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Old 05-08-2013, 02:49 PM
 
41,815 posts, read 50,824,478 times
Reputation: 17863

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Quote:
Originally Posted by PITTSTON2SARASOTA View Post
Have no clue where Hard Drive is located but I know what it should look like.
If you're looking at the front of your PC generally there is air vents on the bottom, this is so air can be sucked in and over the HDD's. When you open the case the HDD's will probably be on the very bottom behind that air vent.
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Old 05-08-2013, 02:50 PM
 
Location: Sarasota, Florida
15,395 posts, read 22,453,169 times
Reputation: 11134
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tek_Freek View Post
What make and model of PC? There is probably someplace on the Internet that will tell you how to do it. It's not that difficult to do. Easier than installing that fan in my opinion.
That gives me hope....The fan was easy...hardest part was screwing it back in.

Information.....about computer make/model is earlier in the thread.
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Old 05-08-2013, 02:50 PM
 
Location: The Ranch in Olam Haba
23,709 posts, read 30,605,317 times
Reputation: 9985
Its a 5+ year old computer.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01153857&lang=en&cc=us&task Id=115&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=3548186

It takes a SATA hard drive. IMO, since you already have your data, is not to waste money on repairs plus the parts. Search for a new computer as they are now relatively inexpensive compared to what was paid for this one over 5 years ago (street date was 8/2007).
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Old 05-08-2013, 02:54 PM
 
Location: Sarasota, Florida
15,395 posts, read 22,453,169 times
Reputation: 11134
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pruzhany View Post
Its a 5 year old computer.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01153857&lang=en&cc=us&task Id=115&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=3548186

It takes a SATA hard drive. IMO, since you already have your data, is not to waste money on repairs plus the parts. Search for a new computer as they are now relatively inexpensive compared to what was paid for this one nearly 5 years ago (street date was 8/2007).
Thanx for link. I'm beginning to wonder if it would be cheaper to just replace the computer myself. Techs here want 100 bucks an hour.

It was nearly "state of the art"......relatively speaking(My first computer)when I bought it.

Thanx for trying to help.

Last edited by PITTSTON2SARASOTA; 05-08-2013 at 03:06 PM..
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Old 05-08-2013, 03:14 PM
 
1,111 posts, read 1,727,005 times
Reputation: 725
No one has yet mentioned that the power supply might not be able to supply enough juice(failing)to get the drive running. Long shot, but within the possibility's.
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Old 05-08-2013, 03:14 PM
 
Location: SCW, AZ
8,236 posts, read 13,328,556 times
Reputation: 7871
Here is info link that should be helpful, please watch the video down the page all the way through.

Since, any type of recovery typically wipes all data clean, as the video tells you, you must back up all your data before proceeding. As some mentioned, I am leaning towards a failed/failing hard drive but either way.

I am curious, did it seem like the BIOS settings were changed or reset? If so, you CMOS battery might be bad and could be messing up your BIOS settings not to mention your Boot Sequence configuration.
If it prompts you to press DEL or F2 to update/correct settings or F1 to resume, chance are that is the case. For recovery DVD/CD to work, the DVD/CD drive has to be in #1 position in the Boot Sequence (order), after you set it so, save and reboot then go back into BIOS to make sure the setting remain so.
Also, see if there is a button you can press to change the system boot order on the fly (Typically F12) and if there is, use that to confirm/set DVD/CD drive as the first drive. Make sure the media in the drive is not scratched up or dusty. Use it in another computer to confirm it is readable to make sure.

Here are some ideas for you:

Simple things you can try:
- As Tek_Freek mentioned, unplug everything from the back of the computer, pop the side cover off.
- Remove any internal and external device that was installed on this PC that was not done after you bought the PC.
- If the interior of the case had any dust at all, get a compressed air can and thoroughly sprayed and clean the inside (you might want to step outside to do this )
- Press evenly and firmly on the RAM sticks and any other add-in card that you might have to make sure they are all seated all the way in their slots.
- Disconnecting and reconnecting data and power cables at both ends (drive end as well as the motherboard end) is something I do to eliminate and odd possibilities that might be the culprit. Often a loose cable may appear connected so this eliminates the guess work.
- Connect everything back but leave the side case open. Turn the PC on and see if all the fan are spinning (PSU, CPU, etc.). See if the hard drive is humming/spinning. If, after 5 minutes, there is not vibration or no heat build up on the hard drive (you can tell by touching the bare metal side). Since BIOS see the drive at full capacity (it always shows the full size in BIOS) then I believe the drive is functional so this may be a simple case of corrupt (OS) image. Usually a dying drive that is creating bad sectors or a malware is the cause for image corruption. The source image used could be too of course but if that was the case, you would experience problems within a matter of days of not hours.


Scenario #1
- Buy another hard drive, same size or bigger than the one that came with the system (according to the specs, it is 400GB) so getting a 500GB drive should be fine.
- Disconnect the current drive and install the new one in its place using its connections as well
- Boot using the recovery media and do a recovery.

If all checks out so far, then you can get a USB SATA HD Reader and connect the old drive to it to manually copy over your data from the old one to the new.

Scenario #2
- Take the drive out to a shop or a friend who has the tools/skills to check and see if they can access the data on the drive and perhaps back the data up for you while at it.

If they can, then it is probably a bad (os) image then without buying a new hard drive, you can just backup your data manually to another media and do a recovery.

