Re-Formating Issues, major help needed

[supercandiman]

Okay so my computer recently went down resterting its self going to a screen asking my wether i wanted to start windows in safe normal, ect. so i go out buy a 150 windows xp disc because one didnt come with the computer. now i need the information that is on the hard drive so i clicked repair it goes to another screen where it explains the repair and recovery then a spot comes up saying C:> then goes to a blue screen stating

a problem has detected a problem and has shut down to prevent damage to your computer
DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
check to make sure any new hardware or software is installed correctly so on so forth

The Computer is an E Machine T3025 3000+amd xp processor 160gb hard drive 512mb ram everything is stock except a network adaptor that i installed 5 months ago

please note im broke and computer illiterate

PLEASE HELP

 

[kimsland]

Try one of the free Boot CDs like "The Ultimate BootCD" or Ubuntu

After you burn these free CDs to disc (I mean the one you decide on)
Once it boots up, then backup all your data to USB flash drive or something

 

[supercandiman]

that be great but lol i forgot that im using a ps3 for a computer now until i get my computer fixed or a new one

 

[kimsland]

You may need to physically remove the Harddrive and plug it into another (working) computer as a secondary drive

Then back up, using explorer in My Computer

 

[supercandiman]

this maybe a dumb question but would any viruses convert over if i dig that i just dont want to ruin sone one elses stuff btw thank you for the help

 

[kimsland]

Make sure their Antivirus is updated, even download SuperAntiSpyware, and have that protect the computer too

 

[trodas]

As long as you did not RUN anything from your harddrive on the other guy machine, nothing can possibly happen. Just this one little rule and you are safe.

BTW, the machine sounds rather old to me. Look at the mainboard itself and make sure caps on it did not looks like these: http://capsmod.net/forum/viewthread.php?tid=124&extra=page=1
Because then your old machine is a goner.

 

[supercandiman]

i checked the caps all are fine i havent had the chance to do the thing with my harddrive yet but when i do should i also reformat my harddrive on that computer also since mine seems to want to error me out when i try to do repair?

is it possible that the hard drive is on its last leg ? and how would i know

 

[kimsland]

The only way of knowing is by removing the Partition (ie not format) and trying Setup again on it

Or by this:
Run a Drive Diagnostics on your HardDrive

 

[supercandiman]

I finally got it going again not really sure how but it is i thank you all for your replies and help =)

CandiMan