Dell laptop latitude d520 wont bootup ,Disk error occured When I turn it on, it comes to a screen that says Dell in the middle, with F2 for setup or F12 for boot up. If I don't hit either button, the screen goes away after about 5 seconds and then says "Disk error occured, hit ctrl + alt + delete to restart."

Read the solution here: www.techspot.com/community/topics/title-dell-latitude-cs-series-protected-by-a-password-authentication-system.52599/

Have you tried an external monitor to see if the screen is faulty?
The fact that the DELL screen comes on shows that the bios is running. Try pressing F2 to get into the bios and reset to defaults.

It's asking you for a password to access the BIOS. You or someone entered a password to access the BOIS (setup screen). The original problem you're having is "Disk Read Error". If you have the CD's that came with your laptop, look for a Resource CD or any that has "Utilities and Diagnostics" under "Contents". This is a CD that you can boot from. Insert the CD and select <F12> on power on. Select boot from CD/DVD disk. If the laptop boots then your laptop is working but your hard disk drive or OS (Operating system software) is the problem.

Check your BIOS, by pressing F2 and see if the hard drive is recognized. It should indicate the MFR next to the hard drive listing. If it's not there, then you might have a bad hard drive. If it is there, try re-installing the operating system with the set-up disk. You can also go to the Dell website, enter you service tag number, and get technical support for your particular laptop. It might have a recovery partition in the hard drive to recover to factory settings.

Try Dell Support.

hit the f8 key while starting up and this will start up ur SAFE MODE,this will let you do changes on your system as ADMIN and shut down and restart.

or

let you start windows normally

Your hard drive is shot. It's time to either put in a new one, or take it to a repair shop.

press F2 to get into the dell bios and be sure the HDD is listed as first to boot, Then if restart turns the same error, press F10 and run the pre-boot system assesment check. if error 0141 appears, your HDD is failing and needs to be replaced

it sounds like you did the right thing, i would search google for "Dell D520 keyboard", you should find many places at different prices, if you havent bought from the site before, try reading some customer feedback, and also, the cheapest may not be the best, look for a good return policy and or warranty for the item. if this helps pleas give a fixya rating thanks

Your laptop hard drive is probably damaged from the fall. The reason why diagnostic test after memory fails is that it’s trying to load from the “Diagnostic Partition” which is located on your hard disk drive. You could try to remove and reseat the hard disk drive and see if that works, otherwise you’ll have to take the drive to a local computer repair shop to see if they can retrieve any data.




Your responses are intended to improve the level of service provided. Please show your appreciation by rating your experience.
Thank You.