stumbling around with the bit of knowledge I do have and apparently eventually going out and buyiing a new hard drive to install, are there any suggestions other than replacing the drive?

[yeshuas]

the ram drives may be causing your problem