Computer stuck on black screen

[z1ggy]

Burpo got it. Hopefully just the MBR is hosed. You need to fix an OS before you can update it.

You made it past the first hurdle though. Go ahead and get that SSD and enjoy!

Okay I will try and look for my old Win 7 CD somewhere...

Once I get my hands on it and I boot from CD, if that does not solve my problem, I assume the HD is just toast and I need to do a fresh install on a new drive? If so, would it be possible to grab an old data off the broke HD? I have all my non Steam game data and personal files that I probably haven't backed up in a long time.

 

[Ketchup]

I know you want to get the cart before the horse, but we have no idea if you will be able to get data off the drive until you can a) get it to boot, or b) put it in another computer. If the drive is working, no issue getting the data off. If not, you would need a data recovery service if you need the data.

 

[z1ggy]

I know you want to get the cart before the horse, but we have no idea if you will be able to get data off the drive until you can a) get it to boot, or b) put it in another computer. If the drive is working, no issue getting the data off. If not, you would need a data recovery service if you need the data.

Odds are I won't find my Win 7 CD. I'll probably end up buying Win 8.1 and boot from CD and see where that takes me. Might also buy an SSD incase the HD does turn out to be toast so I can at least start reinstalling software, etc.

Thanks for all the help so far.

 

[z1ggy]

Guys - Just realized if I get the OEM win 7 disk... I can only use it to repair my current hardware. I planned on building a new Skylake platform this year, in which case I'd have to spend another $70 at least to buy another disk.

I guess I need to decide if it's worth that $70 to hope a repair fixes the HD. I could just wait until all the desktop Skylake based hardware is available and know I'll get it to work right away.

 

[KillerBee]

Guys - Just realized if I get the OEM win 7 disk... I can only use it to repair my current hardware. I planned on building a new Skylake platform this year, in which case I'd have to spend another $70 at least to buy another disk.

I guess I need to decide if it's worth that $70 to hope a repair fixes the HD. I could just wait until all the desktop Skylake based hardware is available and know I'll get it to work right away.

You won't have to register the win7 disk just to run the repair tools - so you can still use it for your upcoming computer.

If you want to go the linux route to attempt repair you can try using "DriveDroid" - use your phone to boot your pc

 

[LTC8K6]

Can't you D/L a win 7 repair disc iso?

 

[z1ggy]

You won't have to register the win7 disk just to run the repair tools - so you can still use it for your upcoming computer.

If you want to go the linux route to attempt repair you can try using "DriveDroid" - use your phone to boot your pc

Yeah I didn't realize that until last night when I asked a friend. So pretty low risk here which is good.

Can't you D/L a win 7 repair disc iso?

On what computer? I'd have to borrow somebody's.

 

[z1ggy]

Ok got a Win 7 CD and Booted from the DVD drive. I get a message eventually that says C: is corrupt, so I go to repair... and it just hangs up endlessly.

So I'm going to guess that I need to do a new install here. Should I even bother doing it on this HD? Should I just buy a new HD and install on that?

And I'm honestly considering buying a laptop over building a new desktop. I do love to game, but I haven't gamed since February. As I'm getting older, I'm spending more time out and about, doing work on my house, etc. Especially in the warmer months, I tend to barely even go near my PC, and use my phone for 95% of all internet based things.

I could get the EVO on sale from amazon for like $80 (250gb) just to have a desktop for now, and then buy a Skylake Laptop around Cyber Monday.

Will any of the power house Skylake's be able to run 4K, or VR ?

 

[Ketchup]

Try a clean install if your data is backed up or not important. Buy a new hard drive if you don't have time, but you would need to do a clean install on that anyway.

Not sure why you think you need to build a new desktop.

 

[z1ggy]

Try a clean install if your data is backed up or not important. Buy a new hard drive if you don't have time, but you would need to do a clean install on that anyway.

Not sure why you think you need to build a new desktop.

Because my current basic specs are:

i3-2100
gtx 460

If I want to game anything decent at more than like 15 FPS at 1080p, I need to upgrade. So now that Skylake is out, I might as well do it now as prices for hardware won't be dropping til probably half way into next year when new GPU's come out.

But you're right, I don't need to build a new one right now since I'm not really doing any of that gaming like I used to. I'd just need to get a new Win 7 CD if I made a new build later on.

 

[Charlie98]

Try a clean install if your data is backed up or not important. Buy a new hard drive if you don't have time, but you would need to do a clean install on that anyway.

Not sure why you think you need to build a new desktop.

I'm kind of with him on this... OP, not busting on you but you are all over the board on this.

If all you are losing is a bunch of bookmarks and such since your last backup, just bite the bullet and either reinstall or buy a new drive and start from scratch. Once you get the PC running, you can install the old drive and see if you can pull any files off it. Speaking of which... what kind of backup do you have? Is it a full image, or just a backup of your files? Why can't you install your backup and at least you wouldn't have to start from scratch? ...and where, exactly, is this backup?

Your current machine isn't that bad, for as little as you game (and I'm in the same boat...) I wouldn't waste the money upgrading to Skylake, in fact, I would probably just find a used 2500K CPU and upgrade the GPU (assuming the other components are serviceable.) I wouldn't automatically upgrade the OS to W8 or W10, either... get your W7 running, first!

 

[z1ggy]

I'm kind of with him on this... OP, not busting on you but you are all over the board on this.

If all you are losing is a bunch of bookmarks and such since your last backup, just bite the bullet and either reinstall or buy a new drive and start from scratch. Once you get the PC running, you can install the old drive and see if you can pull any files off it. Speaking of which... what kind of backup do you have? Is it a full image, or just a backup of your files? Why can't you install your backup and at least you wouldn't have to start from scratch? ...and where, exactly, is this backup?

