Puzzled about where to start; operating system won't load.

Hi All,

I've been asked again to see if I can restore a friend's PC. It's an HP desktop PC, that should be running Vista At first, it wouldn't do anything so I assumed it was hardware related. After I took off the cover and vaccuumed it out somewhat, while it was slightly tilted, it did attempt to boot, but the operating system would not start. I used Hiram's Boot CD, and didn't solve anything. I attempted to do a recovery with the CD for my Toshiba laptop, but it was unsuccessful. The owner says she cannot find a recovery CD, which I think would make this much easier.

Today, I created the Avira Rescue Disk, twice, because instead of a penguin logo, what appeared on a black screen were two oppossums wearing beak-masks. I assumed I had downloaded a virus from a bad link, but the same thing happened on my second attempt, so now I'm wondering if the system is blocking the antivirus software from running on the CD.

I really enjoy solving complex problems, but have very little knowledge about computers compared to you guys. I just happen to be the most computer literate person around who'll try to solve PC problems for free. Can anyone lead me in the right direction? I have performed many diagnostic tests, and really don't think it is hardware, but I'm not positive. There are several partitions; none will boot, and I'm just not sure what's what. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Does the image look like this. It is the image for the linux kernel mascot.

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/3140/tuz.th.jpg

 

Thanks for your quick reply, Tim. Is there a type of adapter that would allow a hard disk to be connected to a laptop externally? The motherboard went out on the desktop I got in '03 last year, and instead of paying $200 to have it repaired, I thought I would do it myself at some point, and haven't gotten around to it yet. I have two other desktops here somewhere that are even older; one has some type of issue I haven't looked at yet, and I'm not sure about the other one. So, presently, I only have two notebook PCs to work with. I'll keep thinking, but if you have any suggestions, I would appreciate them. Again, Thanks.

 

Yes, there were two of them side by side, but I thought they looked a bit scarier on the black screen; funny what the mind can do if you let it run wild. I am unfamiliar with Linux, but was expecting to see a penguin. I was watching a video tutorial as I was performing the task, and the above image did not appear in the tutorial either. So, does this mean that the software was legit? If so, it only ran for a few seconds both times, and didn't find anything.

 

If you downloaded from avira's site, I would have to say that it is legit.

 

After mistakenly downloading the personal software instead of the rescue system on the Avira site, I downloaded the rescue system from another site. I do believe I downloaded it from Avira the second time but I had to search for the link to get to it. Maybe I just need to get away from it for a bit. I'll try to sort out the harddrive issue and repost with the outcome. Thanks.

 

If you need an adapter to connect a hard drive to a laptop, I recommend this.

http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/266