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Computer help forum: Can't detect my hard drive...any ideas???

by: justchillin May 4, 2004 2:11 PM PDT

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Can't detect my hard drive...any ideas???

by justchillin - 5/4/04 2:11 PM

I have a PIII 733mhz dell with 384mb ram...resently its been freezing up every few days and on sunday it happened several times. the last few times it started running scandisk after rebooting, each time it got to 99% (with no bad clusters) and then froze up. the second time it did this when i rebooted my system would start to load and then give me an error message "bad file..." after rebooting with my startup disk i found that it is no longer recognizing my c drive...i've had computers crash before over the years and worst case scenario i could just format the drive and reinstall. now i can't even do that.

any ideas?
i can't afford a new system right now, but would replacing the hard drive solve the problem?

thanks


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Re:Can't detect my hard drive...any ideas???

by Grif Thomas Moderator - 5/4/04 4:35 PM

In Reply to: Can't detect my hard drive...any ideas??? by justchillin

Just,

It does sound like the hard drive has headed "south", but have you tried visiting the drive manufacturer's site and downloading a disk check utility. It should give you a better idea of the drive's condition and whether it's recoverable.

Hope this helps.

Grif


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Re:Re:Can't detect my hard drive...any ideas???

by justchillin - 5/4/04 5:06 PM

In Reply to: Re:Can't detect my hard drive...any ideas??? by Grif Thomas Moderator

well, i checked dells web site and didn't find anything.

assuming that the hard drive just went bad i could just replace the hard drive right? i have a second hd that has most of my files on it and seems fine (just no os) so if i replace the bad drive and reinstall windows i will at least be able to access most of my files.

the question is, is there anything else that i should check before spending the $ for a new drive that could be causing the problem?

yesturday i was able to boot windows with my windows cd, but it used my second hd (d) to do it...when it did, what was my d drive was coming up as c...

thanks for the help.


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Re:Can't detect my hard drive...any ideas???

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 5/4/04 6:13 PM

In Reply to: Can't detect my hard drive...any ideas??? by justchillin

I'd take the shot it was the hard disk. While I wouldn't give up too quickly, I'd make sure the power and IDE cables were in firmly, then replace the IDE cable and finally the drive.

Bob


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Re:Re:Can't detect my hard drive...any ideas???

by justchillin - 5/5/04 1:46 PM

In Reply to: Re:Can't detect my hard drive...any ideas??? by R. Proffitt Moderator

first thing i did was check that the cables weren't loose...i considered changing the ide cable but since it still detects my second hd i think that that pretty much rules that out... i guess i'll have to pick up a new hd and hope i can find my windows cd...


well thanks for the help.

mike


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Unless that drive doesn't spin... It can still be the cable.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 5/5/04 2:47 PM

In Reply to: Re:Re:Can't detect my hard drive...any ideas??? by justchillin

BTDT. Have sent them to silicon heaven.

Bob


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