Ashley 288 Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Wheres that ******** hammer! HELP! PC totally gave up the ghost, no worries says my son, I've an old one, actually bigger than my old one but had 98 on it, so I installed XP, great no probs and email ok, till I turned it off! on restarting it just gets as far as windows logo and monitor screen not so bright, can run safe mode and eventually (sometimes) after pressing this and that and going on various topics it does come up (hence me writing this) Also cannot now get windows disc to play in CD Rom, (forget where/how to type this D:\run thing?) and "expert down the pub" says I must reformat PC something like press Ctrl and F1 but I've not come across that? any one any ideas? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fynger 841 Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Does it run from the disk if you switch it on with the disk in ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted January 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 it has started when it's had disc in and then run but mostly no and I'm loathed to turn off pc now to try it in case it doesn't come back on! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fynger 841 Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 If you can still write to 'floppy disk' i can email you the contents of a boot disk that you'll have to write to floppy and work from that....at least it'll boot up with a cd and then you can run 'setup' and re-install from the windows disk....just a thought.. ...i had to do this a couple of weeks ago....now im on a brand new hard drive with a fresh 'xp'....just had to go digging for all my programs to put back on...Thankfully not that many as i have 4 hard drives connected to my pc. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted January 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 yes please, think you have my email? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Whilst its now running, leave it On. Back Everything up now. A cheap stand alone hard drive is a good investment. Try Aldi ir LIDL Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted January 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 I don't think it's the hard drive, more like xp didn't load properly? (then again there was nothing in my corgi course on computers!) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 The hard drive is for Back up and storage. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fynger 841 Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Ive sent it through....hope its of use Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted January 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 well I,ve copied it to floppy, will advise if it works next time I turn off, anyone with any more ideas? like what the bios etc listings should read? or any other way of starting CD drive? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fynger 841 Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 make sure in the bios that boot from cd is enabled...which i assume it is otherwise it wunt have read the disk at all Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted January 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 yes checked that, should there be an order to such ? ie 1st 2nd and 3rd cd, floppy etc obvious but what's all this HHD 1 2 and 3? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fynger 841 Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Floppy 1st CD 2nd Harddrive 3rd......dont need no others........make sure the hardrive is the 'c' drive with windows on it if you have more than one tho. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fynger 841 Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Ashley ...ive also just sent you a pdf file thru about pc errors and solutions....should be worth a read...just d/loaded it off torrents....looks good too....check yer e-mail should be there Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zab 47 Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 It does sound like an incomplete install, if the PC is old the problem might just be that XP can't find some of the drivers it needs. Are you sure the other one is completely dead? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted February 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Latest Update! Totally wiped everything off pc and reloaded XP with ne partition, everything worked! till I turned off and tried to start up agin, the all I got was a "dull" windows image, tried various things and eventually worked out this routine! when I get dull screen, press restart, go to safe mode, restart again, and it works! However now after loading Serif, BTinternet, and various music from disks the cd work work! tray opens and closes green light flickers but that yer ****** lot! not sure if a programme or a "mechanical" fault? Any ideas? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beefsteak 305 Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 I'm not 100% but it could be a card issue . I.e your reboot disc didn't contain the reboot for your CD player . I had that problem when I had to format mine (This time it was the DVD player Does that make sense ?? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted February 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 I'm not 100% but it could be a card issue . I.e your reboot disc didn't contain the reboot for your CD player . I had that problem when I had to format mine (This time it was the DVD player Does that make sense ?? sounds right but how to cure? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beefsteak 305 Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 I got hold of Dell as my computer was still under warranty . But there are downloads (Free ) that will do it for you , I can't reccommend any , but let the computer boffins read this and I'm sure they will sort you out!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mgread1200 141 Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 sounds like a driver problem, if you,ve installed xp from scratch, you shoud auto update from microsoft and also find a driver for your cd rom, sound card, and any other stuff your running mg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fynger 841 Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Or ya CD player in yer tower is buggered Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zab 47 Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Try starting up in DOS and then use the setup command from the XP disc. Alternatively, try starting the PC in safe mode (press F8 before Windows starts) and choose 'last good configuration'. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Frank 13 Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 If it starts up on a new install and works OK till you shut it down then it is not a hardware problem. Even though you do a hard drive format, this, unfortunately does not delete all that is on the hard drive. Seems like you have a setting wrong in the Bios. You can do all sorts of damage if you don't know your way around the Bios so, if you are not sure, ask someone you know to have a look. Have you considered fitting a second hard drive? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted February 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 as mentioned CD didn't work so changed that still same except now PC STARTS UP AS NORMAL !!! all I did was take plugs out back of unit and stick in another and it cured start fault? crazy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fynger 841 Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 They lurk yanno....looks like an innocent little white ( normally ) box with lights on.....then when you least expect it they do summat totally uncomputerish. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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