Absolute Disaster

[somewhatsavvy]

I wouldn't know the first thing about opening the case... nor what is "ordinary" or not....

And shouldn't my HDD be first priority on the boot list though? I don't even HAVE a floppy drive

 

[TrainTrackHack]

So you actually pulled the box forward, and it made a click? Was the computer on? If so, that click could've been the "click of death" - desktop HDDs don't like being moved around a lot and the HD may be dead.

 

[massahwahl]

So you actually pulled the box forward, and it made a click? Was the computer on? If so, that click could've been the "click of death" - desktop HDDs don't like being moved around a lot and the HD may be dead.

His HDD still shows in the bios though. If he fried it wouldnt that make it nill in the bios?

 

[somewhatsavvy]

"click of death"

That is the most ominous thing I have heard all night....


And btw I am a girl, not that it makes a difference other than pronouns

 

[Vizy]

He should hear his Hard drive spinning right? I think if he pulled the power plug out of the hdd on aciddent, it would make a click. I think the hdd can still be read from the bios though. The power plug might of fell out.

 

[Vizy]

He = She on my previous post.

 

[somewhatsavvy]

He should hear his Hard drive spinning right? I think if he pulled the power plug out of the hdd on aciddent, it would make a click. I think the hdd can still be read from the bios though. The power plug might of fell out.

right now i hear normal comp sounds.... i dunno what exactly that is, the fan is going i think, cuz the comp is at like 40 dgrees celcuis bios apparently tells me???

 

[TrainTrackHack]

His HDD still shows in the bios though. If he fried it wouldnt that make it nill in the bios?

I wouldn't think so... when the read/write heads hit the platters (as a result of movement, for example), the disc (the platters) will be damaged; however, the circuits won't be affected by this. As long as the circuit board/chips are fine, the drive will still be recognized; I once actually took off the circuit board of an old WD Caviar, and the drive was recognized in BIOS.

It may be different with modern drives, but I would think it'll keep showing up until the circuit board is damaged.

 

[somewhatsavvy]

oh crap, the battery on this laptop is just about dead....

any last minute advice, anyone? it's like 1;30 in the morning.... i gotta get to bed....

what should i do with the comp overnight? leave it on, off?

 

[brian]

Ok, well to me, i agree that it seems like the drive is dead. Some last resort things you can try that should not effect anything. One would be to reset the bios. If you enter the bios where it shows you the temp and what not, there should be a setting to restore to defalut settings. If there isint, and you dont mind opening the case, then unplug everythign and look on the motherboard for a silver button battery. (about 3/4 inch) then just remove it and wait 30 sec and replace it and plug everything back in.

I dought that would work but it may be worth a shot.

Also if you happen to have a windows vista disk, then i would try to go into the recovery console and try to do a fixboot or fixmbr (did they change this in vista... i know they changed the commands around.)

Else it could be your drive.

 

[massahwahl]

Sorry I had to get some sleep last night, any luck with the comp today?

Sounds like your going to need to replace the Hare Drive. This might sound a little scary, but we all can easily walk you through the process, truth be told, its pretty easy really.

 

[gamerman4]

Ok im going to pool all of the info I have gathered from the thread to make sure I am on the same page.
1. You pulled the computer tower from it's cabinet, heard a clicking noise. (I assume 1 click)
2. When windows tries to load there is a permanent black screen.
3. Your BIOS detects the hard drive correctly.
4. When you try the memory diagnostic, it gives you a permanent blank blue screen.

I don't think her hard drive is completely bombed, the Windows Boot Manager is because of Vista so if she sees that then at least something is being read off of the drive.

Do you have a Vista Installation Disk?
If you do, you can run a chkdsk. I can walk you through that.

 

[massahwahl]

Jostling the hard drive would have only messed up the boot manager? Wouldnt the whole disc be fried not just one part of it?

 

[gamerman4]

Jostling the hard drive would have only messed up the boot manager? Wouldnt the whole disc be fried not just one part of it?

My point is, If the hard drive would have completely failed she wouldn't have even seen the Windows Boot Manager because it is read from the hard drive.

 

[massahwahl]

My point is, If the hard drive would have completely failed she wouldn't have even seen the Windows Boot Manager because it is read from the hard drive.

She's not seeing the windows boot manager though, she's seeing the bios boot order menu.

Its hard to diagnose the issue without seeing it.

 

[gamerman4]

she said she was brought to the Windows Boot Manager, and ran a memory diagnostic. The Vista Windows Boot Manager has the option for a memory diagnostic so im pretty sure she is seeing the actual Windows Boot Manager unless the HP also has the same option.

I assume she is seeing this window:

 

[massahwahl]

That's true, hopefully she will have her boot disc

 

[Dystopia]

Actaully, I have had a simalr problem way back when i had a laptop, I could boot the drive, i think it detected it, but nothing else worked. Hard drvie is very well possible to be dead. But I never saw the bot manager though...
And also my HDD was broken on that laptop so i bought a new one.

 

[somewhatsavvy]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your continued efforts....

My uncle ( a techie by trade ) came over this morning with an XP installation disc and he said there was nothing he could do.

The picture that gamerman4 posted, I can see that screen.

My computer never came with a Vista installation disc, only an Upgrade thing that I never used.

Overall, I am between a rock and a hard place. I guess my options are
1) Buy a new hard drive, get someone (my uncle) to install it.
2) Bring the whole comp to a comp repair place.
3) Buy a brand new computer.

If I buy a hard drive and something else is broken, that's a waste of money.

I'm relatively tight on cash, and naturally this all has to coincide with when I need my computer the most, for school work.

Any more suggestions, anyone? I heard about something called the Ultimate Boot Disc. What is it?? Will it work??

 

[newguy5]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your continued efforts....

My uncle ( a techie by trade ) came over this morning with an XP installation disc and he said there was nothing he could do.

The picture that gamerman4 posted, I can see that screen.

My computer never came with a Vista installation disc, only an Upgrade thing that I never used.

Overall, I am between a rock and a hard place. I guess my options are
1) Buy a new hard drive, get someone (my uncle) to install it.
2) Bring the whole comp to a comp repair place.
3) Buy a brand new computer.

If I buy a hard drive and something else is broken, that's a waste of money.

I'm relatively tight on cash, and naturally this all has to coincide with when I need my computer the most, for school work.

Any more suggestions, anyone? I heard about something called the Ultimate Boot Disc. What is it?? Will it work??

okay firstly this is a very entertaining thread. kudos to you for being in such good humor whilst having this problem.

secondly, if your hard drive really is screwed up, you would want to put your installation disk in the cd rom and boot from it, bypassing the computer even trying to boot into your hard drive. if you can boot into your cd just fine then the hard drive is likely the problem.

opening the computer up and looking would be advantageous for your situation. if you look on the left side of the computer in the back there will be 2 screws holding in the side panel to the computer. undo them and slide the side panel off. on the opposite side panel there will be a big square board--this is your motherboard. it will all look something like this, most likely with a lot more dust than you care to see:

basically the things with all the cords going in them--you want to make sure they connect well in those pieces and into the big board. if the connections are good, that's all you need to do. don't feel like it is too daunting a task. you won't screw anything up as long as the computer is off and you are not so scared that you drool into the electronics of the case simultaneously.

good luck let us know how it goes.