Computer help needed!

[Guest abailey362]

Our desktop froze up today and my wife did a hard power down and now it will now boot. I think that the hard drive is going out, because if I gently rock the tower it will try to boot and go into the windows load screen, but if I don't touch it, it sticks on the boot menu.

There is a lot of pictures and videos on the hard drive that I was informed had not been backed up. Is it possible to have the disk taken out and put into a working drive if it is a mechanical problem with the drive?

Any help or tips will be greatly appreciated.

It is currently running XP if that helps any.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Hi abailey

If there is data on there that you don't want to lose and you have no backup... If it were me...

I would not try booting the computer any more. (edit) until the data is backed up.

The drive can be removed and either:

1. Temporarily internally attached to another working computer (as a second drive to the boot drive).

2. You can get an inexpensive external USB drive case to put the drive in, so you can try to get the data off onto another computer.

3. Alternately you can get a 'hotwire' kit to access the drive via USB without mounting the drive in another computer or in an external case. Such as this Universal Drive Adapter--

Search Results for universal drive adapter at MacSales.com

In option three, the raw drive would sit on an insulating surface such as a rubber mouse pad, and temporarily be wired up to another computer. This is quick and convenient but you have to be careful not to damage the raw drive.

If the drive is not in the process of having a hardware crash, odds are good of getting your data. If it is in the process of having a hardware crash, not so much, unfortunately.

I would hook up the thing, and if it will open on another computer, I'd copy off the data ASAP, before doing anything else to try to fix the drive. Sometimes drives 'in the process of failing' will give you a few minutes or hours of intermittent service before they go belly-up. Sometimes.

Maybe the drive is fine and can be reformatted and re-used, after you have your data backed up.

(edit) Sometimes things just go weird and you can reformat and reinstall windows and be off to the races, no problem with the computer or drive except maybe a loose wire or a few flipped bits. Just get the data first before experimenting.

There are recovery companies that clean-room disassemble crashed drives to read the data off the platters, but those services are very expensive, so unless your data is worth a whole lot of money, if the drive is too hardware-damaged to read, that's pretty much the end of it.

Edited May 31, 2010 by Lester Weevils

[Guest HvyMtl]

hope it is not the hard drive...

Do you know anything about computers? In the aspect of opening them up and checking wires?

First, is the warranty gone? IF SO then follow what comes next, or take it to a good local repair guy. NOT a chain (ie Beast buy) and do NOT ship it to the manufacturer with ANY hard drive in it, unless you want 100% data loss, and someone calling the feds over your children's pictures...

Power down the system. Unplug from the wall. Turn on the system -then back off - removing any left over charge (prolly not an issue in the newer systems, but...be safe.) Look for a side panel, typically it is the left side panel looking directly at the case - cd rom looking right at you. Remove and keep screws which hold the panel - remove panel and set aside. check all wires connected to the motherboard and hard drives... Typically, this is the most likely issue, a loose wire. Focus on the wires going from the motherboard to the hard drive and power supply to hard drive. Make sure you keep in skin contact with the computer case metal to minimize any remote static charge issue...

Put case panel back on, do not replace screws...yet. plug back in and reboot. If this fixes it, you have just saved yourself $$$. If it does not fix the problem, check your memory as well, as lose memory may cause this issue... If still not fixed, listen closely to the computer when you boot it. If there is a grind or clicking noise - shut it down. That is a bad hard drive. Remove the drive and take it to a repair shop...You may want to take the whole system in, as there is a remote possibility the motherboard is at issue.

Bad hard drives are beyond most people's fix point. You will have to go to a repair shop. You need someone who can collect data off the drive. Best of luck with this. It is not necessarily a loss, but it can be.

I suggest a Mom and Pop shop - as they can be talked into bartering for the repairs, or simply being nice can lead to a discount.

If you are in Nashville, I would send you to Eagle Computer on West End. Run by one fellow, easy to deal with, and if you are nice, he may give a discount.

Edited May 31, 2010 by HvyMtl

[Guest mosinon]

well, if rocking it back and forward helps I'd check out the connectors. reseat the RAM, check the cables going to the hard drive and so forth.

But that's just me, I don't worry about data loss. Lester is right, backup your data and then start trying to find the problem.

[Guest abailey362]

I have checked the cables and everything seems in tact. I do not hear the drive spinning, and that's why I think it's stuck.

[D3vo]

I would try to boot the PC in safe mode. If you can get there you have a shot at getting to your files.

I believe you enter safe mode pressing F8 "a lot" during the boot process.

Without screen shots a PC is hard to trouble shoot. Phone got a camera and internet access?

If you can crack open the case and the IDE ribbon cable to the hard drive you should

[ftncityfatboy]

my suggestion: take it to a computer expert and let them take care of it.....