Reinstalled Vista—Windows Explorer not responding (and other problems)

[earguy]

I've been battling with this Dell Inspiron 3520 for a few days now. I finally gave up and reinstalled the OS that came with the unit (Vista Home Basic). However, I cannot get online. I ping 127.0.0.1 and all is well. However, pinging 8.8.8.8 and all packets are lost. Device manager says the drivers for the Ethernet adapter are not installed. Also, I get an error message stating that "Windows explorer has stopped working". It gives the same message when I boot into Safe Mode.

Yet a newbie, I suppose, I was under the impression that reinstalling the OS would reinstall all necessary files. I went to Dell's website on another computer and downloaded the drivers for the adapter but when I try to install the driver I get an error message:

"error 1719. Windows Installer service could not be accessed. Contact your support personnel to verify that it is properly registered and enabled."

Even though this is a reinstall, is it not properly installed and enabled as a result of not having access to the Internet for it to register itself? How do I properly register and enable it? Sorry for being so darn stupid, but I have had little trouble in the past with simply reloading an operating system and starting basically from scratch. This machine from hell has taken a large amount of my time the past few days. Should I just eat the time I have in it and give it back to my client with my condolences. I did back up all his data files so he has lost nothing more than the few programs he had installed. I'd sure like to fix this thing.

 

[FremontPC]

If it came with Vista, I'm going to be wondering about the condition of the hard drive.

go to http://sourceforge.jp/projects/crystaldiskinfo/ and look for the line that says "Windows CrystalDiskInfo6_3_2.zip (Date: 2015-04-01, Size: 2.8 MB)". Part of that line is colored blue. That's the link you will click on to download Crystal Disk Info.

Unzip it and run Diskinfo. What does it have to say about the drive?

Have you checked to see that the RAM is seated?

Did you reinstall from DVD or from the Restore partition on the hard drive?

 

[Markverhyden]

If this is the same machine you were asking about before are you using a new drive?

 

[earguy]

If it came with Vista, I'm going to be wondering about the condition of the hard drive.

go to http://sourceforge.jp/projects/crystaldiskinfo/ and look for the line that says "Windows CrystalDiskInfo6_3_2.zip (Date: 2015-04-01, Size: 2.8 MB)". Part of that line is colored blue. That's the link you will click on to download Crystal Disk Info.

Unzip it and run Diskinfo. What does it have to say about the drive?

Have you checked to see that the RAM is seated?

Did you reinstall from DVD or from the Restore partition on the hard drive?

RAM is seated and I reinstalled from DVD.

 

[earguy]

If this is the same machine you were asking about before are you using a new drive?

It is the same machine. When you suggest a new drive do you actually mean new or do you mean a different one? If new, my client doesn't want the expense, and I know they are certainly cheap enough. Otherwise, I have some HDDs around hear I know are good. If that will work, then I will try it. A question I have is that I ran SeaTools short and long tests and the hard drive passed both. Does this mean anything? Would the test reveal a corrupted or physically damaged HDD? In any event, if one of the HDDs around hear will work, then I will do that straight way.

 

[FremontPC]

What did Crystal Disk Info say?

 

[Markverhyden]

It is the same machine. When you suggest a new drive do you actually mean new or do you mean a different one? If new, my client doesn't want the expense, and I know they are certainly cheap enough. Otherwise, I have some HDDs around hear I know are good. If that will work, then I will try it. A question I have is that I ran SeaTools short and long tests and the hard drive passed both. Does this mean anything? Would the test reveal a corrupted or physically damaged HDD? In any event, if one of the HDDs around hear will work, then I will do that straight way.

Sorry, should have been more clear. Should have said different, known good HD. And realize that the ODD could also be causing a problem. Do you have a USB one to try?

 

[earguy]

Sorry, should have been more clear. Should have said different, known good HD. And realize that the ODD could also be causing a problem. Do you have a USB one to try?

USB one? Are you referring to an external HD? I know you have to be scratching your head at me about now.

 

[FremontPC]

He was talking about an external DVD drive.

"A question I have is that I ran SeaTools short and long tests and the hard drive passed both. Does this mean anything? "

I generally go straight to Crystal Disk Info first, as it reads the SMART record built into the drive. It's usually the first thing I do with a PC. If CDI tells you the drive has problems, then you need to read the report and see what it's complaining about. Reallocated Sectors, Sectors Pending Reallocation, that sort of thing. It means you might not be able to depend on the HDD to keep whatever you're installing on it. That's always a good thing to know before you start putting time into a repair.

 

[earguy]

What did Crystal Disk Info say?

I haven't done it yet as I am currently installing a different HD and attempting to install Vista on it. If this does not work, or even if it does, I will run Crystal Disk. And thank you for your help.

 

[earguy]

I tried installing to a different HD and received a BSOD stop code of 0x0000000A. When I tried restarting the process I get an error saying that BOOTMGR is missing. I am attempting an install for the third time.

 

[Markverhyden]

Then my next step would be a different OD.

 

[earguy]

Vista isn't installing. May be a bad HD. The message is saying — Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.Status is 0xc0000221.

 

[earguy]

Then my next step would be a different OD.

Unfortunately, I don't have an extra one around to install. I'm thinking of calling it quits at this point. Thanks a million for all your help.

 

[earguy]

I tried repair one last time. It couldn't repair the problem. It's finished. I will instruct my client to get a new (or refurbed) computer. Again, thanks everyone for your help.

 

[Markverhyden]

At the end of the day it an old Dell with Vista. The only thing worse than that was ME.

 

[earguy]

At the end of the day it an old Dell with Vista. The only thing worse than that was ME.

TO BE SURE.