Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => The Knowledge => Ctrl-Alt-Del => Topic started by: ferret on 12 December, 2012, 07:09:29 pm
-
I was using my computer earlier and everything was running as normal, shut pc down but not off, went off to do some work outside, came back and pc wont start up so turned it off now it's telling me my memory checks out ok but I don't have a hard disk
or operating system, of course nothings backed up and I'm stuck what do I do next :-\ :'( :'(
-
First thing is to power off and remove the power supply (and battery if it is a laptop).
Take 15 minutes to make a cup of tea and eat some cake.
Now replace power supply (and battery) and try booting again.
It that doesn't work you need to post some details about what type of machine it.
Various things to check:
Have you added any expansion cards/cdroms/peripherals that draw power etc... ?
Have you checked the drive connections ?
Is the time incorrect in the bios indicating cmos battery failure ?
Bios reverted to a fail safe ?
...
-
First thing is to power off and remove the power supply (and battery if it is a laptop).
Take 15 minutes to make a cup of tea and eat some cake.
Now replace power supply (and battery) and try booting again.
It that doesn't work you need to post some details about what type of machine it.
Various things to check:
Have you added any expansion cards/cdroms/peripherals that draw power etc... ?
Have you checked the drive connections ?
Is the time incorrect in the bios indicating cmos battery failure ?
Bios reverted to a fail safe ?
...
Worst case scenario is usually that Windows is corrupted; the data can be recovered by putting the drive in another PC as a slave.
-
That's not the worst case scenario. Worst case scenario is that the disk fairy has attacked with a vengeance and somehow stripped the oxide from half the surface.
-
right that did nothing, it's an HP G56 notebook running widows 7 and I installed ubuntu 11.10 a while back and everything has been fine
I haven't loaded anything recently and this morning everything was running ok, I was in the middle of replying to some emails but I had to close things down and do some jobs outside, on my return it would not start up, I wasn't even given the chance to start in safe mode.
I get Boot device not found, please install operating system on your hard disk, hard disk (3FO)
any help ?
-
Bung an Ubuntu CD (or equivalent) in and see if you can access your data.
-
Boot virus? Unlikely with Ubuntu (but very with windows), disk crash? (data or at least most of it, can be recovered) wot Kim says, see if can cold boot, possible corrupted file.
-
I had ubuntu saved direct on the hard disk so no cd or equivalent, just got on to the hp tech center, result = contact hp they will replace hard drive, I was using ubuntu I always do, although windows was accessed over the weekend ??
-
Try a seperate boot disk (CD or USB stick.)
-
Once you know an HD is compromised in some way you have to stop accessing it in the way you are currently. Doing so you are risking further damage to the data on it.
You need a caddy or the PC equivalent of Target Mode - if that exists.
If it is mechanical the freezer method might allow you enough access to get data off.
If it is the file management system that should be recoverable. But I'd be suspicious about the HD afterwards.
If it is a virus, then there are more problems to deal with, like all your passwords.
-
The first thing I do when this happens is to into the BIOS and see if the hard drive is detected.
If it's not then your probably looking at a hardware fault, if it is then it tends to be software.
If it's hardware then it's time to check cables, etc, etc.
If software then try boot from something else.
-
ok so the wife took the laptop to the computer shop in town, they say that the hard drive is dead, so for £80 they will install a new 230gb drive & load ubuntu, I've check with HP & I'm well out of warranty so I can't go down that root, If I go with the shop I'll see if I can have the old HD back
does this sound right ?
-
It is your HD so there is no reason why you shouldn't be abe to get it back.
-
how difficult is it to replace your HD, it's only undoing some screws right ?
-
You can probably get instruction on how to replace the HD on the web - maybe even on the HP website (IBM did this for Thinkpads etc). But yes, it's a simple job - so simple it's probably not worth doing it yourself as the labour charge from the computer shop will be minimal! that is, probably 5 minutes work to physically replace the HD.
-
You can get a new 320GB 2.5" drive for £31 posted, eg via eBay. It's dead easy to fit yourself.
so simple it's probably not worth doing it yourself as the labour charge from the computer shop will be minimal! that is, probably 5 minutes work to physically replace the HD.
The labour charge is in fact about about £50 - because they need to earn money to pay the rent as well as wages. Hard drive prices have come down a lot since the recovery from the floods in Asia.
-
yeah I think I meant 320, IIRC they quoted £55 for the drive and £25 labour
-
£55 will be the high street retail price, with a big mark up - fair enough for those who don't like ordering online from a trader with lower overheads.
-
ok so what would be a good name to look for in the HD market, the one I'm replacing is 500gb although I've been told if I'm running ubuntu I wouldn't need anything that big ? this is why I've mentioned the 320gb is this correct, :)
-
Yes, a 320 GB drive would have been quoted rather than 230 GB. You can even get by fine with as little as 60 GB if you don't internally store a lot of videos, RAW photos, CD-quality audio, etc. That's with Windows as well as Ubuntu.
There are only a handful of HDD manufacturers left, and they're all good. Speeds of individual models vary, so you may or may not want to pay more for a faster one. You could even treat yourself to a solid state drive for ultimate speed and low noise and power consumption. I recommend OCZ Vertex or Agility SSDs.
You'll need a 2.5" SATA drive, unless your laptop is unusual or very old.
-
mmmm that flavour ocz have a rather fruity price :))
-
£72 for a 120GB Agility 3, or £83 for a 120GB Vertex 3 (excl postage). That's really cheap for such fantastic performance. I have two Vertex 3s in this PC I'm on now, and older versions in laptops.
http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/hard-drives-ssd/729/1340/965
-
yet more questions, ;) I have found out that my laptop HD is SATA but not sure if it's 1,2 or 3 are they interchangable, also it's a 5400rpm can I do a straight swap with a 7200rpm drive.
-
SATA II and III are backwards compatible, so you can use them on any SATA computer (just not necessarily with any advantage).
Yes 7200 rpm is a straight swap for 5400. And it won't necessarily consume more power, but the whirring noise might be louder (after it's worn in).
The height of the drive is an issue for some laptops, so check for your particular model.
-
I like the sound of this one
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120gb-corsair-force-series-3-25-ssd-sata-iii-6gb-s-sandforce-2200-nand-read-550mb-s-write-510mb-s-85
just have to see if it's compatable and fits
-
^ That's physically similar to (or the same as) one of OCZ's, but OCZ are said to have better firmware.
-
what would be the smallest ssd I could get away with to replace my 500gb hd, The way I see it is that the ssd drives are better quality and faster than standard hd's so in my head for example a standard 500gb hd = 320 or 128 gb ssd, or have I got it all wrong as usual. :)
-
Please see Reply #20 again.
-
ps. You tend to have a lot more capacity with HDD than you need because it's cheap, but with expensive SSD, it's worth being more careful with what you store, in order to get more speed.
I'm comfortably using a 60GB SSD with a laptop running Windows XP that previously had a 500GB HD. Big stuff like videos: I have on external HDD.
-
well that would be ok then as I don't tend to store videos, I mainly have pictures, music and a few office documents but the pictures could be stored on photobucket or similar, so that would just leave the music, until I get a cd player sorted and my office documents which I should really back up off of the computer anyway. We recently picked up a TV from ebay, when we went to pick it up the chap had a 1TB external HD that he stored all his films on, I'd never thought of that, I still can't decide between VHS or Betamax :)