Other than the above, my guess is, motherboard (cmos) could be faulty.
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Old 05-08-2013, 03:18 PM
 
Location: Sarasota, Florida
15,395 posts, read 22,453,169 times
Reputation: 11134
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregm View Post
No one has yet mentioned that the power supply might not be able to supply enough juice(failing)to get the drive running. Long shot, but within the possibility's.
Just had new power supply installed few months ago(after it went bad).

600 Watt Ultra ATX.........
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Old 05-08-2013, 03:28 PM
 
Location: SCW, AZ
8,236 posts, read 13,328,556 times
Reputation: 7871
Quote:
Originally Posted by PITTSTON2SARASOTA View Post
Just had new power supply installed few months ago(after it went bad).

600 Watt Ultra ATX.........
I would have been really surprised if it was the PSU. Oh, I forgot to mention, unless you were using the DVD drive recently, there is a chance the drive could be bad too!
If you haven't used the drive in months, blowing some compressed air when the drive slot is open could help.
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Old 05-08-2013, 03:33 PM
 
Location: Sarasota, Florida
15,395 posts, read 22,453,169 times
Reputation: 11134
Quote:
Originally Posted by TurcoLoco View Post
Here is info link that should be helpful, please watch the video down the page all the way through.

Since, any type of recovery typically wipes all data clean, as the video tells you, you must back up all your data before proceeding. As some mentioned, I am leaning towards a failed/failing hard drive but either way.

I am curious, did it seem like the BIOS settings were changed or reset? If so, you CMOS battery might be bad and could be messing up your BIOS settings not to mention your Boot Sequence configuration.
If it prompts you to press DEL or F2 to update/correct settings or F1 to resume, chance are that is the case. For recovery DVD/CD to work, the DVD/CD drive has to be in #1 position in the Boot Sequence (order), after you set it so, save and reboot then go back into BIOS to make sure the setting remain so.
Also, see if there is a button you can press to change the system boot order on the fly (Typically F12) and if there is, use that to confirm/set DVD/CD drive as the first drive. Make sure the media in the drive is not scratched up or dusty. Use it in another computer to confirm it is readable to make sure.

Here are some ideas for you:

Simple things you can try:
- As Tek_Freek mentioned, unplug everything from the back of the computer, pop the side cover off.
- Remove any internal and external device that was installed on this PC that was not done after you bought the PC.
- If the interior of the case had any dust at all, get a compressed air can and thoroughly sprayed and clean the inside (you might want to step outside to do this )
- Press evenly and firmly on the RAM sticks and any other add-in card that you might have to make sure they are all seated all the way in their slots.
- Disconnecting and reconnecting data and power cables at both ends (drive end as well as the motherboard end) is something I do to eliminate and odd possibilities that might be the culprit. Often a loose cable may appear connected so this eliminates the guess work.
- Connect everything back but leave the side case open. Turn the PC on and see if all the fan are spinning (PSU, CPU, etc.). See if the hard drive is humming/spinning. If, after 5 minutes, there is not vibration or no heat build up on the hard drive (you can tell by touching the bare metal side). Since BIOS see the drive at full capacity (it always shows the full size in BIOS) then I believe the drive is functional so this may be a simple case of corrupt (OS) image. Usually a dying drive that is creating bad sectors or a malware is the cause for image corruption. The source image used could be too of course but if that was the case, you would experience problems within a matter of days of not hours.


Scenario #1
- Buy another hard drive, same size or bigger than the one that came with the system (according to the specs, it is 400GB) so getting a 500GB drive should be fine.
- Disconnect the current drive and install the new one in its place using its connections as well
- Boot using the recovery media and do a recovery.

If all checks out so far, then you can get a USB SATA HD Reader and connect the old drive to it to manually copy over your data from the old one to the new.

Scenario #2
- Take the drive out to a shop or a friend who has the tools/skills to check and see if they can access the data on the drive and perhaps back the data up for you while at it.

If they can, then it is probably a bad (os) image then without buying a new hard drive, you can just backup your data manually to another media and do a recovery.

Other than the above, my guess is, motherboard (cmos) could be faulty.
The BIOS settings were/are fine. I tried changing boot order and checked to be sure DVD drive stayed as first priority.

All fans are functioning.....red light goes solid a minute or two...then blinks.....sporadically after loading recovery discs(They are clean...Verbatim brand).

I have everything disconnected except mouse and keyboard.

I was on three websites...doing nothing when I got the first blue screen(first time ever)...saying system memory dump...restart now. I also tried F12 and ESC.....to rotate boot sequence on "the fly".

I'll watch video and see IF I'm comfortable finding hard drive.

I think it (hard drive)works since I see it in BIOS and I ran a "SMART" Scan on it...everything checked out with no errors.

Is the Factory Drive...."D" drive on my system simply partitioned on the "C" Main Drive??????

This part is confusing me and I see two shadow copies on my Boot Time screen??????
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Old 05-08-2013, 03:35 PM
 
Location: Sarasota, Florida
15,395 posts, read 22,453,169 times
Reputation: 11134
Quote:
Originally Posted by TurcoLoco View Post
I would have been really surprised if it was the PSU. Oh, I forgot to mention, unless you were using the DVD drive recently, there is a chance the drive could be bad too!
If you haven't used the drive in months, blowing some compressed air when the drive slot is open could help.
I thoroughly cleaned entire computer with compressed air as did Technician when installing new PSU.
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