Dead Computer
74
Raising the Dead Computer
This sad little Dell lost power at a very bad time. The hard drive was corrupted just enough to prevent booting into Windows XP.
Sometimes power goes off without too much apparent damage. A file may be corrupted or unsaved data may be lost. In this particular case the machine suffered a corrupted boot sector on the hard drive. It wouldn't boot at all. It may be repairable or it may obligate a reinstall of Windows XP. Everything may be lost (unlikely, but it's always nice to build a little suspense).
Is it truly a dead computer? A Dead Dell? Read on to find out.
It tried to boot
Windows knew it was in trouble. Instead of booting normally it dropped to the Windows Boot Menu. None of the boot options worked, but it kept asking.
At power-up the system dropped to the Windows Boot Menu
The BSOD
Unmountable Boot Volume
Our Strategy
To heal this dead computer we need to boot from another drive. We insert the Windows XP Installation CD into the CD-ROM (or DVD) drive, change the boot order, and start the system from the CD.
Keep in mind that many manufacturers don't ship an installation CD anymore. They create a second partition on the primary hard drive and store Windows installation files there. That saves them a few pennies, but it puts the customer in a hole. How do you boot without a boot disk? Read your documentation carefully to learn how your vendor has solved this problem. Don't wait until you're un-bootable!
We need to boot from the Windows XP Installation CD
Change the Boot Order
Boot from the Windows Installation CD
Windows XP Setup begins to load
Windows XP Setup Screen
Start the Recovery Console
Run the chkdsk command
Wait and Wait
Cross your fingers
When the chkldsk command completes, remove the XP Installation CD from the CD-ROM drive and power off the system. Cross your fingers. Power it up; hopefully it will boot properly.
This one did! After running chkdsk, Windows booted properly and all was well. The Dead Dell was resurrected.
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Comments
@Dave: 3 months! I'm in the wrong business!
If your computer didn't come with a Windows CD you can always order a cheap copy of Linux or download and burn a free copy. Chkdsk is included in all major versions.
A good hub! but a gruesome thought, at least for me. With out being able to access how to, like this I will have to send it out or start learning how all this works now, before a failure.
Thanks for the heads up!
@Adam: I didn't know that. The Linux chkdsk will repair NTFS and FAT32 windows partitions? cool.
@50 Caliber: All in the name of a few pennies. Then we find out the hard way.
I'm bookmarking this, thanks!
Nicomp, good tips for blue screen problems.
BTW, how come you can still comment on your own hubs? All the rest of us are blocked this morning. What's your secret?
@Aya Katz: You can't comment on your own hubs? I am just blessed I guess. Perhaps the HubPolice feel guilty for banning me without cause or explanation.
Looks like the stats are diflugled again... Hit counts are not updating on the stats page. This page has 9 comments and zero visits.
Another hub for my save file. I better do this one in hard copy!
Thanks my friend,I've had this problem on old towers and only got part way through the recovery. The hang in there bit was probably the missing link.
Cheers.
@The Old Firm: Thanks! I often ask customers to be patient when a computer is not responsive. Sometimes a diagnostic will pop up if you wait long enough.
Very useful hub, pray we will never need to do this!thanks Nicomp.
Dave says:
3 weeks ago
I had this happen with an HP Mini (they don't have CD/DVD drive and a USB versions don't boot too well) and after days of trying to get it to boot and run the same think from a flash drive, HP told me I had to send it to them to be reformatted.
It took them 3 months to get it back to me.