i did something... bad... help please..

booyah188 · 05-24-2006, 04:34 PM

i did something really retarded...

ok... i was just playing around with these 2 computers i have in the house. one was running and the other was off.

i was comparing the ends of the power cables in both pcs because i needed an adaptor for something. anyway that doenst matter.... i got bored of that and had a very bright idea. i unhooked the fan in the dead (by dead i mean it was turned off, not broken) computer, and hooked it into the spare power thing in the other computer. it started spinning - hooray!, this is fun! yay! the dead computer's fan was basacilly running off the other computer's psu.

Then i had an ever BRIGHTER idea. instead of just the fan, i took one of those spare power plugs in the dead computer and hooked it into one of those spare power things in the other computer. as soon as the 2 plugs connected my computer shut down.

At this point i was kinda freaked out... its a relatively new pc too... so i turned on the computer again and it started to boot, but all the bios and everything was in purple, it didnt go into windows, it said something like "BOOT DISC FAILURE, PLEASE INSERT SYSTEM DISC". i restarted a few times, just to see if it did anything (yes, ur thinking im a complete idiot arent you). After 2 reboots the purple thing went away but it still left me with that error.

I know it wants me to insert the windows disc and reinstall windows xp... but before i do anything else i want to know what u guys think of it... i have no idea what ive done. has my hdd crashed, or has it just erased everything on it (including windows)? or what.. this is one of the dumbest things ive ever done..

**Doby** · 05-24-2006, 06:57 PM

Yes you got alot to learn and you should ask questions before foolin around with stuff you don't understand thats why were here.

Sounds like the hdd could have taken a hit, problably a power spike.

Enter bios and see if the hard drive is listed there, if so then go ahead and try and reinstall windows.

If it ain't listed in bios then its most likely bad and you should try another but try reseating the power cable first to see if it then shows up in bios.

Rick

lephanour · 05-24-2006, 10:40 PM

Alright, for future refrence, when playing with ANY cables besides USB, firewire, etc, ALWAYS turn off the (or any computers involved...) computer AT THE POWERSUPPLY.

From what I understand the second computer was on when you plugged in the wire? or was it off?

also, just to make sure your BIOS or mobo didn't get damaged, try booting from the WinXP setup CD to see if the computer boots in any way...

booyah188 · 05-25-2006, 07:28 AM

ah well it turned out that after my pc abruptadly shut down, i panicked and accidentally pulled the cable of out the back of the hdd. i put it back in and everything's working fine.

thanks anyway, ill be sure never to do that again

05-24-2006, 04:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
booyah188 Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 59 OS: xp	i did something... bad... help please.. i did something really retarded... ok... i was just playing around with these 2 computers i have in the house. one was running and the other was off. i was comparing the ends of the power cables in both pcs because i needed an adaptor for something. anyway that doenst matter.... i got bored of that and had a very bright idea. i unhooked the fan in the dead (by dead i mean it was turned off, not broken) computer, and hooked it into the spare power thing in the other computer. it started spinning - hooray!, this is fun! yay! the dead computer's fan was basacilly running off the other computer's psu. Then i had an ever BRIGHTER idea. instead of just the fan, i took one of those spare power plugs in the dead computer and hooked it into one of those spare power things in the other computer. as soon as the 2 plugs connected my computer shut down. At this point i was kinda freaked out... its a relatively new pc too... so i turned on the computer again and it started to boot, but all the bios and everything was in purple, it didnt go into windows, it said something like "BOOT DISC FAILURE, PLEASE INSERT SYSTEM DISC". i restarted a few times, just to see if it did anything (yes, ur thinking im a complete idiot arent you). After 2 reboots the purple thing went away but it still left me with that error. I know it wants me to insert the windows disc and reinstall windows xp... but before i do anything else i want to know what u guys think of it... i have no idea what ive done. has my hdd crashed, or has it just erased everything on it (including windows)? or what.. this is one of the dumbest things ive ever done..

05-24-2006, 06:57 PM	#2 (permalink)
Doby Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Central PA (USA) Posts: 8,091 OS: XP sp2/ Vista My System	Yes you got alot to learn and you should ask questions before foolin around with stuff you don't understand thats why were here. Sounds like the hdd could have taken a hit, problably a power spike. Enter bios and see if the hard drive is listed there, if so then go ahead and try and reinstall windows. If it ain't listed in bios then its most likely bad and you should try another but try reseating the power cable first to see if it then shows up in bios. Rick __________________ Would you like to help TSF fight cancer and other diseases??? JOIN TEAM TSF

05-24-2006, 10:40 PM	#3 (permalink)
lephanour Registered User Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 26 OS: Windows XP My System	Alright, for future refrence, when playing with ANY cables besides USB, firewire, etc, ALWAYS turn off the (or any computers involved...) computer AT THE POWERSUPPLY. From what I understand the second computer was on when you plugged in the wire? or was it off? also, just to make sure your BIOS or mobo didn't get damaged, try booting from the WinXP setup CD to see if the computer boots in any way...

05-25-2006, 07:28 AM	#4 (permalink)
booyah188 Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 59 OS: xp	ah well it turned out that after my pc abruptadly shut down, i panicked and accidentally pulled the cable of out the back of the hdd. i put it back in and everything's working fine. thanks anyway, ill be sure never to do that again