[jaded-arell]

Hey all
This morning, I turned on the computer to print out my presentation. I left for a few minutes, then came back to find the computer was starting up (or what it turned out to be, restarting). It entered a screen which stated it was sorry for not starting, and that there was a problem with starting windows XP. Stating a number of issues (my pressing a return button, new software, new hardware, power crash) it offered 5 alternative chocies, 3 being start in safe mode, one being start at a time when the OS still worked, and one being start windows, if i dont make a choice, it chooses the last option after thirty seconds.
After loading the safe mode, it clicks then restarts, and upon loading windows, it clicks and restarts.
Now I've checked, and it seems that all 4 fans are working (case, power, cpu, video card), and the cpu is 40-45 degrees celsius. It seems to think that the system fan (whichever one that may be) is going at 0 rpm, though, though it isn't stating that this is the problem, maybe i dont have one.
I haven't laoded any new software of hardware, and there wasn't a blackout last night.
Anyway, i have an amd athlon cpu (2.4?), a gigabyte motherboard, and windows XP.

Firstly, is there a way to retrieve a data file (my presentation), say, via loading DOS or placing the hardrive in a friends computer.
Secondly, how do i go about fixing it, I've got my brother sending me my utilities disk for the motherboard.

Thankyou for anyhelp, you guys really rock,

Edited by jaded-arell, 10 May 2005 - 12:54 AM.

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easiest way to retrieve your data is to load your HDD in a friends PC. make sure you get the jumpers set to slave on your drive.
you may want to back up any other critical data you have on your drive as well, just as a safety precaution with whatever the problem is with your PC.
I must defer to the experts as to what is causing that.

[audioboy]

easiest way to retrieve your data is to load your HDD in a friends PC. make sure you get the jumpers set to slave on your drive.
you may want to back up any other critical data you have on your drive as well, just as a safety precaution with whatever the problem is with your PC.
I must defer to the experts as to what is causing that.

[jaded-arell]

how do i go about getting the jumpers set to slave, though perhaps one of my friends will know

[austin_o]

There is usually a lable on the hard drive that shows the jumper settings. In my experience with Samsung, Western Digital and Seagate all of these do. If yours doesn't go to the manufacturers web page and look for instructions.

[jaded-arell]

Yep, I've gotten the file out of the hardrive, and have decided to format the computer, but if this doesn't work, i will be in trouble.

[Doby]

Yep, I've gotten the file out of the hardrive, and have decided to format the computer, but if this doesn't work, i will be in trouble.

no you won't you got Geeks to Go

Let us know what model Gigabyte board you have and what cpu exactly.

The system fan could be just a case fan and its either not working or not installed and the monitoring softeware thinks there is a problem so take a look inside and see if any fans are not spinning, but don't touch anything.

Rick

[jaded-arell]

no you won't you got Geeks to Go 

Aw, now you've made me feel bad. As I have already formatted the computer.
That said, I don't know what caused it, nor why it said my system fan was doing 0 rpm? I checked inside and all of the fans where working.

The Hardrive is a Seagate 80GB, the CPU is a AMD Athlon 2400

Also, I'd like to thank all three of you for helping me out. So thanx doby, audioboy and austin-o


EDIT: Actually, there is one thing that I have now noticed which I dont understand. Since I only did a semi format, my old stuff is still there. That is, when I went into safe mode to check something, I was able to choose my administrator logon, which still ahs all me old stuff, but I can't find it in users, nor can I find it by loggin off or switching users. Any ideas as to how I get it to log back on to administrator, thanx again

Edited by jaded-arell, 11 May 2005 - 07:13 AM.

[audioboy]

try going to C, documents and settings, administrator. this may provide access to your files. otherwise, there are some tricks that can be done to transfer stuff between accounts, but I dont know the secrets to that (thats when I go grab my IT god and cry help!)

[jaded-arell]

I was able to transfer the documents. It is quite weird though, administrator is there in a way, but, windows doesn't fully acknowledge this

[audioboy]

probably to do with how you reinstalled. if it was just a repair install, no changes should have been made. if you did a fresh install, without fully reformatting the HD, you may have ended up with dual boot type setup, both being XP.

as for your system fan, there probably isnt one installed. this will often refer to a fan on the mobo chipset, which many PC's dont have. not a big deal, if the manufacturer felt it was needed, they would have included it.
the other possibility is some mobo's have a place to plug a monitoring connection for a case fan, but I dont see many case fans with that connection. again, nothing to worry about.