how to fix dst short test on a laptop

Replace the hard drive?

First, boot from the Windows CD and press R at the repair Windows screen. When you are prompted for the Administrator password just hit enter. It has no password. Type chkdsk /r at the command prompt and press enter. It will scan your hard drive for errors. Pay attention to the errors that it tries or fixes. Type exit when it's done to reboot. Boot from the hard disk and when it comes back up, click Start > Run > eventvwr.msc > Press enter or OK > Go to Application, Type: Information, Source: Winlogon. Paste and copy to your next post.

From http://www.ehow.com/info_12133492_laptop-dst-short-test.html.

DST Short Test Failed

• If a DST Short Test fails on your computer, and you receive an error message or log entry that reflects the failure, this is likely caused by a failing hard drive. However, certain software will also cause the DST Short Test to fail. McAfee and other anti-virus programs may cause the DST Short Test Failure error to generate. Other corrupted applications may also throw the error. Re-install the anti-virus program, or return your computer to an earlier point in time with System Restore.

More: DST short status test failure - Disk Drives (HDD, CD/DVD, Blu-ray) Forum - Disk Drives - Dell Community

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This answer might not be much help now to Fawn, however anyone else in trouble might find relief in testing the hard disk in another CPU. This not only prevents you from replacing the drive for no reason, but it will conclusively identify your hardware or software issue. If your hard disk is there, but the DST short test results in a failure, you might be experiencing driver issues and this can happen almost inevitably by downgrading your systems OS, or after a fresh install, not installing drivers in their correct order (or in Fawns case, a few just weren't installed at all). As a result of a bad reinstall, you might have created one too many partitions in which case the PC doesn't know what to boot.

What I reccomend you try is using the hard drive you have in another Computer. Test your disk with any Live CD with the capability. Delete all partitions that have data in it if you're able to see your Disk. Reinstall whatever OS you desire (this can be done with official Windows, recovery disk, .IMG/.ISO and I suggest you try the latter and mount it on a USB using bootable USB software), but remember that your drivers are apart of your installation process and generally all of them need to be enabled for optimal system stability.

DST short tests do not determine whether you need to replace your Hard Drive, their error codes do. Please do not just throw out your hard drive because of a test.

Question what oh it does not respond to a cd? Or even respond to fixing anything? My computer just shut down and I have to its the esc button in order to do anything. But I'm still not able to perform any task but a chkdsk /f then a chkdsk /r which then tells me that not enough space for bad clusters. So what to do then. Anyone? Sorry for posting on ur stuff didn't really know how else to post.

Toni

I had to reinstall win XP on my laptop. It went all the through but didn't put the drivers for a few of the controllers. So i did a dianostic and found that the DST short test failed. Anyone know what I can do to fix this problem?I have a LATITUDE/D600 DELL laptop. I would like to get this fixed by next monday 8/05/2013 thank you very much

Hi FawnFerrin

What issues were you experiencing that led you to decide to reinstall the operating system?

Failing a DST short test could mean that your hard drive is failing. It could also mean that the device drivers were not installed in the correct order after you reinstalled the operating system.

First and most important step at this point is to try to backup your important personal files to an external drive just to be safe.

When all you files are safely backed up, You can try reinstalling the OS again, then follow the driver installation order linked below.

 Dell requires that, after a reinstall of the OS, device drivers be installed in a particular order for the system to work correctly.

Dell driver installation order.

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/downloads/en/driver_install_order?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~lt=print&DoNotRedirect=y

Drivers installation help.

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/help

You can scan for and obtain the correct drivers for your system, using your service tag.

http://support.dell.com/support/index.aspx

When finished, rerun the Dell DST Short test to see if it passes. If the rerun results in another failure, then I suggest  replacing the hard drive.

Good luck.

hi there,

A few files were corrupt so i thought i would uninstall my windows XP and then Reinstall it. When i did i saw that files like the ethernet controller's drivers were not installed so i can't go online. and the sound card drivers were not there also  so that is why i did the test to see what is wrong and then i saw the DST short test failed. But all the others in the test passed. thank you very much for all help. Is there a way to fix the DST short test with out geting a new hard drive?