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Question about a computer crash.

G

goldpony

Flightless Bird
My sister-in-law told me that her computer crashed yesterday. We were
wondering, can we put in the recovery disk in it and see if we can format
the hard drive and reinstall it?? This is just a question..
She has a Window XP home edition. I think her computer is about 9 years
old.
Thanks,
Lauria

--
Lauria
 
P

Paul Randall

Flightless Bird
Your sister-in-law needs to think about what she wants. If she has no
problem with completely wiping out all information on the hard drive, then
formatting and reinstalling is a good thing to try. If there is data she
wants to recover, then she should obtain a bootable CD with the capability
of reading the hard drive and saving the data to a thumb drive or other
removable media. UBCDWin (http://ubcd4win.com/) is one of my favorite
bootable CDs for windows systems. Someone would have to build the CD for
her. If she wants to recover data, it would probably be best to not even
try to boot up the system until she has the bootable CD ready to boot from.

-Paul Randall

"goldpony" <goldpony@windstream.net> wrote in message
news:3E9BFEE7-23D2-446F-94EF-6FE8C27D1D4A@microsoft.com...
> My sister-in-law told me that her computer crashed yesterday. We were
> wondering, can we put in the recovery disk in it and see if we can format
> the hard drive and reinstall it?? This is just a question..
> She has a Window XP home edition. I think her computer is about 9 years
> old.
> Thanks,
> Lauria
>
> --
> Lauria
>
 
M

Mark Adams

Flightless Bird
"goldpony" wrote:

> My sister-in-law told me that her computer crashed yesterday. We were
> wondering, can we put in the recovery disk in it and see if we can format
> the hard drive and reinstall it?? This is just a question..
> She has a Window XP home edition. I think her computer is about 9 years
> old.
> Thanks,
> Lauria
>
> --
> Lauria
>


Yes, this is what a "recovery disk" is for. This is a destructive reinstall
that will wipe out everything on the computer and return it to an "as
shipped" condition. It does not repair the install that you have, it just
replaces it. Anything you have saved on the computer will be lost. Make sure
you save anything you want to keep to external media before you do this.
 
P

Paul

Flightless Bird
goldpony wrote:
>
> My sister-in-law told me that her computer crashed yesterday. We were
> wondering, can we put in the recovery disk in it and see if we can
> format the hard drive and reinstall it?? This is just a question..
> She has a Window XP home edition. I think her computer is about 9 years
> old.
> Thanks,
> Lauria
>


Computers that come with a recovery disc, may seek to *erase* the C:
drive, removing all the personal data files of the user. Don't be in
too much of a rush to do that.

If the computer no longer starts, your first task is to make sure any
important personal files are saved. That could be the email database,
pictures of the children, banking information and so on.

If the hard drive still works, you could remove it from the non-functional
computer and connect it to another computer, to make backup copies of
the important files. The drive could be connected to one of the
ribbon cables within the working computer, so that the drive
could be accessed.

If the original hard drive is now broken, you can also plug a brand
new hard drive into the 9 year old computer, and then use your
"recovery disc" to install the OS on the fresh empty hard drive.
Then, after the computer has rebooted at least once using the fresh
new hard drive, by itself in the computer, you could shut down and
switch off the computer and connect both the old and the new hard
drive, and try and get the data off the old one.

As a last resort, if you aren't able to get important files off the
existing hard drive, there are data recovery companies that can
rescue files from broken hard drives. This could cost $1000, so it
is important to decide whether you really need the files or not. If
the hard drive is still functional, and only a little messed up,
you may in fact be able to rescue the contents.

There are a few options to explore - at the very least *don't*
plug in the recovery CD until you've fully discussed with the owner,
what to do about any personal files or emails on there. If you
rush the job, your sister-in-law could be most unhappy with you.

This is why, on retail computers with the "recovery disc" concept,
it is important to do regular backups. So there will be nothing
at risk on the C: drive, when there is trouble.

Paul
 
T

Tridec

Flightless Bird
As 'plain' paul says the reinstall is possible on sma eor different harddrive.
But I would also try to see what the error/crash was. Blue screen with error
code?
Cause it could just be that HD is the cause of the crash and after you
reinstall or restore on the same drive you could have the same problem very
soon again.

