Boot Disk and Noise

[NSolano]

My computer was working fine. It is a HP and it had windows XP pro installed. It has failed before so this is not the first time. This message saying Boot Disk failure press enter or something. well i know that I need an XP disk to reinstall the files and I most likely lost all of my info.
what concerts me is a lil noise that I heard on the boot disk section, sounds like a squeak or some noise like that. like a squeaky chair.
anyone know what that is or if any better fixes for this

 

[bcastner]

Play my iTunes tracklist: thread779-1272771

 

[NSolano]

mine sounds like sound damage 3, should I buy a new disk or a new computer?
where can i buy one

 

[vacunita]

I would say a new disk is all that is required.

Where to buy depends on where you live. in the US: Best Buy and Circuit City are known to carry drives.

Once you have the new drive, you'll have to open up your computer to install it, and then use your Windows XP CD to reinstall Windows.



----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[bcastner]

I think if you dowload the hard drive manufacturer's setup/diagnostic utility freeware and run it you should see some error codes returned.

The warrany for hard drives can be up to five years depending on make.

Call the drive sites Tech Support and provide them the error message and codes (it it uses them) from running their diagnostic software.

 

[NSolano]

I've tried rebooting the drive with my friend's xp cd, but it was made for a Dell. So it gave me an error saying that windows has stopped running to stop it from being damaged more.

Is there any boot programs that I can download from the internet so I can reload it, or is an XP cd my only solution.
I really dont feel like buying a drive and installing it.

 

[bcastner]

You can access Recovery Console if you do not have the CD by the floppy disketter image approach:

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...port/kb/articles/q307/6/54.asp&NoWebContent=1

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310994

 

[linney]

Where is your own CD, or does your machine have a Recovery CD, or a hidden Recovery Partition?

You are going to need media which is specific to your machine and which was used to install that operating system.

Even so a faulty hard drive will still require replacement sooner rather than later, and you may get nowhere until that is fixed.

To replace a CD or Product Key, you must contact PSS. To locate the appropriate phone number for your product, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

326246 - How to Replace Lost, Broken, or Missing Microsoft Software or Hardware

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;326246&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[NSolano]

ok, so it is my harddrive that is messed up.
can you guys give me some recommendations as to which one i should buy at a good price??
also what other files will I need when I install it, do I just need the xp cd or do i need other stuff so that it can detect the other drivers that the computer has?/ help

 

[vacunita]

a New drive: what size would you like the drive to be? 80GB,? 120GB, 160GB etc... Depending on the size will be the price.
Seagate makes good drives. Wouldn't recommend Maxtor, or Hitatchi.

What type of drive, check your current drive to determine what type of connector it has: IDE or SATA?. You must buy a Drive of the same type.

To reinstall Windows, all you really need is the WinXp CD. The CD contains dirvers for most hardware but you should always find and download the newest drivers from the manufacturers website. So even though you dont require the drivers its a good practice to have them. You should have the motherboards driver CD at hand if you have one.






----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[bcastner]

Vacunita,

I have had good luck with Maxtor, but you should be aware that Seagate owns Maxtor.

As for drivers, the XP CD contains drivers released in 1988. You might consider doing two things:

[li]Use Everest Home free or Belarc Advisor to get a detailed listing of existing devices and installed drivers:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

[/li]
[li]Use a freeware utility to make a driver store for restoring drivers; e.g.

http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Utilities/System_Maintenance_and_Repair_Utilities/DriverMax.html

[/li]
Finally, your new drive should come with software that will allow you to transfer the image of XP from your old drive to the new drive, including all drivers. If not included, look at the web site of the new drive manufacturer for their installation/setup utility. Or use this freeware:

http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/index.htm

____________________________
Users Helping Users

 

[vacunita]

I did not know Seagate had acquired Maxtor, in any case i had really bad experiences with Maxtor drives before the adquisition, and haven't bought one since. maybe now that Seagate is making the drives, they'll have better quality.

As for drivers, the XP CD contains drivers released in 1988.
...

Don't you mean 19[red]98[/red] and not even that old, i think 2000 is more like it. as it got released in 2001.




----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[bcastner]

1998, sorry. Because only WHQL drivers are included in the release they are sealed well before RTM. Your Vista driver set, for example, is already closed, although not nearly anything close to all of them are shown on the Beta or RC releases.



____________________________
Users Helping Users