Computer Guru's?

[nouseforaname90]

Okay so last night our power kept blinking. It went off and so did my computer. Then it came back on so I restarted my computer and -poof- off went the electric again. So then I disconnected my computer from the surge protector until this morning when the electric was back on and I plugged it in. Now when I reboot my computer it shows a screen that says "Your last restart was interupted. Would you like to start normally or revert to your last known good configuration" Something like that. So I clicked start normally.. after it got past the Windows XP screen it shut down. So I was like "Okay" and pressed "Last Good configuration". Same thing. It keeps shutting down and rebooting itself over and over and over again but will never get to the login screen. Also, when it shuts down I hear a click which means the hard drive stopped spinning. Is there a way to start up my computer. Or do I need a new hard drive?
I'm going to be ticked if my hard drive got fried. This computer is only like 6 months old.
Thanks.
Ben

[84honda200s]

sounds to me like you need to wipe the hard drive and redo windows. if it dont work that ill bet its the hard drive or a couple other other things.

[SPD FRK]

A windows repair might fix it. The option is on your windows install disk.

[300rman]

yeap. try a windows repair.
if that doesnt work, try a fresh install of windows, but DONT erase the Hard drive if there is stuff on it you need.

after a fresh install, you can still get into your old documents. you will just have to boot it into safe mode and take ownership of the files because it will tell you "Access is denied" when you try to get into them.

[atctim]

Sounds to me like the power outages possibly damaged your computer's Power Supply. If the Windows re-install does not work for you - that would be the next thing to check - considering it just keeps shutting down.

[Nick_R_23]

Id agree with atctim, I think your power supply got fried. Try replacing it with another one, or at least try a different power plug on the hard drive from a different strand of plugs from the power supply.

-Nick

[Aka_am]

that's how i got my pc, friend had it for a few months and then blam power went whacky in this storm and something went bad..it was the processor..but good thing i had a spare...lol how idk but i did.

[oldsking86]

Yea, I'd defiantly go first choice on the power supply, that's a common thing that goes out with power failures

[rally4x4racer]

not only the PS but other hardware might have fried. I have seen the reboot loop you ar ereferring to when I had hardware failures such as defective disk drives. PM me if you need a power supply - I Think I have one you can have.

[300rman]

different HDD power plug will NOT help.......all those wires lead to 1 terminal in the power supply. i know, i use Computer power supplies to power car stereo equipment in my house. i made this nifty speaker box that plugs into the wall, and it uses 4 6x9 speakers, a car head unit, and a amplified EQ mounted in the box.

the box


the lil switch below the head unit is for switching power options.
and the radio antenna is in that port hole. use it for the drive ins!


the power options: plug it in or clamp to car battery!


the switch is so the clamps are not powered when its plugged in, so it wont all short out.


the extra plugs on the back were to hook up another amp. the terminal cup is power, and the RCAs are signals.
but the RCA's on the head unit are fried. i revived the unit from the dead by putting a new amplifier chip into it (previos owner wired it wrong)
the rca's still didnt work, but i didnt find that out till i tried to use it all.

noise supressors are used to keep the buzzing out of the speakers that is generated by the power supplies.

[nouseforaname90]

Ok. So I hooked my hard drive up to my brothers computer and all of the files are still there. Everything from my music to the Windows System files.
Where to now?
How would the power supply make this occur?

[oldsking86]

It could have a short in it so it will shut itself off and back on

[300rman]

are you booting from the drive, or using it as a secondary drive on the other computer?

if you are using it as as secondary drive and it is working, yo just need to reinstall windows.

save everything you want to the other computer, and then hook *Edited**Edited* drive back to *Edited**Edited* computer and erase and reinstall it. make sure you have yor driver disc.

[swamp_man]

There are a lot of things that can cause the types of issues that you described, so here's what I would suggest. Search the Internet and find a program called "BartPE". That's a program that you burn to a CD and make it bootable. Then, you can boot your PC from the Bart disk and see two things. First, you'll see if your computer has a bad hard drive and /or Windows is hosed. You'll also find out if your power supply is the issue, cause you'll have the same issues with Bart as you did your Hard drive if that's the issue.

In short, get Bart - boot from bart, see if it runs. You can also get an external drive or a thumb drive and copy your files to it through the Bart desktop and not loose your stuff.

BTW, A "fresh" install of Windows formats the drive. The earlier post was incorrect about that. You want to do a "Windows repair", which is non- destructive, that will get Windows running again and allow you to get your stuff. A fresh install takes it back to the day you busted it out of the box it came in.

Bart can be hard to find, if you have troubles getting it let me know. I'll hook you up.

[300rman]

a fresh install does not reformat the hard drive unless you tell it to format.
just do a fresh install on the existing partition. dont reformat or repartition the space.

i did it a couple times, and then when you go into docs and settings, all the old account folders are still there. but you cant access them.
you have to boot up in safe mode and take ownership of the files. then WHAMMY you got yo shyt bak.

unfortunately, if a nasty virus is the cause of death, you will have limited time to backup your stuff before it dies.
a repair never works. at least not for me.