Here I Am Again

[Hilly]

I have 2 questions for y'all.

For some reason, I am unable to open photos here on the forums. Yes, I am logged in. I can click on the thumbnails, and they won't open. I've left clicked to try and open in a separate window, but only the thumbnail shows up there. It's a little aggravating! The only change I have made to my computer was to reinstall an anti-virus program.

Now for the more serious of the 2 questions... Every time I go to boot my computer, I press the power button, and I get the normal opening screen, but then it goes to a black screen and says something like the "hard disk not found" and press f2 to continue blah, blah, blah... I just press the power button to shut down the process, and then press it again, and it boots up just fine. Does it sound to you like I need to be backing up all my good stuff on the external hard drive, and asking Santa for a new computer?

Thanks for your help.

Hilly

[leatheroo]

Hilly, backup, backup, backup......you might just need the operating system reinstalled but harddrives like to give you a hint like this if they are about to go bellyup. I have an external harddrive that backs up everynight. DONT wait..you might be only one restart from disaster.

cheers

ps if your computer normal does everything you want it to do, dont waste money on a whole new PC...just get a new harddrive.

Edited December 19, 2010 by leatheroo

[Hilly]

Hilly, backup, backup, backup......you might just need the operating system reinstalled but harddrives like to give you a hint like this if they are about to go bellyup. I have an external harddrive that backs up everynight. DONT wait..you might be only one restart from disaster.

cheers

ps if your computer normal does everything you want it to do, dont waste money on a whole new PC...just get a new harddrive.

Does it matter if it's the original hard drive, made by Dell, or can it be any generic hard drive? Can it be larger than the one I currently have? Would it even be worth it, as my computer is almost 6 years old? As far as reinstalling the O.S., I have all the Disks with the O.S. on them from Dell.

Too bad we can't get computers with the restore CD's like they used to have. One click reformatting! Easy enough that a caveman can do it (or a computer redneck like me!)

[bison]

I have my backup disk set to once per hour...I've had a hard drive crash and lost everything once, so I'm all about being on the side of compulsive about it.

IMHO, you should consider a new computer if you can afford it. Processor will be faster, you'll get a bigger hard drive and more memory. If money is an issue, then replace the hard drive and nurse the machine along as long as you can. But whatever you do, get a backup drive ASAP! Staples sells Iomega external drives pretty cheap.

Good luck.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I have a Dell that is older than yours, and I am also E-tarded. A friend replaced my hard drive with a larger one last year, and it was an off the shelf unit from Best Buy.

I get that same screen, but it just reboots normally after a second, or two. Every computer I have owned has had a version of that screen show up as it checks the files on start up.

With the new hard drive my friend installed a Linux based OS -Ubuntu. Runs great, and no problems with viruses. The Linux OS systems are customizable to what you want, and all of the software is free to download. You may want to check into it for yourself.

[leatheroo]

you can get a generic hard drive and you can get a bigger one....About $70 for a harddrive or $1000 for a new pc!

[hivemind]

Hilly,

Parts is parts. As logn as you're replacing an ATA drive with an ATA drive (or a SATA drive with a SATA drive) they're interchangeable. Hell, they're all made in the same factories in China anyways.

But your error messages are troubling, and sound to me like your hard drive is on it's last legs. On the other hand, it might just be a loose connection to the motherboard or something else equally mundane. If yo know a local TRUSTWORTHY computer repair place, you should take it there. DO NOT take it to BestBuy, etc.