Arcadion
Thread Starter
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2004
- Messages
- 1,756
This is an obscure problem that I've come across before, but it was so long ago that I can't remember if/how I fixed it. I'm not even sure if it's software or hardware related. I would look it up on Google if I could think of the right keywords to use, so here goes.
I have a customer's HP Pavilion 523a here running XP Home, and it won't load Windows. More to the point, whenever any program (I've tried a DOS boot disk, XP install CD, Spinrite and Seatools) tries to read the hard disk it just freezes. I can't run any hard disk diagnostic tools over it because of this. I suspect that it's a corrupt FAT or MBR rather than a dead hard disk. If possible I would like to retrieve her photos off the drive before wiping it. I've tested the RAM with memtest86+ and it was ok.
Anyone have any clues on how I can get the data off this drive? If I can just repair whatever is corrupt (assuming that's the problem) I can handle reinstalling XP (if needed) myself.
I have a customer's HP Pavilion 523a here running XP Home, and it won't load Windows. More to the point, whenever any program (I've tried a DOS boot disk, XP install CD, Spinrite and Seatools) tries to read the hard disk it just freezes. I can't run any hard disk diagnostic tools over it because of this. I suspect that it's a corrupt FAT or MBR rather than a dead hard disk. If possible I would like to retrieve her photos off the drive before wiping it. I've tested the RAM with memtest86+ and it was ok.
Anyone have any clues on how I can get the data off this drive? If I can just repair whatever is corrupt (assuming that's the problem) I can handle reinstalling XP (if needed) myself.