I think my pc finally died........

Well for while my pc kept dying because of over heating issues. I bought a small fan and it stopped over heating for a few months. My goal was to make it last just long enough to get a new pc as I wanted a new one. last night my pc shut down one last time. After the reboot I kept getting this screen was all blue. I went to my advance menu thing-a-ma-bob(scientific name) and ran the diagnostic test. Apparently every thing works fine except for my hard drive. the hard drive test failed. Well besides having a scrapped pc that over heats with a bad hard drive, is there any way retrieve the information lost? If I brought it to a pc guy I'm sure he will tell me yes even if the answer is no, just so he can scam some cash off me. But, do you think it is possible, to retrieve the info? The blue screen says that it shut down to protect the computer from damage, just in case anyone is wondering.

 

It may be possible to save the info. It really depends on exactly what's wrong with the drive, and it depends on how much you're willing to spend. I can't imagine that a PC guy would charge you even if he can;t recover any data. I'm a PC guy. I work on systems 6 days a week, 10hrs a day. I have NEVER charged somebody for data recovery if I was unable to save their data, my policy is "no data, no pay". If somebody wants to charge you w/o saving data, find a different PC guy. There are professional 'high tech' data recovery services that can rescue data from just about any hard drive regardless of what's happened to it, but they can be VERY expensive. Like over $500, so you'd have to decide if your data is worth it before going with a data recovery center. If the drive can be plugged in to a functional PC as a secondary drive or via a USB port, and if Windows recognizes the drive, then there's a good chance you can save the data yourself. You don't necessarily need to be able to access the drive, but it is important that Windows sees the drive.

If you can post the exact details of the blue screen error, we may be able to help you get it working again, maybe just long enough to save some files. The error code will probably look like this: "STOP:0x000000EA" with a message like "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL", and with any luck, a file name will be listed also. Your error message and error code will probably be different from these; these are just examples of what typical messages look like.

Another option is to boot to a 'live' CD. This is basically an operating system (either Windows or Linux based) that runs exclusively from a CD. This will give you unrestricted access to the hard drive, so any problems with Windows that prevent the drive from booting are circumvented. If you have two CD/DVD drives, you can boot to the live CD from one drive, then use the other CD/DVD drive to burn your data to a disc.

 

I took a picture with my camera, edited the image and uploaded it onto my new pc. I hope this helps.

 

:-D Luckily, "UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME" errors are usually easy to fix. Boot to your Windows XP install CD and press "R" at the first screen to enter to Recovery Console. The first few prompts will be for a password, and to change the default keyboard layout if desired so answer these appropriately. Once you're at what looks like a DOS prompt, type chkdsk c: /r and press Enter. Let it run. Chkdsk can take some time, you may see the percentage counter go backward, you may think your PC has locked up. Just let it run, all this is normal. I've seen chkdsk take over 8 hours, so be patient. DO NOT restart your PC in mid chkdsk! DO NOT shut off the PC in mid chkdsk! Once it's finished, type exit and press Enter, then remove the XP disc while the PC is restarting. That should do it. If not, then run the hard drive diagnostic from the manufacturer's web site; it may have a repair feature (they usually do). Good luck!!!

[dlb]

(in the command above, there's a space before and after the "C:" and if the spaces are left out, the command won't work and will just give an 'invalid command' error)

 

Non of my disc are doing a thing when I put them in. I am putting them in then restarting my pc and nothing happens, just the same as last time. How do I go about doing it from the manufactures website?

Or the other option, how do I get a live cd?

Or how do I plug the first pc into a second pc?

Whatever is the easier one really.