my computer will not boot up

divulge · #1 August 25th, 2004, 07:46 PM

it was having this problem a few days ago, but i managed to get it running through persistent starting-up, and didnt have the money or time to have someone professionally look at it. now it wont boot up; i get as far as the second bootup screen and then it starts asking for a system disk to boot from, which i dont have and neither do any of my friends. also, it makes a loud clicking noise that is sometimes faster than before, like some switch is trying to catch or something. jesus i dont know. please help.

jdc2000 · #2 August 25th, 2004, 08:35 PM

From your description I'd say that your hard drive has died.

divulge · #3 August 25th, 2004, 08:50 PM

oh jesus, so in other words i'm completely screwed?

jdc2000 · #4 August 26th, 2004, 01:57 AM

If you are lucky, you may be able to connect the hard drive to another PC as a second drive and transfer any files you want to save off of it before it dies completely. You can also try downloading the drive manufacturer's test utility to see if it reports any errors.

Wainui · #5 August 26th, 2004, 08:58 AM

If you did a Scandisk at the Command Prompt, it will tell you the condition of your hard drive.
Power up your computer.
After the self test beep tap the F8 key to invoke the Start up menu.
Choose Command Prompt from the menu and hit enter.
At the C:>_ prompt type Scandisk C: and hit enter.

After Scandisk does a "File Structure" scan get it to do a Surface Scan which should take longer and at the end it will give you a report on the condition of your hard drive. Look for any Bad Sectors.