And three years of work died with it... I believe it's a mechanical problem, though... my computer was assembled by a guy I knew at college, and it has a history of making inordinately loud noises. This morning, I came in to the living room, hit the power button, and nothing happened. No light, no click, nothing. Does anyone hardware-savvy here know of any tips for troubleshooting this, or failing that, any way of retrieving the information stored on the hard drive?
Also, I have another computer in storage, which I got from work. It's a fully functioning computer, but it doesn't have any OS. I've tried installing Windows on it, but it always gets up to the scan disk and stops. Any tips on getting the darn thing installed?
Also, I have a vague and probably naive notion that, since I have a computer brain with a broken body and a body without a brain, I may have the solution to both problems right at hand. Am I thinking in the right direction here? I have absolutely no experience with computer hardware, but I'm very good at following detailed instructions... if anyone knows of any good tutorials for open CPU surgery, feel free to point me in the right direction.
ID:193791
 Oct 25 2001, 7:16 am
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Ah yes the good old harddrive remove replace, I did my first when I was 10 it was on a old 486 and I didn't know what I was doing all I knew was it fit into the other one so I stuck it in a 386..And it worked! (For a while at least)
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One is a Compaq and one (the one that died today) is... well, a Frankenstein... I have no way of contacting the person who put it together. Forgive me for sounding like I have no idea what I'm doing, but I don't... what I need to do is switch the big board that has everything plugged into it?
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First off, I would NOT recommend this (except as a last resort), but my new computer died on me, so I just yanked the hard drive out of it and put it in my old computer after removing its hard drive. It spent about an hour or two finding and replacing all the other hardware, but it did work. If you (or maybe someone you know) have another computer with the same operating system on it, I would suggest trying to install the drive from the dead system in it as a slave drive to try and retrieve the data.
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LexyBitch wrote:
This morning, I came in to the living room, hit the power button, and nothing happened. No light, no click, nothing. Sounds like it's probably just the power supply. Depending on the type of computer, it could also be a fried motherboard. Hard to say without looking at it I'm afraid... But most likely the hard drive is fine and all of your data is safe, so whatever you do, don't reformat the drive or anything unless you're absolutely sure it's beyond help. If it is indeed the power supply, you can buy a replacement at any computer store - they may even do the replacement for you at a reasonable cost. Or not, I don't know since I always do this sort of maintenance myself. If you were to attempt it yourself, you'd need to know, at a minimum, if the power supply is AT or ATX (probably ATX if it's a fairly new machine). Then the replacement itself might seem like a daunting task with all those wires and cables everywhere, but if you make good notes on how the current one is connected, it should be straightforward. Unfortunately I don't know of any good beginner resources for this kind of stuff, so you'll have to decide if you want to take the plunge. By far the best option is to get someone you know who is computer savvy to look at it and do any replacement that's needed while showing and teaching you along the way. Also, I have another computer in storage, which I got from work. It's a fully functioning computer, but it doesn't have any OS. I've tried installing Windows on it, but it always gets up to the scan disk and stops. Any tips on getting the darn thing installed? Well, one easy thing you ought to be able to do is move the hard drive from your main computer into this one. Windows might freak a little when it's booted up in a new "body," but it should work ok. Also, I have a vague and probably naive notion that, since I have a computer brain with a broken body and a body without a brain, I may have the solution to both problems right at hand. Am I thinking in the right direction here? Exactly. Open up both machines, carefully study how the hard drives are connected in both, and determine if you think you can swap them and reconnect them the same way. If you feel confident, go for it. Most of the cables/connectors involved in this sort of thing are keyed so that you can't connect them backwards even if you wanted to. But if you're a little unsure, find some help! | |
It's very obvious which component is plugged into which slot on each board... the daunting thing is, when I look at how the things are plugged in, I can't figure out how to unplug them without damaging the board... is it just a matter of pulling them out?
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-nt-
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LexyBitch wrote:
It's very obvious which component is plugged into which slot on each board... the daunting thing is, when I look at how the things are plugged in, I can't figure out how to unplug them without damaging the board... is it just a matter of pulling them out? Yup. just unplug it by pulling gentle. The hd should be about as thick as a couple slices of bread,(and probably under the cdrom/3.5 drive, if you are not sure of its location. | |
Thanks for the tip... that's how I located it, I started counting drives and then found the one that wasn't lined up with any exterior slots. :)
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The noise was almost definately from a shoddy fan. They tend to growl once the bearings start giving. The problem is almost certainly from your power supply (as Air Mapster said) or from your processor (unless you have an old system without a processor fan). Regardless, even if it works now, you need to replace this. If its the power supply fan, you'll have to replace the whole power supply which isn't too expensive. If this is the case, you'll want to act quickly because uncooled power supplies have been known to cast level five fireballs. If its the processor fan, you'll just need a new fan, which is typically really cheap.
-AbyssDragon | |
SHAITAN wrote:
Alathon wrote: Bah humbug, whats wrong with a mac Alathon | |
That happened to my computer once. I kicked it, then it worked again. But I'm so pleased to hear it's working now. Having just gone through a computer breakdown, I certainly don't want to see anyone else have to deal with that. :)
Z | |
Zilal wrote:
That happened to my computer once. I kicked it, then it worked again. But I'm so pleased to hear it's working now. Having just gone through a computer breakdown, I certainly don't want to see anyone else have to deal with that. :) I have always been fixing any software problems that my computer might experience. Mostly, that meant running the various utility programs I had available to me, and repairing/backing up damaged files. What really made me mad was that any time I did something helpful to the computer, another problem would surface because the software would change some other settings. After getting some really low-IQ computer tech to fix it (heck, he typed at about 5 WPM) my parents would get mad at me if I ever even changed the settings on something as harmless as the screensaver. And, when I ran ScanDisk that notified me that the hard drive was damaged, they were mad at me for some odd reason. Hell, it's not my fault the thing was broken. It was whoever the hell designed that sucker to last only three years. Anyway, I know very little about hardware, but I do know one thing... violence can actually solve some hardware problems. For example, our PC's cooling fan was going (actually, they still hadn't replaced the HD at that point). A swift balled fist against the flank of the case would pop it back into place for another few days. | |
Actually, I don't need to replace anything. I replaced EVERYTHING. I took the hard drive and put into a perfectly fine, reasonably late model Compaq with no working hard drive.
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While I have my dead computer opened up, would there be anything else worth taking out of it? Obviously, I'm taking my CD burner... but what else would be removable and beneficial to add to the other computer? RAM?
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LexyBitch wrote:
While I have my dead computer opened up, would there be anything else worth taking out of it? Obviously, I'm taking my CD burner... but what else would be removable and beneficial to add to the other computer? RAM? Depends on the specs of the old versus the new. It's unlikely that a lo-tek PC has anything of higher value than your new, though. | |
It should be relatively simple though, did my first HD exchange when I was 8 :P
That was on a mac though,
Alathon