Hard Drive Corrupt?

JerryHandbag

Hi
My problem goes as follows on my PC....
Press the power on button, screen with manufacturers logo appears, then that black screen comes up with those options "Start in safe mode, last known good config etc etc".
No matter which of these selections I choose, the Windows start up logo appears...but then the beep sound occurs when i start up the machine, the screen returns to the manfacturers logo and the whole process repeats itself, going round in the same loop. Only ever gets as far as Windows logo...so Im wondering is anything recoverable or is it just a startup problem.
Thanks

btw its a 4 year old Packard Bell PC with a history of problems

Overheal

faulty ram?

OP if you have another PC at your disposal please go and download http://ultimatebootcd.com to a CD. This will give you plenty of tools to use. I'm guessing off hand to run the memory test but it also has checks for the CPU and hard drive too.

DarkJager

How many beeps do you hear? These beeps are usually built in codes for Hardware faults, so 3 quick beeps may mean motherboard failure, 2 spaced beeps might mean a faulty connector etc...

JerryHandbag

Overheal wrote: »

faulty ram?

OP if you have another PC at your disposal please go and download http://ultimatebootcd.com to a CD. This will give you plenty of tools to use. I'm guessing off hand to run the memory test but it also has checks for the CPU and hard drive too.

That sounds good thanks a lot

DarkJager wrote: »

How many beeps do you hear? These beeps are usually built in codes for Hardware faults, so 3 quick beeps may mean motherboard failure, 2 spaced beeps might mean a faulty connector etc...

Just the one beep, but actually now that i think of it, it sounds more like the restarting beep, when you restart the PC manually if it freezes or whatever.
So in other words the PC is restarting itself once it sees the Windows logo screen...

Cuddlesworth

I don't suppose you have a Windows install disk handy. You can run the recovery console from it and try to check your disk for errors.

Overheal

http://www.pchell.com/hardware/beepcodes.shtml

Is it the short beep that happens after the POST screen? Or is it a long beep that happens as the Windows Screen goes blank?

taz30

had same thing go on my pc.loose connections partly to blame.make sure every connection is secure if that doesnt help pop out bios battery-it has helped me out on numerous occasion,or at least bought enough time to find out what was wrong!if that doesnt work...take out hard drive ,load into caddy and copy all stuff you want onto another pc-or if you will be in internet cafe-burn to disc.when youve got everything you need off hard drive-format put it back into your pc and reinstall windows.the windows program itself will degrade over time so it is best to reinstall once a year at least.often freeware you get with mags or downloading will screw up essential features of windows over time too.goodluck

mathias

As the Windows logo screen is showing , if only briefly , then I dont think beep codes are going to help.
It sounds like you have a corrupt Windows installation and are stuck in a reboot loop , its very common.

What you need to do is either repair windows or do a repair install.

In either case you need a valid OS disc.

Here are the Eight commands to fix windows , assuming of course that you have a disc and can get into the recovery console.

http://icrontic.com/articles/repair_windows_xp

Follow those commands to the letter and you should have a working installation in no time , and you shouldn't lose any data.

Overheal

mathias wrote: »

As the Windows logo screen is showing , if only briefly , then I dont think beep codes are going to help.
It sounds like you have a corrupt Windows installation and are stuck in a reboot loop , its very common.

What you need to do is either repair windows or do a repair install.

In either case you need a valid OS disc.

Here are the Eight commands to fix windows , assuming of course that you have a disc and can get into the recovery console.

http://icrontic.com/articles/repair_windows_xp

Follow those commands to the letter and you should have a working installation in no time , and you shouldn't lose any data.

If it were a file problem wouldnt a Blue Screen appear? This is why I suspected faulty ram, from windows trying to load into it, the ram would wig-out and force a restart completely outside of Windows's jurisdiction.

mathias

If it were a file problem wouldnt a Blue Screen appear?

No , not necessarily , some errors do show up a blue screen which instantly disappears and throws you back at the Rom splash screen, its barely on screen long enough to see it.

How it behaves all depends on where in the boot process it faults out , its not always a blue screen.

JerryHandbag

Overheal wrote: »

http://www.pchell.com/hardware/beepcodes.shtml

Is it the short beep that happens after the POST screen? Or is it a long beep that happens as the Windows Screen goes blank?

Its a very short beep just as the Windows logo screen disappears and PC restarts

taz30

i had one slightly loose sata cable for my main hard drive and the exact thing happened-the continous loop of restarting.it happened a few weeks back and it unfortunately was the last thing i checked!!

JerryHandbag

Right I'll try the recovery disk option, have one handy and have just managed to get into the recovery console screen....failing that i'll have to take it apart and check for loose cables....failing that I suppose its fit for the rubbish bin?!

Also, am I right in saying that if the hard drive was corrupt, I would only get the BSOD on startup and see nothing else (PC logo screen, windows logo etc)???

JerryHandbag

mathias wrote: »

Here are the Eight commands to fix windows , assuming of course that you have a disc and can get into the recovery console.

http://icrontic.com/articles/repair_windows_xp

Follow those commands to the letter and you should have a working installation in no time , and you shouldn't lose any data.

On entering the first command in the recovery utility

C:ATTRIB -H C:\\BOOT.INI

Im gettin the following message and cant go any further
THE FILE CANNOT BE OPENED

mathias

Are you logged in as Admin , if so ,
Are you at he C: prompt , that is , have you typed C.. first ?

JerryHandbag

No I dont recall logging in as Admin at any stage, how do i do that on cmd line? I am at the C: prompt all right.....

I ran a CHKDSK and it tells me theres one or more errors on the volume.

CHKDSK /f should repair errors right? But its tellin me command not recognised

Cuddlesworth

JerryHandbag wrote: »

No I dont recall logging in as Admin at any stage, how do i do that on cmd line? I am at the C: prompt all right.....

I ran a CHKDSK and it tells me theres one or more errors on the volume.

CHKDSK /f should repair errors right? But its tellin me command not recognised

If you don't have a admin password it wont prompt you for one.

Run chkdsk /r. If it says this drive contains one or more unrecoverable errors its gone.

And if you are unsure of any of the commands, pressing /? will display the list of commands.

For example, checkdsk /?

I also doubt its a cable problem.

JerryHandbag

SUCCESS! The CHKDSK /r did the jobbie....needless to say im gonna back everything up now, such a relief.
Thanks guys for all your help, much appreciated

Cuddlesworth

No problem, I take sexual favours for every post I make as payment. You will have to get in line though, I spam this site like krazy.