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vaxcardinal · 08-06-2010, 07:05 PM

When I booted up my computer yesterday it started in an endless cycle of rebooting. It doesnt get to the point where it wants to load the OS. I ran diagnostics on the computer with no problems. I then pulled the hard drive and placed it in another computer as the boot drive and that computer had the exact same behavior so it tells me that there's a problem with the hard drive. I then made that drive the slave and the computer booted up fine. I then went into windows explorer and see the "problem drive" and it looks like all the directories are there. I'm currently running a virus scanner and superantispyware on that drive to see if maybe there's a virus in the boot sector or something although I dont know if these scanners check that. So I have 2 questions, is there software that can check the boot sector to see if there are problems, or do I just need to forget about it and buy another hard drive copy an image of the problem dirve over or is there another option?

**helix139** · 08-07-2010, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vaxcardinal

When I booted up my computer yesterday it started in an endless cycle of rebooting. It doesnt get to the point where it wants to load the OS. I ran diagnostics on the computer with no problems. I then pulled the hard drive and placed it in another computer as the boot drive and that computer had the exact same behavior so it tells me that there's a problem with the hard drive. I then made that drive the slave and the computer booted up fine. I then went into windows explorer and see the "problem drive" and it looks like all the directories are there. I'm currently running a virus scanner and superantispyware on that drive to see if maybe there's a virus in the boot sector or something although I dont know if these scanners check that. So I have 2 questions, is there software that can check the boot sector to see if there are problems, or do I just need to forget about it and buy another hard drive copy an image of the problem dirve over or is there another option?

hit F8 repeatedly during boot for startup options. try to perform a repair and if that doesnt work try a logged boot and see where it fails in the process

vaxcardinal · 08-07-2010, 05:45 AM

it reboots prior to getting to that point so not able to boot in safe mode

**wrl344** · 08-07-2010, 06:31 AM

Grab a sledge hammer and repeatedly pound the daylights out of the computer. Once the computer is in about 100 pieces grab a broom and a dust pan and sweep the parts up. Take the parts and put them in a potatoe sack and start slamming them on the ground until your arm hurts. Next pour two gallons of gasoline over the parts and on the potatoe sack. Finally light a match and set fire to the sack and watch your frustrations go up in flames. This is the best way that I know how to resolve your problem. Head to Best Buy, Apple, Walmart, Target, CH GREGG, etc. and buy a new computer.

**wrl344** · 08-07-2010, 06:33 AM

potato*

**helix139** · 08-07-2010, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vaxcardinal

it reboots prior to getting to that point so not able to boot in safe mode

Not trying to get you to boot into safe mode, but if you can start hitting f8 right away, you should get several options, one of which should be 'repair your computer' or something along those lines. If you can't even get to this point, check your BIOS settings. reset them to default, then make any changes you need so that the boot drive(s) is properly detected, and reboot.

vaxcardinal · 08-08-2010, 11:12 AM

cant get to that option. I ended up buying another hard drive and then cloning my original hard drive. I then attempted to boot with the new hard drive and got the same problem. So I decided to do a ctl <f11> on bootup and went with the "restore to factory setting" option. Now I need to install all the things that I added over the past 5 years and still use and then copy over all of my documents from the old hard drive. Once i'm satisfied with everything i'll clone the drive back to the original in case this ever happens again.

**G8RCB** · 08-09-2010, 08:06 PM

in the future...you can't ever take a drive and put it in another pc to see if it boots unless the hardware is almost identical. The sata hard drive controllers will most likely be different and the hardware ids need different drivers.

michaelc187 · 01-12-2011, 01:05 AM

try scanning the disk for "bad sectors"

JaxGator · 02-23-2012, 09:48 AM

Sounds like you got it planned out nicely...

orangeblueorangeblue · 02-23-2012, 10:22 AM

Future reference this is what you needed. Sorry I didn't see this earlier.

There was nothing wrong with the disk, the OS was corrupted to the point you were not able to get into any form of Windows, much less the recovery options.

**chicagogator94** · 02-23-2012, 10:37 AM

This link might help if it does work:

http://www.shopping.hp.com/notebooks...901035_Generic

reboot, start over, buy

orangeblueorangeblue · 02-23-2012, 10:56 AM

Start by not buying an HP

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-an...-Study-488979/

**chicagogator94** · 02-23-2012, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orangeblueorangeblue

Start by not buying an HP

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-an...-Study-488979/

I have a mac and used them for over 26 years. I don't like anything else. I was just joking that he should buy a new computer.

Jaggator · 02-23-2012, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orangeblueorangeblue

Start by not buying an HP

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-an...-Study-488979/

OBOB, I don't post much in this forum but saw this link.

You advise not to buy an HP. If people in the world buy HP more than any other computer, isn't it only normal to be leading in repairs since the total sample size is that much greater than the others?

Has HP cheapened their product in the last several years? I've had 2 HP desktops and never had a problem. One HP desktop I own is currently 8 years old.

Would you still not buy one today? If not, then I'm going to guess you'd buy an Asus desktop. Right?

scubadude007 · 02-23-2012, 01:28 PM

I would suggest booting you computer.

orangeblueorangeblue · 02-23-2012, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaggator

OBOB, I don't post much in this forum but saw this link.

You advise not to buy an HP. If people in the world buy HP more than any other computer, isn't it only normal to be leading in repairs since the total sample size is that much greater than the others?

Has HP cheapened their product in the last several years? I've had 2 HP desktops and never had a problem. One HP desktop I own is currently 8 years old.

Would you still not buy one today? If not, then I'm going to guess you'd buy an Asus desktop. Right?

Note the link was in reference to laptops, not desktops. I'm not even sure if ASUS is in the desktop business.

The total sample size isn't really relevant here, if you read the link.

And yes, HP has become one of the major discount players. I would be leery of buying an HP laptop.

Jaggator · 02-23-2012, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orangeblueorangeblue

Note the link was in reference to laptops, not desktops. I'm not even sure if ASUS is in the desktop business.

The total sample size isn't really relevant here, if you read the link.

And yes, HP has become one of the major discount players. I would be leery of buying an HP laptop.

Thanks. I was thinking about buying my wife a laptop within the year.