• Computer problem story
    5 replies, posted
Ok, I was just on my computer and a blue screen appeared. I restarted it and it would go to where the window where it would show the green bar and the windows logo, about 30 seconds after that a blue screen would appear for 1 second and then restart. It would do this loop forever. Also, It asks what mode I want to startup in and every mode ( even safe mode ) would restart the computer. So I got my windows xp disc, put it in and it formatted the computer and then it at the end it said the disc could be damaged, so i restarted and it said no hard drive could be found. And that is where i am at facepunch. I am on my sister's computer right now, but I like my old one better so if you could, tell me how I can fix this problem, do not tell me to get another comp because i dont have any money right now. Here is a snapshot of my current bios. [url=http://postimage.org/image/8aofxwas/][img]http://s1.postimage.org/8aofxwas/Photo_on_2011_05_30_at_14_20_2.jpg[/img][/url]
My guess is a faulty harddrive.
Is there a way to fix a faulty harddrive? Will I have to buy a new one? If i have to buy a new one, can I get an external hard drive? How can I know if my comp has a SATA or an IDE hard drive? How can I know if my comp can boot from an external hard drive?
Did you try the things I suggested?
[QUOTE=FuryBlitz;30146500]Is there a way to fix a faulty harddrive? Will I have to buy a new one? If i have to buy a new one, can I get an external hard drive? How can I know if my comp has a SATA or an IDE hard drive? How can I know if my comp can boot from an external hard drive?[/QUOTE] First, check the connectors on the HDD on the inside. 1] Check to see if the connectors are firmly in place. You may want to re-seat them by removing the cable from the drive, and reconnecting them. 2] Check what the cables look like to determine the type of HDD it is (PATA or SATA) Use this image for reference: [img]http://img.zdnet.com/techDirectory/_SATPAT.JPG[/img] picture courtesy of ZDNet. Checking to see if the Harddrive has/is mechanically failed: Listen for any types of clicking, banging, or metallic items being loose. Also listen for grinding. Make sure the drive is powering up, using a light touch on the top of the HDD see if you feel a slight vibration as if something is rotating at a high rate of speed inside it. Checking the SMART (Self Monitoring Analysis Reporting Tool) on the HDD (If being detected by BIOS). You can attack this in one of a couple ways. 1] Boot into a Live Linux and use gsmartmon, a GUI version is available. 2] Use Hirens Boot Disk and use the SMART tools available on that. 3] Boot into a WinPE environment. Do a SMART analysis on the drive, and compare the values. [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.]Use the Wikipedia article to compare your values[/url] Recovering the Harddrive from a failed state: Note, this will ONLY work if BIOS is detecting the drive. A failed HDD is normally at shits creek. However, you can use tools like SpinRite and HDD Regenerator to bring the drive back to life Desktop BIOS cannot recognize the drive, Troubleshooting: 1] Use another drive that uses the same bus technology (PATA, SATA, SCSI etc). See if that drive shows up on the BIOS page. 2] Use a different cable for that HDD. Verify the cable has no visible defects. 3] Verify the pin out grid on the HDD to see if any pins are bent. On PATA you'll be able to easily see if the pins are crooked, bent, or missing. If any are missing or severely bent, you will have to replace the drive. on SATA, look for any pins that seem to be raised off the shield. 4] Plug the drive into another working computer as a slave. If its PATA, you'll have to make sure its on Cable Select or Slave. Suggestions on Replacements: 1] DO NOT USE AN EXTERNAL DRIVE AS A MASTER!!!!!! - External USB2.0 drives are significantly slower than internal HDDs. Also, keep in mind USB2.0 has a [b]MAXIMUM THROUGHPUT[/b] (That includes Down and Up streams) of [b]480M[u]bit[/u][/b] per second. That 480Mbit is distributed to ALL USB devices. 2] If you have a SATA connector on your motherboard, USE IT. - SATA is significantly quicker than PATA in all its standards. Make sure your motherboard has a SATA connector, and verify its SATA standard (SATA I, II, III). 3] Get a 7200RPM HDD as a master, or a solid state if you got the cash. If this is a laptop, you won't have much of a choice. 4] Space is getting cheaper. Look through electronic store flyers and find some deals, I picked up a 2TB drive for $80 back in late 2010. [editline]31st May 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=GoDong-DK;30153769]Did you try the things I suggested?[/QUOTE] What did you suggest?
[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;30159330] What did you suggest?[/QUOTE] I don't save messages, but about the same as you did, just much less specific.
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