PC is completely broke, need help

[needaremedy]

Ok so for the past 6 months or so my PC has been in and out of pc repair shops, and the problem has never been fixed. What happens is i'll be on my PC and i'll hear random clicking noises from inside it, my PC freezes up, and I get the blue screen of death. Then from here whenever I start up the computer it crashes at the Windows loading screen and goes back to the blue screen.
Normally what i'd do to fix this is load up my windows xp cd, go into repair, and type in chkdsk /r. This would normally fix the problem but only temporarily. After using this method for about 6 months I think my PC is ready to keel over. Now I can't start up my pc, when I go into repair mode and type in chkdsk /r I get an error along the lines of "This drive contains one or more unrecoverable problems" and If I try to reformat the entire drive and install a fresh copy of windows I can't because the drive simply does not appear(Says "There is no disk in this drive" or something, when it should say C:\.

I've came to the conclusion that my hard drive is completely destroyed. Probably because my PC is 4 years old and i've had countless viruses on it, along with it being reformatted every few months due to the viruses.

Would buying a new hard drive from ebay, and simply replacing the broken, and then installing windows on it fix my problem?

Windows XP Pro
1 Gig ram(2*512mb)
2.0 GHZ AMD Athlon 3200+
Nvidia 6600GT
and I think the drive is a Maxtor. Does this mean I should buy another Maxtor drive?

thanks for the help.

 

[parvez9988]

hi
sorry to here tht u r hdd has crashed.pls once check for bad clusters, other wise attach tht hdd to another hdd by keeping it as slave, check weather its working or not,if it work's no prb copy the files u want format it nd (remove it)create the partions install new os if its dosnt work c if its in warrnty or not if it is in then replace it.
i think this will do the need full

bye

 

[thebrownone]

I would replace that drive, and not use it as a slave. The clicking is a definate symptom of a failing hard drive as well as the freezing. Having this drive as a slave could make the freezing continue as well. If you have a restore disc that came with the system, that will make the reload process extremely easy. If not, you will need to boot off your Windows XP disc, create your partition there, and install. Odds are you will need to find drivers after, so don't expect all your devices to just magically work.

 

[flavallee]

The hard drive needs to be replaced and formatted, and then a fresh install of Windows XP needs to be done.

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[Gombot]

And no, your replacement drive doesn't have to be the same brand as the drive that failed (Maxtor). Any compatible hard drive will work, regardless of brand name.