Page 1 of 1

need computer help

Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2004 11:22 am
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?

Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2004 12:32 pm
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

Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2004 3:48 pm
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.

Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2004 4:57 pm
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

Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 10:57 pm
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?

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 3:44 pm
by evilmonkey
Your local dump + computer store would make a killer combination, and are guranteed to solve any hard drive problem. ;)

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 3:47 pm
by James M.
ill check out the computer store on campus, but uh, what would i use the dump for?

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:15 pm
by josh
to throw out the old HD :-)

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:35 pm
by Bill H
to throw out the old HD
In San Diego, at least, that's illegal.

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:42 pm
by kral_majales
what if you disguise it by wrapping a person around it, and chucking the person away? :lol: :twisted: :roll:

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:44 pm
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.

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 2:02 pm
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

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:43 pm
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.

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:55 pm
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... ;)