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My spare computer is (I believe) completely dead.
When I start it up, it either says that some config file is corrupted, or something about an I/O disk error. I put in a reinstall disk to install windows XP, and it will not load it up. This happened while I was playing Minecraft. The computer just decided to shut off at a completely random time during the game. The computer is about 9-10 years old, so could the harddrive simply have failed? I am not really too sure what is going on. I had not noticed anything wrong with the computer for years. It has never had any problems at all. When I originally bought it, it had around 200MB of ram, but we upgraded that to around 1GB a few years back. I don't think that is the problem.

This is what it shows:

Sorry for blurry image, it's hard to take a close up picture with my camera.

Yeah it doesn't have anything to do with the RAM. The hard drive has most likely failed, but it also could be bad cabling or something like that. Do you know what manufacturer the drive is from? You may be able download their diagnostic tool and check the condition of the drive.

Also, is the drive making any clicking noises or any other sound that is out of the ordinary? That could indicate a drive problem such as static friction that has stopped the drive needle or general mechanical failure.

I may be able to help you recover most of the data off of the drive if it has failed, but there's no sure-fire way to recover all of it or even the majority without a clean room environment like the professionals use. However, there are ways to get maybe 70% of drives to work long enough to get a large portion of data off of them.

There wasn't really anything important on the harddrive. A copy of Minecraft, Microsoft Word 2004 and Google Chrome were the only things installed. And no hard drive clicking noises were heard, this was COMPLETELY unexpected. And I am not sure what manufacturer the drive is from.

EDIT: If this is taking too much of your time, you don't have to try and help. It's not that big of a deal, this was simply a spare computer we keep upstairs. It's not like we actually need to have it.

Ha it's nothing, I like to help with these kinds of problems. :P You could always check the drive by opening up your computer and taking the drive from the bay if you can't see the drive label clearly. You could boot up from a Linux Live CD and check hardware specs there but it would be more a lot more complicated with some Terminal commands and such. I'd be happy to walk you through that if you don't want to open up your system though. :P

I'd say go ahead and take the opportunity to replace your drive if you can't figure it after a while though xD

It's the least of my concerns at the moment. I can't get Minecraft mods to work properly at all. I posted a question on the MC topic :/

Oh :/ I'll go over there then.

Quote from: Kiegruen on July 30, 2011, 11:00:00 PM
Oh :/ I'll go over there then.

No no it's alright, sorry.
And um, what did you mean about that Linux Live thing?

Did you delete system 32...?

Quote from: Freeforall on July 30, 2011, 11:07:44 PM

Quote from: Kiegruen on July 30, 2011, 11:00:00 PM
Oh :/ I'll go over there then.

No no it's alright, sorry.
And um, what did you mean about that Linux Live thing?

It's a Linux operating system on a CD or USB. I recommend Ubuntu as it's fairly easy to use. Check it out:
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download
There should be a tutorial on how to burn it to a CD or use it on USB flash drive.

Download it and install it to a CD or USB drive, then set your boot order on your BIOS at the startup to start the CD/USB before your hard drive and everything else. To do that, when your computer is at the BIOS screen, before Windows starts up, there should be a key set to edit BIOS options. Its usually F1, F2, DEL, ESC or F10.

Once you're into BIOS setup, navigate to Boot Order with your arrow keys. If you're using a CD, set the drive that the CD is in to the top of the list, usually by hitting enter on that and pressing the up key until it's at the top, then enter again. If you're using a USB, the BIOS should register the device as a removable drive or USB something or other, so move that one to the top of the boot order. Exit the BIOS setup, making sure that it saved the changes, and your computer should restart.

If done correctly, the drive that has the Ubuntu files should start up before your hard drive and you should be in Ubuntu. Once you get this far I'll explain the next step. I hope that my directions aren't too long-winded. :P

Quote from: Forum on July 31, 2011, 01:48:39 PM
Did you delete system 32...?

If he deleted system32 himself, I'm pretty sure he shouldn't touch computers anymore. I don't think he did.

Probably another reason would be that your circuit boards melted. Do any of your family leave the computer on at night?

Quote from: RayRay on July 31, 2011, 03:05:33 PM

Quote from: Forum on July 31, 2011, 01:48:39 PM
Did you delete system 32...?

If he deleted system32 himself, I'm pretty sure he shouldn't touch computers anymore. I don't think he did.

Probably another reason would be that your circuit boards melted. Do any of your family leave the computer on at night?

I didn't delete system32, I'm not that stupid xD And the computer is left on, but it's usually in 'sleep' mode.
EDIT: We leave our computers on all of the time, and I have never had that happen.

EDIT2: I downloaded the Ubuntu.iso thing. It took about 10 minutes. So... I just burn it to a disk or what?
Do I have to like, partition the harddrive?

EDIT3: Erm... turns out the download did NOT finish. It just says 'Interrupted' and I can't resume the download. :/

EDIT4 T_T: Guys, someone help me out. Should I install Ubuntu, or a copy that I found in my pile of disks on Windows NT Workstation 4.0? :o This computer is fairly old, I don't know if it will run Ubuntu properly.

Sorry for the double post, but I really need some advice on this.

I burned the Ubuntu ISO on a disk. One extracted, one not. They both would not load and the
computer have me the same error. I also tried Windows NT 4.0 ISO. One extracted, one not. Both of
those also failed. Am I doing something wrong?

When you say it does not load, have you configured the BIOS to boot from the disk? Does it show any sign of attempting to boot such as 'Press any key to boot from CD. . .'? Have you tried the method of booting Ubunto off of a flash drive?

Quote from: sly 3 4 me on July 31, 2011, 08:29:29 PM
When you say it does not load, have you configured the BIOS to boot from the disk? Does it show any sign of attempting to boot such as 'Press any key to boot . . .'? Have you tried the method of booting Ubunto off of a flash drive?

I have set it to boot from a CD, and it just gives that same error that I put in the picture at the top.
I have to take the trash out and play on cat-pla.net for a little bit, then I will try a USB.

EDIT: Do you want a picture of what I set the BIOS to do? I think I did it right.

EDIT2: I have a few questions.
1. When I burn an ISO, do I have to extract it? And should I select (Burn like a USB) or (Burn like a CD/DVD)?

2. If the harddrive failed, will it even install at all?

Quote from: Freeforall on July 31, 2011, 08:31:49 PM

Quote from: sly 3 4 me on July 31, 2011, 08:29:29 PM
When you say it does not load, have you configured the BIOS to boot from the disk? Does it show any sign of attempting to boot such as 'Press any key to boot . . .'? Have you tried the method of booting Ubunto off of a flash drive?

I have set it to boot from a CD, and it just gives that same error that I put in the picture at the top.
I have to take the trash out and play on cat-pla.net for a little bit, then I will try a USB.

EDIT: Do you want a picture of what I set the BIOS to do? I think I did it right.

EDIT2: I have a few questions.
1. When I burn an ISO, do I have to extract it? And should I select (Burn like a USB) or (Burn like a CD/DVD)?

2. If the harddrive failed, will it even install at all?

1. You don't have to extract it, but did you burn it with an ISO burner like ImgBurn? If not, that could be the problem. http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

2. You don't have to install it, it will run of the disc if you set it to do so. If you click Try Ubuntu when the disc starts up it won't install it to the drive.

Hope this helped :)