# crashed pc



## nap (Dec 4, 2007)

well, that depends on why it crashed.

It is possible but if there is a problem with the motherboard, all the new HD's in the world aren't going to fix it.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

All the data is on the hard drive, so if the hard drive is dead the data is gone
If the hard drive is good it can be installed in another PC as a slave (2nd drive) & the data copied off

DO NOT try to install it as the primary - 1st drive


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## turnabolt (Dec 4, 2009)

nap said:


> well, that depends on why it crashed.
> 
> It is possible but if there is a problem with the motherboard, all the new HD's in the world aren't going to fix it.


Do viruses effect the hard drive or can they crash the mother board also?


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

Most virus only effect the HD
I don't know of any that write to BIOS or anything else on the MB
But it is possible, not probable in most cases
If you don't need the data on the drive you can wipe it out & re-install the OS
THIS WILL delete all DATA

You can get rid of a virus....why did it crash, what is happening ?


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## pyper (Jul 1, 2009)

Might be too late now, but I like the i-omega external drive with Retrospect Express software for making backup copies of all my data. 

Regarding your problem, what happens when you turn on the PC?


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

turnabolt said:


> Do viruses effect the hard drive or can they crash the mother board also?


Although viruses usually effect the programs stored on the hard drive, they absolutely can and do effect the motherboard by re-writing things like the EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) chips sitting on it. Usually this level of infection is more invasive and control seeking than wanting to destroy your machine though. 

Will the machine power on at all? If not, you may just have lost a power supply and these are not expensive or particularly hard to replace. 

Have you tried booting your machine with the emergency disc you made when you got it or that may have come with it? This will help you determine whether it is your motherboard or the hard drive. If it starts up from the emergency disc, you probably blew a hard drive. Or you may have overfilled it? If you can get access to it, try simple things like cleaning it up and defragmenting it before anything else. 

Sure you didn't just blow the monitor or video card?

If you fried a motherboard, welcome to the club! I don't know why but I went through more than a few on one machine before I got one that lasted forever until the power supply finally gave out (was not worth replacing given the age of everything). Before you despair and toss it, and if you are comfortable with working under the cover? You might just go inside (with power off) and make sure none of your chips or plugs have come loose especially if this happened after a recent move.

If it is the hard drive but you can boot? You might be able to recover and/or reformat and reload the operating system. You will lose all your data in the latter case and you will have to reload all your programs. If yours is an OEM machine though? You probably did not get operating system discs with it? 

I personally would not trust the existing drive, even as a reformatted slave, until I ran all the diagnostics and especially those for the physical condition. Hard drives are so inexepensive I would replace it if there was any hint of a continuing problem. All hard drives have to fail eventually. 

If you did not backup data you really need? There are services that can get to drives in some of the worst shape you can imagine. 

Next go round? Think about an online backup service? I have used Mozy for years to back up my drives online. They encrypt the data but if I ever need it I can get to it from any machine including a new one or an old one with a new hard drive. Well worth $60/year (I think you can get 2GB for free) for the peace of mind for me. It does it in the background and I think gives you access to the last five versions of backed up files. If I had a college student in the family I would not let them go off to school without something like this! 

https://mozy.com/home

I would still have to load all the programs though if I lost a computer or laptop. No getting around that.

Tough decision in this day and age how much to sink into an old machine.


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