Community Newsletter: Q&A: 11/11/05 Katrina survivor needs help with PC's hard drive
- 11/10/05 6:05 PM
COACH, PLEASE Report the Result when fixed
by Ol Rod - 11/11/05 3:04 PM In reply to: 11/11/05 Katrina survivor needs help with PC's hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I don't know enough to advise you, I read the entire thread to learn for myself. Please tell if you got it fixed, and what you did to fix it ??
WATCHOUT , potentialy the restore cd could wipe the drive
by johnnj2003 - 11/11/05 3:59 PM In reply to: 11/11/05 Katrina survivor needs help with PC's hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
When you use the restore cd, Bear in mind they usually wipe the drive as they restore the partition back to the "factory fresh" image.
So you may have saved the data on the drive during the hurricane, only to lose it to a "destructive restore"
Hope this all worked out in the end.
I would recommend a usb drive kit that will allow you to connect that drive to any other pc externally using usb.
This way you can simply extract the data and use the restore cd with no fear of data loss.
Hard drive.
by eRIC hIND - 11/11/05 7:41 PM In reply to: 11/11/05 Katrina survivor needs help with PC's hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Charles' answer to to this query was the best answer I have ever read, clear and concise. I had the same trouble but mine was the cable.
Thanks Charles
A Possible answer to Katrina Survivor's problem
by Allhrtsnroses - 11/11/05 11:18 PM In reply to: 11/11/05 Katrina survivor needs help with PC's hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I did the same thing that you did and plugged my hard drive into another computer...unfortunately, I did not know about the static electricity and when I went to plug it back into my computer, the processor was fried!! I was so upset and ended up having to get a whole new hard drive, losing years worth of information that I had collected. It was hard but now I have learned to back up things on CD's, etc...I wish you luck!!
Hugs,
Cheryl
Could this be software?
by gryps - 11/12/05 1:33 AM In reply to: 11/11/05 Katrina survivor needs help with PC's hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I know it should not be possible to have a dynamic disk created on a notebook, bur if the PC's boot disk is dynamic and could be read on a dynamic disk notebook the signature would have been changed with the result that it would no longer be able to boot when reinstalled in the PC.
Although Microsoft state that a notebook cannot have a dynamic disk, I have seen one in a notebook.
Terry Griffin MCT CCI
Power cable issues
by tigger2000 - 11/12/05 2:12 AM In reply to: 11/11/05 Katrina survivor needs help with PC's hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I never cease to be amazed at the number of people who tell others to power down their pc and then remove the power cable from the supply socket before they work on their pc. Has no one ever heard that we all carry static electricity in our body ? is no one aware of the damage that this static can do to pc components ? I certainly accept that there can be safety issues involved but if you are happy to work in the depths of your pc, then I think that you are capable of safely turning the power at the supply socket. For anyone who is considering working on their pc, this is the correct way to set about it.
1. Shut down your pc and turn the power supply at the supply socket.To be certain the power is shut off, try turning it on a again.
2. Dont unplug the power lead from your pc.
3. Open the case of your pc and connect an earth strap from yourself to the case. You can buy an earthing strap at most shops that sell pc components very cheaply. Once you have earthed yourself to the pc the static in your body will discharge itself through the pc case and then through the earth in the power lead.
You can now work on your pc without the fear of static from your body damaging components, but I would still suggest that you use common sense when handling any components and suggest that you never touch connecting pins or any other part that supplys power to a component. I know that there are going to be people out there who say that you should never work on a pc that has the power lead plugged into the power socket but if you follow the simple precautions I feel that you will not place yourself in any danger, but If you have any doubts about working on a pc that is still plugged into the power supply then you should take your pc to a professional to have the work carried out. I have followed this procedure for many years now without any problem and have never had damage caused by static. If anyone doubts the power of static that we generate in our bodies they should refer to a recent article on mobile phone use at garages that found that many fires at petrol pumps were caused by static being discharged from motorists through the filling nozzle and then into the the car body and igniting the petrol vapour.
good information but.....
by stiv6 - 11/13/05 11:29 AM In reply to: Power cable issues by tigger2000Thanks for a good and reasonably thorough discussion of static and plug vs. unplug. the person with the problem spoken of here is not an advanced user it would seem and therefore a long list of dos and don'ts is probly just that, TOO long. it is usually a simple matter though to touch something metal other than the computer you are working on to dissapate static before one sits down at a worktable. Only takes a minute to get a drive attached safely after that.
