Member Avatar for ranger659

Hey my primary drive 0 is getting funky and once I turn off my computer (its a Dell, Windows, 2000) and turn it back on its will come up with the same info on my drive but sometimes it comes back and itspretty much like chance to get back on my comp. Now I'm just afraid that I might lose my comp. What should I do to prevent this from happening again?

Plz help its a very nice computer and I don't want to lose it

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reported an intermittent problem where the system's primary disk ("Drive 0") sometimes fails to come back after power-off. steered things toward testing hardware and had a laugh — both points highlight two realities: (1) establish what the symptom actually is, and (2) protect any important data before doing aggressive fixes.

First priority: secure irreplaceable files while the drive is still accessible. Copy documents, mail stores and license files to external media or a network share. If the machine will not boot reliably, remove the drive and connect it to a known-good PC (internal install or USB-to-SATA/IDE adapter) or boot a rescue environment and copy files off the disk.

Once data is safe, gather repeatable diagnostics. Note what the BIOS/POST reports (drive model, capacity or "not detected") and whether the drive makes unusual noises. Swap the data cable, use a different power connector or port, and check jumper settings on older IDE drives. Capture SMART health data and run an extended surface/health test — look for reallocated sector counts and pending-sector entries; those indicate failing media. Intermittent visibility usually points to a hardware fault (drive, cable, PSU or controller) rather than a simple filesystem glitch.

If SMART or surface tests show failure, clone the disk to a new drive immediately (image-based clone) and replace the faulty unit. If cloning fails or the data is critical, consider professional recovery. Avoid heavy, write-intensive operations on a suspect disk before a backup, and plan to replace the drive and move off unsupported Windows 2000 hardware when practical.

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Member Avatar for hughv

"Getting funky" is not a technical description, even though it may be accurate.
Try to be more specific.
Many Dells have a diagnostic option you can access at boot. Run the HD diagnostics test.
Run defrag and chkdsk.

Member Avatar for caperjack

do you have funky Wild Cherry music playing in the background ,this could case any Dell computer to get down & funky lol.

.not only is funky not a techi term this makes no sense to me[but sometimes it comes back and its pretty much like chance to get back on my comp.]

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