I had to restart my computer at the WinXP logon page and now it doesnt boot up, what can I do?

Question

My Computer Specs:
2.4GHz
512MB RAM
80GB HDD

My windows doesnt boot up. When I start my computer, it goes to some MSDOS page which says press F2 to run setup and press F11 for Boot Menu. If i select F2, I reach the BIOS utility setup page. If I press F11, I can only select my floppy and my cd drive, not my harddisk. I thought maybe windows had a problem so I tried to repair using the windows cd, but when I press for repairing, it says that the HardDisk is not detected. Is there any way to fix this? I opened the computer to check the connection and it was all fine. Does this mean that my harddisk is damaged? If yes, is there any way to recover the data?

The brand of my HD is Hitachi, if it helps.

Answer 1

Skip the f8 trick. If it won't detect a disk it won't give you the list.

Go back to setup and see if the hard drive is available. All of the bioses are different; you'll have to poke around. Make sure the drive is on and in "auto". If it isn't seeing it A Tall, open her back up, check the cables (power and signal) and if it's IDE remove the cables from any other IDE devices, like a DVD.

The drive may be dead, but I'm hoping not.

Answer 2

The hard drive has what we call a controller underneath it
and some times that will go bad and if that goes bad then pretty much the hard drive is dying real fast.Get a new HD and install windows on that one to retrieve the data on the old one The controller that I talk about is the main circuit under the HD and not the one on the mobo.. I have a HD that likes to disappear and Re appear when ever it feels like. But then again its a Maxtor what do you expect from a piece of crap lol.

Answer 3

Your Bios is not detecting your Hard Drive as suggested above select the F2 option and in the bios setup normally under General Check that the First IDE hard drive usually the first on the list is set to AUTO

Select to save changes and the computer will restart.

Hopefully your trouble will have been sorted

Answer 4

Emachines has been conventional to apply defective hardware to diminish expenditures. I had an emachines for 5 years however until now my potential grant in basic terms stoped working, in case you purchased the computing device a month in the past you're probable nevertheless below guarantee so which you would be able to probable deliver it in to have some hardware replaced

Answer 5

Firstly, disconnect all the external devices that are connected to ur computer. (Example, USB printer, camera..) Dont disconnect mouse, keyboard, monitor :)
Restart the computer.
If you still get the DOS screen.. tht u were talking abt.. select F11 and choose 'Last Known Good Configuration' and hit enter to boot.
If you still have the same problem:
re-boot again, press F11 and choose "Safemode" this time.
wait it boots completely. if may take time sometimes.
Create a new user account from safe mode and try to login to that new account.

Hope this resolves the problem..

Answer 6

shut the computer off. As soon as you push the button to restart the computer, repeatedly push the (I think) F7 key (may be the F8 key) one will work one won't, It should put up a list of options to start, using the arrow keys select start using last known good path. and hit enter. This should get you back up and running.n Hope this helps . Good luck