Dell 4300
P4, 1.50 Ghz, 384 mem.
80 Gb HD (I think).
6+ yrs old.
Originally ran Win ME - upgraded to XP Home w/ no problem 2 yrs ago.
Think HD has gone bye-bye. Looking for a professionals opinion.
Difficult to get straight answer from 16 yo about what actually occured when problem started but she did say the "comp" started to make "strange sound"!
Oh - computer ran pretty much 24/7…..ON!!
Now: When turned on, Dell startup screen starts, then goes to black screen with single line across top of screen that says " strike F! to retry boot, F2 for setup utility ". F1 does nothing, F2 does go to setup utility.
While in setup utility: If I go to " BOOT SEQUENCE " it says " Hard Disk Drive (Not Installed) ".
Have no separate Startup or Restore disk to boot to, only thing left is the XP Upgrade disk.
Can't boot to Safe Mode because the black screen is as far as it boots (never gets to XP splash screen) and can only reboot by turning off comp with power button.
Lastly, if HD is shot and I have to replace it do I then have to purchase new OS software?
Trying to weigh the chice of repair vs buying new.
hi techmut,
Sorry to hear about this. I'm 19 years old and i would hate my PC to stop working but from the sounds of it, it could either be a virus or the HDD has just given up.
It's a shame i can't physically test the PC because i have a piece of software, which can be downloaded for free online but requires building, but once done, it places you in a 'pre-installation environment'. The software is called Bart PE. If you were able to load it up and boot into the C:\ drive you'd at least be able to recover any data, i assume there may be some school/college work on there?
But Bart PE is a bit tricky to build so personally, if there is nothing on the PC i'd attempt a format & reinstall of Windows, that's if you could boot from an XP disk and the HDD was then detected.
HDD's for laptops aren't the cheapest things, but it may need one. I'll leave this for someone else to give you a second opinion, but chances are the HDD is buggered and you may need to purchase a new one or even a new laptop because then there would be an OS build in i would hope.
Sorry this probably isn't what you wanted to hear.
Regards,
Bob
Hi
I'm afraid that the sad news is, that the HD have faltered.
The Dell startup screen comes from the motherboard and
not the HD. Everything past post requires the HD, and the
fact that nothing works (F8 etc.) along with "HD not found",
strange sound, all points in that direction. You might want
to have a PC technician give a second opinion, as in such
cases, hands-on examination is required to determine it
100%.
That said, I strongly advice, if there is any valueable data on
that HD, that you don't try to boot it. Any attempts will further
degrade the possibility of extracting data from it if needed.
Usually most larger city have a PC workshop who offers data
recovery service, altho the prices tends to be rather steep. But
if the data is valueable, its worth it in my opinion. Try find the
PC workshops in your locale area and hear their prices, before
deciding which one to use.
Also, by the sound of it, I gather that your daughter haven't used
any form of backup. The price for a backup program is rather cheap
nowadays, and certainly less expensive that trying to extract data from
a broken HD. Plus it is a good habit to learn making backups on a
regurlar basis.
Had hoped I could give better news.
Regards Abydos
Bob and Abydos,
I appreciate your input. After pulling more info from my daughter she verified that she heard some sounds like "beeps" or "squeals" while using the PC while it was still working ok, turned it off for the night (amazing), and when she tried to turn the PC back on the next day she heard a "grinding" noise and it would only boot to the black screen and no further.
Fortunately she said there was nothing of great importance on the HD that she can't live without.
I guess seven years isn't too bad a lifespan for a desktop PC. Especially one that had been
turned ON almost 24/7 for about 4 or 5 years, handed down from my mother and upgraded from
Win ME to XP Home and had viruses/spyware removed from a previous session in TomCoyote.
I may pick at it, buy a new HD and try and revive it slowly.
Again, Thank You and I would say we can consider this topic closed.
techmut
