BLUE SCREEN Need Help Please CONFIG_LIST_FAILED

A

amodoko

Member
Hi guys, need some help with my Dell Vostro 1500 laptop that is running XP (but it originally came with Vista several years back). First off, we've had this laptop for many years and ran it with Vista for 1 year, and XP for several years. A couple months ago, it gave the "blue screen of death" so I just reformatted it and reinstalled XP, drivers, etc. It worked fine for a few months, and now I got the blue screen again.

I just tried reformatting it again, and it won't let me reformat or repair it since it says no hard drive can be detected. I tried removing and reinstalling the hard drive physically, and still get the same issues. I'm guessing the hard drive has failed but I don't know enough about computers to confirm that.

Anyways, I don't need any of the data on it, so I don't have to worry about that. I'm more concerned about understanding what is going on. The main error it lists is "CONFIG_LIST_FAILED" and "STOP: 0x00000073." I'm fine with buying a new hard drive just so this doesn't happen again, but I want to know if that will even fix the problem.

So is my hard drive corrupt and I need to just buy a new one? Or am I doing something wrong with the reinstallation of Windows and drivers that is causing it to fail months later?

Thanks for any help in advance:)

And just as an added note, I have heard various reasons as to why "CONFIG_LIST_FAILED" comes up for some people. Some say it is due to hard drive failure, others say it is due to an improper/corrupt installation of drivers or the XP OS, and some specify it has to do with improper DELL MediaDirect 2.0 software installation.

I would like to figure out if anyone knows why this error comes up, or at least knows the most common reason this error occurs.
 
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I am leaning towards the hard drive dying as well, the only reason I was really doubting that is because apparently this dell laptop model has issues with a button on the laptop, that when pressed while in XP, can cause issues with the laptop since the software was somehow built into the BIOS or something (where it can't be deleted even if you get a new hard drive) and causes issues with the master boot record.

But I am leaning towards the hard drive dying as well.

To answer your question about the hard drive space... I do not believe the hard drive was full. This laptop is actually my parents' laptop but I have used it off and on over the years so I can't say for sure if the hard drive was full. But since my parents are not good with computers, I'm assuming they didn't download much at all in the few months it has been used since it was reformatted. The hard drive is 120GB which is more than enough for them I believe.

So you think I need to just get a new hard drive?
 
It will not let me boot in Safe Mode with or without Networking, it will try and then give me another blue screen of death. I ran diagnostics and it gives me error code 2000-0146, which seems to be a failing hard drive. Can someone confirm this?
 
After looking up the error code online, it seems to signify a failing hard drive usually. But then I went ahead and followed some online instructions I found for the error code which said to go into BIOS and see if the SATA drive was switched from ATA to ACHI. Mine was switched. It said to then switch it back. Which I did (but had to disable flash cache module first). Now the computer works. I can surf the internet, etc?

Can someone explain to me why it is working now and what caused this issue? Will the issue arise again or is this a permanent fix?
 
The best thing to do would be use the drive manufacturer's disk diagnostic utility to run a scan on the drive to make sure its ok. Yes, its possible to have issues when not running in the right mode... AHCI or IDE. Is it a Western Digital hard drive?
 
It's a Seagate drive. But do you know why the HD mode switched? It was running fine for a few months, and then one day it just had the BSOD. This Dell Vostro 1500 is a laptop that has, I believe, that notorious version of Dell MediaDirect software that has a button on the laptop that causes issues booting at times, could this be the reason... that the button was accidentally pressed?

If that's the case, I'll just manually disable the button with superglue or tape.

Is there any way to prevent it from switching HD modes on me again?

Oh, and luckily I have the diagnostics CD so I will try to run a check on the Hard drive. Thanks for that tip, much appreciated.
 
I doubt very seriously that the dell media direct software caused it to be switched.

Most likely you have a failing cmos battery that keeps the bios settings from going back to default. You most likely changed it to IDE to install XP as XP doesn't have any native AHCI drivers. All laptops that came out in the last 8 years or so are by default in ahci mode, some can't be changed.

