Posted: 8/23/2007 10:58:18 AM EDT
 Last night after getting home from work, I tried to log on only to get this message: "Disk Failure. Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot." I did it about 40 times and tried some config changes to get it to boot... no luck. Took it into the computer hospital and they tell me today it may be hopeless. I have a back-up of certain data, but it's a few moths old and it looks like I'll lose my address book and any other data not backed up. I'll be using my work connection for the next few weeks until I get the new one and hook it up. What REALLY pisses me off about the whole thing is that TUESDAY, it was working just fine! GAHHH!! I HATE COMPUTERS!! 
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does the hard drive spin when you turn it on? when the disk error pops up, is it after the POST messages? (when it boots bios and checks memory etc...) If you cant get in through safe mode, unplug your computer's power cord from the back of the tower, open up your computer and remove the battery from the motherboard. It should be a CR2032 or simiar quarter sized battery. wait a few seconds and plug it in again. then try to boot up. IF this doesnt help, you may want to remove your hard drive and troubleshoot it inside another computer. chances are your HD just took a dump. if that is the case, then as a slave in another computer it wont be recognized. |
I bought a usb adapter off ebay just for that reason and it works great to get data off the drive. It also worked great when my laptop died. If you want some info on the kit i bought, let me know and i'll dig up the seller info. |
I'm down in Cocoa, but thanks for the offer. It's at a computer shop as of Wednesday, but if they can't fix it, I'll try some of the tricks y'all have suggested... after I buy a new one, that is. Oh, and Osprey... SIGN ME UP for that club! This is the second time this has happened over the years I've owned computers- you'd think I'd've learned buy now. 
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instead of using IDE harddrives, use SATA HD's. if you set it up for RAID_1, (redundant array of inexpensive disks) you are writing to two drives at the same time, also known as mirroring. you will see a huge performance increase from your 7200RPM 16mb cache IDE drives to a much faster read and write time. and not only that, but you will always have a secondary harddrive with an exact clone of your other one. this way if you have a HD failure, the other one takes over. then you simply replace the damaged one and it automatically ghosts the first one. if this is not possibly for you, try backing up using the program "symantic Ghost" this will clone your drive and you can save a backup copy on a dvd(s) or to another harddrive - even an external one will do the trick. |
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Thanks for all the tips, gang. I got my PC back from the shop (they were unable to help... said the motherboard wouldn't support the new SATA hard drive I installed 5 months ago  . Anyway, once I got home, I took out the motherboard battery and a few other suggestions I reinstalled my old hard hard drive and now it's back up and running. Nonetheless, I still ordered a new CPU anyway as this one is about 6 years old. I'm gonna give it to my niece so she can use it for her HS homework and what have you once I get the new one. Once again, the ARFcom hive mind comes through! |
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OR Zip Zoom Fly no tax and shipping for 2nd day fed ex is only 5 dollars. |
UPDATE I ordered my new computer thru Tiger Direct. I've used them in the past and am completely happy with the service and products. I found a program called "Wipe Drive" from White Canyon that I used on the old hard drive. It completely erased the drive, enabling me to reinstall XP Home on it and it runs like brand new.  I could have saved myself a whole bunch of ammo dollars if I would'a found that first! It was well worth the 39.95 cost.
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Well... yeah, I guess I did. It was actually the 2nd time a drive croaked in this machine. I have the ORIGINAL drive back in after I completely erased it- not a format, a COMPLETE DOD-type erasure. The hardware is 6 years old and in the computer world- as you likely know- that's friggin' ancient. The new machine has more power and resources and in truth, I needed a new one anyway, especially since I'm going to start a grad degree program soon. My niece will be able to use this machine to complete HS and maybe her first year of college, so it was worth it. |