"goldpony" wrote:

> My sister-in-law told me that her computer crashed yesterday. We were
> wondering, can we put in the recovery disk in it and see if we can format
> the hard drive and reinstall it?? This is just a question..
> She has a Window XP home edition. I think her computer is about 9 years
> old.
> Thanks,
> Lauria
>
> --
> Lauria
>
 
G

goldpony

Flightless Bird
Thank you guy for the explanation. I'm not sure if she has save anything
since she isn't computer smart. She did however save her pictures into a
usb drive. She stated that she can turn on the computer but it won't do
anything except stay on for a brief moment and then turn off. I'm assuming
her computer just plum worn out. I suggested for her to get a new computer.
Her husband would like to replace the HD BUT he doesn't know much about
fixing it or even trying to save any old files. I told her that if she gets
a new computer is to backup the system information since some new computer
doesn't come with recovery disc like they used to.
I'll explain to her again about all the files and etc that she had lost. I
have already made a disc for her so she has a copy of my recovery disc from
my old computer which has a Window XP, I'm using Window Vista and another
computer with Widow 7. I don't use Window XP except for work.
Question, where do I find the product key for the recovery disk?
Thanks
Lauria


"Tridec" <Tridec@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:43D81510-10C1-48BB-A193-588DA4ACE738@microsoft.com...
> As 'plain' paul says the reinstall is possible on sma eor different
> harddrive.
> But I would also try to see what the error/crash was. Blue screen with
> error
> code?
> Cause it could just be that HD is the cause of the crash and after you
> reinstall or restore on the same drive you could have the same problem
> very
> soon again.
>
> "goldpony" wrote:
>
>> My sister-in-law told me that her computer crashed yesterday. We were
>> wondering, can we put in the recovery disk in it and see if we can format
>> the hard drive and reinstall it?? This is just a question..
>> She has a Window XP home edition. I think her computer is about 9 years
>> old.
>> Thanks,
>> Lauria
>>
>> --
>> Lauria
>>
 
J

Jim

Flightless Bird
New power supply ?


On Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:08:31 -0600, "goldpony"
<goldpony@windstream.net> wrote:

>Thank you guy for the explanation. I'm not sure if she has save anything
>since she isn't computer smart. She did however save her pictures into a
>usb drive. She stated that she can turn on the computer but it won't do
>anything except stay on for a brief moment and then turn off. I'm assuming
>her computer just plum worn out. I suggested for her to get a new computer.
>Her husband would like to replace the HD BUT he doesn't know much about
>fixing it or even trying to save any old files. I told her that if she gets
>a new computer is to backup the system information since some new computer
>doesn't come with recovery disc like they used to.
>I'll explain to her again about all the files and etc that she had lost. I
>have already made a disc for her so she has a copy of my recovery disc from
>my old computer which has a Window XP, I'm using Window Vista and another
>computer with Widow 7. I don't use Window XP except for work.
>Question, where do I find the product key for the recovery disk?
>Thanks
>Lauria
>
>
>"Tridec" <Tridec@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>news:43D81510-10C1-48BB-A193-588DA4ACE738@microsoft.com...
>> As 'plain' paul says the reinstall is possible on sma eor different
>> harddrive.
>> But I would also try to see what the error/crash was. Blue screen with
>> error
>> code?
>> Cause it could just be that HD is the cause of the crash and after you
>> reinstall or restore on the same drive you could have the same problem
>> very
>> soon again.
>>
>> "goldpony" wrote:
>>
>>> My sister-in-law told me that her computer crashed yesterday. We were
>>> wondering, can we put in the recovery disk in it and see if we can format
>>> the hard drive and reinstall it?? This is just a question..
>>> She has a Window XP home edition. I think her computer is about 9 years
>>> old.
>>> Thanks,
>>> Lauria
>>>
>>> --
>>> Lauria
>>>
 
M

Mark Adams

Flightless Bird
"goldpony" wrote:

> Thank you guy for the explanation. I'm not sure if she has save anything
> since she isn't computer smart. She did however save her pictures into a
> usb drive. She stated that she can turn on the computer but it won't do
> anything except stay on for a brief moment and then turn off.


