Repair Harddrive?

My girlfriends hardrive crashed on her old pc. I believe this has happened before and she really needs a new harddrive, but I was wondering if there is a free software that might repair it? I formated it, but it won't boot any CD's. It's a compaq presario (PIII).

Now that I think about it, I may be able to download some drivers from compaq and then try to install an OS.

 

Did you go into bios and change the boot sequence so the cd is first? Also remember to reinstall chipset drivers for motherboard after reinstalling Windows and before you start installing other drivers and programs.

 

I can't remember. I tried that on my friends PC though, and it would read the CD but not recognize his HDD. We took his HDD out and found out that it was refurbished. He thought it was new. He had a "friend" build his PC.

What are the chipset drivers? Does the windows CD have it's own? And you have to replace them?

 

Chipset drivers are for the motherboard and can be found at the manufacturer website or possibly on a disc she may have got with the comp. Best bet is to get them from website so you have the latest ones. When you wiped the hardrive it removes these also. What OS are you installing? Even though no OS is installed you can still access the BIOS and change the boot sequence. CD needs to be first, in order to boot from the cd and install the OS.

 

I've tried installing XP home, Windows 98, and Debian. I get the same problem, won't read the cd. Sometimes I can get XP CD to boot, but it stops because of HDD issues.

 

Is there a way I can run chkdsk or scandisk on the HDD?

 

If you have a WIN98 startup disk you can run fdisk, chkdisk, and scandisk. But it's starting to sound like the HDD may be fried. Get a 98 startup disc and use fdisk. Be sure to format in NTFS.

 

I used Win98 startup disk, but I might have formated it FAT32 thinking it was the more likely option to work.

 

have u tried on another pc?

 

Tried what? I've tried to repair two pc's that I believe have HDD issues. Infact, my gf's pc says "iminent harddrive failure"

 

My other friends PC does not have a floppy. BTW, can you use a Win. XP cd to repair a pc that has win. XP even though it is not the same CD that was used? (Assuming pro and home are matched correctly).

 

you can but not install windows but only the repair option