Cant get computer to start up?

[KCI]

Just wondering if anyone can help with this?

Our house lights flickered a little while ago. When I checked my PC it had switched off. I tried to switch it on, but all I get is the screen giving the choice to start windows normally, safe mode, etc.

I keep trying to start windows normally, or to start in safe mode - actually, I have tried all of the options, but it just keeps restarting and goes to the same screen.

Is my pc well and truly dead? It's not even that old. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!

[dx100uk]

you will need the windows disc of your type of os {winxp or vista}
boot from that
and you will see a screen that eventually says 'r' to repair windows etc.

hit that
then when you get to the cmd prompt type

chkdsk c: /F /R

when that has done its bit
if the pc still dores not work
do the same again with the disc
but this time type:

sfc /scannow

dx

[KCI]

Had a look, but I don't have an actual Operating System disc, just a recovery disc? It says not to use it unless I have checked with Mesh computers, who made up the computer.

Is it still OK to use it?
I'm worried that I am going to lose all the info on my pc - or is it all lost already? I really need my pc back!

[dx100uk]

no you shouldn't suffer that.
just boot from it and see what happens
should be std disc

follow as above , it doesn't wipe anything running sfc

dx

[KCI]

Right, I gave it a try, but couldn't get anywhere!

I don't get a chance to type anything. It keeps saying unable to find a valid Windows XP installation, asked me for a floppy disc at one point which I don't have, said something about the damage being too extensive to repair, and went into some kind of screen about partitions?

I am totally lost - does anyone know if it will be possible to repair my pc, or is it well and truly dead?

I'm just upset as it had all my e-mail addresses and my baby's photos - didn't get time to put them on a disc.

Help!

[Bobinovich]

If it's not seeing the current Windows installation then it almost certainly needs a SATA driver applied during the startup. If you didn't get such a disk with the system then it'll probably need to be downloaded from the manufacturers website and written to a floppy or possibly USB stick. At this stage I would say your pictures and e-mails, etc. should still be fine.

The system may be repairable using the SATA driver and procedure DX100UK gave, or it may require your files to be backed up (probably have to connect the hard drive to another system in order to backup the files) then the system wiped & reinstalled.

Either way if you're not confident about doing it then it may be time to call someone in.

[KCI]

Thanks Bobinovich - I'll take a look to see if I have the driver disc.

How much do you think it would cost to have someone look at the pc? I would usually give it a go myself, but I don't want to lose the baby pics!

[Bobinovich]

Have PM'd you.

[Bobinovich]

A wee update to finish this one off. After attaching the drive to another PC the files were backed up for safety and then a chkdsk scan run on it. This repaired the corruption on the hard drive which had put ths sytem in a restart cycle. The drive was reattached and booted fine with no loss of data, and with all programs intact. A general tidy up and AVG free updated to v9. One happy KCI

[dx100uk]

well done bob.

FYI: i've been moving into software franchaising of recent with microsort
and i've found the 'repair' option of the windows 7 discs very good of recent.

as a test, i dug out a very old drive that many progs would not touch, it suprised me by getting an old 'clicking' HDD going and found the OS.

i also put another back bench bummer to its test
this got it going again, even finding and making bootable an old XP OS.

it has a very good feature that tells you all the OS's that it can find on a drive & givig you the option to 'fix' them.

got to admit very impressed, though it does need a network connection & goes off to install things in the background to do its job.

i have also had very good results with the new microsoft security essentials package its free and works a treat, might be putting combfix & hackthis in the back of the box if this goes on.

anyhow

well done.

dx

[Bobinovich]

Thanks for the tips Dx - have been planning a Win 7 box but my XP system is still serving me well, however it might be more useful as a workshop backup & fix system.

[KCI]

Yeah, huge thanks to Bobinovich for his help!
All got a bit too technical for me!

I've learnt my lesson though, and to remind everyone else - always remember to back up anything important, like pics etc. I nearly lost all my photos of my baby, so am so grateful to Saint Bob for saving them!!