Here's my question for you with considerable knowledge and experience apparently? Where in all of your info did you address the thought of handling the hard drive and any other loose components safely staticwise before they get into the case?
This is damage that is likely already done anyway if it is the cause of the problem and could happen again with another hard drive being brought in to test the system
That can't be helped by plug vs. unplug now cant it?
Or am i missing something? When you say turn off are you referring to turning off a surge protector? It was unclear about that. Thanks.
katrina
by whatho9 - 11/12/05 8:52 AM In reply to: 11/11/05 Katrina survivor needs help with PC's hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi-if desperation becomes acute you could always try asking a police officer if he could help you- this may sound silly but here in the uk the polce have shadow readers that can read a deleted drive and resurrect the contents- this is not as silly as it may sound if you have a reasonable relationship with your local police force and they need a bit of practise
First thing first.
by jv - 11/12/05 1:03 PM In reply to: 11/11/05 Katrina survivor needs help with PC's hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
For everyones sake and to prevent your wasting time you should:
1. gives us the make and model of the hard drive
2. The make, model and OS of the original system.
3. The make, model and OS of the new system.
Nearly all IDE hard drives can be attached as a slave. To do this we need to check the BIOS compatibility. If the BIOS is not compatible then you will need a utility to activate teh OLD DRIVE as a secondary hard drive.
I agree with another post here that it would be far easier to take the drive to a professional. CompUSA and other computer stores will attach your drive (if it's posssible) for less than $100.
More info from you would help us give you explicit and accurate instructions without an endless discussion of what "might" exist.
Great answers folks
by haywoodwhy - 11/12/05 8:03 PM In reply to: First thing first. by jvHello everyone,
When I run into this problem with a customer's computer, I usually have more information to go on. The coach could only send along the info that he could come up with, so,I would tackle this problem as if the computer were just dropped off and I had no other info than that the machine would not boot up. I have an extra HD for either type of hard drive with winXP installed, so the first thing I do is replace the old HD with the new one and try to power it up. This usually tells me whether the problem is with the old HD or something else. When, and if, the new HD boots up, it answers a ton of questions. If it does not boot up, it points to a few areas that need to be checked. I agree that it is possible that the bios was compromised somehow, or that if the computer was in salt water,the board or cables are corroded etc.
My next check would be to check the power supply and the cables. Both are very, very important. If I could I would check the power output for the HD with a good meter, or replace the power supply with one known to be good.
Remember that good power supplys test themselves before they boot up, POST or power on self test. It is frequently the power supply when it is not a loose connection, improper configuration, or bad connector.
I also agree that it is possible that something improper was done with the HD when it was used with this other computer.
Sometimes we need the help of folks who deal with these problems on a daily basis.
No offense coach, but you could be in over your head.
Troubleshooting a computer's problems can be completly different than using the operating system.
With the limited amount of info that you were able to supply, I would go with the bad or loose cable connections, or damage to the powersupply that isn't powering up the HD correctly.
I do not unplug my PC from the AC outlet, but I know what to touch and what not to touch. I also make sure that all of the static charge that I have picked up is dissapated by touching the exposed frame only every time I come near the motherboard or other important areas.
PS, stay away from the power supply if it is plugged in.
reply to Katrina message.
by djd22 - 11/13/05 11:57 AM In reply to: 11/11/05 Katrina survivor needs help with PC's hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Glad your alright, that's the impt. thing.
Here's a couplle of suggestions you may try (you may have already done this but here goes again)
!) Did your battery come loose try re-seeting it again----BE SURE YOUR POWER CORD IS OUT OF THE WALL!!
2. Make sureall your cables are seated tightly- no loose connections.
3. Make sure that your little blue jumpers did not come off on your hard drive there are a couple of differenrt ways of settin the tiny thing up, master slave andcable select--- most likely you can get away with cableselect.
4. Did any of the multi-colored wires with the black ends come off down on trhe bottom of your board you may be getting power to the board but not to the HD.
