My Computer is not booting up (Hard Drive problem)

J

jmtz

New Member
My PC was working fine until a couple of days ago when I started getting this message:
Intel ® Boot Agent
PXE-E61
Media test Failure, check cable
PXE-MOF Exiting Intel Boot Agent
No bootable device, Insert bootable disk and press any key

After doing some research I found out that my PC was trying to boot from the Ethernet port, even though my BIOS settings were the following:
1.<CD/DVD-ROM Drive>
2.<Hard Disk Drive>
3.<Floppy Drive>
4.<Ethernet>

The next I did was disabled the Ethernet option from the BIOS and now I wasn’t getting the Media test… message but instead the only thing I was getting was a blinking underscore on the top left corner of the complete black screen.
I already tried to fix my Hard Drive using a couple of Rescue Cds without any success and when I boot the PC with a Ubuntu Live CD, the Ubuntu OS doesn’t show my HD, even though the BIOS shows the Hard Disk as normal.

The next thing I did was trying to fix my Hard Drive with the System Recovery CD that came with my PC, but I got this message:
Gateway System Recovery, No operating system installed or partition corrupted, Press “R” to perform a system recovery
When I hit the “R” key the CD tries to load all the files, but doesn’t do anything at all and eventually the PC restarts itself.

I tried to install Ubuntu in my Hard Drive but I got an error, Windows Vista-error.

Is it my hard Drive dead, corrupted or what?
Is there a way to fix it or do I have to replace it?.
I am almost sure the problem is with the HD, because sometimes it makes some loud noises and also I wasn’t able to access to it when I booted with the Ubuntu OS.

My other question is if I have to replace my HD, can I install Windows in the new HD with the System Recovery CD that came with my PC, does that CD only works with HD that is now not working?.

Sorry for making question too long
Any help will be apeciated

PC Info:
Gateway 842GM (4yrs old)
Intel Pentium 4 3.00
1024mb memory
200 SATA HD Western Digital (not working)
 
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Check for loose cables going to the hard drive. If everything is ok, try changing out power cable, sata cable or use different sata ports on the motherboard to determine what the problem may be.
 
If your HDD is making loud noises then I'd say it is going to kick the bucket or it has already kicked the bucket. :(
 
Sounds like the drive's gone. You could always try software from the drive manufacturer as a last resort, but if Ubuntu didn't see it, I doubt most anything would... Confirm it is showing up in the BIOS and is connected correctly, perhaps even test in another computer, but dead drives aren't that uncommon...

If you replace the drive, you shouldn't have any problems reloading Windows. Most reinstall disks partition the drive as one large partition and load everything from there. Windows should activate without a problem too since the rest of the hardware's the same.
 
There could be some other ways to save your drive... could it be infected by virus? Do you have a different PC? Take the drive out, put in an external enclosure, hook to another computer and scan for virus. If the drive is not completely dead you might still be able to move your important files to a different drive.
 
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The problem was the Hard Drive.
I bought a new Western Digital 320 GB (Blue) for 60 bucks at Best Buy and everything works fine again.
The only thing is that I did lost a lot of pictures, music and some other documents that were not too important.
Anyway I wasn't going to spend hundreds of dollards trying to recover them.
The other thing is that the system recovery CD reinstalled a clean copy of XP MCE 2005, but it didn't reinstall the programs and drivers that came with the PC at first, that was not a big deal anyway.
The new Hard Drive works fine, but I don't now if should return it (Best Buy) since amazon.com has the same model but the 500GB for $59.99 and I believe the shipping is free.
At first I didn't know if I shold've buy the Green or Blue version, but I chose the blue one sice I think most people believe runs faster.
 
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