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Repairing/Upgrading PC

Last response: in Systems
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Hi.

I have to say i'm fairly novice at this, but i am willing to learn.

Basically my PC randomly stopped working - I got disk read error. After trying to reinstall windows, and getting more errors (cannot format disk may be damaged).. It completely stopped being recognized by the system, so i'm guessing i got HDD failure.

So ultimately that's the priority at the moment, getting it up and running again.

My specs are;

ASUS M4A78 Pro
Nvidia GeForce 260 GTX
AMD Phenom 8650 x3 2.3ghz
Seagate Barracuda 7500.12 500gb
650W ATX12V P4
6GB DDR2 RAM

I also should ideally get a new case, as the power button is inconsistent. (if i turn it off, i have to wait about an hour before i can turn it on again.. really weird).

It's an old PC, so i am open to upgrading some parts, but currently i only have max 300 to play with, and would like to at least fix this disk read error with that. i get more money in a months time as well, so can upgrade more then.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Barracuda-inch-Internal...

Was thinking about buying this ^. It's compatible right?

Also i heard about 2 TB limitations on Windows systems, will this be a problem? I have win7 64x

Ive been told that my power supply is really bad, and could be causing a lot of the problems, do you think thats the case? Any recommendations on good / but not overly expensive PSUs?

Thanks to anyone who helps, bare with my ignorance :) 

More about : repairing upgrading

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Lets see if we can get you working first:

Your hard drive probably needs to be replaced. If you have a spare computer try throwing it in that one and doing a virus scan, then routine maintenance on it (defrag it and check for errors).

If you can go into bios you can set your boot drive to your CD/ROM. Throw your windows disk in and try repairing windows. If you have a spare HD try installing windows on that one. If not… here is a link to get an inexpensive drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

These are usually cast offs from corporate and government that have been refurbished, but I have had very good luck with them. They are fast and cheap and work 90% of the time. They are cheap, buy two.

There is nothing wrong with the drive you have on the link, but I prefer to put OS on a smaller drive and use that drive for only the OS. For installs other than the OS open a Program files(X32) folder on your second (larger) drive and install them there. Steam installs, music/movies/photos can go there as well. That way if you download something you shouldn’t have… accidentally… you haven’t corrupted your OS drive. Sets you up for a SSD later on, same practice.

Thanks for quick reply. I don't currently have access to any other PCs / Hard drives. I don't think repairing windows would work, as my hard drive isn't even detected in BIOS any more.

Good idea about buying 2 HDDs. Never thought about doing that, I guess i could buy 1 you suggested, and then 1/2 TB for all my games/movies.

Will i need a better power supply if running 2 HDDs?

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