Hard Drive(?) Problems. Please Help! Im lost.

[Lukey114]

Im on my lap top right now, because my PC is totally inop.
Ill start at the beginning.
So like most computers, after its been sitting for a while, a computer will go into a sleep mode, and with the touch of the mouse, or keyboard, it will pop back on, well about a week ago, it didnt come back on for me.
So i restarted it, and then it said, "The computer did not shut down properly, would you like to run it in A. Safe Mode, B. Last known good config, or C. Normal Start up." Didnt think anything of it, so i did normal start up, but instead of starting up, right after that, the screen would go black, and it would stay that way.
So i got my XP disk to "Repair" windows, and i was having trouble getting into the BIOS. I switched some wires around and finally got into the BIOS, and ran windows set up.
And this is where i am at right now. During the windows set-up, everything works just fine, until it says, "Setup Starting Windows", Then it freezes.
Could it be my hard drive bad, or another peice of hardware? Cuz i wouldnt imagine a virus could even mess up windows boot disk, could it?
Please help. Thank you.
-Lucas

 

[MrCoffee]

can you load up windows in safe mode? if so try reverting to your most recent restore point.

Do you any error messages, blue screens?

 

[Lukey114]

Nope, i cant, itll freeze 1/2 way down to loading everything.
I dont get any errors, any signs showing me that something inside the hard drive is wrong.
It just freezes every time, no warning.

 

[MrCoffee]

try running memtest86 http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=1247 just to check your ram is ok.
Check your processor temperatures in your bios under system health status (or something similar)

When you say it freezes halfway though loading everything, is there stuff on the screen, a long list of files that sort of thing?

Try entering the repair console from your XP CD and run the command chkdsk /r

 

[Lukey114]

try running memtest86 http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=1247 just to check your ram is ok.
Check your processor temperatures in your bios under system health status (or something similar)

When you say it freezes halfway though loading everything, is there stuff on the screen, a long list of files that sort of thing?

Try entering the repair console from your XP CD and run the command chkdsk /r

1. I cannot run that on the computer because i cannot get into it.

2. Ive checked the tempatures in the bios and nothing was in the red.

3. When i do the Safe mode, it does a long list, and then freezes 1/2 way through.

4. Ive tried entering the repair console, but it wont let me get that far before that freezes as well. It always freezes on "Setup Starting Windows"

 

[FlashDude]

If there is nothing you care about on the hdd then when you boot from the XP cd you can delete all the partition's and select the remaining space and format the hdd (ntfs quick) and install. I have seen this problem when people try to reinstall instead of formatting the hdd.

 

[MrCoffee]

You can't enter the repair console? thats pretty serious. Are you sure you're doing it right (press R when first prompted).

you don't need a functional computer as such to run memtest 86 as it runs from the floppy drive. You set the program up on the floppy then boot the computer from that floppy and it starts checking your RAM.

 

[Lukey114]

If there is nothing you care about on the hdd then when you boot from the XP cd you can delete all the partition's and select the remaining space and format the hdd (ntfs quick) and install. I have seen this problem when people try to reinstall instead of formatting the hdd.

Ive tried doing that as well, but for some reason, it either wont pick up my wireless keyboard(which it should), or its not letting me get that far before freezing.

 

[Lukey114]

You can't enter the repair console? thats pretty serious. Are you sure you're doing it right (press R when first prompted).

you don't need a functional computer as such to run memtest 86 as it runs from the floppy drive. You set the program up on the floppy then boot the computer from that floppy and it starts checking your RAM.

Yeah, it doesn't even get far enough to give me the option of pressing R. Thats why im so lost.

Im thinking about hooking my hard drive up to my girlfriends computer to check and see if its a hardware problem with my computer. Good or bad idea?

 

[FlashDude]

Most of the time you have to use a ps2 keyboard for the installation for sure a wireless keyboard won't work. they will "Sometimes" alow you to get into the bios but it's hit an miss. Do you have an old ps2 keyboard laying around or at the very lest a corded usb keyboard?