When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will see the options below
This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
Windows XP to run on your computer:
To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.
To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.
# Press Enter to start the Windows Setup.
To setup Windows XP now and Repair Install , press ENTER. do not choose "To repair a
Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R", (you Do Not want to load Recovery Console). I repeat, do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console".
# Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.
# Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair.
# Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot. Do not press any key to boot from CD when the message appears. Setup will continue as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings will remain intact.
If all goes well, your installation will complete and you will re back where you were before this nightmare began, but if not, a clean drive and a reinstall will be your only option.Rather than format your drive and add excess wear to the head, platter and spindles you will simply run the XP CD and when it comes time to choose a partition, you will choose to delete the existing partition, make a new partition, then do a (Quick) NTFS format. This will allow you to do a hard drive recovery later if you choose to do so, without destroying the data you may want to restore with a hard drive recovery tool.
Continue the install and have the Driver Recovery CD ready after windows boots to reinstall your drivers. You can usually put this in the drive and let windows find it and install the drivers from there. Some driver recovery programs can do this with a single click and reinstall for you.
Now all that's left to do is copy those files on the other PC to your newly installed Windows partition and drag the files to where they belong from the saved folder on the other PC's Desktop.
The End of the Tale
If none of what has been written so far applies to you, and your hard drive is clicking like a mad castanet player, there is yet one method that may save you AND your data.That clicking sound is a head servo seeking either the park position or the end position of your drive, or it could just be emulating Tom and Jerry, who really cares at this point?
What we want it to do, is pipe down and do it's job. Most people will trash a drive at this point, and I can definitely see why, since it may well be a lost cause. But this is not always the case.
Sometimes your drive may just have a malfunctioning chip on the control board and THAT, my dear friends, can be replaced.
The only real trick here is to find a drive exactly like yours and swap the control boards, save the data as per the procedures above, swap them back and use the new drive.
Having tried everything listed above, and even some things below you may still have a drive that simply doesn't function as you know it should. This is the time for that Manufacturers CD I mentioned at the beginning of the article. That process is as simple as booting the PC from the CD with the faulty drive in place and following the on-screen instructions. Run ALL the tests, and if the errors just keep on coming, you can trash that drive, confident in the fact that you did everything possible to try to save it.
Good Luck Future PC Techs
And Remember, be an honest Tech or Just don't bother.
Bob
Caution This article May be subject to bouts of editing or whimsy without a moments notice.
@
Showing posts with label Hard Drive troubleshooting.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hard Drive troubleshooting.. Show all posts
Friday, July 1, 2011
Hard Drive troubleshooting?
Have your Windows CD handy as it will ask you to place it in the tray.
And Finally
Use a driver saver tool to avoid all that cruising the internet for the motherboard drivers your computer came with. This will save you from hours of frustration and fix any lost drivers that windows or malware have destroyed or corrupted. I use (Driver Backup 1.0.0.1) Which is
available at Cnet's download.com. Copy the files you save to a flash drive or CD and you will never regret it!
The DEAD Hard Drive! Or is it?
If all else has failed and Windows no longer starts up as it should, you will have ended up here in the Uh Oh area!
By now your local PC shop has told you that you have a virus and you need to format your hard drive because they are too incompetent and lack the skill and education to remove the virus with a standard Antivirus that any moron can buy at the local Costco, Walmart Target store or mall.
You didn't think they actually used anything you can't buy yourself did you?
The sad fact here is, that most people can do everything most every PC repair shop does on a daily basis in their own home with very little effort. Most PC shops simply Start your PC and if it won't start Windows properly, they will tell you that a hard drive wipe or (Format) is the only
way to save your computer.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
Using the basic methods I have described above you can solve most of these problems yourself.
If you have a virus, just refer to my Article titled (Virus Facts and FYI).
Remember that almost no PC shop will care one iota about your personal data, or how long it took you to scan those family photos you use as a screensaver, or the Long reports you wrote for the Boss, or that novel you have been working on for the past 3 years.
There are some exceptions of course, and there are some genuine Computer Techs who will go that extra mile just to see you smile. But most of these guys have messy hair, work at home or smell like last nights Pizza. These guys are the ones you want. Not all of them are as wise as they should be, and some have Ego's the size of Dallas, while others will unscrupulously swap parts with your PC to upgrade their own PC hoping you will never find out. I know of a large computer firm near me that does this routinely and they have the whole town fooled.
But they DO exist, and have a head full of knowledge that will benefit you tremendously should you find the right one. So if you feel inadequate to use the steps provided so far, find a guy that has no shop, but everybody knows and trusts with their PC,
Back to the dead drive, (sorry I wandered)
So here you are with a hard drive that no longer boots or runs windows.
What about your data? You can save that with a USB to IDE/SATA connector.
This little device usually sells for under $20 and can be attached to any hard drive you care to place on it except for the SCSI variety.
To use this device, you will need to:
1. Remove your hard drive from your PC
2. Find a PC with enough free hard drive space to store your data on.
3. Scan the drive for viruses and malware with this other PC.
4. Scandisk and Defrag it to speed up data transfer and eliminate errors.
How do I know where to find the files I want to save?
Here is what you need to do first:
1, In XP go to (Tools), then (Folder Options) then (View) and uncheck anything that says hide.
2. Then go to (My Computer) and open your main drive, Usually C:
3. Open a folder called (Documents and Settings)
4. Look for a folder with your Login name and open it.
5. Do not drag these folders to your computer (Application Data, Cookies, My Recent Documents, NetHood, PrintHood, SendTo, Start Menu,
Templates, or Windows) as these will be useless on your newly formatted drive. If you have to format! and we really DON'T want to do that!