Your current machine isn't that bad, for as little as you game (and I'm in the same boat...) I wouldn't waste the money upgrading to Skylake, in fact, I would probably just find a used 2500K CPU and upgrade the GPU (assuming the other components are serviceable.) I wouldn't automatically upgrade the OS to W8 or W10, either... get your W7 running, first!

Yeah Im loosing like... mainly a bunch of internet bookmarks, non-Steam game data, and a bunch of random programs like MS word, etc.

The backup is my external HD, but I honestly haven't backed up the failed HD in probably a year. A bunch of stuff would be missing, but I guess it's better than nothing. Not a full image either.

Eh, my machine isn't terrible, but I won't be able to run games like GTA V on 1080p on anything more than low settings. Luckily since I'm not gaming, nor do I really see myself gaming until maybe end of fall, I'm in no rush to get into Skylake. Like you and many others say, just get Windows up and running.

I'm going to do a fresh install on the current HD and see what happens, I'll keep an update going. Sorry for any confuse I've made.

 

[Ketchup]

Well, time for a less in backup!

Now, Charlie98 is way more serious about backup than I am, but I am better than I used to be.

Every personal item (my docs, pics, emails, etc) are backed up onto my file/media server about once a week. Pretty much everything important is on one computer, as other computers (especially the laptops) are too much of a pain to put on a cycle.

Now, the server only gets backed up every few months. But the irreplaceable things don't change that often, and have two backups, so I am ok with that.

 

[Charlie98]

Now, Charlie98 is way more serious about backup than I am, but I am better than I used to be.

I am, indeed! I've been right where the OP was, but with my business PC, not a gamer. Backup fanatic? Yup, that's me!

 

[Burpo]

Has OP even checked in bios to see if Sata mode is IDE or AHCI? Probably is a bad drive tho, if it doesn't even try to boot..

 

[z1ggy]

Has OP even checked in bios to see if Sata mode is IDE or AHCI? Probably is a bad drive tho, if it doesn't even try to boot..

Not sure what those modes are. All IDE means to me if the connection type, and obviously my mobo does not have IDE connections...

Guys, as far as back up goes... Can you recommend me any good programs that would automatically back up data? My plan is probably going to be to buy a 500gb SSD, and partition like... half of it as "important" data like pictures, bookmarks, etc and back that up to my already existing 1.5TB external. External is getting a bit old though too D: I think it's at least 5 years old now.

 

[Ketchup]

I use Windows backup. I have it sent to run once a week around 1 AM.

 

[Charlie98]

Not sure what those modes are. All IDE means to me if the connection type, and obviously my mobo does not have IDE connections...

Guys, as far as back up goes... Can you recommend me any good programs that would automatically back up data? My plan is probably going to be to buy a 500gb SSD, and partition like... half of it as "important" data like pictures, bookmarks, etc and back that up to my already existing 1.5TB external. External is getting a bit old though too D: I think it's at least 5 years old now.

IDE vs AHCI are the two 'modes' the hard drive communicates with the computer with (in a nutshell.) If your system was originally loaded and run in AHCI, if you reset the BIOS you will most likely have to reset this parameter to AHCI or it won't work properly. (IDE being the default.)

As far as backup, I use Acronis True Image and an external HDD (actually, several, plus internal drives.) I make full system images every night, but you shouldn't have to go that far...

You can get a 2TB external for less than $100, you can set Acronis to make a backup image and store, say, just the 3 most current images or something. Once it's set correctly, it's hands-off (as long as the PC is running.) There is also an incremental backup, but I don't have any experience with that.

 

[z1ggy]

Thanks guys! Yeah I'll probably snag another spindle type HD for cheap as back up to whatever SSD I end up going with.

Installing windows again as of this morning, so when I get home from work it should be complete.

Will my BIOS recognize an SSD right away or will I need to do any updates, etc?

 

[Ketchup]

Thanks guys! Yeah I'll probably snag another spindle type HD for cheap as back up to whatever SSD I end up going with.

Installing windows again as of this morning, so when I get home from work it should be complete.

Will my BIOS recognize an SSD right away or will I need to do any updates, etc?

BIOS doesn't care. Should be a simple process.

 

[z1ggy]

K so.... Windows won't install, or something weird is going on. I click the "install now" button and it asks me what drive/partition I want to use... click "ok" and it just hangs up on that screen with the loading wheel spinning endlessly.

I tried it 3 separate times, with no luck. So....Not sure if it's an issue with the boot CD or what. Sigh...

 

[Burpo]

That hard drive is BAD! Windows won't install to a bad drive..

 

[z1ggy]

That hard drive is BAD! Windows won't install to a bad drive..

Yep, my thoughts exactly. I'll probably order that 500gb Samsung EVO drive off Amazon shortly then.

 

[z1ggy]

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know I got my win 7 x64 loaded onto the SSD. Man...Can't believe how fast I get to my desktop now from start up compared to before.

I had to download some drivers to get things to play nicely, but overall it seems that all I need to do now is plug my old HDs back in and see what files I can pull from them.

One final question:
I may build a skylake machine sometime this year. This obviously means I will be replacing my current mobo, cpu and gpu for new parts. I won't have to do another clean install will I?

 

[Ketchup]

Probably not. You may have to update Intel software, but it should boot just fine so that you can do that. Once you decide to make the move, just make sure you get the latest driver software that applies to you before you do the swap.