I used the wrong recovery disk! help please!

tomsolomon

Can you get back o the recovery options?

pinkpinkfizz

Sorry I have to go offline. My daughter needs settling down. I'll check on here first thing tomorrow for any further advice.

Thanks to all for help, very interesting to read your comments, it helps me to try and understand the thinking process of how the problem might be resolved , does that make sense? I hope it does

Donnie

Ten years old with Vista recovery discs?? That doesn't sound right. Maybe we can have the full model number.

tronator

tomsolomon wrote: »

Judging by your previous post, and the fact that you tried to install Win98 over the top of Vista via a floppy disk, and it's not finding anything when you boot I would probably say your HDD has failed. Probably because it was failing and you ran chkdsk so many times while it was failing you probably totally killed it, when you should have been copying your files and photos onto an external drive instead of following advice from some of the wannabe's on here. Any way, go to Ebuyer but an new HDD reinstall your OS and away you go, you might be lucky and plug your old HDD into another machine as a slave and recover some of your data.... might...;-)

Since when is every BSOD a sign for a failing hard disk? A blue screen might be a common problem in Windows, but in most cases it has another reason.

And when it "halts looking for something to boot" it could be the floppy disk being faulty or she forgot to put in the Windows98 CD...

Donnie

tomsolomon wrote: »

BSOD with disk errors would indicate the HDD was failing. The fact that the drive was failing the OP installed 98 over the top and cant even boot the PC now suggests that the HDD has totally failed during the process, but without looking at it who could say? My money is on failed HDD though.

IDE is a standard not a type of drive....
It stands for integrated drive electronics, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA

I'm a bit concerned that you are calling people 'wannabees' and then going on to suggest that she installed Windows 98 over the top of Vista with a floppy disc.

Of course the Windows 98 floppy disc installs the basic drivers to enable the machine to install via a CD drive.
So there is no way that she has installed Windows 98.

The way to go is to do a clean install with XP. If there is a problem with the HDD, she can then decide if she wants to purchase a new one.

tomsolomon

Read the thread, not just this one but the other one linked above.
I'm pretty damn sure I'm not the only one misled by the contents of the OP's ramblings.

pinkpinkfizz wrote: »

Hi,

I can't believe I've been so stupid! :doh: My old packard bell pc had crashed big time previous thread here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2584405 I momentarily saw something about "installing windows 98" but ignored it however when the recovery didn't work.. it halts looking for something to boot..

So who's the wannabe???

pinkpinkfizz wrote: »

Today on booting it is stuck loading and gets to first windows logo then flashes blue screen, (white writing about 1/2 page worth) but so quick that it can't be read, goes back to loading again. I have tried to run safe mode but although I can select the option it simply doesn't do it.

I ran a chkdsk and it found errors, which I then told it to repair. Still doing the same crashing loop. I had to hold down the power button to get it to quit and shut down.

thanks in advance,
Donna

It's not my fault you're unable to read between the lines, or read the lines for that matter.....:D

Donnie

tomsolomon wrote: »

Read the thread, not just this one but the other one linked above.
I'm pretty damn sure I'm not the only one misled by the contents of the OP's ramblings.



So who's the wannabe???



It's not my fault you're unable to read between the lines, or read the lines for that matter.....:D

No need to send me a private message, unless there is something private to be discussed. My inbox is quite full.

As to the wannabe....I already took a look at her other thread before posting and was wondering which kind of spider bit her.

But that doesn't detract from your frankly ridiculous conclusion.

Of course I could read it, I highlighted it so that you could read it back to yourself. You know it's nonsense., in terms of English language as well as technical.

This is a technical forum, so you need to be especially careful of what you write.

Here it is again

The fact that the drive was failing the OP installed 98 over the top...

and

and the fact that you tried to install Win98 over the top of Vista via a floppy disk,

Are these facts?

Anyway, I'm not sure how a ten year old machine will have Vista Restore discs.

This whole thread has gone a little pear shaped.

Still waiting for the model number.


No PMs please. Quite happy to discuss all here.

tomsolomon

Just a little friendly advice....;)

I'm not the one who's confused........
It's very clear and concise, if you still don't understand it then maybe you shouldn't be handing out advice about something you clearly don't understand yourself...........:money:

kwikbreaks

To be perfectly honest though a ten year old PC doesn't need a HDD at all - there's enough weight in the box alone to hold doors open without one.

The other thing to consider is that the price of a new HDD should it really need one is likely to exceed the value of the machine.

My advice - a one-way trip to the council tip.

NiVZ

Hello,

I've rebuilt many Packard Bell PC's using the red floppy disk.

Sometimes these PC's have the recovery partition on the HDD of the PC, but you can also get them on recovery CDs as well (nearly all PB PC's give you the option to create recovery CDs).

The Windows 98 thing is a red herring - as someone else has said, the red disk is a Windows 98 Boot disk which then starts the recovery procedure - it's not actually installin Windows 98.

NiVZ