In Need Of PC Help!

SkiMikey

SkiMikey

SkiMikey

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Joined
25 Nov 2012
Posts
39
Hey everyone,

My PC broke a few months back and I haven't been able to get round to fixing it until now due to work.

On start up my pc isn't recognising windows is installed and is wanting me to install it again. Now I have a few questions before I buy a now OS and install it. My first one being does all my saved files get cleared because I'm installing a new OS? second being it is the OS that's the problem or could something else be causing it?

Thank you in advance ^__^
 
This is GD. We might be able to help, if you post a photo of yourself, your wife (if hot), or your cat.
 
SkiMikey said:
Hey everyone,

My PC broke a few months back and I haven't been able to get round to fixing it until now due to work.

On start up my pc isn't recognising windows is installed and is wanting me to install it again. Now I have a few questions before I buy a now OS and install it. My first one being does all my saved files get cleared because I'm installing a new OS? second being it is the OS that's the problem or could something else be causing it?

Thank you in advance ^__^
Click to expand...

Open dvd drive, poo on tray and close tray.
Let us know how you get on OP
 
A few things

Check your boot order in the BIOS.
Check if the hard drive is actually being detected.

Assuming the drive works -
As for the old files, they should still be there, and will remain, unless you choose to format the drive when installing the new OS. The new OS will recognise them as belonging to a different account so you'll have to take ownership.

Assuming the drive doesn't work -
Buy a new hard drive.
 
SkiMikey said:
Hey everyone,

My PC broke a few months back and I haven't been able to get round to fixing it until now due to work.

On start up my pc isn't recognising windows is installed and is wanting me to install it again. Now I have a few questions before I buy a now OS and install it. My first one being does all my saved files get cleared because I'm installing a new OS? second being it is the OS that's the problem or could something else be causing it?

Thank you in advance ^__^
Click to expand...

I will actually help you.
I'm making several assumptions here, and need more info really.

What is the exact warning message? If it is NTLDR missing or something similar it might be your hard drive boot sector is corrup. This can be fixed without reinstalling windows.

Most of the time though I have found that bad booting windows is a RAM problem. Remove all the sticks and put one back in and try to restart, try with all seperate to find the problem stick.
The above is equally good info, the thing is we need the exact warning message at boot.

Thanks
 
ChroniC said:
I will actually help you.
I'm making several assumptions here, and need more info really.

What is the exact warning message? If it is NTLDR missing or something similar it might be your hard drive boot sector is corrup. This can be fixed without reinstalling windows.

Most of the time though I have found that bad booting windows is a RAM problem. Remove all the sticks and put one back in and try to restart, try with all seperate to find the problem stick.
The above is equally good info, the thing is we need the exact warning message at boot.

Thanks
Click to expand...

There is no warning message, when I boot my pc up it goes to the windows instalation screen. Thank you for the helpful reply
 
wozencl said:
A few things

Check your boot order in the BIOS.
Check if the hard drive is actually being detected.

Assuming the drive works -
As for the old files, they should still be there, and will remain, unless you choose to format the drive when installing the new OS. The new OS will recognise them as belonging to a different account so you'll have to take ownership.

Assuming the drive doesn't work -
Buy a new hard drive.
Click to expand...

Not going to lie it'll be my first time going into the BIOS so you'll have to stick with me on this one
 
Sounds bad, man. Could the the FBI installed a root kit in your active locker profile.

In these cases I recommend homeopathy. Some ginger mixed with turmeric can often exorcise the demnons responsible.
 
So I just tried a bunch of things and now I'm getting the windows start up when I have the disc in, and a screen saying reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key
 
wozencl said:
A few things

Check your boot order in the BIOS.
Check if the hard drive is actually being detected.

Assuming the drive works -
As for the old files, they should still be there, and will remain, unless you choose to format the drive when installing the new OS. The new OS will recognise them as belonging to a different account so you'll have to take ownership.

Assuming the drive doesn't work -
Buy a new hard drive.
Click to expand...

I am in the BIOS under boot but I can't find the boot order
 
SkiMikey said:
I am in the BIOS under boot but I can't find the boot order
Click to expand...

Right, for your own good, do not mess around with anything in the BIOS. Seriously.

You need to find someone in your local area who does IT support and get them to take a look.

People will try to help you here, but it sounds to me like you shouldn't be trying to fix this yourself, even with help from here.

If the files on your machine are in any way important to you, do NOT attempt to repair or reinstall this machine yourself. Get someone who knows what they're doing to attend the machine and sort it out.

Otherwise, you risk making it worse. Worse to the point of destroying your data.
 
FoxEye said:
Right, for your own good, do not mess around with anything in the BIOS. Seriously.

You need to find someone in your local area who does IT support and get them to take a look.

People will try to help you here, but it sounds to me like you shouldn't be trying to fix this yourself, even with help from here.

If the files on your machine are in any way important to you, do NOT attempt to repair or reinstall this machine yourself. Get someone who knows what they're doing to attend the machine and sort it out.

Otherwise, you risk making it worse. Worse to the point of destroying your data.
Click to expand...

I do agree, and disagree. I would bet we have all had a go at something without fully knowing, and hoping for the best. I know that's how I learnt.
If the info is invaluable then do not, if you can afford to lose it then google your motherboards bios settings and learn.
 
It sounds like a dead drive but you might be able to recover it.

Drive order makes no difference if you have no DVD in the drive.

Get a new hard drive as you can never have too many. :D
Remove old one install new and OS. Then when all is working plug the old drive
in a spare sata port to see if it can be recovered.

Don't be afraid, as you say its broke already. You cannot fix what is not broken. ;)

Top tip.....

Use Google ;)
 
Thank you for all the help guys :) I'll have to look into getting a new hard drive asap! Do you have any recommendations? I have a barracuda 3000GB at the moment. Price range to be around 100 but I can go up to 150
 
SkiMikey said:
Thank you for all the help guys :) I'll have to look into getting a new hard drive asap! Do you have any recommendations? I have a barracuda 3000GB at the moment. Price range to be around 100 but I can go up to 150
Click to expand...

Just get anything cheap. It might not be the hard drive.

I had one computer to repair once and it was driving me nuts. It would just not install windows for some reason. I went through everything as it was driving me mad. :mad:

I only found out it was the RAM when I plugged a HD in with pre installed windows. It booted as less memory is used and I ran a memcheck.
Turns out half of the memory was dead. :rolleyes:

Just get a cheap 500mb or 1TB and see what you can do to recover your PC.

If you get it going then get a decent segate HD. ;)
 
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