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[SOLVED] need some help to get my computer back up guys

782 Views 8 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  kf4nod
ok this is whats going on. first my computer lock up and i had to reboot it. but when it came back up it said it was missing a dll file. so i put xp cd in to reinstall windows, and it could only detect one of my hard drives. see i have a 20gb and a 40 gb hard drive. and it detected the old hd so i started formating it and i relize it was the old hd by the size of it it said 18 and something gb. so i stop the formating. then i rebooted the computer and to make a long story short it stop reading my 40 gb harddrive.
so now what i had decided is that the 40 gb hd is bad. so i am trying to install windows on the old 20 gb hard drive but after windows formats the hd and copys some files it reboots by its self and wants to start all over agian doing the same thing. it will not go all the way though with installing windows. does anyone have any ideals what is going on?
i need to get my computer back up i use it alot

thanks
kf4nod
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Re: need some help to get my computer back up guys

Welcome to TSF....

First before just chucking one of the drives let's see if we can determine if they are good or bad....

When booting the computer take a look at the post screen and see if the computer sees the hard drives post back here if you see both of them....
Re: need some help to get my computer back up guys

ok what do you mean by post screen. are you talking about what comes up when i boot from window cd
Re: need some help to get my computer back up guys

Hi mate,
When you start PC you will see black background with white letters right???
You can check there does your PC see both HDD...
Or you can go into BIOS [by typing DEL, F2, F1 --- it depends], and in BIOS you can check under system information tab or something similar does PC see both HDD...
Do this and let us know...
Re: need some help to get my computer back up guys

yes i hit delete when it booted up and went in bios and i can see both drives but i allso seen both come up on the black screen with white letters and they both are disable. but see i have pulled both hard drives out and tryed them on my mothers computer and only one the 20gb will work the 40gb my new hd it will not detect it on her comeputer
Re: need some help to get my computer back up guys

Are these drives Serial or Parallel ATA drives?
(Do you have the wide 40pin ribbon cable or the skinnier (usually red) Serial ATA cable?)
-Me
Re: need some help to get my computer back up guys

ok thanks guys i determended it was a bad hard drive and the reason it would not in stallwindows on my old hard drive was that it was setup as a slave drive not master. i knew that but did not think about it i guess. thanks for all the help. if i can be in any help let me know. i love messing wiht computers i am thinking about building one real soon it will be my frist one to build. ok thanks agian for all the help guys have a good one and God Bless.

KF4NOD
MARK

P.S. DO I NEED TO CLOSE OR DELETE THIS THREAD OR DOES IT DO IT BY ITS SELF?
Re: need some help to get my computer back up guys

No problem mate, anytime...
Yes, you can close the thread now... ^-^
Re: need some help to get my computer back up guys

ok how do i close it? i am new to this web site i have not use it very much.
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