PC help please

Mr_BOOMBASTIC

Hi,

My computer decided it was time to die over the Christmas break as it would not load to the desk top it just kept on looping. So i took to my local pc repair shop where the owner managed had a look and told me the hard drive had a corrupted file and was knackered but he did manage to retrieve my main file from the hard drive that has all my work on.

My question is this: as i didn't get any Windows XP discs with the PC when i bought it from Comet as it was all installed, is the operating system stored on the knackered hard drive or is it stored somewhere else on the PC, so can i just buy another hard drive and install it switch it on...will this work i am not very computer literate so excuse my ignorance.

If it's not as easy as mentioned above could someone tell me the best way to get my PC up and running.


Thanks

OneADay

If you have the restore CD for XP, then you can restore a fresh copy of xp onto the new hard disk.

That copy you install may activate properly with microsoft or it may not. If it fails to then follow the on screen instructions which will prompt you to call microsoft. You should be able to explain the situation if you get put through a human.

Mind you can only do a certain number of restores with one CD before microsoft will refuse to reactivate it completely.

Browntoa

its on the corrupt hard drive I'm afraid , the new drive would be blank.


If you can get hold of a copy of XP then it could be installed on the new drive as you have a valid Xp sticker on the side of the PC , all it willl need is a call to Microsoft to get it validated

edit:- snap, took too long typing

busenbust

is the operating system stored on the knackered hard drive or is it stored somewhere else on the PC, so can i just buy another hard drive and install it switch it on...will this work i am not very computer literate so excuse my ignorance.

The OS is stored on the hard drive. So, if the hard drive is indeed knackered and you purchase a new hard drive then that HD will empty of an OS. Are you absolutely sure you have no XP discs?

If you can get hold of a copy of XP then it could be installed on the new drive as you have a valid Xp sticker on the side of the PC , all it willl need is a call to Microsoft to get it validated

^And ditto what Browntoa said. :cool:

HTH

JasX

If you find out which brand hard disk you have (eg Seagate, Maxtor, Hitachi, Western Digital) you'll be able to download the appropriate vendors low level tools for testing how knackered your drive actually is and repairing it (by masking bad sectors out of use).

Not havign install disks is less of a problem so long as you have your Microsoft product key (should be on a sticker on the machine).

with the key you can re-install off any OEM set of disks and download drivers for all your hardware from the PC manufacturers site (eg dell, hp etc)

other options after repairing your HD include trying to repair your OS install (requires disks)

or relaod/repair from an image/set of install files stored on the hard disk (if present -likely if the computer came with no disks as all manufacturers will provide some means to restore/reinstall the original setup -is risky if parts of the hard disk were corrupt to begin with but you've not got much to lose)

Do you have backups of any data/documents/photos that were on the disk you might need to keep?

OneADay

Oops sorry - misread (as usual) thought OP had a restore cd when I replied before.

totalsolutions

The drive is not "knackered". If a file is missing or corrupted then its easy to restore that file. There are drive maintenance / recovery programs available to help.
Do you mean the desktop or Windows splash screen is looping?

Mr_BOOMBASTIC

totalsolutions wrote: »

The drive is not "knackered". If a file is missing or corrupted then its easy to restore that file. There are drive maintenance / recovery programs available to help.
Do you mean the desktop or Windows splash screen is looping?

Hi This was the message i was getting. about 10 seconds after pushing the on button

---

We apologize for the inconvienience, but windows did not intall start successfully. A recent hardware or sofware change might have caused this.

If your computer stopped responding, restarted unexpectedly, or was automatically shut down to protect your files and folders, choose last known good configuration to revert to the most recent settings that worked.

If a previous startup attemp was iterrupted due to a power failure or because the power or reset button was pressed, or if you are'nt sure what caused the problem, choose start windows normally.

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with networking
Safe Mode with comand promt

Last known good configuration (your most recent settings that worked)

Stasrt windows normally
Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlighted to your choice.
Seconds until windows starts: 29

---

If left the seconds would count away it would start to load then computer would powerdown and restart untill it reached the same screen again stuck in a loop.

I did try the SAFE MODE options also but the same thing happened.

I bought a usb caddy from maplins to check the Hard drive on my other PC but it just said the disc was corrupted.

Thanks

JasX

Mr_BOOMBASTIC wrote: »

I bought a usb caddy from maplins to check the Hard drive on my other PC but it just said the disc was corrupted.

Thanks

look at the label on the disk to work out who made it and download their (free) diagnostic tools.

You should end up with a boot disk (or CD but disk is better) to boot your bad PC from (with bad hard disk present connected via its normal SATA or IDE connection -ie not in a USB caddy)

you'll then be able to analyse and attempt a repair of your hard disk

Mr_BOOMBASTIC

The hard drive is a Seagate.

Do i just go to the Seagate website to find the free diagnostic tools and download onto CD.

How do i then boot the PC with the knackered hard drive to run the CD with diagonstic software if the PC wont boot up.

Thanks

JasX

Mr_BOOMBASTIC wrote: »

The hard drive is a Seagate.

Do i just go to the Seagate website to find the free diagnostic tools and download onto CD.

yes, go to www.seagate.com and you are looking for "Seatools" in the downloads section (DOS version)

Mr_BOOMBASTIC wrote: »

How do i then boot the PC with the knackered hard drive to run the CD with diagonstic software if the PC wont boot up.

You boot from the CD, its designed to run even on machines with trashed/blank hard disks, blurb pasted below:

Seagate wrote:

SeaTools for DOS
SeaTools for DOS has replaced SeaTools Desktop and PowerMax. SeaTools for DOS can test Seagate or Maxtor Parallel ATA (PATA and IDE) and Serial ATA (SATA) interface disc drives. Because the software boots to its own operating system you can test your drive regardless of the OS installed on it. You can even test a new or completely blank drive. SeaTools for DOS will instruct the drive to run its built-in Drive Self Test (DST) and give either a pass or fail status. If you are troubleshooting your disc drive and the DST passes, then you have a good drive!

Mr_BOOMBASTIC wrote: »

Thanks

np, The button is at the bottom of any posts you've found useful