Problem with reinstalling windows off a packard bell recovery disk

[Chris777isme]

Hey
I run a packard bell desktop on windows xp and recently there was a lightning storm which kindly corrupted a lot of my harddrive.. When I try to boot my sytem it gets to the point where the windows screen appears and the bar goes accross and then restarts.. I have come to the conclusion that it has corrupted the windows part of the disk.. I tried to reinstall windows form the backup portion of the disk but it appears that that it corrupt... but thankfully I made a dvd of it a while ago and after working out how to boot this and run it it asks for the code which i type in, it accepts, It then says "The computer has no valid imformation" and then says "Device error: 7424DOS" and "12Genral failure". it also says that I run oemsetup v4.21. I'm not sure how I can reinstall/repair windows without completly reformating the computer or for that matter what this error means. is it simply a corrupt dvd? if so what other options could I do to reinstall windows and get my computer working again? if someone could give me help with this it would be most appreciated thanks a lot
Chris

 

[PC eye]

You may have a hardware error code being seen there. Which version of Windows are you currently running? If 98 or newer you can try the "fdisk /mbr" command at the dos prompt when booting from a 98 startup floppy to write a new boot sector. But the problem being seen right after an electrical storm suggests likely hardware damage due to a sudden power surge. The "Device error: 12General Failure" sounds like an error code according to Packard Bell and not an OS error message being seen.

 

[Chris777isme]

Thanks a lot yeah.. I'm on windows xp, which hardware exactly do you think it has damaged? the harddrive? if i can find out what is damaged i can replace it. thanks a lot
chris

 

[PC eye]

Unfortunately the only thing found at Packard Bell without knowing the specific model number is the support page where you choose that and then go from there to see if you find what those codes mean. http://support.packardbell.com/global/item/?m=step2&i=menu_desktop

The other PB articles and links found are at least 5-6years old and of no value on determining what those codes point at. But you could try a boot from the XP disk and try an "install to repair" method if XP is already on the drive. If the errors are not pointing at the drive but the lack of detection from a corrupted boot sector due to electromagnetic whatever that would be a minor software glitch correctable with the repair method. A code like this after a storm sounds like the board could be what saw damage. To try the repair on the current installation, http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

One other thought would be the bios information having been effected and possibly the EProms could seen something during the storm itself if the likely line surge happened. Or by simple coincidence something has decided to let go at this time. The one to see whether Windows or a hardware is the problem would be the repair option. If you suddenly see a normal running pc it was a simple glitch of drive information. If not it seems most likely the bios is seeing a failure from either damage or factory defect if the system is rather new.

 

[Chris777isme]

thanks a lot for your help.. unfortunatly that does not work as when i try to install/reinstall windows it stops and fails. The disk is fine so i assume it is because of the hard disk. On the Windows recovery there is an option to "format" the drive of ur choice but unfortunatly when i put in the command (im assuming im putting it in correctly) it does nothing so im rather confused as what to try next

 

[PC eye]

Do you know the brand of hard drive there? If it's a Western Digital I wouldn't point fingers at the drive yet. When the bios!/cpu? was acting up on a board recently replaced the system suddenly saw disk failure messages at post and refused to load Windows. First assuming a drive failing was a good move for other reasons(older/smaller backup/Linux drive loaned out). To the aggravation of reinstalling Windows after a fresh wipe of the drive everything initially started running normal for a few days until... FREEZE! was the big word when the Windows locked as soon as the desktop was reached. Bad memory now? NADA! A reduction from the 200mhz to 166mhz in the bios(200x2=400mhz) suddenly saw a normal operating system at 333mhz. Ut Oh! While the same 2gb of memory found no errors on a new board some 573 were seen on the old board while ordering the replacement.

A failing or damaged chipset would account for what you are seeing here. With the costs of older model boards down this would one thing to start looking at as well as memory and cpu damage. The board is the higher concern. A bad cap in the supply won't see the XP installer hang while could have seen damage from a strong surge. With the installer failing to see the drive it suggests board damage as the culprit for this. If you have another case lying around run memtest on the installed memory one dimm at a time to see any errors are found there. If clear the chipset and possibly cpu are the next candidates.