Member Avatar for digisafenz

I have an XP Windows pc that won't boot past the windows logo screen. It also says no hard drive installed when I try a windows recovery. Is this a sign of a dying hard drive? How can I fix/repair this and how can I copy the programme files to a new hard drive?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Bob_180_Bob
Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Hi,
Before you think about reinstalling windows or even doing a windows repair from your windows CD try repairing it from the repair console.
1. Insert the Windows XP CD into your CD drive and restart your computer. If you are prompted, select any options required to start (boot) from the CD.
2. When the text-based part of Setup begins, follow the prompts. Select the repair or recover option by pressing R.
3. If you have a dual-boot or multiboot system, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
4. When you are prompted, type the Administrator password.
5. At the command prompt, type chkdsk [drive:] [/p] [/r]
drive: = This is the drive letter of the partition you want check for errors.
/p = This option instructs chkdsk to perform an extensive check of the drive and correct any errors.
/r = This option instructs chkdsk to locate bad sectors and recover any readable information from them.

Member Avatar for digisafenz

Hi,
Before you think about reinstalling windows or even doing a windows repair from your windows CD try repairing it from the repair console.
1. Insert the Windows XP CD into your CD drive and restart your computer. If you are prompted, select any options required to start (boot) from the CD.
2. When the text-based part of Setup begins, follow the prompts. Select the repair or recover option by pressing R.
3. If you have a dual-boot or multiboot system, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
4. When you are prompted, type the Administrator password.
5. At the command prompt, type chkdsk [drive:] [/p] [/r]
drive: = This is the drive letter of the partition you want check for errors.
/p = This option instructs chkdsk to perform an extensive check of the drive and correct any errors.
/r = This option instructs chkdsk to locate bad sectors and recover any readable information from them.

Thanks for this advice. I have tried a repair, but get the error that windows can't find the hard drive. I think there is a hard drive bad sector. I can't even run a chkdsk

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Hi,
You don't have to find it, when you insert your XP disk it will come up as it starts to install as explained above.
Follow the instructions above and it may fix your problems.
If you start to reinstall windows, you have to bypass the repair consul to get there.

Member Avatar for digisafenz

Hi,
You don't have to find it, when you insert your XP disk it will come up as it starts to install as explained above.
Follow the instructions above and it may fix your problems.
If you start to reinstall windows, you have to bypass the repair consul to get there.

Thanks Bob,

I have tried what you suggested, however when windows tries for a repair, it states a hard drive can't be found. I can attach the hard drive to another machine and it won't complete a scan. There is most likely a problem with the hard drive.

Thanks for your help

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Hi again,
This trick works most times, when you get a new hard drive up and running, put your old hard drive in the refrigerator for an hour or two then connect it to you machine and see if you can copy off the data you want to keep. No guarantees, but this has worked for many people and saved them a lot of work and heart ache.

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