Failed HDD

Hello, I'm hoping someone can help me here. I have a Seagate 250G HDD that has failed due to some currupt download. There's no disc activity what so ever. I'm looking for a recovery program if one exists.

 

You need to add more information so people can offer help,add your system specifications in your next post including your operating system.

Describe your problem in a lot more detail, "a recovery program" could mean anything,for example what do you wish to accomplish with the recovery program? check the HD or errors?format the HD? repair windows?

 

As Rikky says a bit more info would be a good idea.

Now corrupt downloads don't cause hard drives to fail. Does your PC POST when it attempts to boot ie does it make a single beep?

Have you tried booting from your OS CD?

Tell us what you've done so we don't waste time telling you to try things you may already have done.

 

My Appologies,
Here's the situation, I downloaded a voice over program to use with Team Speak. It's a bit torrent file that immediatlly opened with a p2p program i have called frost wire. A friend said to use the bit torrent file and provided a link towhich I clicked on d/l'd and installed. Just prior to that, the frost wire version (and I know, p2p is not safe) I installed began to pop up with all kinds of virus alerts. Now, after installing this other bit torrent file and installing the voice over program I got a message in the center of my screen stating "The system is shutting down" along with a series of alpha numaric code and a countdown timer, 30 seconds later my system shut down and I've not been able to restart. In the beginning though I was able to get as far as the boot screen and attempeted to load windows in last known good config. It kept looping back to the restart and a blue sceen would flash momentarily. Soon after that I got no response from hard drive. The "activity " light would blink then go out. No light on the mouse, no video, nothing.

I've tried resetting the CMOS with no effect. I've tried to start with the OS disc inserted and still nothing. It's as if it's dead. There's no beep but there is some short clicking sounds (HDD boot sounds) but then nothing.

My OS is Windows XP Pro. I wish there were more I could say, I know it doesn't seem like a lot to go on but I would really appreciate any input.
I will provide what ever information I can, Thank you

 

While we are waiting for more replies. Try unplugging the HD and see if you get a BIOS screen. If you do then Try restarting with the Installation CD in but HD still unplugged. Does it load the installation program from CD?

 

I've tried restarting with HD disconnedted at SATA and power source, still nothing. The monitor when turned off then back on again during the restart displays "NO SIGNAL". Is my board fried? I've tried connecting monitor to on board graphics with no change.

ECS A780GM-A (V1.1) Mother board
http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSite/Pr...ailID=892&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=1&LanID=9

AMD Athlon AM+2 Dual Core 5800 Processor


XFX 9600 GSO Graphics card 768Mb

Seagate 250Gig SATA Raid HDD

OCZ Tech 700Watt Power supply.

 

amend to previous:
I swapped the hard drive to a different computer just to see if it works and it does however, it's still locked in a restart loop. The previous symptoms though are still present. I still get the "We appologiz..." screen and "Start windows in last knwn, start in safe mode etc..."
Tried booting from cd with no effect. A blue screen flashes momentarily then the restart process begins all over again.

Can Anyone Help???
Please?

 

quick note to add, was able to stop the restart loop (duh, disable auto restart...) and here is the error:
*** Stop: 0x0000007E ( 0xc0000005, 0xB7F217c0, 0xB84c3528, 0xB84c3224)

*** APAPI.Sys - Address B7F217C0 base at B7F0B0000, DateStamp 4802539d

any thoughts?

 

just introduce another problem to an already bad situation. I was wondering why when prompted with the choice "Windows recovery" or Microsoft Windows XP" I select Windows recovery I get "NTLDR Compressed" "Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart" so I looked into it and found a site with instructions on how to "Uncompress"
Well, as a result it now says "NTLDR Missing" ect...
what did I do...:-o

 

Whew, Situation resolved. Was able to correct the "NTLDR Missing"

now back to the original situation.

 

I'm confused. Are you working with the HD connected to the original computer or a different one?

The NTDLR and reboot problems could be a result of trying to boot from the drive while connected to a different PC. XP stores information about the computer it was installed on--so if you move the HD to another PC and try to boot it will give errors like you describe.

 

yes, the HDD is connected to a different machine. I was however able to recover the HDD (install windows over windows). The "NTLDR Compressed" refered to having the HDD Compressed to save disc space during normal operation.

Other problems still remain with the original machine though. When I placed the RECOVERED HDD back into the original machine, there is no "post" beep nor is there any video signal. All fans spool up and all lights are on, the HDD light flashes once then goes out.

I've swapped the RAM into a different machine with no problems. (Ram is good). Have to narrow it down to a board failure of video card. I'm going to swap power supplies as the current machines' p/s does not have a PCIe power connector, then test the video card.

 

Take the video card out and try booting - I know you wont see anything but it should hopefully POST and if it does you will know that the video card is the problem.

 

I would go back to basics to see if we can get something going.

The original machine with no RAM. Any beeps?
If you get the long beep then put one module of RAM in--try no video card, no HD, monitor connected to onboard graphics VGA connector--reset the CMOS (PC unplugged and battery out for a minute)--boot and see if you get a BIOS screen.