PC Help

closed

they may not be, a battery holds the time, and settings to tell the machine it has a hard disk - if you haven't changed the battery in 8 years, it's a possibility, but so is a dead hard disk.

wakandem

The hard drive must be present in the bios before attempting any fix. Check the bios at startup screen normally by pressing 'f2' or 'delete'. If the drive is not present in the bios then it is because it is not connected or not working, at worse it could be the motherboard. If a working hard drive is connected to the machine and the bios recognises it then the motherboard is ok. If seems to me that the hard drive has failed and a new one will be needed.

cloudy-day

booler wrote: »

This is the old DOS operating system syntax to do a change drive.
http://www.computerhope.com/cdhlp.htm

I think at the A:\> prompt you should enter CD /D C:\

Thanks but still get invalid drive specification

cloudy-day

wakandem wrote: »

The hard drive must be present in the bios before attempting any fix. Check the bios at startup screen normally by pressing 'f2' or 'delete'. If the drive is not present in the bios then it is because it is not connected or not working, at worse it could be the motherboard. If a working hard drive is connected to the machine and the bios recognises it then the motherboard is ok. If seems to me that the hard drive has failed and a new one will be needed.

Not getting anything at all. Time for a new PC?

50Twuncle

Important Question.

Do you have any important data on your hard disk - or are you willing to format it and start again ?

Second Important Question.

Do you have access to another PC ?

cloudy-day

1 no - photos are on the flash drive. Its just used for surfing and email - both of which are avaliable on my tablet or DS's laptop
2 not a pc - just a laptop. There is my work one though.

closed

flash drives are easily corrupted/lost. copy them onto a laptop as well, and burn to dvd

answer the bios/what comes on screen questions

cloudy-day

As I said, I can't see the c drive when I hit f2.

closed

does F2 go into the bios?

what can you see, are you looking in the correct bios screen, can you change the drive settings to auto detect, is the date/time correct, are the cables on the hard disk secure, can you feel it spinning, has the machine been moved?

new hard disk is far cheaper than a new pc

wakandem

If you are fairly sure the hard drive is dead then a new drive is cheaper than buying a new system. XP is to be supported at least until 2014You will need your win xp cd to install. If you don't have the original xp cd or a legal copy to put on then you could give 'ubuntu a go, it all depends on what you use the pc for. Make sure, if you replece the hard drive you get the right type, ide or sata interface.