How to Fix DELL Diagnostic Error 2000-0142

When you hard drive is dying, you will get obvious symptoms like constant data corruption, freezing when copying or saving data, long start-up times, and constant repair screens during boot. However, you cannot tell for sure if the problem resides with the HDD unless you do a Pre-boot System Analysis (PSA). Dell computers allow a comprehensive PSA, also known as ePSA, which tests all the hardware on the system. These include memory tests, drive tests, fan tests, input devices tests and HDD tests among others. To run ePSA on dell, restart your PC and press F12 to get into the boot menu, and then select ‘diagnostics’. Following the mentioned symptoms, it is very alarming when users get a diagnostics error indicating a disk failure. This error bares the following information.

MSG: Error Code 2000-0142

MSG: Hard Drive 1 – Self Test Unsuccessful Status 79 or Msg: Hard Drive 0 – S/N WX51E43XWS20, short self test unsuccessful

The given code and message can be used by Dell Technical Support to help diagnose the problem. Do you want to continue testing?

This error will throw your PC into an endless loop on startup repair. So what does this error mean? And what are the solutions to it? This article will address this problem and give attempts to solving it.

Error 2000-0142

To put it simply, this error means that the ePSA could not successfully read information from the hard drive. By extension, your computer will not start, or will have trouble starting because retrieving information from the disk is not reliable. Windows will however attempt a system startup repair to no avail. Here are a few of the varied reasons that you might be bringing up this error message on your Dell computer:

If you get this error, it means your drive is dead, or it is dying and failure is imminent. It is paramount that you back-up your data pending complete failure. You can attempt reviving the disk with the first 2 methods below so that you can pull any important data off it. Remember that if the method works, you will need a hard drive replacement because 95% of the time, these hard drives cannot last beyond a week after this error.

Method 1: Perform a disk check in command prompt using a windows installation disk

The Master Boot Record holds information on the location of your OS, and kernel. This tells your computer from where to load the OS. In the case of a corrupt MBR, this method will attempt to recover any corrupt data. If it works for you, we recommend backing up your data to a new disk since the error you experienced indicates imminent disk failure. You will need a Windows disk (Win 7) for this method. You can find our guide on making a Windows 10 disk https://appuals. com/how-to-create-windows-10-bootable-usb-using-rufus/ or a Windows 7 disk https://appuals. com/create-windows-bootable-usb-or-dvd/.

Method 2: Reinstall Windows

This method will also correct any corrupt windows files, or any corrupt or missing MBR data. Go https://appuals. com/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/ for a guide on how to clean install Windows 10. If you prefer, you can install Windows 8 or Windows 7. In case this works for you, we recommend backing up your data since the error you experienced indicates imminent disk failure.

Method 3: Replace your Hard Drive Disk

If method 1 and 2 did not work in any way, then your disk has experienced permanent failure and will need replacement. Look into the SSD (Solid State Drives) instead of the HDD (Hard Disk Drive), to avoid this disappointment in the future. Since HDDs use spinning platters and moving heads, they are more prone to failure. This usually happens after 3 – 5 years of use.

If the system is under warranty, contact Dell support with the error and they’ll replace the drive. Your manufacturer warranty usually covers a failed HDD.

Method 4: Slave the erroneous hard disk and try to recover data

You can still try recovering your data if your disk failed method 1 and 2. There is no guarantee. You will need an external USB HDD converter for a few dollars (10$). You can also connect it as a secondary drive (not the primary that has the OS) to another computer. Desktop PCs usually provide extra cables for connecting another SATA drive. Use either method to try to read your disk. If it is only your MBR sector or Windows files that was corrupt, you will find that you can still be able to read your HDD and access your data.

Data experts can be able to retrieve your information by changing the read heads or taking your platter onto functioning read heads. Either way, this is a precision process that will cost you a lot of money, so make sure the data you are saving is worth the money.

Dell Error Code 2000 0142

Dell error code 2000-0142 is a specific error code that only occurs on Dell computers. Dell’s pre-startup assessment (PSA) tool will diagnose this error once startup fails. The error itself is a hard drive error code which could be the hard disk drive itself, the HDD cable, or connector on the motherboard.

How to fix Error code 2000-0142 in Dell diagnostics?

Some of the common fixes include:

Please see our in-depth walk-through solutions below.

Solution 1. Claim warranty on the computer

Dell diagnostics PSA error code 2000-0142 may be due to a failing hard disk drive or related components such as hard drive cable and SATA port. If your computer is still under warranty, Dell support will automatically accept your system for repair or replacement. If out of warranty, see the other solutions below.

