COMP Trouble HELP!!!

Ok I installed Raven Shield on my nephew's comp tonight. I also added a 128 MB chip into an empty mem slot. (Intalled the chip before installling.... everything was fine). During install had to install direct X9... no problem. Then it asked to shutdown and startup.. ok tried it. THEN .. problem

Hard drive "stuck" while on the Windows ME Startup Screen. Green Hard drive light was on, and it was skipping like an old record. I shut it down and took new mem chip out (didn't think it would make a diff, but tried).

Ok, here is the bad part. When I opened it up to put in the mem, wow the dust inside was incredible. I mean it was caked on.

Question... any suggestions on getting the hard drive unstuck.

.. any idea what was wrong... bad drive.. overheatring.... ANYTHING?

I feel really bad, but I know that I didn't do anything. He has been playing on the BF server with us (Bojangles)..

Please give any help or ideas.

First, I'd clean up the case man. Go get a compressed air can duster, blow out the dust, everything...then boot the comp and see if it runs, if it doesn't, the HDD is probably fried.

If you have the warranty still for the HDD, get it RMA'd. If not, I'd suggest getting a new HDD. Fixing a crapped out HDD is more expensive and a hassle...hassle because you 'd have to ship it to the company that made it, fill out the papers, etc., takes a while. Easier to just buy a new one...

[shockwave203]

Promis your nephew that YOU will buy him Secret Weapons when it comes out

Originally posted by shockwave203
Promis your nephew that YOU will buy him Secret Weapons when it comes out

I was installing Raven Shield that I bought him.

ok... good news... he let it run and it finally loaded.. almost an hour later??

I told him to disk clean and defrag ASAP. Maybe reinstall windows??

[Wairudo Enjin]

Sannop,

I would immediately backup any critical data, BEFORE you do anything else.

[Chacal]

Nephews don't HAVE critical data.

[Lord ZOG]

I hate ME.

Did you do the air dusting that I mentioned?

Originally posted by Chacal
Nephews don't HAVE critical data.

OMG I was just going to say that. Dam astute Chacal

He would only lose the huge supply of scantily clad women that he has collected over the years. Ok maybe it is critical data.

[Wairudo Enjin]

That is the 'Critical' data I was referring to!

I am happy to see that my scantily clad females are ok

Most of the dust is gone but I am still going to get on of those air dusters. Tonight I will put all of my "important" files onto a disk after I run to Target to pick some up.

No! Not the porn! Anything but the porn! Go ahead, take my CC number! It only has a $250 limit anyway....

*in James Kirk voice* We've.... got to.... save ........ .. the PORN!

[Tommy Boy]

Originally posted by Wairudo Enjin
I would immediately backup any critical data, BEFORE you do anything else.

Tommy learned this one the hard way...

Back it up guys...Norton SystemWorks 2003 (Norton Ghost) is a great program.

[Wairudo Enjin]

Originally posted by Tommy Boy
Tommy learned this one the hard way...

Back it up guys...Norton SystemWorks 2003 (Norton Ghost) is a great program.

Yep, that's the one I use!

If you lose your system and saved your OS partition, you can drop it right back down on the partition (or new hard drive) and keep going! 0-)

[Camel toe joe]

Real men don't back up their data..