Hard drive advice

There are several free software programs that will recover data from a defective drive. One of the ones I have used is called Recuva.

Thanks for the input inzone. I checked out Recuva and it seems as if it can be used to recover individual files, but not the whole hard drive including the OS.

Hi Chris,

A bit technical, but during the startup process, if you can get to "Starting Windows" but not to the "Logon Screen" (or desktop if one user), it is a problem with the Kernel or Drivers not loading or being corrupt. That would not be a hardware issue. Where the startup process hangs is very important in determining what is a foul, so just double check that you see "Starting Windows" but nothing later. Normally you will see the Splash Screen, then the hardware loading, then a Boot menu if multibooting, then "OS loading" text, then "Starting Windows", then the Logon Screen, then the Desktop.

First, just after the splash screen, click on F8 to get to the Advanced Boot Options.
There in the Recovery Environment, choose Repair my Computer, then StartUp Repair. After running, at the bottom it should give you details of what was found and repair steps.

If no luck, then try the Last Known Good option.

If still no luck, try a Restore Point, if you have one.


Do you know the make of the HDD on this computer? Should be listed in the BIOS. You could remove it temporarily run the manufacturer drive diagnostic tool connected to another computer, before buying a new one.

I'm concerned you may buy a new HDD, clone over your data, and still end up at the same point.

Thank you very much for your interest John.

It gets to "Starting Windows" and then those four balls of light start to come up to form the Microsoft logo. They almost connect, but then freeze for a split second and the screen goes black for a bit before the repair screen comes up offering to repair the problem automatically. That goes through its machinations for a bit and then reports that it cannot fix the problem automatically.

My first thought was to do a System Restore because I had just done one a day or two before to get rid of that scam that locks up your computer and says the FBI has caught you watching an illegal website and you must pay a $200 fine to get your computer unlocked. At that time I had about six or seven restore points. However, when I went to Advanced Boot Options to do a System Restore this time I was told that I had no restore points.

My hard drive is a Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX SATA drive, 1.0TB Capacity, 7200 RPM.

I ran the Diagnostic and as near as I could tell the computer passed all the tests except the hard drive. Here are the Error Codes and what have you that came up during all of this. Error Code 0146, Msg: Error Code 2000-0146, Error Code 0F00 : 1332, Msg isk-Block 35385362 : Interrupt Request (IRQ) did not set in time, Self Test Read Error : 0F00:065D.

I hope this makes some sense to you John, because if you look up "Computer Dummy" you will see my picture.

Let me thank you again for your interest. I really appreciate it.


Chris

Chris,
Several more things to do here:
In the Advanced Boot Options F8, try the StartUp Repair option, then if unsuccessful, the Last Known Good option
If no luck, try to boot into Safe Mode from the Advanced Boot Options. (will load without most of drivers) to see if you can get to the desktop. That will tell you if it's a driver problem.

Lastly, do you have a separate computer you could use to connect this HDD to, and download and run the WD Lifeguard Diagnostics tests they offer? That would confirm whether this HDD is bad, or if that malware you enountered corrupted the kernel, Hal, or drivers.

Here is the website: http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=606...

Might also check your manual so see if this Dell model has a System Restore partition, that might be used to reset it to OOB condidion, but witout any data.
Usually the hot keys are Ctrl F11 or something similar. Just to know, not to do.

You might have to pay the F.B.I. that $200.

I tried everything in Advanced Boot Options F8. I tried everything in EVERYTHING with no response to anything. That was one more thing that made me think that maybe my hard drive was defective.

In regard to a separate computer, I am using my wife's computer to write these emails, but the thought of connecting my hard drive to it and goofing it up in any way . . . Well, my wife can make the Wrath Of God look like a mild scolding. Besides, how would I go about connecting my hard drive to her computer. You must remember John, when it comes to computer illiteracy, I score pretty highly.

We've all been down the road of not knowing exactly what to do with a sick computer

Check into the system restore option on your Dell.
If successful, it would reset the computer to just out of the box, but of course no data.

Without being able to connect your old HDD, for evaluation, or cloning, even with a brand new HDD, your old data won't be available since it's on the old drive.

Might be worth considering taking it down to a local computer repair shop, to see if they could check the HDD, possibly extract any data that you may need from it.

When I first set up my computer, the setup had me go to the Dell website and download two System Repair Discs. I tried using these discs to "just out of the box", but the computer would not recognize them. That seems to be the main issue. My hard drive will not boot or recognize any of the fixes I can bring up from the computer.

I just ordered a USB 2.0 Adapter from Cyberguys which should allow me to connect my hard drive to my wife's computer to exchange data safely. Let's see what happens.