i have a computer that just goes to windows screen and starts over and over again.

can i just hook a dead computer to a live computer usb and use the other hard drive like a flash drive even if the computers powered off? what if i power it on and windows won't load?

I know i can network two live computers but one is stuck dead and one is live. i dont want to take the hard drive out or pay any money but i still want the files.

1/5/2010 9:13:34 PM

you can't possibly be this dumb

google usb enclosure.

you're going to have to pull the hard drive out of the dead machine. it's like 4 screws tops.

/thread.

[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 9:16 PM. Reason : asdf]

1/5/2010 9:15:33 PM

i know about that. hence the "i dont want to take the hard drive out or pay any money" part.

[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 9:17 PM. Reason : and the restart loop is unstopable? already took out the ram and put it back in]

1/5/2010 9:16:42 PM

Rock and a hard place with those two restrictions.

1/5/2010 9:17:54 PM

i mean, you might can do a repair install of windows although i wouldn't count on it doing much.. esp if it's a hardware problem. also could get into any number of linux live distro's that would let you get your files off.

[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 9:20 PM. Reason : asdf]

1/5/2010 9:19:32 PM

sounds like you're fucked if you don't want to take it out.

1/5/2010 9:20:02 PM

its going to be really hard to take it out and figure out which enclosure it will fit in. seems like a huge hassle.

how do you disable mup? i hear that fixes the restart loop problem.

1/5/2010 9:30:34 PM

just find out what kind of connection it has (sata or ide), then go get one of those usb to sata/ide connector. Or just get one like http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=213484248&listingid=65026691

[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 9:37 PM. Reason : ]

1/5/2010 9:36:39 PM

^^there are only two kinds. dur de durr

[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 9:42 PM. Reason : asfd]

1/5/2010 9:42:36 PM

chkdsk /R



that will fix your computer

1/5/2010 9:44:26 PM

^please elaborate

1/5/2010 9:52:48 PM

no elaboration needed

1/5/2010 9:54:52 PM

I think he meant format C:

1/5/2010 10:02:34 PM

^lol


how do i even get a command prompt from the loop? f8 brings me to a list of safe modes f12 brings me to diagnostics (all pass) and f2 brings me to information.

1/5/2010 10:05:43 PM

you'll have to take it to information retreival

1/5/2010 10:06:42 PM

do you have the windows install disc?

1/5/2010 10:10:33 PM

so if its looping what are the chances of the enclosure working?

1/5/2010 10:11:12 PM

slim to none.

1/5/2010 10:21:01 PM

The only good the enclosure will do is allow you to pull files from the system. You hook it up to another computer, the existing Windows installation is likely going to freak out from all of the hardware changes and you'll introduce more problems than you already have.

If you can't or are unwilling to take out the hard drive, and do not wish to pay money for us (or a repair service to fix), put the Windows disc in the disc drive and reinstall windows.

1/5/2010 10:26:50 PM

i dont want to use it i just want to take some key files off of it and trash it. the enclosure will work for that though right?

1/5/2010 10:31:36 PM

I swear to god that chkdsk /R will fix your damn problem

1/5/2010 10:39:28 PM

Solinari has me loling ITT

[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 10:43 PM. Reason : i hate brackets]

1/5/2010 10:42:41 PM

What has changed with the machine recently?

Turn off your machine and try installing the ram one stick at a time to see if it will boot properly with only one stick in. Repeat until you have tried all the sticks individually. It may give you a message saying the boot configuration has changed. If so, tell it to continue.

If it isn't that, try to plug off the power and remove the battery from the motherboard for a couple minutes and see if that fixes the problem.

Also Hit F8
Do you see Disable automatic restart on system failure? If so, disable it.
When you restart again you will see raw error messages, which will point to bad hardware or file corruption.

1/5/2010 10:59:07 PM

i've been trolled!

[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 11:29 PM. Reason : s]

1/5/2010 11:25:48 PM

^because he wants me to lose my valuable work

^^i've tried all of that except the battery part. when i hit disable automatic reboot it goes into the loop the same way.

1/5/2010 11:31:05 PM

Chkdsk won't ruin anything

1/5/2010 11:49:30 PM

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Nick>chkdsk /?
Checks a disk and displays a status report.


