Decided To Get Brave and Remove Cover to HP Desktop (hard drive, operating system)

[Tek_Freek]

The latches only release the CD or DVD, nothing to do with the hard drive or floppy.



After the drive is partway out you need to remove all cables from the back, then pull it the rest of the way out.

If yours is different some close ups of the side of the open case showing he drive area might help someone figure this out.

[thrillobyte]

Thanks for that diagram, Tek. My GD is out of sight in that diagram at the front bottom left side. There are two slots for HD's and it is in the farthest left slot, right against the wall of the case. It is put in upside down so that in order to read the print I have to turn the computer upside down in order to read it. The HD must slide out upward and the pocket media drive bay is in the way so there is only three inches between the top of the HD and the pocket media bay and the HD is five inches in length. The only other way to access it would be to pop off the front panel. Do front panels usually come off?

[Mercury Cougar]

How do you know it's the drive that's the problem? I see a lot more bad sticks of memory in HPs than anything else, and then it's a tossup between bad CPUs and bad drives. Heck, you might not even have a hardware issue, and just need to wipe and reinstall your OS.

[thrillobyte]

I got the front panel off, though I probably broke it in the process. There is absolutely no access to the HD from the front; it is all metal casing and the frame of the computer case is in the way.

[thrillobyte]

Originally Posted by Mercury Cougar

How do you know it's the drive that's the problem? I see a lot more bad sticks of memory in HPs than anything else, and then it's a tossup between bad CPUs and bad drives. Heck, you might not even have a hardware issue, and just need to wipe and reinstall your OS.

Actually, I don't know. Somehow I just got onto this kick that it was. I definitely need a diagnostic. A local company charges $40 to perform one. If it's the OS then I am SOL because Vista didn't come with restore disks. Everyone here has been so helpful. I want to thank you all. Could you just tell me one last thing: assuming it's one of thew above three problems what might I reasonably expect to pay to replace
1. a memory stick(s) 1 Gig
2. an AMD 64x2
3. a mid-range HD

Thanks much.

[scarmig]

thrillobyte,

Yes, many panels do come off. Usually they are "snap-in", so they take some pulling to break free, but if its not a snap-in, it could just plain old break.

But I agree with Mercury. What you are describing does not sound like a hard disk problem, but a memory or OS problem.

Have you scanned your system for viruses and malware? If your system is clean, then try running a memory diagnostic to make sure the memory hasn't gone bad. Microsoft offers one here for download.

Microsoft Online Crash Analysis

If that comes up clean and happy... go through an uninstall as much hardward and software as you can from your system. You may have installed something that is causing a conflict or has a bug in it.

If you get through all of this and still have the problem, *then* we can check your drive.

Do you know how to get to the BIOS of your computer? If so, there is probably a bios setting call S.M.A.R.T. for your hard drives. That is an early alert system. If you turn it on, it slows down the drives, but it will alert you if the drive appears to be failing. Turn that on and run for a while and see if it says anything after a few days and a few reboots.

If all of this fails, you would be well-served to wipe the drive and install the OS fresh.

At that point... you are looking as component replacement and can try changing out the hard drive.

[thrillobyte]

Thanks scarmig.

Have you scanned your system for viruses and malware?

At this point the computer is non-fuctional. If I can get it into safe mode then the Internet is cut off and I get the blue screen of death anyway. Otherwise one of the following happen upon repeated bootings: the cursor/mouse will freeze on the password page; the HP opening blue screen will freeze; the dreaded "blue screen" will almost immediately occur--sometimes it counts down 30 seconds and then auto reboots and then something freezes or the blue screen just stays there (all day if I let it) and I have to manually turn it off and reboot.

Do you know how to get to the BIOS of your computer?

No, I am not tech savvy at all. I know the parts of a computer fairly well and what they do but to get into giving commands and running checks and things I am totally illiterate.

If it costs too much to fix this then I am going to look into having a desktop custom made for me.

[Tek_Freek]

"It's a Pavilion model A6130N AMD 64 dual-core"

Look on the back for a label that has serial and model numbers on it. It seems that you have a different case than what is on the HP manual (no surprise) and we need to find the manual for your case.

Give us the information from that label and we should be able to find the correct diagrams.

Does it look like this? This is the pic from the HP page for the PC number you gave.

[scarmig]

Originally Posted by thrillobyte

Thanks scarmig.



At this point the computer is non-fuctional. If I can get it into safe mode then the Internet is cut off and I get the blue screen of death anyway. Otherwise one of the following happen upon repeated bootings: the cursor/mouse will freeze on the password page; the HP opening blue screen will freeze; the dreaded "blue screen" will almost immediately occur--sometimes it counts down 30 seconds and then auto reboots and then something freezes or the blue screen just stays there (all day if I let it) and I have to manually turn it off and reboot.



No, I am not tech savvy at all. I know the parts of a computer fairly well and what they do but to get into giving commands and running checks and things I am totally illiterate.

If it costs too much to fix this then I am going to look into having a desktop custom made for me.

Do you have a CD to install Windows? If so, will the computer boot to that CD?

It would be good to know if the computer can boot to something (anything) without the hard drive.

If you don't have a Windows installation CD, see if you can get a friend to burn a Linux Live CD for you. That would give you a way to run the computer without a hard drive and thus isolate if it is the hard drive or something with the memory or motherboard.

[thrillobyte]

Does it look like this? This is the pic from the HP page for the PC number you gave.

Yep, that's about what it looks like---a few stickers here and there (AMD Live--Vista Inside) also there is a smaller port right below the upper DVD drive for the pocket media bay drive.

Do you have a CD to install Windows? Do you have a friend to burn a Linux Live CD for you?

Nope to both. I don't run in tekkie circles at all so I know absolutely no one, other than you good people, who can help.

Latest: I decided to give repairing it a shot. New HD $69; reinstall Vista "the right way" he says $195 (inc. labor) Total $270. We'll see what happens.

He wanted to install Norton. I said it'll be a cold day in hell before I ever get near Norton again. I inquired about AVG; he said junk. I asked about Kaspersky; he said he just installed one and Kas missed a virus that Norton caught. I still wasn't convinced. I'll give Kaspersky Home Security a try.