Solution 2. Test Hard disk drive and related components

Dell error code 2000-0142 may be due to a failing hard disk drive or related components such as hard drive cable and SATA port. If your Dell computer is out of warranty, try reconnecting the hard disk drive. Then, do a hard disk disk diagnostic self test. If the error still appears, use a different SATA cable and SATA port. If the error still persists, your hard drive might be faulty.

If you have a Dell laptop, remove the hard disk drive and test it again on a Desktop computer.

The hard disk drive can be easily bought from a computer shop. To make sure that you would buy a compatible hard drive, use the defective hard drive as a sample. Or bring your computer to the computer shop to make sure of the compatibility.

The next process is to install your operating system. See the solution below on how to install Windows.

Solution 3. Install Windows

If your hard disk drive (HDD) is found defective resulting in “Error code 200-0142” in Dell diagnostics and the HDD is replaced, you need to install Windows. See the steps below.

HOW TO FIX DELL HARD DRIVE ERROR 2000-0142?

Causes and Fixes for Dell Hard Drive “Error Code 2000-0142”

This error is one of the Dell PCs’ diagnostics errors. Like other manufacturers, Dell has its own diagnostics error codes which indicate corresponding issues with your Dell PC.

Stellar ® Data Recovery offers a complete range of data recovery option to recover deleted data according to different data loss scenarios. Choose the most preferable data recovery option as per your need.

When you do a Pre-boot System Analysis (PSA) on your Dell PC, the output may show a message “error code 2000-0142”. The complete error message looks something like this:

Let’s see what are the causes of this error message and what does it signify.

Causes of Dell Hard Drive diagnostics error 2000:0142?

The Dell system’s PSA diagnostics returns the code 2000:0142 if:

[CAUTION]: If the reason for the error 0142 is physical damages to drive—burnt, water damaged, broken/damaged components, etc.—you should consider contacting a Professional Data Recovery Service Provider.

As the drives are delicate, playing around with a damaged hard drive might worsen the situation and lead to permanent data loss.

This signifies that unless the cause of this error is SATA connectivity issue, the error indicates that your drive might have failed or its failure is imminent. Hence, merely fixing the error shouldn’t be the target, as it might be a temporary fix and might result in a complete failure of the drive.

It’s the data which is important than the probably dead or dying drive. Therefore, we must try to recover the data in the first place by getting rid of the error.

So the first step should be towards identifying if:

To do this, we should check the SATA cable connectivity.

Make sure that the SATA cable that connects the hard drive to motherboard is intact. If yes, replace it with another working SATA cable, and see if it fixes the error.

If doing so doesn’t fix the error 0142, your drive might have crashed or it’s about to crash.

In such a case, the next course of action must be aimed at recovering the data from the affected drive.

Typically, this error doesn’t allow to boot Windows. When this happens, Windows tries to do a system startup repair but fails to do so, throwing your PC into an endless loop. But because you can’t access your data, how will you take the backup?

Let’s see how you can try to fix the Dell hard drive error 2000:0142, or at least workaround to get rid of the error to recover the data.

Fix or Get Rid of the Dell Hard Drive Error 2000-0142 to Recover Data

The methods mentioned here may temporarily fix the Diagnostics error 2000:0142, or act as a workaround to access the data. But considering the implications of this error, you must backup/recover the data, if you’re able to access the data following the below-mentioned methods.

Note: The methods would involve forcing the probably crashed or crashing disk to extract data. The failed attempts reduce the chances of recovery, resulting in permanent data loss. Contacting a data recovery expert in the first place in such cases is recommended to maximize the chances of data recovery.

1. Connect the hard drive to another computer

[CAUTION]: If while doing so, the system couldn’t detect the drive, you must reach out to a Professional Data Recovery Service Provider so as to prevent permanent data loss.

2. Use Windows installation media to run CHKDSK command

MBR holds information about the location of the installed OS. When MBR gets corrupt, the system fails to find the installed OS, resulting in the diagnostics error 2000:0142.
You can use CHKDSK command—a windows inbuilt utility—to fix MBR corruption and hence the diagnostics error 2000:0142. It also helps in reading data from bad sectors. But because this error won’t allow you to boot to Windows, you’d need a Windows installation media to run the CHKDSK command. Let’s try to fix this error by using Windows installation media, and running the CHKDSK command: