Help - PC crashed and won't re-start

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OnceBitten

535 posts

Ultimate Geek

#144183 9-May-2014 22:29

Our 8 yr old compact desktop PC has crashed and I can't re-start it

it can be very slow at times and I've had a good clean out and it's been ok, but very occasionally if will just freeze and you have to hold the on/off button for 5 seconds to close and then re-start the PC.
When I do this is comes up with options to start in safe mode, start in safe mode with command prompt, start windows normally (which I always choose) and it's fine after that

However I did exactly that earlier tonight (Friday) and got the 'Windows Boot Manager' screen up with the following message.

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem
1. insert windows instillation disc and re-start your computer
2. choose your language settings and click 'next'
3. click "repair your computer"

If you do not have installation disc, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance

File: \Windows\ system32\ config\system

Status: 0xc000014c

Info: windows failed to load because the system registry file is missing or corrupt.

I cannot get past this screen to windows

I've not made any hardware / software change recently, so that's not the problem and unfortunately i do not know where the installation disc is.

is there anything I can do myself to get windows up and running again, or do I need to call someone like geeks on wheels to help??

any advise would be appreciated!

wife and I have an Macbook and plan to transfer everything over to that from the main PC, but wife is spewing at the moment because she doesn't want to lose her MYOB files on the Compaq

clinty

1182 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1041188 9-May-2014 22:44

Hi,

Unfortunately it sounds like your HDD is faulty, and has bad sectors.

I would suggest you do not turn the PC on again as it may corrupt the data further.

If you do not feel confident removing the HDD and scanning it in another PC, I would suggest taking it to a technician and have them copy off your data onto a USB stick or Ext HDD

Clint

richms

28168 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1041206 9-May-2014 23:26

If your harddrive is dead/dying and you have data on the computer which you are only now realizing is important, than unplug the computer and take it to a place that specializes in file recovery.

Do not call a "..... on wheels" or take it to random computer shops, as if the drive is on the verge of failing then their messing around can keep it running long enough that it gets worse.

At least recovering the work files will make it a business expense so you can expense it to the business even if you are getting personal files back as well.

Richard rich.ms

ripdog

548 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1041226 10-May-2014 02:21

The other two are likely correct, but you can't be sure that the drive is faulty without using chkdsk. Of course, if it is faulty, running chkdsk could make it worse.

Specialized data recovery can get expensive. If you can't afford/justify the cost, chances are you'll be able to retrieve the data yourself, unless your HDD is super screwed. Download Ubuntu 32-bit desktop and follow these instructions to make a bootable DVD. Insert this into your old computer, and set your BIOS to boot from it. Once Ubuntu is started, use the file manager to search your old HDD and copy/paste your essential files onto another drive like a usb drive.

This is a risk, of course. If you can afford it, specialized services give you your best chance of retrieving essential data.

timmmay

20575 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1041238 10-May-2014 07:39

Could be anything, corrupt OS and failing hard drive would be the prime suspects. Where are you? If you're in Wellington I could try getting data off it for you, I have a little USB thingy that connects drives to computers.

OnceBitten

535 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1041406 10-May-2014 17:25

thanks for the replies.... I was hoping for the best but preparing for the worst......
I am in Auckland (North Shore) so would need to take it somewhere there.

I do have an external 1 terrabite drive I bought about 4 years ago in Chch, so I can always get that out and get the computer technician to save all the files on to there and I can then upload them to the mac book.

I guess I should have been using the ext Terrabite drive to back up more regularly... as we have about 10 yrs of photos, e-mail contacts...etc... that we need to save. I just turned the computer on again and the same message came up, so I will turn it off and not touch it again.

If anyone does know a good data recovery place on the North Shore Akld please let me know!

thanks again

zaptor

745 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1041415 10-May-2014 17:39

From the sounds of it could be anything really.

Due to it's age it's probably IDE (I assume). I wouldn't assume it's necessarily the HDD. It could be a faulty motherboard.

Guessing you don't have a spare (old) PC lying about to connect your drive to. If you do, I'd suggest using a live distro recovery CD to check it out.

OnceBitten

535 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1041436 10-May-2014 18:18

zaptor: From the sounds of it could be anything really.

Due to it's age it's probably IDE (I assume). I wouldn't assume it's necessarily the HDD. It could be a faulty motherboard.

Guessing you don't have a spare (old) PC lying about to connect your drive to. If you do, I'd suggest using a live distro recovery CD to check it out.

i only have the macbook - which we are eventually going to transfer all the files over to... but this might have to happen sooner rather than later!

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zaptor

745 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1041445 10-May-2014 18:34

OnceBitten:
zaptor: From the sounds of it could be anything really.

Due to it's age it's probably IDE (I assume). I wouldn't assume it's necessarily the HDD. It could be a faulty motherboard.

Guessing you don't have a spare (old) PC lying about to connect your drive to. If you do, I'd suggest using a live distro recovery CD to check it out.

i only have the macbook - which we are eventually going to transfer all the files over to... but this might have to happen sooner rather than later!

Well, you could use a third party service, as suggested earlier.

Or, you could source a cheap PC with IDE for about $20 (or less) from Trademe and try that route first?

zaptor

745 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1041448 10-May-2014 18:36

Regarding the IDE assumption. Make sure it's actually an IDE drive first....

Dairyxox

1594 posts

Uber Geek

#1041469 10-May-2014 19:42

If you download & burn an ISO of "the ultimate boot cd for windows", to a CD or DVD.

Then boot your computer with the disc in the drive, you might need to press f8 or f9 or f10 or enter the bios and set boot from optical drive.

It (the disc) has a "registry restore wizard" which will look for recent backups of your registry and restore it.
(that's what your error message is saying is wrong)

This registry corruption could be the result of many things, not just immanent HDD failure as mentioned above. You still need to work out what's wrong with your pc. But this would probably get you going again in the mean time

Edit
Full instructions here
http://www.technibble.com/how-to-fix-windows-registry-hive/

OnceBitten

535 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1041484 10-May-2014 20:36

zaptor:
OnceBitten:
zaptor: From the sounds of it could be anything really.

Due to it's age it's probably IDE (I assume). I wouldn't assume it's necessarily the HDD. It could be a faulty motherboard.

Guessing you don't have a spare (old) PC lying about to connect your drive to. If you do, I'd suggest using a live distro recovery CD to check it out.

i only have the macbook - which we are eventually going to transfer all the files over to... but this might have to happen sooner rather than later!

Well, you could use a third party service, as suggested earlier.

Or, you could source a cheap PC with IDE for about $20 (or less) from Trademe and try that route first?

well I wouldn't know how to connect the HD from my PC to another PC anyway... I once tried to open up an old PC a few years ago and once I took the case off I had no idea what I was looking at - just a jumble of wires everywhere

CamH

564 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1041489 10-May-2014 21:06

OnceBitten:
I am in Auckland (North Shore) so would need to take it somewhere there.

Feel free to bring it into us, we're just in Birkenhead - I can have a technician take a quick look and we won't charge you for it. We'll be able to tell you whether it needs proper data recovery or whether it's something that can simply be copied over if you would like. I would definitely agree with clinty - Don't turn it on and try fix it yourself if you don't know what sort of state it's in, we see so many completely dead drives because someone's found amazing information on Google which can fix any failing hard drive in 10 steps!