Mark Allanson
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| posted on 1/5/07 at 07:21 PM |
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Another dead PC
I have been given my neices PC to fix, but I'm a bit stumped.
The system is XP home, and when booting up, it does the memory checks and the gives me the safe mode - last known system - standard windows option.
Whatever you choose, it briefly gives the windows screen and reboots.
I have connected the hard drive via a usb hard drive case to my laptop, but I can only see the restore partition, not the main windows one.
I suspect the hard drive has failed
Anyone got any ideas
Thanks in advance
Mark
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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flak monkey
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| posted on 1/5/07 at 07:35 PM |
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Its likely that the MBR has probably got corrupted. Its very rare that a HDD fails these days.
If it wont even boot in safe mode, then its likey that windows is fubarred. Either due to a fault hdd segement, or a corrupted file.
If you have the windoze disc do this:
Press del to enter set up when the bios screen is up.
Change first boot device to CD-ROM (usually in advanced options)
Whack XP cd in drive and reboot
Follow onscreen prompts to do a full reinstall with a complete format which will find if there are any bad sectors, and ignore them.
David
[Edited on 1/5/07 by flak monkey]
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
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Peteff
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| posted on 1/5/07 at 07:36 PM |
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If it's trying to open Windows even in safe mode there's not a lot wrong with the hard drive. Can't you try restoring it with the
restore partition. Put a Windows disk in if you have one and use the repair option otherwise format and reinstall Windows
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 1/5/07 at 07:39 PM |
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The other complicating factor is there is a year of uni work on the drive, that is my prime directive!!
The disturbing thing is I cannot see the main drive when it is plugged into my laptop, only the restore partition
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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flak monkey
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| posted on 1/5/07 at 07:44 PM |
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Thats more of a problem. If the MFT/MBR has been corrupted it would lead to that problem.
If you can see the restore partition you could install a clean copy of windows on that partition, and then hope you can see the rest of the drive.
I have a handy file recovery program if you get in a muddle, but you need to be able to see the drive in the first place.
If you ahve partition magic you can have a play around with it in there. (or I may be able to send you some boot discs to try)
David
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 1/5/07 at 07:48 PM |
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i'll keep playing for a bit, but may need those discs
thanks
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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flak monkey
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| posted on 1/5/07 at 07:50 PM |
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If you are on msn i can send you the files and explain over that, if not i can email you.
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
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britishtrident
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| posted on 1/5/07 at 08:00 PM |
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Down load and burn a copy of Knoppix on to a CD boot from that and see what partitions you can see.
If this works you can backup the must have files to a CD or DVD from Knoppix using K3B before reinstaling sindows
http://www.knoppix.org/
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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Steve&Steve
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| posted on 1/5/07 at 08:02 PM |
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The fact that you can see the recovery partition from the laptop is a very good sign. It heans the drive is probably fine and its (as Flak monkey
said) a file table or boot record corruption.
If you right click on 'my computer' on the desktop or start menu and select 'Manage' to open up computer management.
Go to 'storage' and then 'Disc Management (local).
you should now see the drives attached (ie the laptop drive & the other HD) to the laptop. These are broken down in to Partition charts. I expect
the computer shows the recovery partition as 'healthy' and then shows the other amount as 'Unrecognised' or some simmalar
term.
If this is the case you will need a program to read the data but it should be retrievable. No point just keepin 'messin about' though as
the computer is seeing the partition but not able to read it. The only way round this is a recovery program that reads data ignoring file structure
etc.
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 1/5/07 at 08:02 PM |
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I am in disc management at the moment, I can see the drive, all 70gig of it, but it doesn't respond to 'open' or
'explore' wis a bit of a disappointment
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 1/5/07 at 08:05 PM |
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I think i need that recovery program
msn is markallanson3#hotmail.com
thanks
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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flak monkey
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| posted on 1/5/07 at 08:06 PM |
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Mark, I will upload the file recovery prog i have. You can run it from your laptop, and it will completely scan the other harddrive, not taking into
account the fact that the laptop cant read the partition.
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
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Steve&Steve
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| posted on 1/5/07 at 08:11 PM |
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Note: I would NOT install windows on the recovery partition as you will need to use this to resetup the PC after data is backed up. Newer laptops are
often not supplied with discs (leaving the customer to create them). If not created from the laptop maufacturers charge for sending sets out (about
£10-£50 depending on brand)
Also dont install from ANY xp cd if this is the case you may wipe the recovery partition unintentionally. Once you get this far find out how to
activate the recovery from the partition. I would need to know the brand & model of laptop to help you.
PS. the program flak monkey is sugesting sounds just the thing.
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chockymonster
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| posted on 2/5/07 at 06:33 AM |
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When you viewed it in Computer Management what did it describe the partition table as on her drive?
I have a piece of software that will let you examine/rebuild the partition table on a drive
PLEASE NOTE - Responses on Forum Threads may contain Sarcasm and may not be suitable for the hard of Thinking.
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 2/5/07 at 07:19 AM |
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I have used flakmonkeys file recovery program, but all the files (1.8gig) have come over as fragments like 2874958fragment.xls for a excel file, but
these file wont open.
any ideas?
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 2/5/07 at 07:20 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by chockymonster
When you viewed it in Computer Management what did it describe the partition table as on her drive?
I have a piece of software that will let you examine/rebuild the partition table on a drive
It gave the description as 'healthy' and active and the size of the partition 70.4g
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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flak monkey
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| posted on 2/5/07 at 07:23 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mark Allanson
I have used flakmonkeys file recovery program, but all the files (1.8gig) have come over as fragments like 2874958fragment.xls for a excel file, but
these file wont open.
any ideas?
It should let you recover the files properly so they are fully readable. Tried having a rummage through the help on the program?
Look in the tutorial section, tutorial 4 I think.
[Edited on 2/5/07 by flak monkey]
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
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