As "Jim" suggested, this could be a failing power supply. A local computer
repair shop can easily test and put in a new one for not a lot of money.

I'm assuming
> her computer just plum worn out. I suggested for her to get a new computer.
> Her husband would like to replace the HD BUT he doesn't know much about
> fixing it or even trying to save any old files.


If the hard drive is suspect, you can test it yourself. Open the computer
case and find the brand name on the drive. Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital,
Hitachi are common names. Go to the hard drive maker's website and download
the drive checking utilites, and burn to CD. Set the computer's BIOS to boot
from CD, put the utility disk in the drive and reboot the computer. When the
utility disk starts, let it check the hard drive. If the machine won't stay
running long enough to make the test, it's back to the power supply as the
problem. The machine may boot up fine if a faulty power supply is replaced.

I told her that if she gets
> a new computer is to backup the system information since some new computer
> doesn't come with recovery disc like they used to.
> I'll explain to her again about all the files and etc that she had lost. I
> have already made a disc for her so she has a copy of my recovery disc from
> my old computer which has a Window XP,


Recovery disks are hardware specific; if your old computer is a different
brand than hers, your disk won't work to restore her machine. Even if the
same brand, different model lines have different hardware, and this likely
won't work.

I'm using Window Vista and another
> computer with Widow 7.


This is good. Take her hard drive out and place it in an external USB
enclosure. If her hard drive is good, it will now act like any other external
USB drive. Simply turn it on, then plug the USB cord into either of your
computers, and you should be able to read and copy all of the data on the
disk to your computer.

I don't use Window XP except for work.
> Question, where do I find the product key for the recovery disk?


Recovery disks don't need a product key because they are an "image" of a
working install for that specific machine and the key is already installed.
This is why you need the specific disk that came with the machine in order to
"recover" that machine. Don't confuse a "recovery disk" with an "install
disk", they are different.


> Thanks
> Lauria
>
>
> "Tridec" <Tridec@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:43D81510-10C1-48BB-A193-588DA4ACE738@microsoft.com...
> > As 'plain' paul says the reinstall is possible on sma eor different
> > harddrive.
> > But I would also try to see what the error/crash was. Blue screen with
> > error
> > code?
> > Cause it could just be that HD is the cause of the crash and after you
> > reinstall or restore on the same drive you could have the same problem
> > very
> > soon again.
> >
> > "goldpony" wrote:
> >
> >> My sister-in-law told me that her computer crashed yesterday. We were
> >> wondering, can we put in the recovery disk in it and see if we can format
> >> the hard drive and reinstall it?? This is just a question..
> >> She has a Window XP home edition. I think her computer is about 9 years
> >> old.
> >> Thanks,
> >> Lauria
> >>
> >> --
> >> Lauria
> >>

>
 
S

sgopus

Flightless Bird
From your description, I'd strongly urge you to suggest to her to get a new
pc, as that one is (by tech reference) way past it's prime, new pc's are
faster and supposedly better, LOL sometimes not however.




"goldpony" wrote:

> Thank you guy for the explanation. I'm not sure if she has save anything
> since she isn't computer smart. She did however save her pictures into a
> usb drive. She stated that she can turn on the computer but it won't do
> anything except stay on for a brief moment and then turn off. I'm assuming
> her computer just plum worn out. I suggested for her to get a new computer.
> Her husband would like to replace the HD BUT he doesn't know much about
> fixing it or even trying to save any old files. I told her that if she gets
> a new computer is to backup the system information since some new computer
> doesn't come with recovery disc like they used to.
> I'll explain to her again about all the files and etc that she had lost. I
> have already made a disc for her so she has a copy of my recovery disc from
> my old computer which has a Window XP, I'm using Window Vista and another
> computer with Widow 7. I don't use Window XP except for work.
> Question, where do I find the product key for the recovery disk?
> Thanks
> Lauria
>
>
> "Tridec" <Tridec@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:43D81510-10C1-48BB-A193-588DA4ACE738@microsoft.com...
> > As 'plain' paul says the reinstall is possible on sma eor different
> > harddrive.
> > But I would also try to see what the error/crash was. Blue screen with
> > error
> > code?
> > Cause it could just be that HD is the cause of the crash and after you
> > reinstall or restore on the same drive you could have the same problem
> > very
> > soon again.
> >
> > "goldpony" wrote:
> >
> >> My sister-in-law told me that her computer crashed yesterday. We were
> >> wondering, can we put in the recovery disk in it and see if we can format
> >> the hard drive and reinstall it?? This is just a question..
> >> She has a Window XP home edition. I think her computer is about 9 years
> >> old.
> >> Thanks,
> >> Lauria
> >>
> >> --
> >> Lauria
> >>

