dead hard drive?

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Keith,

If you suspect a hard drive problem, download a drive diagnostic tool from
the hard drive manufacturer. These free utilities generally run from a
bootable floppy and have tests that will tell you the state of the drive. Be
cautious, as some of the tests can erase a drive, only use the ones that
don't.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Windows
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Keith]

My friends pc boots until it gets to "Loading XP Home" and just stays there.
The blue bar across the bottom keeps scrolling but it does not proceed any
further..(it does not freeze)

I tried booting to sfae mode and it stalls half way through as well..
I also tried the recovery mode but it gets to "select which partition to
boot (1. C:/windows)", I press 1 then enter and it also hangs there...
(it does not freeze)

I also tried to reinstall it (over the top of itself) and it got to the
stage of "checking for previous installed Windows" and just stops there as
well..(it does not freeze)


If I boot my Knoppix 3.3 (Live) cd I can access the Windows c:/ drive and
access all the folders on there..

It booted fine yesterday his daughter (the last one to use it) says she shut
it down properly so ?

Any ideas?

Thanks