CHKDSK [volume[[path]filename]]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/I] [/C] [/L[:size]]


  volume          Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
                  mount point, or volume name.
  filename        FAT/FAT32 only: Specifies the files to check for fragmentation.
  /F              Fixes errors on the disk.
  /V              On FAT/FAT32: Displays the full path and name of every file
                  on the disk.
                  On NTFS: Displays cleanup messages if any.
  /R              Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information
                  (implies /F).
  /L:size         NTFS only:  Changes the log file size to the specified number
                  of kilobytes.  If size is not specified, displays current
                  size.
  /X              Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.
                  All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid
                  (implies /F).
  /I              NTFS only: Performs a less vigorous check of index entries.
  /C              NTFS only: Skips checking of cycles within the folder
                  structure.

The /I or /C switch reduces the amount of time required to run Chkdsk by
skipping certain checks of the volume.

C:\Documents and Settings\Nick>

1/5/2010 11:51:51 PM

4 times out of 5 you could probably just go to the repair console and fix the xp installation without much trouble

1/6/2010 12:10:45 AM

Quote :

"can i just hook a dead computer to a live computer usb and use the other hard drive like a flash drive even if the computers powered off? what if i power it on and windows won't load?"

if you had a Mac you could.

1/6/2010 12:16:48 AM

it's called a LiveCD, google it.

or put in your XP disc and use the repair console.

1/6/2010 12:24:39 AM

^^to a mac or just from or both?

1/6/2010 1:01:35 AM

^if the computer in question thats not working is/was a mac or if its at least Mac hardware you can boot the machine into disk mode which basically turns it into a firewire drive.

1/6/2010 2:54:30 AM

just buy a fucking enclosure and remove the HDD. holy shit.

1/6/2010 8:09:05 AM

Holy shit just run chkdsk instead of having to go through all that trouble. Odds are anyway that you won't be able to copy off the data from the drive until you run it anyway

1/6/2010 8:27:04 AM

^^somebody said if the computers in restart loop, taking the hd out and putting it in an enclosure own't work. is that accurate?

1/6/2010 11:05:02 AM

It might or it might not work. It all depends on what's causing the symptom. Before you take apart the whole system, I recommend that you run chkdsk which has a high probability of fixing the problem without further work and will also set you up nicely if you do need to remove the disk. I have removed a disk before only to find that I still needed to run chkdsk on it before I could copy over any of it's files

1/6/2010 11:11:36 AM

you haven't even told me how to run it

1/6/2010 11:33:30 AM

you need a windows boot disk. The install disc will work fine. Instead of installing you opt to go into the recovery terminal. From there you type chkdsk /R c: or whatever your hdd is named

1/6/2010 11:38:27 AM

can i use any xp disk?

1/6/2010 7:10:40 PM

You wont even need a full windows disc to do this

You can download just the recovery console as a bootable disc via the following link:

http://www.thecomputerparamedic.com/files/rc.iso

Download this file, burn the image to a CD

Boot your computer off of the CD

If your computer says "Press any key to boot from CD" then press any key...

It will ask you which windows install you want to work with -- there should only be 1 option that will read something like 1) C:\Windows --- All you do is type "1" and press enter.

It will ask you for the password to the administrator account on your computer -- if you have never set it, its probably blank and you can just hit enter -- if a password has been set on it, then you will need to type that in.

You should now be at a C:\ prompt where you can type in commands -- type in "chkdsk /R" without the quotes.

1/6/2010 7:53:57 PM

thanks trying this now wish me luck

1/6/2010 8:06:02 PM

Let me know if it works out for you

1/6/2010 8:39:04 PM

I'm sure it will work... that's why I recommended it. She needs to make sure she picks the correct drive to chkdsk though.... Should take hours to run and if your power goes out you're SCREWED so don't turn it off if you think its taking too long.

1/6/2010 8:41:16 PM

Quote :

"you'll have to take it to information retreival"

Outstanding job, sir!

1/6/2010 8:44:33 PM

^Brazil?

Boot to XP Disc
Choose repair
when at command prompt type:

chkdsk /r

let it finish

remove XP CD

reboot

Its worth a shot.

[Edited on January 6, 2010 at 8:47 PM. Reason : adfsdf]

1/6/2010 8:46:34 PM

^ good idea!!! How did you ever come up with it?

1/6/2010 8:48:41 PM

Its supposed to snow in like 4 hours. don't start it?

1/6/2010 8:59:55 PM

does snow turn off your power? usually ice will do that

but if you think your power might die, def. don't start chkdsk

1/6/2010 9:13:08 PM

wet snow often blinks power

1/6/2010 10:00:41 PM

how do i "boot to xp disc" when i turn the pc on it just does the normal loop. is there something i need to push to call up the cd.

i wonder if i even made the cd right

1/6/2010 11:16:04 PM