I would suggest changing the cmos battery.
 
I would be happy to change the CMOS battery if you think that is the problem (but I was under the impression that my time clock in XP would be off to show a failing cmos battery, which at this time the clock in XP is accurate). But just as some added information, I don't know if this will help, but I am running the Diagnostics utility through the CD which Dell gave me and right now I am just checking the Hard drive and it has come up with multiple error messages of this code: 0F00 0244. And then it gives me the Msg block number (such as 1729385, etc). It gave me about 10 error messages so far (all the same error code but with a different block number) and I'm 29% through the Hard drive test so there may be more error codes when I'm done with the test. I'm going to try to run diagnostics on other areas of the laptop as well to see if I come up with any error codes.

Also, with the diagnostics utility, will it give me an error code in any section for a failing cmos battery?

With that said, do you still think it is a bad CMOS battery or a bad hard drive or both?

Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate it.
 
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I will do that as soon as I can, but was wondering why the Dell Diagnostics CD is not sufficient for extracting information on hard drive errors? Just curious.


PS, I got another error code with dell diagnostics on the same block numbers. This time it is error 0F00 1A44. Thanks again.
 
Okay, sounds good, thanks for the explanation. I will carry out the SeaTools Diagnostics as soon as I can and then will tell you what I find. Thanks so much
 
Okay, I'm currently running the SeaTools Diagnostics in Windows and am trying to go by each Basic test individually to see if it passes or not. Here are the results so far:

1) It failed the Short DST. It said that it was probably due to problem sectors which are difficult to read and that the drive had failed an important test. It then said it recommended using the DOS version of SeaTools which has the ability to repair most sectors and may save my drive. It also said I should backup my data.

2) It passed SMART check

3) It passed Short Generic

4) It failed Long Generic and gave the same reasoning as it did for the failure in Short DST

I am currently in the process of running the "Fix All Long" process to fix my bad sectors through windows and then I will run the tests again.

So what do you think I should do as my next step? Is the hard drive bad or is it fixable? Do I need a new hard drive? Or is it the CMOS battery? Or something else?

I once again must say I appreciate all your help thus far. Let me know what you think or if you need any further information from me to figure out what is wrong. I would really like to get to the bottom of this. Thanks again
 
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Replace the hard drive definately, you still may have to replace the cmos battery but wait and see.
 
Okay, got another question for you though. I ran the "Fix All Long" process that SeaTools has to fix hard drives last night. It passed that test. Then I ran the Short DST after running the process that fixes stuff on the hard drive, and now Short DST passes instead of failing. I am currently running Long Generic and it looks like it will pass too since it hasn't failed yet.

Does this mean the hard drive is fixed and will be reliable again? Or do I still need to get a new hard drive despite it passing all tests now?
 
If you are getting bad sectors then you will continue to get them. Seatools will mark them sectors as bad and will be unuseable. The drive may last a few more days to a few months before the drive is trashed with bad sectors. You can try using it for awhile but I would definately not put data on that drive that you don't want to risk losing.
 
Okay, thank you so much for that. I will definitely be replacing the hard drive then. I just have three last questions for you if you have a second.

1) So now that SeaTools has "fixed" my hard drive and it passes all tests, you're saying that the way SeaTools fixed it was by just marking the problem sectors as bad and to not use them... that's why it passes the tests now?

2) And you're saying this "fix" is just a temporary fix and the hard drive will fail shortly after because it is in its final phase of life and will acquire more bad sectors very quickly?

3) Once I get the new hard drive, what symptoms should I look for to determine if my CMOS battery is bad too?

Thanks again for all your help. I learned a lot through having you guide me through this process and I very much appreciate it. You are the man!
 
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1 and 2

Answer is yes.

3

If the cmos battery is bad then each time you turn the pc back on the date and time will revert back to January 2001 I think it is. I've seen some last 5-10 years but have seen some only last a couple years.

As far as signs of a drive failing...

1. Clicking noise from drive.
2. Loss of data.
3. Smart errors at the post screen.

There are many signs of a failing drive too numerous to list.
 
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