Demon Computer!

CardboardSword

CardboardSword

New Member
My Mother somehow managed to more or less total her XP install on an old HP by trying to install a windows update. I have no idea how it did the damage it did, but I've given up on that install. I tried to re-install XP but the primary DVD drive jammed. Out one XP CD and an optical drive, I hook up the secondary drive as master, and try to install Windows 7. It sits there for a second on boot with the blinking cursor, then boots into broken windows again. The 7 disk works, I'd like to add, so the problem (unfortunately) does not lie there. So I figure, ok, it must be too old for 7, unsupported hardware, I'll put just put Ubuntu on it. Gives me an error while booting the disc, saying it cannot read sector 8006 and that no default drive or UI is configured, leaving me with "boot:". So now my best guess is that both optical drives are/were bad, and the thing won't even recognize my flash drive in the BIOS for a linux install that way!

I'm at my wits end with this thing. Thanks to anybody who's willing to read through my wall of text, let alone offer any help.
 
Most likely all you have is a bad HDD. Computers will act weird when the HD goes. You might want to try running the hard drive manufacturers disk diagnostic program on the drive to test for errors. If its like more than 5 years old, I would probably recommend getting a new HDD.

Also as far as the XP cd that got jammed, did you try inserting a paperclip into the small hole on the front of the drive to open the tray and remove the cd?
 
How would I boot from the repair partition? The option doesn't appear to be offered anywhere in the boot sequence that I can find, is it even possible to do so? I assumed it would, seeing as how its for backup and all. :\ If it can only be accessed from Windows that option is pretty thoroughly out haha. I suppose it's off to Newegg to pick up a cheap HDD then, I hope that sorts me out quickly. Thanks a lot!
 
You mean the recovery partition? You said you had an XP install cd so likely that you don't have a recovery partition. Before buying a new drive, run a test on it like i said. What brand hard drive is it?
 
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