Broken Computer, HELPPP!?

Question

Okay you guys. I really need your help. I dont know what the deal is with my computer. When I turn it on, it seems fine and it loads like it usually does. Then it goes to a black background with white font and it says "VERIFYING DMI POOL DATA....... DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"

I tried pressing enter, did reasearch on it and i didnt get anywhere. If any of you guys can help, i'd really appreciate it. I just started school again. And if you're a high school student, you know how much we need a computer. Am i right, or am i right? Haha.

Some helpful information..
-My computer is a WINDOWS XP.
-And i was on it alot during the summer, maybe it overheated?

Please help!

Answer 1

It sounds like your hard drive has failed. \

I assume there is no impovement if you let it cool a couple of hours before restarting.

Answer 2

That really all depends on what shows up before the black screen. Your hardrive might be bad but if any sort of Windows Logo shows up your hardrive is probably good but possibly corrupt.

When the computer first starts booting up on most computers if you keep hitting the ESC key, instead of the company logo like Dell or Compaq it should show something like hit DEL or hit F2 to enter setup. Once you find out what key you have to hit to enter setup mode, restart the computer and keep hitting this key. Eventually it should take you to your BIOS system menu. If you've never seen this before that's ok. When you go to exit the menu it should present you with an option that says Reset Defaults or Reset Motherboard defaults. Something of that nature. Select this option and exit the BIOS menu. When it asks if you want to save those options select yes.

That might fix it but it probably won't. If you have a copy of your Windows OS you can then put it in the disk drive and reboot the computer. When the computer reboots you can launch the Windows setup from the disk and navigate through the menus until you find an option called Repair Windows Installation. As long as your hardrive isn't totally crapped out this should fix the problem at least long enough for you to get your files backed up.

If that doesn't work more than likely your hardrive is destroyed but there is one other thing you can try. Find someone that knows how to hook the hardrive up to another computer so they can attempt to get your files off the drive.

Then put the drive back in your computer and find someone that can do a long format on your hardrive and reistall the OS. This will cause all files to be erased from the drive. However, if you have a lot of bad sectors on the drive but the drive still technically works, the format utility will find the bad sectors and keep a list of them on the drive so Windows knows not to use those sectors. Than you may be able to reinstall Windows and get the computer working again. Some people might be quick to simply do a quick format or not format at all. But it is important to do a complete long format to give the program a chance to work around the bad sectors.

If this doesn't work, it may just be time to pay the fiddler and order a new computer.

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000474.htm

Answer 3

oh, this can be a seriously knarly one.

your Master Boot Record is probably damaged or the PC cannot boot from the hard drive

there is a small chance that a connection may be loose or disconnected hardware. remove all cables /peripherals and see if that makes a difference.

if you have a rescue disk try booting with that, then you have to use something called fdisk command to try to repair some corrupt files on the hard drive.

many times it is a much more involved problem, and people can go crazy trying to do it.

if you can call the manufacturer, that would be best. they may want you to re-initialize stuf and completely re-format and re-install windows. hopefully its not that bad.

good luck. might want to seriously flirt with a revenge of the nerds computer geek at school.

Answer 4

it sounds like your hard drive may be bad-
this will sound really weird, but i would try taking out your hard drive and gently shaking it a bit. it may be "stuck" and shaking it may help get it moving again.
the hard drive is a silver or maybe black rectangular thing inside your computer that looks about the size of a large deck of cards.
it will most likely have two cables running to it-
one power cable with four colored wires- red, black, black, yellow
one flat grey ribbon cable

just make sure you plug the cables back in the way you took them out, even though the computer is probably is made so you cant get it wrong anyway.

this is where all your data is. If plugging the hard drive back in works, it is probably only temporary, you will want to back up your data quick!

another strange thing you can temporarily do to make a failing hard drive work it to wrap it up or put in in a tupperware sealed container and stick it in the freezer for a few hours- not the entire computer, just the hard drive, the little deck of cards sized thing.

if you have to replace your hard drive, you will also need to restore the operating system- if you have your recovery/restore CDs, this will be what i am talking about.

If your computer did not come form a manufacturer like dell or gateway, you will need your windows XP CD and 25 digit product ID number. The 25 digit number may be on a sticker on the back of your machine. if not you can use a utility like jellybean keyfinder to extract the key- it is a free program you can find using a yahoo search- of course, you will have to make your computer temporarily work to use the keyfinder-

lastly you will need to reinstall your drivers- if you have your system restore/recovery CDs, you are all set, if not, you will have to take parts out of your machine one at a time to try to research the internet and find drivers for them- it is possible windows XP will find all the drivers automatically, if not, it is possible some parts of your comptuer will not work- sound, high res video, modem, network, and so on.

good luck

Answer 5

Can you boot into safe mode? (hold F8 during boot process). If you can, then you might have a virus. If not, it appears your hard disk has failed or is failing.
You might still be able to restore functionality by creating a boot disk with Boot It, and attempting to repair the boot sector. You would need to download the program at another computer, create a boot disk, and boot your PC from the CD. If you don't know how to perform these steps, find a computer savvy buddy to do them.
Good luck!

Answer 6

You computer may be trying to boot from a CD/DVD in one of your drives or, from a floppy drive. Check to make sure nothing is in any of your other drives.

If that doesn't do it, then I would check to make sure your computer BIOS settings haven't changed. How you check your BIOS varies with computers.

Some questions for you ...
How old is your computer?
What kind of computer is it? (which manufacturer)
Have you downloaded or installed any new software very recently?

Answer 7

first off, your computer is not a WINDOWS XP,, your computer is either HP, Dell, Gateway, etc...,,,next, have you tried the "restore " feature? find that and attempt to restore your computer back to a previous time...I'm serious..I had to restore mine all the way back to when i took it out of the box..I have a Dell with Windows XP,,,it froze completely but i got it working again...good luck

Answer 8

I've had plenty of problems with my computers over the years, but not that one.

However with a quick search I've found some support.

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000474.htm

Hope you can fix it!

Answer 9

sounds like its a possible hardware issue, have you cleaned it out at all (with compressed air)
put in your xp cd and see if you cant boot to the repair console and run chkdisk -r

Answer 10

evidently like your stressful force tousled. you could could get a clean one, and a clean working equipment. im particularly helpful its the stressful force. yet once you dont understand something approximately desktops, take it to a profetional, and tell him which you will insert a clean stressful force and set up a clean working equipment. whether it could fee you approximately 2 hundred greenbacks to do. :((