Is my PC Dead for Good?

[juan ruiz]

Well another round for me of PC trouble but before I put my pc into the garbage one more attempt here

So is a Windows XP, started up this morning and it wants to come up and immediately bring a black page with some information, Serial ATA Version 1.02.23 bla bla bla, at the end

Press to enter configuration utility...... and that's it,

I can go to F2 or F12 but nothing happens to F8 for re booting, the machine won't open to allow me to go to start and then try to re boot from there.

I can hear several loud beeps coming from your computer as I press F8 but nothing, I try installing a CD but it wont allow me to see that, one the black page come up I can hear a soft "clunk" from inside but that it.

Any more info needed please let me know, I hope to find a Hero here. Im using my laptop by the way.

[A930Rocket]

It's DOA.

[juan ruiz]

dang

[William930t]

If it's a desktop system, take the cover off and examine chip & motherboard for signs of damage. You should also disconnect and remove your hard drive(s). Take them to a known working desktop and plug them into the slave terminals. Hopefully this will allow access to your stored data, good luck!

[masraum]

What does the exact text of the message about the serial ata say? That's probably important. Maybe it's the hard drive, maybe it's the serial controller or maybe it's the motherboard. We need more info.

[RWebb]

maybe the electrons are getting worn out...

you can try some testing from the BIOS page - IIRC, Win XP still had a BIOS...

but really it is time to save the data and ashcan the thing - that will take a lot less of your time and the $$ is low

[juan ruiz]

Is a desk top PC. So I start the thing

start running and a soft clunk.......... page opens........black background...

attached is a screen shoot.

[dennis in se pa]

Looks like it sees your 2 298 gig disks in a raid one configuration, as in mirrored. Did you press "CTRL-I" as it indicates you should?

[juan ruiz]

Did you press "CTRL-I" as it indicates you should?

Yes I did, nothing happens, I even try all capital letters or lower case letters, but nothing happens.

If I hit CTRL+ALR+ Delete it will take me out of there but will bring me right back to that page, in that process I can see on the upper right corner the F2 and F12 which I have access to it.

[svandamme]

You have mirrored disks.. so they both have full copies of all data.

That it locks up , could be a problem with the data (software) , or with the hardware (disks, motherboards, sata controller)


Start by disconnecting everything you don't need.
Disconnect ALL usb stuff you have on that pc
If you have add on cards, get em out
Disconnect the CD rom


If it still doesn't boot now..

Disconnect both disks, see if it gives you a different error like "no boot disk, retry"

If that works, add one disk
If that doesn't work
remove that disk again , try the other one.

still nothing? try those disks in a different pc.

[juan ruiz]

svandamme

ok I will try that, I think I can handle the first part but for the second portion what do you mean by Disconnect both disks if so, how Sorry this is a new venture for me

[juan ruiz]

WOW!!!

Thee first step worked!!!!!! what should I do next! ( ok beside pass everything to my external drive)

[Zeke]

Pull the ribbon cable off. Don't ask me another thing, I don't know. Just reading here.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by juan ruiz

WOW!!!

Thee first step worked!!!!!! what should I do next! ( ok beside pass everything to my external drive)

So you disconnected all USb stuff and it boots up ?

Then you probably have a USB stick, or other data carrier and the pc tried to boot that instead of your disks.


Either leave stuff like that disconnected when you boot, or enter the bios and change the boot options or boot order so it always boots from disk first.

[fred cook]

Can you boot it up in a safe mode? If so, from there run a "scandisc" to see if you have bad disc sectors. If so, this will isolate them and (hopefully) let the pc go thru it's boot cycle. If you have a boot disc that came with the pc, use it to get the system up and see what you can find out from there. Could either be a bad motherboard or a hard drive that is going bad. Good luck!

[juan ruiz]

Thank you!!!!! I will investigate further! Great Help!

[pete3799]

It just needs a good detailing

[john70t]

Not a guru but:
Take the side panel off and leave a space to sit when you're trying the unplugging-all configurations. Spray down the socks/floor/carpet with water to prevent static. Leave computer off but plugged in for ground.

Be very careful with those air dusters. Keep upright always, and spray to the side initially.

The power supply on older computer can go bad and cause problems with MB, etc.
Seems like the memory and video card are still ok.

If it's not recognizing the DVD disk drive, could be a MB/connection problem, if not software/BIOS....

You can get a Seagate HD from Best Buy for a hundred bucks for a new HD. Comes with cloning software which transfers everything including OS. Acts as a turnkey.
Might be worth replacing a few fans as well.

That's all I know. Best.


Then MS Essentials, CCleaner, Malwarebytes,

Then

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by juan ruiz

WOW!!!

Thee first step worked!!!!!! what should I do next! ( ok beside pass everything to my external drive)

Reconnect the stuff you disconnected.

Half at a time.

Process of elimination.

[juan ruiz]

^^^^^^^^^^I was so frustrated that it never occur to me to disconnect anything