harddrive prob...urgent

  • Thread starter Thread starter c kavanagh
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C

c kavanagh

ok...My harddrive(Maxtor 40gb)was zapped during
thunderstorm....it boots up and is recognized but after
going through bios and the WINXP screen appears I get
desktop BUT...it is all jumbled...scrunched together....I
cannot read anything...its like it freezes there...like
the tracking is all screwed up...my keyboard also shuts
down...did I lose everything or is the data retrievable?

Is it possible to reboot with o/s again under a different
directory to bypass this...retrieve my data then delete
affected directory??

Please help or direct me to a page with such instructions.

Thanks...C.Kavanagh
 
-----Original Message-----
ok...My harddrive(Maxtor 40gb)was zapped during
thunderstorm....it boots up and is recognized but after
going through bios and the WINXP screen appears I get
desktop BUT...it is all jumbled...scrunched together....I
cannot read anything...its like it freezes there...like
the tracking is all screwed up...my keyboard also shuts
down...did I lose everything or is the data retrievable?

Is it possible to reboot with o/s again under a different
directory to bypass this...retrieve my data then delete
affected directory??

Please help or direct me to a page with such instructions.

Thanks...C.Kavanagh

.
Tried running your start-up disc and do a repair?
Click to expand...
 
You should consider yourself lucky to have a working computer. I hope no one
was injured.

If your hard disk was seriously damaged, you wouldn't be able to boot into
Windows.

Use the buttons along the bottom of your monitor to adjust the image so that
it fills the screen. If that doesn't help, try your computer with a
different monitor. If the second monitor looks good, your original monitor
needs to be serviced or replaced. If the second monitor also looks weird,
reboot into Safe Mode. If the image looks good in Safe Mode, then your video
driver may have been corrupted -- reinstall your video driver. If the image
is good with a reinstalled driver, you're all set. If the image is still
bad, the problem is your video card.

The keyboard is easier: Try another keyboard with your computer. If it
works, then your original keyboard was likely damaged. If another keyboard
still doesn't work, the motherboard port may have been damaged or the
keyboard driver may have become corrupted. Try plugging the keyboard into a
different port, i.e., if you're now using a serial port switch to USB and
vice versa.

You need to worry about the integrity of the data on your hard disk. The
disk may have been harmed by the jolt and your data may or may not be
affected. Now is the time to backup everything that is important to you. If
your hardware or software won't let you do it, take the hard disk out and
put it into another computer as a slave disk. Use the good computer to
backup.

Once you have backed up, it's time to test the rest of your hardware. First:
Go to the web site of the manufacturer of your hard disk and download their
diagnostic testing software. Run the tests on your hard disk. If your disk
passes all the diagnostics, pour yourself a single malt. If your disk fails
the tests, you need to replace it. In this case, the whisky will help dull
the pain.

With a working monitor, keyboard (and mouse), and a good hard disk, you can
test the rest of your system. You may have to reinstall some or all of your
software. (It may be better to do a clean install.) Over the next few days,
be on the lookout for possible problems caused by the jolt.

Most important is to backup as soon as you are able.

Rocky
 
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