TECH SUPPORT

[vahnn]

Ok i need a second or third opinion before i go buy a new hard drive for computer.

i think my hard drive blew. I was playing a game yesterday when it froze so i had to restart my computer with the on/off button. ok so that fine. Restart the computer and it says

windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: /windows/system32/config/system
to repair put in your windows CD and choose repair.

i do that but when i hit boot from CD all it does it says

System is cheching my hard ware config.
I leave that there for a over an hr while i go play something else to pass the time


I put in my windows 98 CD for the hell of it and i manage to get to MSDOS. So it starts onn A:/> so i change it to d:/> then i try C:/> C:/> dosent work. says invalad drive. which makes me think my HD is not being reconigized. Hence dead. I have only had this HD for about a year.

Very strange thing also. i have a Lit keyboard, and a blue tooth keyboard attached Via USB. The lit Keyboard stays on even though i have the computer off as well as the blue tooth hub stays on.

any suggestions? i might have to actually call tech support for windows this time cause this might be beyond me.

thanki you in advanced for you help

[Raineer]

With the windows repair CD you can run a utility called 'bootcfg' that will rewrite your MBR (Master Boot Record) which tends to correct issues like "i can't find your HDD'

Typically when you choose the repair option from Windows setup disk it just dumps you to C:\ where you're initially clueless. Bootcfg will want you to run CHKDSK, so run that as CHKDSK /F so it will actually fix errors it finds.

If you are short on money and really don't want to buy a new HDD, you can go to the HDD manufacturers website and d/l a special utilities disk for your drive (I've found this at every manufacturer I've had to go to), all the major ones should have it.

These disks typically include a diags program that will do a pretty thorough check of your HDD. All modern drives also include S.M.A.R.T. which is like a hidden error log for your drive, these utilities can access it.

Last resort before you buy a new drive is to d/l this utility (find a friend's PC or laptop where you can burn to a floppy or bootable CD), and perform what's called a "Zero-Fill" on the drive. This takes a little while to do, probably 1 hour per 100 gigs of your drive, but it completely wipes everything on the drive short of it's firmware, it cleans everything on the disk platters. Start over with Windows and if Windows refuses to reboot after install then your drive is, in fact, toast.

Sounds to me like some windows system files got corrupted on the restart and possibly the MBR, both of which are very recoverable.

edit: What does your BIOS say about your drive? Does it see it? That's the "Press F1/F2/delete to enter setup" program as you boot your PC

[vahnn]

What my Bios says im not sure. im not quite sure where to look to see if the HDD is found


as for your other suggestions i will defo look when i get home later this evening. Ive got 2 other PCs in the house. THis is just my Gaming PC that is causing the problem

[Raineer]

First thing when you get home take a look as you bootup your PC, it will say like "Press F1 to enter setup", if you don't see it then just try F1/F2/Delete and something will work.

Most BIOS programs have the IDE auto-detection (which includes SATA) right on the first page, although some very recent ones put drive detection on the "peripherals" page. It shouldn't be too hard to find if you look around.

[vahnn]

no illwillpress.com Tech support jokes either. lol
/wrists