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Thread: zomg my computer died

  1. zomg my computer died

    So, lately, I was geting these corrupt kernal data messages randomly when I was on my computer (blue screen of doom). My plan was to archive my shit and reformat. Then, I start getting messages saying somethings wrong with the boot volume or something. I couldn't get into windows at all.

    I open up my case, make sure everything is plugged in, go to reboot, and now it can't even detect my hard drive.

    I'm pretty sure its the hard drive thats fucked and not the IDE cables, as I tried swapping IDE cables with the CD drive and it didn't help.

    So basically, I think I need to get a new hard drive. I was wondering if there was a way of checking how large a hard drive my OS and motherboard suppports without running my machine. Is there a website or something which lists it all out?

    Another thing I think it might be is that for a long time my computer would boot via cable selection, so It'd first try and boot from a CD, I'd reset and it'd boot from the HDD. Maybe I somehow switched it to hardware selection or whatever its called. Anyone know how to switch it so it tries to boot from the hard drive? Is it done in BIOS or what?

    As you can probably tell, my computer hardware knowledge is poor at best, so any help or advice about this from any angle would be much appreciated.

  2. #2
    You can change the boot order in the BIOS, hit delete when it tells you to while starting up and find the option in one of the menus.

    Also, what processor did the computer have? Most recent computers can handle just about any size hard drive anymore so knowing the processor would help date the computer.

  3. off the top of my head, I think its an athlon 64 3200+ or something. Does XP have any problems with HDD sizes?

  4. Quote Originally Posted by arjue
    off the top of my head, I think its an athlon 64 3200+ or something. Does XP have any problems with HDD sizes?
    No, XP should be fine with any size HD as far as I know. Can you see the HD in your BIOS? More than likely your HD isn't totally trashed. You may have just lost the data on there.

    You can try to boot off a Windows XP cd and do that Windows repair thing, but that has never worked for me before. I use a live Knoppix cd for emergency shit like this. It will boot up on your computer without installing anything onto your HD, so you can see if the HD is totally junked or what. Or if you just don't give a shit about losing the data on your HD, just boot off an XP cd and format.

  5. Quote Originally Posted by flux=rad
    You can try to boot off a Windows XP cd and do that Windows repair thing, but that has never worked for me before. I use a live Knoppix cd for emergency shit like this. It will boot up on your computer without installing anything onto your HD, so you can see if the HD is totally junked or what. Or if you just don't give a shit about losing the data on your HD, just boot off an XP cd and format.
    That is one solution, normally though on Windows XP recovery disks, at least with my experience with them, you can do a selective format, where anything you have put on the HD above and beyond the Windows system files that initially came on the computer will be saved, and Windows XP itself will be formatted while saving all the data you had put onto your HD. Also, this isn't the standards "Windows Repair" option, that has never worked for me, this option is given to you when you decide to reinstall Windows, it asks you if you want a full format, or selective. While it doesn't completely fix your computer permanantly, it will let it run well for a decent amount of time, allowing you to backup all of your data.

    All this though is under the assumption that your HD isn't fried.
    Quote Originally Posted by BerringerX
    I am pretty sure one of the reasons Jesus died is so we could enjoy delicious chicken and waffle fries seven days a week.
    Eat a bag of dicks.

  6. Oh, I am almost certain that my HDD is fried now. I turned on my PC with the case open, and to check if my HDD was getting power, I lightly touched it to feel for a vibration or something, and it burnt my hand. This was after 30 seconds or so of use. I think I'll just get another HDD.

    Thanks for the help guys.

  7. After you get that new drive set everything up (if the old drive is not being recognized or is not working) then take the old drive and put it in the freezer wrapped up in news paper or the like for about 30-45 minutes then plug in in as the slave device.

    This will hopefully allow you to drag off any data you may need off the old drive, yes it sounds crazy but as a tech it has done amazing things for me many times over the years. It even amazed my current boss and co worker when initially they laughed historically at the idea.

    I originally was taught this wacky technique by a former Nasa metals mixologist turned pc tech *wtf*.. I laughed also at the mention of it....

    Quote Originally Posted by arjue
    Oh, I am almost certain that my HDD is fried now. I turned on my PC with the case open, and to check if my HDD was getting power, I lightly touched it to feel for a vibration or something, and it burnt my hand. This was after 30 seconds or so of use. I think I'll just get another HDD.

    Thanks for the help guys.
    Also, this wouldnt be a Maxtor hard drive by chance would it?

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