HELP! Worst ever PC Problem!

sneekymum

We work from home - not on this computer - on the other one.

This morning it woudn't switch on. It goes clickerty-clickerty-clickerty for about ten seconds then the message

"Operating System not found" appears on the screen. :mad:

I've tried vacuuming it. Warming it with the hairdrier. I've even tried talking in DOS (got 'O'Level Computer Studies in 1981).

I was thinking of shaking it a little :rolleyes:

Could it be a mechanical problem? Perhaps if I took the back off...

Any thoughts? (Please - there's a week's work stuck on there)

Should we phone someone - do people come out and mend computers? Does it cost lots?

Mr_Skint_2

Sounds very much like the Hard Drive is Dead,,,

You might be able to recover the data.

Toxteth_OGrady

Sounds like the master boot record on the bootable partition of your hard disk is corrupt.

Have you tried booting from a bootable floppy or CD. Google for Ultimate Boot CD. Download and burn the iso image to a CD and boot from that. It's got some excellent diagnostic utilities.

Also if you have XP you can boot from your installation CD and do a Windows Repair Installation.

Are your hard disks being detected in the bios? If not check your IDE cables.

:cool:

TOG

mitchtech

thats the sound of the heads crashing inside the hard disk.

hard drive has mechanicly failed.

Most IDE hard disks have little or poor thermal calibration wich is why you don't find them in mission critical systems like severs.

A hard drive cooler may have prelonged the life of it but its too late now.

Slim chance, and if you must must get data from it you can try it if you want to as you have nothing to lose..

take the hard disk out of the case, put in in your freezer for 1 hour inside a sealed plastic bag. If this works tho i doubt it ghost the drive immidiatley.

sneekymum

Toxteth_OGrady wrote:

Also if you have XP you can boot from your installation CD and do a Windows Repair Installation.

Just trying this now...

Got to System Restore/windows XP...

Option 1 is restore Windows XP -won't this wipe the memory?!
Option 2 is Boot to Comand Prompt from CD ROM - this gives A:\>
...... then what

Anyone know which option stands the best chance of recovering our data - or if its Option Two what do we type next?

Toxteth_OGrady

Follow this step-by-step guide.

However, based on your OP, it's possible that it may not find an operating system to repair. In which case you should follow the advice offered by michtech.

:cool:

TOG

sneekymum

Thanks - we went there - but it just isn't the same as on our PC.

It flashes "Warning" in red and states "ALL CONTENTS OF HARD DRIVE (C) WILL BE LOST" "**BACKUP YOUR FILES BEFORE PROCEEDING AND RESTART**"
Press any key to continue...

Its an E-Machine and the Windows Software is included on the E-Machines Startup disc. We don't have any separate Windows discs.

Browntoa

like the other poster said...a linux boot cd would help.....

I have some but I bet you are nowhere near me otherwise I'd help out

you can boot from this and see if you can access the hard disk

hawkwinddotcom

How about taking the HD out and putting it in another machine to work as a slave. Get your files transfered across to the decent one.

sneekymum

Browntoa wrote:

like the other poster said...a linux boot cd would help.....

I have some but I bet you are nowhere near me otherwise I'd help out

you can boot from this and see if you can access the hard disk

About 300miles...

I found this http://www.tux.org/pub/people/kent-robotti/looplinux/rip/
Looks like we could download some RIP - which one to choose though...

sneekymum

hawkwinddotcom wrote:

How about taking the HD out and putting it in another machine to work as a slave. Get your files transfered across to the decent one.

Might yet come to that - but I'm going to exhaust all the non-screwdriver methods first...