Hope this helps.
Dwain
SIMPLE-Connect externally!
by altini_s1 - 11/14/05 4:21 AM In reply to: reply to Katrina message. by djd22The simple way to get acces to your data is to connect this drive as external via USB adapter...
Generally you can't boot from a drive with XP system installet on anodher system (modherboard)
hard drive recon
by alfrede - 11/15/05 10:06 AM In reply to: 11/11/05 Katrina survivor needs help with PC's hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
it can sometimes just be that you need to go into setup and set your drive congigurations ie: to look for that drive
Could it be similar to my problem?
by csbk - 11/17/05 5:22 AM In reply to: 11/11/05 Katrina survivor needs help with PC's hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The comments by Martylee, gryps and maybe grzzled are what I was trying to worn about. My new PC had some trouble that caused an error. I took out my HD and put it into an external drive bay, backed up and moved some files around when my pc got fixed I hooked my HD back up and had boot trouble. Since this was a new PC, I had not made a restore disk (sony dose not provide one that comes with the pc) so I had to order one. The restore disk did not have the option to restore my PC so that all my personal programs and settings could be restored the way they were. (see comment by johnnj2003)
That’s why I asked more questions?
What can be done now so that all of the programs and program settings will work exactly the same as before? What can be done to prevent this from happening again?
Martylee
http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6142-0.html?forumID=7&threadID=135732&messageID=1531821
gryps
http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6142-0.html?forumID=7&threadID=135732&messageID=1532659
grzzled
http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6142-0.html?forumID=7&threadID=135732&messageID=1530576
johnnj2003
http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6142-0.html?forumID=7&threadID=135732&messageID=1532014
Very similar to a problem I have - but different
by GSteve - 11/17/05 2:59 PM In reply to: 11/11/05 Katrina survivor needs help with PC's hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
This discussion is soooo interesting. And the answers so varied. One poster says he has a spare hard disk of each type loaded with XP and the first thing he does when a customer brings a computer in that won't boot up is to install his (bench) hard disk to see if it solves the problem. Another poster says that a hard disk with XP installed on one computer (motherboard) generally won't boot up on a different computer. What's a person who doesn't know supposed to believe?? My problem is similar to Coach Alan's, but different. I have an old Dell Dimension XPS D300 Pentium II. That's a 300MHZ machine, vintage 1997 or so. I have replaced the original hard disk with a 120GB Maxtor and done a clean install of XP. It works like a champ except it is (understandably) slow. I bought a 933MHZ Dell 4100 ATX motherboard (and Dell power supply) off ebay and installed it (them) in an old Micron case. It worked fine with the original Micron hard disk with Windows 98 installed. So I thought I would transfer the hard disk with XP from my 300MHZ Dell to the 933MHZ Dell and thereby gain some speed. No such luck. The 933MHZ Dell will not boot up using the hard disk with XP from the 300MHZ Dell. I tried everything I could think of, but it would just start to boot up, get part way into the process, then reboot itself and start over, over and over again until I killed power. I put the XP hard disk back into the 300MHZ machine and it works fine - just like it did before I attempted to move it. I have another, new, identical 120GB Maxtor hard disk on hand, so I installed it into the 933MHZ machine and installed Win-XP from CD. It works like a champ. I'll keep reading this discussion and see if I can ever figure out why I can't get the 933MHZ machine to boot using the XP hard disk from my 300MHZ machine.
Incidentally, I am a (former) Naval Aviation Electrician. As such, I'm keenly aware of the fact that both hot wires and static electricity are of concern. So, when working on my computer, I turn the power strip off but leave the power cord connected so as to provide a path to ground (earth) to dissipate static electricity. For anyone interested, I saw an ad (at Cyberguys, I think) for a power cord ''adapter'' that plugs-in in series with the computer's power cable but contains conductors for the GROUND wire only. That would serve the purpose of killing the power while maintaining a ground. That has no bearing on or protection for picking up a component from the bench. There is the possibility of a ''difference in potential'' between any two bodies or objects - therefore, to provide some degree of protection against static discharge in these situations, I touch the bench/table/whatever near the component before I touch the component and then, while still touching the bench/table/whatever, grasp the component...
Cheers...........
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