need computer help

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James M.
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need computer help

Post by James M. »

As of lately my computer(nnot this one i am typing at right now) has been actng a bit funny. when i turn the computer on the hard drive makes a funny read noise and it had been taking a bit longer to satrt up; then yesturday when the screen saver came up it wouldnt come out of it so i turned the computer off and turned it back on and the farthest it went was the "which start up mode would you like to start up" (the 2 choices which were always there were windows xp pro or safe recovery start up). after that the ahrd drive makes a funny rythmiycal noise and then sooner or later stops and restarts itself to do the whole process again.

Can anyone help me with this where a solution wouldnt be that i have to delete all the data i have?
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John Cartwright
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Post by John Cartwright »

Try the booting option that allows you to choose what processes want to run... i cant quite remember the name.. its been far too long since my grade 11 computer engineering class..

choose no to any processes that you do not know their purpose or ones that may seem suspicious... after you are succesfully get into windows i would make an immediate backup of important data and reboot

i am by no means an expert in computers but hope this helps
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Post by McGruff »

I had a nightmare time with a failing drive about a year ago. Are you getting "ker-chunk, ker-chunk, ker-chunk" noises? If you're lucky you might manage to get your data off before it fails completely. Booting into DOS (if you can you do that with XP?) or from a startup disk might help, since the whole OS doesn't have to be successfully read from the HD. I even tried sticking the drive in the freezer for a few hours (a discussion forum tip but I'm not sure if it really helps).

Over the years I've seen many hard drives fail at work or on my own machine. A good backup strategy is the only real answer.
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Post by Deemo »

a little off topic, but what would you guys suggest for a backup program or method?

also, if you can try loading up into safe mode. just hit f8 while the computer is booting. i dont know if that will help at all but it might be useful to get your stuff off the hard drive before it dies
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James M.
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Post by James M. »

found the problem, my hard drive some how f*cked up. thanks for the help though. Anyone know a good harddrive doctor?
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evilmonkey
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Post by evilmonkey »

Your local dump + computer store would make a killer combination, and are guranteed to solve any hard drive problem. ;)
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James M.
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Post by James M. »

ill check out the computer store on campus, but uh, what would i use the dump for?
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Post by josh »

to throw out the old HD :-)
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Bill H
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Post by Bill H »

to throw out the old HD
In San Diego, at least, that's illegal.
kral_majales
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Post by kral_majales »

what if you disguise it by wrapping a person around it, and chucking the person away? :lol: :twisted: :roll:
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James M.
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Post by James M. »

lol, i think ill need my borken hard drive until I get the info off of it(if possible). Why would it be illegal to throw away a hard drive, i thought all thats in them are magnetic disc and the things that read them.
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Post by josh »

Get your info off of it asap though.. I've had a hard drive crash and I worried about getting a working computer before getting my data and I ended up looseing the data.. sucks
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Bill H
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Post by Bill H »

Why would it be illegal to throw away a hard drive
There are some really good reasons to live in San Diego, but government is certainly not one of them.

Computers and computer parts are prohibited from landfills because of toxic components. You must take them to a "recycle center" at which a substantial (read "very large") fee is charged to accept the material.

On the other hand, a city employee making $45,000 per year can retire after 20 years with a lump sum payment of $900,000 and a lifetime income of 100% of his salary. (And the city is, of corse, essentially bankrupt.)

But we have lots of sunshine.
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patrikG
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Post by patrikG »

Bill H wrote:On the other hand, a city employee making $45,000 per year can retire after 20 years with a lump sum payment of $900,000 and a lifetime income of 100% of his salary. (And the city is, of corse, essentially bankrupt.)

But we have lots of sunshine.
How beautiful it must be there... ;)
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