Booting Problem After Installing New Hard-Drive

maxii16

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Nov 7, 2013
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I removed my hard drive, put a new one in; the old hard drive is now destroyed. As I have put a new one in it does not boot up I am aware I need a disc, could someone please tell me the exact disc that I need?
The model is Packard Bell Imedia s3210.
Here is a picture of the boot screen: http://i39.tinypic.com/rlyoo0.jpg
 

Half Life

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Sep 2, 2013
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haha, you got no boot drive!! what you need is a boot/rescue cd

a boot drive is a drive that has the operating system (os) installed on it and designated as C drive, etc.

the new drive that you put in will not automatically become a boot drive unless you or someone has also installed the relevant os on it.

if you have installed the os, then by any chance when you put the new disk drive in the box did you forget to add the power cable or data cable? is the installed disk drive getting recognized in bios?

do you remember if you had windows xp, vista or 7 or 8 earlier? you probably can download and install some of these, but I suspect you will need someone's computer for that and a cd or a usb or some media to transfer that data to your pc.

also, it is probably a good idea to start looking for your license key

and how do you know your old disk is destroyed, how familiar are you with the diy computer stuff
 

maxii16

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I'm not very experienced when it comes to DIY on Computers.

As to does it recognise, the boot screen picture link I attached is as much as I know, can you not tell from there?
I remember I had Windows 7 but not sure about having the product key.
 

Half Life

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what you need to do maxii is to reinstall the operating system (some version of windows, i assume). the system formatting and partitioning will be done as part of the install itself so you can start using the pc as before.

but i am afraid it may be a bit confusing/frsutrating for you to do it all by yourself, but if you are ready, i could try to provide the necessary instructions so you can go though the process

you may begin by looking for the installation media. mostly, it must be a cd/dvd that you got along with the computer. once you have it, everything else is easy.

then there must be a drivers cd/dvd. these two essentially make up the operating system. other application software if you have any, can be installed after these are installed

i assume you may not have as much access to this website since your pc is dead, here is some instructions on the installation itself.

when you find that cd, just power on your pc, open the cd drive, insert the media and power off and on again. windows will take over from there. it will be slow, so you may get a newspaper/magazine just to kill time

most the questions during the installation are easy to answer, such as region, time.etc. but to the question about formatting, say yes even to the warning: data loss alert (since yours is a brand new drive, there wont be any data) and to the question about allocation, just answer the whole drive as C. this should help you when you are not sure about what to answer

then there is the drivers, just put that in the cd drive and select install all drivers. it will reboot a few times, but your pc will be ready once it is done
 

maxii16

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Nov 7, 2013
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That's the problem, I do not have any of the discs.
Basically the story is my stepdad used this for his business, for a couple months then he took the hard drive and destroyed it. He then passed it onto me. I purchased a new hard drive advised by Maplin(the right one) then connected it. He does not have any of the discs as we have already searched for them.. Twice.
 

Half Life

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ok, here are your options, as far as i know:

a) some of these pc manufacturers can actually ship you rescue cds for just shipping charges; i do not know the brand you have very well, but i once had an hp desktop and when i was in your situation, i went to their website and requested for that, and i got a copy of all the cds; that will help you a lot if they offer it, not all do;

b) download the software that you think was on the pc, install it and then some how get your product key later on from your destroyed disk; if you registered your product at the time of purchase, you may get lucky on their website

c) if you cannot access the destroyed disk and if your pc brand does not ship the cds, then you may have to purchase a new copy of the os that can work with your pc

i am not from europe region, and someone who is familiar with this pc business in your region may give you a better option that will work for you