Ok heres the problem was working on the computer and it just went out "power pack died" ok put new one in. It came on had dell screen then xp screen then it restarted on its own showed dell screen and then black screen with "no operating systems found" This is what I have done checked all plugs, wires, memory, pci slots for losseness their good. Hard drive spins looked in bios to see if it is listed it is the first time it boots when you see the xp screen. But after it restarts and shows black screen with "no operating system found" its not listed any more in the bios? Any reboot I do after that same thing but if I unplug the computer from the wall let sit for couple of min. plug in and boot up it all starts back over agian from the screens to seeing it in the bios and then not seeing it in bios. I can not find the disks for the computer any more!! Can't boot in safe mode or any mode from f8. The computer will boot and run a old HD with 98se on it tho. So did it fry the HD or xp? Thanks, JC

Does the BIOS recognize the hard drive? If it doesn't, I would say that your hard drive is dead.

No, it wouldn't fry just XP. A hardware failure like that would kill hardware, not software. It's not often that a dying PSU takes out a hard drive (In
my experience it's usually the modem or motherboard) but it's possible. In which case you would need to replace the hard drive as well.

Let us know what you turn up

I would like to make sure before we declare a hard drive broken...
JCS_ please follow the below instructions and let us know what you find.

Boot from the Windows XP installation CD.

At the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press R to start Recovery Console. Choose the installation to be repaired by number (usually 1) and press "Enter".

When you are asked for the Administrator password, leave it blank and press "Enter".

At the command prompt, type chkdsk /r and press "Enter". (Note the space before /r) The disk check operation will start.

This will be a very thorough check of the hard drive and the file system...be patient and let it complete. It may appear to hang or even back up a few times...this is normal. 60 to 90 minutes is not unusual for this check...it may take longer in some cases.

Once the check completes and you are back at the command prompt, type exit and press "Enter".
Let us know how this all worked out.

Regards,
Olrik

The HD is seen in the bios the first time it boots after that its not.

I do not have the disks any more can't find them.

Download RC.iso and burn it to a cd as an ISO image. You may need a burning tool like ISO Recorder to do this...be sure to get the version for the operating system you'll be creating the disk on.

Then use this disk instead of the windows disk and follow the instructions from my previous post

Regards,
Olrik

I don't under stand why the bios sees the HD the first time then it does not see it any more????? JC

OK I will try it and see!! JC

Q: ISO recorder is for xp sp2 I have xp home sp3 wil it work on my system? JC

It should do

Regards,
Olrik

OK Some thing is not right put disk in comp. Asked if wont to boot from cd did it. Loaded up asked if new install,repair or exit hit repair ® went to black screen with some words for the recover console on it and said

C:\>
"the path or file specified is not valid"
C:\>

so I typed chkdsk /r and got "the specifed drive is not vaild,or threre is no disk in the drive"
C:\>

went to help and looked at the commands for chkdsk and their is two /r or /p same respones for both that is on the frist boot when the bios sees the HDD on the the second boot when the bios does not see the HDD after you press ® blue screen saying "windows detects no drives on this comp press exit to reboot" or some thing like that their is no password promt at all am I doing some thing wrong and I used sonic to burn the iso cd guess it worked at least I think I did that right thats all for now. Thanks, JC

EDIT: Sorry - didn't read your post properly

This post has been edited by jt1990: Oct 30 2008, 06:00 AM

Hello JCS_,

Do you know the brand of the hard drive? I fear it might be dying.
If you can still access files I suggest you back them up asap.

Regards,
Olrik

Thanks for the help. JC

This post has been edited by JCS_: Oct 30 2008, 10:34 AM