[tikkyisrad]

Our 5-6 year old desktop computer has finally decided to completely crash.

Powering up does nothing except make the hard drive and fan hit overdrive and the power light goes on. It will not boot from a cd, or presumably a floppy either. I mean, literally, nothing appears.

It's an HP Pavilion a250n running the current XP service pack with all specs the same except that we upgraded the ram from 512 to 1 gb.

[http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/product/18552/review/pavilion_a250n_desktop_hewlettpackarddf253a.html]

It's gone through it's fair share of problems and issues, and holds 5 year of pictures and music (that were NOT backed up, mind you). We haven't had too many issues as far as crashing at this point. I mean, besides the average XP failures, it's been a pretty normal machine.

Lately it's been giving "memory dump" errors talking about creating more virtual memory and "system errors". It always runs after these errors, just as same as before. Then came the blue screen of death. I did not personally get to see this, and hadn't even known that it gave the BSoD until it was too late. But apparently it happened while someone was playing bejeweled. They then restarted the computer, and it gave them the BSoD again, yet they continued to play bejeweled. From what I understand, today it wouldn't even start up.

When you hit the power the computer starts as it normally would, the whirring of the harddrive. But, unlike normal, the hard drive keeps whirring and the fan stays on. It won't click off and start up XP. It won't boot from the cd drive, and I do not believe a floppy disk, although I haven't tried because I don't have a floppy to boot from. I'd try booting Ubuntu from a flash drive, but I doubt that if it won't boot from a cd it would boot from a flash drive.


What in the world do I do??

At this point all we want is to get what's on the harddrive off and safely SAVED. That's basically all we want. So if ripping the HD out and placing it in another computer is what needs to be done, so be it.

HOWEVER. If we can get all the documents and pictures and music off safely would the hd be able to be salvagable for say a linux OS?
Because if that's a possibility, then I'd like to be able to do that, and we'll just start off with a new computer (one that runs faster than a slow crawl).

[Megabite]

I would first try it on another PC as Slave and see if you can get the data off.

As the hard drive is quite old I wouldn't trust it for anything.....Hard drives are cheap now

[Claymore]

It will not boot from a cd, or presumably a floppy either.

If that's the case, I don't think you have much option but to pull the drive and attach or slave it into another computer. That's the most important first thing to do - to get your stuff off. While it's in the other computer, run a chkdsk on the drive (see below). Also, go to the website of the hard drive manufacturer and download their drive diagnostics tool which can be burned to a floppy or a CD.

chkdsk
Go to Start => Run and type in cmd
In the Command window type:
chkdsk X: /r
Where X is the drive letter, and there are spaces after chkdsk and before /r

[tikkyisrad]

Okay, the other post was helpful explaining slave.
The only other computer we have is my laptop running ubuntu so I doubt that would be useful?



Haha well I'd be paying from my 16 year old pocket, so if it would even work a little bit it would be alright.

[Claymore]

The only other computer we have is my laptop running ubuntu so I doubt that would be useful?

Only if you can get a hold of a USB => hard drive connector cable. Otherwise your only option is to take it to a shop or a friend's computer. You need to move the jumper on the back of the drive to 'Slave' and install it into the other computer. Then get the data off, run chkdsk and the dive diagnostic.

[tikkyisrad]

Ooofta. Thats a big of an overload. Haha. I get the general idea of what you want to do as far as the check disk and so on, but the whole physical taking apart the computer and putting it back into another is whats going to give me a little trouble. I have very rarely tinkered with the parts of the computer other than to clean or when we replaced the ram. (I suppose I could go open it up and look but I'd like to know more before I resort to that.)

And as far as the other computer to use to chk dsk, can it be any computer running windows? And I won't need to worry about messing anything up on their part?
Because ubuntu wouldn't be able to do a chk dsk anyway would it?

[Claymore]

And as far as the other computer to use to chk dsk, can it be any computer running windows?

Yes

And I won't need to worry about messing anything up on their part?

No

Removing the hard drive isn't that difficult, no more than changing RAM, really. You may need a Phillips screwdriver. Just watch which way the cables are oriented. I will sometimes mark "Top" on the flat wide IDE cable so I know which way to put it back. When attaching this cable be careful to line it up exactly, so you don't bend any of the pins. The 4-wire power cable only fits in one way. Before installing in the other computer, change the small plastic jumper to the 'Slave" position on the pins. There should be a diagram on the drive itself. Change it back when you put it back in your machine.

Of course, all this because can't boot from a CD. This is still the case?

[tikkyisrad]

Originally Posted by Claymore

Of course, all this because can't boot from a CD. This is still the case?

Yes. It won't even boot from the hard drive. It just sits and the hard drive keeps spinning and spinning.


I finally opened it up, as I was going to look at the hard drive and try switching back to the original ram. When I got it opened there was a little rectangular box, solid metal on the bottom with rows of metal protruding upwards. It has two little hooks to hook it to the mother board. One of which also came loose. The box looks like it was glued on the bottom to a chip on the motherboard about the size of a half dollar. (I'm attempting to get pictures up but ubuntu's being a pain and not mounting the camera right.)

I have no idea what in the world this thing is, any ideas? And would it affect the computer to the point of not even booting??

[Claymore]

I have no idea what in the world this thing is, any ideas? And would it affect the computer to the point of not even booting??

Quite possibly. A photo would be good. Even one taken with a regular digital camera, if you can get a hold of one. Also, if you know the make and model of your computer and/or the make and model of the board, you may be able to find an image on the web.

[tikkyisrad]

The big thing in the middle would be what fell out.
The "intel springdale gmch chipset"

[Claymore]

That's the chipset heatsink. Can you put it back yourself? Otherwise you need to take it to a shop.

[tikkyisrad]

Is there any need to reglue it? Or just hook it back in? Because if just hooking it back in is all that needs to be done that should be fine.

[tikkyisrad]

I tried to replace the little hook back to the motherboard. it went back in but the moment the heatsink went back in it would pop out again because of the strain the heatsink put on it.

[Claymore]

Better take it to a shop. They may slave your hard drive for you at the same time.

[tikkyisrad]

Do you think it would be worth it to bring it to the shop and have it fixed, while there's still a chance that the computer might not work anyway and will need to be slaved?

I've had someone else tell me that they odds are that the computer ended up overheating, which would be the cause of the complete death.

I mean, basically right now, all I want to know if this computer is worth saving, or if it's worth it to just find a new computer.