computer question

[Geezer]

I think HP offers you an option to buy a full set of the disks that come on the restore section of the hard drive. Check the website for this option, it should be about 1/3 the cost of a new copy of windows.

If the hard drive has a few gad sectors. It wouldn't hurt to spend another 50 bucks and put in a new hard disk at the same time.

Tony

[Larrym]

Booty Call

On this side of the screen I still don't know if your computer runs but has issues or simply won't "boot up".

If it still boots up then you're ahead of the game. But if it doesn't boot up then then the likely "suspect" is the HDD. One way to determine this is to tell the computer to not use the HDD as the boot device and place a "bootable" CD in the machine. If it boots up correctly then you're looking at swapping out the HDD.

You can take the machine to a "Geek Squad" and they'll handle this problem for you. The cost in labor will be as much as if you paid for a new HDD and bought another external drive which could be used to make those all important BACK-UPs.

The HDD is considered a "consumable" device by the industry. Think of it more like the tires on your car or bike. They just wear out after a while. Would you sell your bike and get another newer one because it needed new tires?

If you decide to swap out your own HDD then there are things you'll need to have and there is a process you need to follow. Kinda like changing your own tires. First time you do it is the hardest but afterwards you're set for the next time your tires go flat.

Just spit-balling from this end....

[oldyam80sg]

OK went to Staples and talked to a guy i have dealt with before-He said the only company that comes with recovery discs are Dell and he would not buy a Dell.He said they will look at it for $69.00 and that is just to look at it.Hard drive is a least $100.00-Vista is around $90.00.His opinion the computer is not worth it!I have an extra hard drive that TC gave a while back.New computer is 399.00 at Staples and Wal-Mart is more expensive.

[oldyam80sg]

Anyone running Linux-I installed that in my working computer and was curious-How do you reset your user name and password?I cannot login because my user name is wrong and cannot continue.

[Gator]

You do NOT need a new licensed copy of your OS, you just need the disk. You can do an 'overlay' installation without formatting the drive (won't lose any data and won't need to re-input the key) Any 'doc-in-a-box' PC tech will be able to do this and it will probably be around $75. This will also keep your drivers in tact and will fix most 'corrupt file' problems and many standard viruses... Is this a desktop or a laptop? What OS is currently on it? How old is it? If it is a laptop and around 2+ yrs old, backup your data and get a new one. If it is a desktop and under 4-5 yrs old it may be worth fixing/upgrading.
Good luck!

[Gator]

Anyone running Linux-I installed that in my working computer and was curious-How do you reset your user name and password?I cannot login because my user name is wrong and cannot continue.

I think the default user name is 'root' and the password is whatever you chose (if anything) when you installed it.

Depending on your version/boot loader this may help you to recover your password:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-r...root-password/

[mn2346]

root is not default it is the admin account.
However if you are able to login as root you're ok.

if you know your login you can also reset the password from the terminal window.
(as root) type passwd your_login_name_here and type a new password

What distribution of Linux are you running?
Ubuntu, Fedora...

[oldyam80sg]

ubuntu-root is not it!i cannot get pass the password section.Only option is restore last session,language,hibernate,shut down,restart.

[mn2346]

This in from the internets

http://www.google.fi/#hl=fi&source=h...d860e05c5c35a3

What you'll need to do is boot into recovery mode.

Then:

Code:
ls /home/
That will list the user directories. Whatever name is in there is the name of your user.

Then:

Code:
sudo passwd username
*username being the name you saw in /home/

Set a new password. Reboot and you should be able to login.

[oldyam80sg]

Actually took the hard drive out and put it in a known working computer.Alot of red triangles so I'm thinking not good.Will actually look into another hard drive.

[Bigfoot]

Why not just order the disks from HP. They are avaliable here for your machine.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...roduct=1127351

Look at the link that says cd-rom order page.

I am not sure of the price but my guess is probably around 10 bucks. They would have the correct drivers as well. If you are having hard drive issues, now would be the time to upgrade that as well. Install the operating system on the new hard drive. Install your applications. Plug in your old one as a slave and transfer your old data to the new one. Problem solved.

[Gator]

Actually took the hard drive out and put it in a known working computer.Alot of red triangles so I'm thinking not good.Will actually look into another hard drive.

That actually isn't a good test of a hard drive good or bad as it doesn't have the correct hardware drivers loaded for that machine...

[Bigfoot]

OK went to Staples and talked to a guy i have dealt with before-He said the only company that comes with recovery discs are Dell and he would not buy a Dell.He said they will look at it for $69.00 and that is just to look at it.Hard drive is a least $100.00-Vista is around $90.00.His opinion the computer is not worth it!I have an extra hard drive that TC gave a while back.New computer is 399.00 at Staples and Wal-Mart is more expensive.

I have been installing and supporting Dell pc's and servers for a long time now and still recommend them to my customers. Why? Because I have had very little problems with them. The few times that I have had an issue, their customer support was top notch.

You can get a 250GB hard drive at newegg.com for around $50.

Sounds to me like the guy is just trying to make a sale.

If you had staples fix it, most likely they would put in a new hard drive, reload windows, throw away your old one with no attempt to salvage the data and charge you $100 for the new drive, $69 just for looking at your pc, and at least another $100 in labor. If you want them to actually try and salvage your data it would cost you more.

[Larrym]

Smart Answer

The laptop I'm using is a Dell. I got it because the PO bailed when the harddrive started being unreliable. Started being unreliable is the key here because I replaced the harddrive before it totally failed. I "looked under the hood" and saw those red error messages just like you did. That was over 3 years ago.....

For an interesting read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_drive



Now that you've pulled the HDD you know just how easy it is to do physically. BTW, a replacement HDD for your machine really is only about $50 from the same folks who sold me mine. The transfer of files and operating system is just as do-able.

Hopefully by the time you really have to toss your computer the newer computers will be even less than they are right now.

(And Vista will have long been just an embarrassing memory...)

[oldyam80sg]

OK all i know is this the old hard drive which is the original would get half the windows set up in and stop working-actually let it sit for 20 minutes and then nothing happened.Frustrated i took it out and replaced it with a hard drive that TC had provided to me awhile back.This time i was able to complete the install.