>
 
G

goldpony

Flightless Bird
Sorry, maybe I wasn't making myself clear this morning. I was sort of in a
hurry. I mean getting the product key from my recovery disk to her
computer. Come to think of it, it might be her power supply gone bad. She
stated that she started having trouble with it ever since her husband update
the window xp from Microsoft. I still think he downloaded the wrong
software. Anyway, she said this "generic host process win 32 service" pop
up and then her computer shut down. She took it to some guy that her
friends were telling her about that work on computer from his home. All he
did was uninstall some program, compress her hard drive and download some
anti-virus software which wasn't free. And when they brought it home, it
was worst then before. Her husband tried to uninstall what ever the guy put
in their computer then this "generic host process win 32 service" came up.
They didn't call me and ask me about it before they took it to this person.
I would have never taking it to someone that I don't know.
I still think it'll be better if they just get a new one but they still
insisting to try my recovery disk first. I made them a copy so in case
their computer ruin the copy. So, again, where can I find the product key
for my recovery disk before I take it to them tomorrow? Do I need the
product key from the disk or their hard drive?
thank you guy for being patience.
Lauria



"sgopus" <sgopus@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7460C7F7-A529-4E2E-9AC2-A4008F96405F@microsoft.com...
> From your description, I'd strongly urge you to suggest to her to get a
> new
> pc, as that one is (by tech reference) way past it's prime, new pc's are
> faster and supposedly better, LOL sometimes not however.
>
>
>
>
> "goldpony" wrote:
>
>> Thank you guy for the explanation. I'm not sure if she has save anything
>> since she isn't computer smart. She did however save her pictures into a
>> usb drive. She stated that she can turn on the computer but it won't do
>> anything except stay on for a brief moment and then turn off. I'm
>> assuming
>> her computer just plum worn out. I suggested for her to get a new
>> computer.
>> Her husband would like to replace the HD BUT he doesn't know much about
>> fixing it or even trying to save any old files. I told her that if she
>> gets
>> a new computer is to backup the system information since some new
>> computer
>> doesn't come with recovery disc like they used to.
>> I'll explain to her again about all the files and etc that she had lost.
>> I
>> have already made a disc for her so she has a copy of my recovery disc
>> from
>> my old computer which has a Window XP, I'm using Window Vista and another
>> computer with Widow 7. I don't use Window XP except for work.
>> Question, where do I find the product key for the recovery disk?
>> Thanks
>> Lauria
>>
>>
>> "Tridec" <Tridec@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:43D81510-10C1-48BB-A193-588DA4ACE738@microsoft.com...
>> > As 'plain' paul says the reinstall is possible on sma eor different
>> > harddrive.
>> > But I would also try to see what the error/crash was. Blue screen with
>> > error
>> > code?
>> > Cause it could just be that HD is the cause of the crash and after you
>> > reinstall or restore on the same drive you could have the same problem
>> > very
>> > soon again.
>> >
>> > "goldpony" wrote:
>> >
>> >> My sister-in-law told me that her computer crashed yesterday. We were
>> >> wondering, can we put in the recovery disk in it and see if we can
>> >> format
>> >> the hard drive and reinstall it?? This is just a question..
>> >> She has a Window XP home edition. I think her computer is about 9
>> >> years
>> >> old.
>> >> Thanks,
>> >> Lauria
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Lauria
>> >>

>>
 
M

Mark Adams

Flightless Bird
"goldpony" wrote:

> Sorry, maybe I wasn't making myself clear this morning. I was sort of in a
> hurry. I mean getting the product key from my recovery disk to her
> computer.


