System Crash: Computer Repair for Complete Idiots

[Comartemis]

It's finally happened. After six months of shoddy performance with a bunch of viruses on it that Norton has been utterly unable to purge from the system, my old computer has finally given up the ghost on me, and I need some advice on how to get it running again.

Something is preventing the computer from making it past the initial boot-up sequence; before the log in screen comes up when the computer boots up, the system crashes back to step one, and leaving it on for a while only results in the same thing happening over and over and over, with the system never reaching the log-in window. Attempts to circumvent this with Safe Mode have failed, but occasionally I get a Blue Screen of Death naming a missing or corrupted system file.

Now when I had computer problems in the past I let my dad take care of it; he's a CEO at a big auto parts manufacturer and he would always have some of his tech support guys fiddle with the hard drive and install some virus protection and so on. This time, however, there is no way for me to hide the mountain of hentai I have "hidden" in My Documents, which I handled before by moving it to a detachable hard drive. Since I don't want to embarrass my dad by having his guys look through my stash, I need to take care of this myself, either by taking a crash course in computer repair or by saving up money and taking it to Geek Squad or something.

There are a few things I want to know before I take action: first, does anyone know how to fix the operating system or reinstall the system files in question? Second, if you yourself do not know how this is done, do you know of any places I could ask at that are likely to give me the info I need? Third, what can I expect to pay if I have to get it repaired by a business like the Geek Squad or similar businesses? Fourth, are such businesses required by law to report illegal material (such as pirated MP3 files or anime fansubs) to the authorities if they find them on my PC?

Thanks in advance.

[three headed dog]

I don't really know enough to help you but have you tried to reinstall windows? It can be done without data loss (usually). Here is an article on how to do that: http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2109p156id111652.htm

A complete reboot with disk reformatting generally will fix any software problem, but you lose all your data, the above method will generally retain the data but require reinstalling some software and the virus/trojan/whatever may still be there or reinstall itself.

[Spokavriel]

Do you have your installation disk for the OS or a Recovery disk that came with the system?

IF it is a Windows disk sometimes you can start up from the CD and get into your OS that way although making repairs that way can be a bit dodgy and I wouldn't want to talk anyone through it you could at least try it to see if you can back up your data with the system running that way.

[Crescent Pulsar]

One time this guy made my hard drive a slave to another, and accessed it with the one considered the master or something like that. My memory's sketchy, so someone else may know what I'm talking about, and if what I'm remembering actually works.

[Musouka]

Two things to try:

Insert the Windows installer into the cd drive and start your pc. Choose boot from disk. wait for the install screen and when a choice comes up to Repair, Format or install choose R(Repair). You'll be taken to the command prompt where you'll need to type some repair command. I forget the exact command ruight now but there should be some help there on the commands.

The other way, the one Crescent describes, is borrow a hard disk with a functional OS and then connect both the borrowed drive and your drive to the PC and boot it up. The PC should use the borrowed drive to boot up. You should be able to see your drive in My Computer, it might have a different drive name though. Copy your files to the borrowed drive. After you're finisehd with copying, re-install Windows, then copy your files back fromt eh borrowed drive to your dirve. Don't forget to delete the files from the borrowed drive!

[nuriko]

Boot to CD seems the best option to me, changing the boot order in BIOS should work for that. Assuming you can access both the HD and the removable media, the rest is just copying.

As for pulling a HD and making it a slave, it's not too difficult but not the sort of thing I'd recommend to somebody that doesn't know what they're doing. You generally have to TELL the computer if the drive is master or slave, it can be on primary or secondary controller, and some cables are made to differentiate which spot you plug into. Besides, you'd need a second computer and to open up the first ... probably more useful for full-up disc recovery software.

[Makoto]

Another option, along the same lines, would be to boot from a Linux liveCD (assuming you have any handy, of course ^_^; ), open the hard drive(s), and just copy everything over.

Just thought I'd mention that as another alternative. Helped me get some valuable files from an old, messed-up WinME drive. (...and I'm sure someone will probably say it was messed up from the moment WinME was written to it. I won't argue. ^_^;;; )

[Comartemis]

I'm gonna try to find the Windows installer disk and see if repairing the system files fixes the problem, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow since my parents are already asleep. I'll give you guys a status report around 1-3 PM Chicago time. In the meantime, thanks for the assistance everyone.

[Spokavriel]

But if the hard drives are all formated NTFS you might not be able to write to them with many of the Live CD distributions.

[Makoto]

I've only tried Knoppix, at least, and the liveCD supposedly lets you write to NTFS drives attached to the system if you give permission, I've heard. Don't know about the others (and I should probably test Ubuntu, at any rate.)

[Crescent Pulsar]

Good luck, Commy. For the motherland! U_U

[Spokavriel]

Mike the key there is if you give permission which can only be done in the Windows OS with the system in working order. And it's handled as a networking option.

[Makoto]

...but it's supposed to be doable from inside Knoppix, somehow, from what I've heard. I haven't had a tower with any NTFS hard drives in it to test, at any rate.

[Spokavriel]

That is getting into security key cracking and well it's kinda dark hat to try it from inside knoppix when the OS is already down. I knew a web site that had the method listed but it's gone now. This is why having a spare drive that is as large as your largest installed isn't a bad thing. Keep it unformatted and then it can be the bail out disk and could even be used for any OS you want to mine your old info.

[Makoto]

edit: delete this post, please. Accidental double-post. Argh.