Computer guru's, need help

[buckshotbarlow]

Try using utility called spinrite from grc.com, if your hard drive is recoverable this could help. Once you get it to boot do a backup of important files.

find access to a burner first...then run spinrite. If that doesn't work run a linux live cd...here's a list: http://livecdlist.com, then what you can do is mount up the drive, scp/ftp/tftp whatever the hell you want off of that hdd. After that, buy a new drive from microcenter...

[buckshotbarlow]

ps, make sure you mount the drive in read only mode also.. (ro)

[rondog]

Ok, for us ignorant ones - WTF is a live CD?

[spyder]

Ok, for us ignorant ones - WTF is a live CD?

I believe it allows the computer to run off of the cd rather than your broken hdd. I think it has the basic operating software on it to get you up and going to retrieve stuff.

[buckshotbarlow]

It loads the operating system into memory vs installing it on a hdd. It gives you full functionality on a system with out the need for a hard drive

[spyder]

This might be a stupid question... but where the hell do I go to get the free live cd? All of the places that I have tried so far want to install a bunch of other crap along with the supposed live cd software...

[rondog]

I just had our desktop repaired at Micro Center, and it lasted a couple of days before it went tits up again. Was working OK, but I had no clue how to recover everything that was saved, such as all my photos and iTunes, etc. Essentially, it was like right out of the box, and I had to start loading our stuff back on it. Thankfully, I had the sense to buy a 1T external drive and saved all my photos to it, but had no clue how to copy all our iTunes stuff there.

Finally was getting somewhere with that, except for what they'd "saved", when I loaded the divers and shit for our printer. Suddenly, "Internet Explorer has stopped working", and that was it. How you gonna fix Internet Explorer if you can't access the internet? Then the display turned to shit again, all multicolored like a bad acid trip.

I hate computers, and Micro Center's really pissing me off. What kind of fucking business refuses to allow people to call them on the telephone? You absolutely CANNOT call any of their stores directly, it's not allowed and the numbers aren't given. What a buncha bullshit.

I'd much rather deal with an individual that repairs them, anybody know anyone near Parker that's reliable and trustworthy? Someone with a phone? We don't use computers for much more than email, web surfing, forums, photos and iTunes. No gaming, no work stuff, no huge amounts of power and complexity needed. Hell, I don't even know how to use Photoshop. I just want the damn thing to work right.

[Caithford]

This might be a stupid question... but where the hell do I go to get the free live cd? All of the places that I have tried so far want to install a bunch of other crap along with the supposed live cd software...

Try UBCD 4 Win (http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm). It's free, but it does require you to put it together.

You can also try the UBCD which has a lot of testing utilities, but it's text based and can be challenging (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) to use if you're not familiar with the nitty gritty, or have some command line or Linux experience.

My favorite right now for ease of use is Hiren's boot CD. Comes with a crap-ton of free recovery utilities, you can download the ISO, so you don't have to build it, and it works on most machines out of the box (http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd).

Good luck.

[rondog]

My favorite right now for ease of use is Hiren's boot CD. Comes with a crap-ton of free recovery utilities, you can download the ISO, so you don't have to build it, and it works on most machines out of the box (http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd).

That's interesting, but I damn sure don't understand a word of it.....

[spyder]

Try UBCD 4 Win (http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm). It's free, but it does require you to put it together.

You can also try the UBCD which has a lot of testing utilities, but it's text based and can be challenging (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) to use if you're not familiar with the nitty gritty, or have some command line or Linux experience.

My favorite right now for ease of use is Hiren's boot CD. Comes with a crap-ton of free recovery utilities, you can download the ISO, so you don't have to build it, and it works on most machines out of the box (http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd).

Good luck.

It says that I need an XP CD... Should I even try to run my computer off of XP? I guess it really doesn't matter anyway considering that I don't have an XP CD....