My computer crashed help please!!

[davey--h]

Hi
i dont know an awful lot about computers but anyway here goes:

i have a fairly new pc dell dimension 3000 with windows xp and while left on for a few hours i looked at it and it had crashed and there was a blue screen with unmountable_boot_volume on it. i tried restarting but nothing other than the BSOD. A friend who knows a bit about computers reinstalled windows xp but when it loads up theres no icons on the desktop. i can still open up mozilla and some other stuff and when i went into add/remove programs all my programs where there so it hasnt deleted my hard drive but it keeps crashing and goes really slow.

can anyone help me fix this problem without losing any of my files on the hard drive. i worked so hard building up a huge music collection and fear for the worst. to make matters more annoying, i planned to buy an external hard drive the other day to backup everything but never got round to it.

any help would be really appreciated!!

thanks.

 

[Samstoned]

whats the last thing you did before the crashs

 

[davey--h]

i went on the internet then closed down the browser and went out for a couple of hours. when i came back it was just blue screened. i hadnt installed any new applications for about 3 days so couldnt be that.
i read some guide on how to fix it by going into the recovery console on the windows xp cd but because its reinstalled i dont know if i can do that. as well when i click on start and all programs it freezes and i cant see if any of the programs or there. meaning i cant get into system tools in accesories.

 

[Tmagic650]

davey--h,
you need to buy a new hard drive, bigger than the one you are running ASAP. Back up the old drive to the new drive using a hard drive install utility like Seagate's DiscWizard...

 

[davey--h]

okay thanks. do i have to buy seagate or can i download it. oh yeah i cant even open up my computer so that'll be a fun one.

 

[Tmagic650]

Seagate Hard Drives are very good, with 5-year warranties, but you can diagnose any manufacturers drives with Seagates DiskWizard program. See if you can find a friend that can help you open your computer, and do the back up for you

 

[davey--h]

thanks a lot. i reckon i'll buy a new hard drive and back it up. i might get a computer store to do it tho i'll probably break it further.
thanks for the help

 

[SNGX1275]

Before you go buying a new hard drive why don't you download a diagnostic tool and run it on your drive. Read about them here: Drive diagnostic utilities compendium

 

[Samstoned]

A friend who knows a bit about computers reinstalled windows xp but when it loads up theres no icons on the desktop. i can still open up mozilla and some other stuff and when i went into add/remove programs all my programs where there so it hasnt deleted my hard drive but it keeps crashing and goes really slow.

any help would be really appreciated!!

thanks.

Reload the OS the original registery is gone so you can't have icons for the other software untill you reinstall them.so I don't know how they re-installed the OS sounds more like a repair that did not work.
the drive may not be the bad apple here
this could be bad memory,maybe you bounced the machine around and knocked something loose.
if the drive diagnostics are ok move to memory tools
check power supply for failed rail by moving the drive to diff plug
if you have a meter check same

 

[davey--h]

i ran a diagnostics test and the hard drive failed!

 

[Tmagic650]

i ran a diagnostics test and the hard drive failed!

So now you can get another drive, set it up as the C or boot drive (primary Master), reinstall Windows and set the old drive as the (primary Slave). You should see the old drives files after the system boot up, and you should be able to save some or all files to the new drive