Totally bummed, computer wont boot

[Scott Douglas]

Title says it all.
HD sounds like it starts to spin up but then just dies and it quits like I have not even pushed the button.
Looking at micro center, they have an old gaming machine on sale.
I dont game but do use it for pictures.
Sorry for the lack of punctuation, I am on my tablet.
Advice?

[Pazuzu]

Buy Samsung SSD 500GB drive on Amazon. It'll come with software.
Buy USB-SATA cable from Amazon.

Clone existing hard drive to SSD drive. Use a friend's computer if needed.
Be happy with newly refreshed computer.

[JavaBrewer]

Is this a PC or Mac? Sounds like a possible power supply issue or worst case hard drive failure. Do you get any sort of messages/text on your monitor?

[stomachmonkey]

One of the things that happens with platter drives when they fail is they can't spin up from a dead start fast enough.

Sometimes you get lucky and can get them starting to spin with rapid reboots and they come up to speed.

But that's only to be used long enough to get your data off cause the drive is toast.

Some people have had luck with putting the drive, let it cool down to room temp, into a plastic bag then sticking in the freezer for a bit. Immediately reinstall cold and try.

You really have not much to lose.

If there is no data on it that you care about get an SSD from Amazon to swap in and move along with life.

[Seahawk]

Sorry to hear.

I had an HD failure on a MacBook Pro and based on advice I received here, replaced the HD myself with a SS HD.

Trust me, if I can do it, you can.

Still works like a champ.

Good luck!

[flipper35]

If it is the hard drive itself, sometimes if the cables are long enough you can take the drive out of the mounts and give it a rotational flick like spinning a basketball and it will give the drive enough momentum to spin up. Freezing sometimes works.

Might be the PS has gone kaput too.

That is, if you want to recover anything from it.

Oh, once it is up, don't shut it down until you are done with it.

[Scott Douglas]

This is a pc, not a mac.
How can I clone the drive if it wont even spin up?
No messages or any text on screen when attempting to boot. Just hear the drive starting up and then nothing and it shuts down.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

This is a pc, not a mac.
How can I clone the drive if it wont even spin up?

Try the drive in another machine?

[Scott Douglas]

Nothing much to loose except a couple years worth of pictures.
Yeah, I know.
No need to tell me about backing up.

[flipper35]

For $12-$15 you can get an external enclosure with its own power and it connect to another PC just like a flash drive. Might allow the unit to spin up that way.

[Scott Douglas]

I have one of those that I put an old hd in when I took down another computer.

[flipper35]

Worth a shot.

[Scott Douglas]

Yeah, just to get pictures off it if it will spin.
Guess I will break out my daughters old laptop and see if I can get it to spin when hooked up to it.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by flipper35

For $12-$15 you can get an external enclosure with its own power and it connect to another PC just like a flash drive.

Never heard of the powered enclosure. Sounds like a good option. Linky?

There are also cables to connect to USB 3.0 ports.
It won't clone the OS by itself but should allow transfer of pics as an external HD.
https://www.neweggbusiness.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9B-12-400-693&nm_mc=knc-msnsearchb2b&cm_mmc=knc-msnsearchb2b-_-pla-_-usb+converters-_-startech-_-9b12400693&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=knc-msnsearchb2b&msclkid=4235911d179516c8c821cf00e26b8b90&gclid=CKylsO7Kg-cCFROsxQIdY30EWg&gclsrc=ds


There are some file recovery software programs out there once it's spinning.
https://fossbytes.com/top-best-free-data-recovery-software-2016/

[Scott Douglas]

OK, I opened up the box and disconnected the hds. I then hooked up what I think is the old drive I added from my old computer when I got this one.
I tried to boot it and got a windows startup repair dialog box.
It is attempting repairs.

[Scott Douglas]

I tried spinning the drives when I took out the frame they are in but it didnt help.
At least the old old drive is spinning.
I dont think I deleted the os files from it when I added it as a slave.

[stealthn]

Sounds like sticktion, take out the hard drive and give it a little thump of the top (like a light fist hit on the counter) put it back in and try again, otherwise see if you can boot of a CD or USB device to see if you can see the drive.

[Scott Douglas]

I don't think it is sticktion since I can hear it start to spin and then it just stops. I've shaken the drives too.
I got it so I could get the other drive going, but it wouldn't boot either as it got stuck in a repair loop. Now I can't get it going either.
I got my daughter's old laptop going now but it's not going to work for long.
I wish I could get the 'puter to boot off a cd but it won't stay on long enough to do anything with it.
I've never had computer so dead.

[Scott Douglas]

Is there some way to check the power supply other than sub'ing in another one?

[Scott Douglas]

I just looked at the date on one of the drives.
04 April 2009.
Maybe I'm beating a dead horse here.