6. Create a new folder on the desktop of this other PC and call it anything you want and drag the rest of the folders there.
Take care to not delete or move any of these folders since we will be trying to restore your computer to as close to the pre-crash state as we can without losing data. If all goes well, your desktop will look the same, your (My Documents) folder will be intact, and most, if not all of your original programs will run as they did before your PC crashed.
Now you have a backup copy of your crucial files and can safely try to revover your hard drive and windows installation.
What if I use Outlook or Outlook Express!
(This will only work if you can still access windows)
This is usually only a problem on PC's where the email client is based on the ISP's settings and local mail delivery system. Saving your Emails is as easy as clicking one email item, going to the Edit tab and selecting all, then copy and past the selected Emails to the folder of your Choice, Obviously you should name it My Email or some such thing. Do the same for any Folders you created with your email client by opening them, select all, then copy and paste. When your new windows installation finishes (if you end up reinstalling) Simply drag and drop them right into the email clients inbox window and you'll be good as new.
Now you can reinstall your hard drive to your original computer and begin the data recovery, or reinstallation process. This will require you to use your original Windows CD and Product key.
On To The Real Fun Now !!
# Boot the computer using the XP CD. You may need to change the boot order in the system BIOS so the CD boots before the hard drive. Check your system documentation for steps to access the BIOS and change the boot order.
And Finally
Use a driver saver tool to avoid all that cruising the internet for the motherboard drivers your computer came with. This will save you from hours of frustration and fix any lost drivers that windows or malware have destroyed or corrupted. I use (Driver Backup 1.0.0.1) Which is
available at Cnet's download.com. Copy the files you save to a flash drive or CD and you will never regret it!
The DEAD Hard Drive! Or is it?
If all else has failed and Windows no longer starts up as it should, you will have ended up here in the Uh Oh area!
By now your local PC shop has told you that you have a virus and you need to format your hard drive because they are too incompetent and lack the skill and education to remove the virus with a standard Antivirus that any moron can buy at the local Costco, Walmart Target store or mall.
You didn't think they actually used anything you can't buy yourself did you?
The sad fact here is, that most people can do everything most every PC repair shop does on a daily basis in their own home with very little effort. Most PC shops simply Start your PC and if it won't start Windows properly, they will tell you that a hard drive wipe or (Format) is the only
way to save your computer.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
Using the basic methods I have described above you can solve most of these problems yourself.
If you have a virus, just refer to my Article titled (Virus Facts and FYI).
Remember that almost no PC shop will care one iota about your personal data, or how long it took you to scan those family photos you use as a screensaver, or the Long reports you wrote for the Boss, or that novel you have been working on for the past 3 years.
There are some exceptions of course, and there are some genuine Computer Techs who will go that extra mile just to see you smile. But most of these guys have messy hair, work at home or smell like last nights Pizza. These guys are the ones you want. Not all of them are as wise as they should be, and some have Ego's the size of Dallas, while others will unscrupulously swap parts with your PC to upgrade their own PC hoping you will never find out. I know of a large computer firm near me that does this routinely and they have the whole town fooled.
But they DO exist, and have a head full of knowledge that will benefit you tremendously should you find the right one. So if you feel inadequate to use the steps provided so far, find a guy that has no shop, but everybody knows and trusts with their PC,
Back to the dead drive, (sorry I wandered)
So here you are with a hard drive that no longer boots or runs windows.
What about your data? You can save that with a USB to IDE/SATA connector.
This little device usually sells for under $20 and can be attached to any hard drive you care to place on it except for the SCSI variety.
To use this device, you will need to:
1. Remove your hard drive from your PC
2. Find a PC with enough free hard drive space to store your data on.
3. Scan the drive for viruses and malware with this other PC.
4. Scandisk and Defrag it to speed up data transfer and eliminate errors.
How do I know where to find the files I want to save?
Here is what you need to do first:
1, In XP go to (Tools), then (Folder Options) then (View) and uncheck anything that says hide.
2. Then go to (My Computer) and open your main drive, Usually C:
3. Open a folder called (Documents and Settings)
4. Look for a folder with your Login name and open it.
5. Do not drag these folders to your computer (Application Data, Cookies, My Recent Documents, NetHood, PrintHood, SendTo, Start Menu,
Templates, or Windows) as these will be useless on your newly formatted drive. If you have to format! and we really DON'T want to do that!
6. Create a new folder on the desktop of this other PC and call it anything you want and drag the rest of the folders there.
Take care to not delete or move any of these folders since we will be trying to restore your computer to as close to the pre-crash state as we can without losing data. If all goes well, your desktop will look the same, your (My Documents) folder will be intact, and most, if not all of your original programs will run as they did before your PC crashed.
Now you have a backup copy of your crucial files and can safely try to revover your hard drive and windows installation.
What if I use Outlook or Outlook Express!
(This will only work if you can still access windows)
This is usually only a problem on PC's where the email client is based on the ISP's settings and local mail delivery system. Saving your Emails is as easy as clicking one email item, going to the Edit tab and selecting all, then copy and past the selected Emails to the folder of your Choice, Obviously you should name it My Email or some such thing. Do the same for any Folders you created with your email client by opening them, select all, then copy and paste. When your new windows installation finishes (if you end up reinstalling) Simply drag and drop them right into the email clients inbox window and you'll be good as new.
Now you can reinstall your hard drive to your original computer and begin the data recovery, or reinstallation process. This will require you to use your original Windows CD and Product key.
On To The Real Fun Now !!
# Boot the computer using the XP CD. You may need to change the boot order in the system BIOS so the CD boots before the hard drive. Check your system documentation for steps to access the BIOS and change the boot order.
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