Apparently you cannot see my previous post. Recovery disks don't need a
product key to recover, because they already have one. You can't use your
recovery disk to recover her computer because they are different machines.


Come to think of it, it might be her power supply gone bad. She
> stated that she started having trouble with it ever since her husband update
> the window xp from Microsoft. I still think he downloaded the wrong
> software. Anyway, she said this "generic host process win 32 service" pop
> up and then her computer shut down. She took it to some guy that her
> friends were telling her about that work on computer from his home. All he
> did was uninstall some program, compress her hard drive and download some
> anti-virus software which wasn't free. And when they brought it home, it
> was worst then before. Her husband tried to uninstall what ever the guy put
> in their computer then this "generic host process win 32 service" came up.
> They didn't call me and ask me about it before they took it to this person.
> I would have never taking it to someone that I don't know.
> I still think it'll be better if they just get a new one but they still
> insisting to try my recovery disk first. I made them a copy so in case
> their computer ruin the copy. So, again, where can I find the product key
> for my recovery disk before I take it to them tomorrow? Do I need the
> product key from the disk or their hard drive?


Like I said before, you need her recovery disk, not yours. What I suggest is
to follow my previous post and put her hard drive in a USB enclousure and
copy the data off to one of your computers. Use her recovery disk to restore
her computer. If she doesn't have one; she needs to buy one from the maker of
her computer.

This is the reward I get for using the web interface instead of using a real
newsreader for posting to these newsgroups; I can't seem to get through to
some people.

> thank you guy for being patience.
> Lauria
>
>
>
> "sgopus" <sgopus@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:7460C7F7-A529-4E2E-9AC2-A4008F96405F@microsoft.com...
> > From your description, I'd strongly urge you to suggest to her to get a
> > new
> > pc, as that one is (by tech reference) way past it's prime, new pc's are
> > faster and supposedly better, LOL sometimes not however.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > "goldpony" wrote:
> >
> >> Thank you guy for the explanation. I'm not sure if she has save anything
> >> since she isn't computer smart. She did however save her pictures into a
> >> usb drive. She stated that she can turn on the computer but it won't do
> >> anything except stay on for a brief moment and then turn off. I'm
> >> assuming
> >> her computer just plum worn out. I suggested for her to get a new
> >> computer.
> >> Her husband would like to replace the HD BUT he doesn't know much about
> >> fixing it or even trying to save any old files. I told her that if she
> >> gets
> >> a new computer is to backup the system information since some new
> >> computer
> >> doesn't come with recovery disc like they used to.
> >> I'll explain to her again about all the files and etc that she had lost.
> >> I
> >> have already made a disc for her so she has a copy of my recovery disc
> >> from
> >> my old computer which has a Window XP, I'm using Window Vista and another
> >> computer with Widow 7. I don't use Window XP except for work.
> >> Question, where do I find the product key for the recovery disk?
> >> Thanks
> >> Lauria
> >>
> >>
> >> "Tridec" <Tridec@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:43D81510-10C1-48BB-A193-588DA4ACE738@microsoft.com...
> >> > As 'plain' paul says the reinstall is possible on sma eor different
> >> > harddrive.
> >> > But I would also try to see what the error/crash was. Blue screen with
> >> > error
> >> > code?
> >> > Cause it could just be that HD is the cause of the crash and after you
> >> > reinstall or restore on the same drive you could have the same problem
> >> > very
> >> > soon again.
> >> >
> >> > "goldpony" wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> My sister-in-law told me that her computer crashed yesterday. We were
> >> >> wondering, can we put in the recovery disk in it and see if we can
> >> >> format
> >> >> the hard drive and reinstall it?? This is just a question..
> >> >> She has a Window XP home edition. I think her computer is about 9
> >> >> years
> >> >> old.
> >> >> Thanks,
> >> >> Lauria
> >> >>
> >> >> --
> >> >> Lauria
> >> >>
> >>

>
 
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