Repairing Basic Computer Hard Ware Problem (system Disk Failure and Broken PSU and Missing/corrupt Files)

Intro: Repairing Basic Computer Hard Ware Problem (system Disk Failure and Broken PSU and Missing/corrupt Files)

THIS GUIDE IS NOT YET FINISHED, I WILL ADD MORE INFORMATION WHEN I GET A CHANCE.

If you need any help with fixing a computer or if you have any questions at all feel free to message me"

In this instructable i will tell you how to repair basic computer hard ware and software problems.
I will tell you how to:
1.Hard drive problems
2.replacing hard drives
3.Power supply problems
4.System problems (windows XP etc...)
5.Mother Board problems
6.CPU problems
7.RAM problems
8.Speed upgrades

THIS INSTRUCTABLE WILL BE CHANGED DAILY AND NEW STUFF WILL BE ADDED IN SO KEEP CHECKING.

STEP 1: Power Supply!

If you plug in your computer and hit the power button and nothing at all happens (no fans or lights come on) CHECK THE FUSE IN THE PLUG.

Only open a computer up if you Know the fuse in the plug is working.

Power supply problems:
1.The light or fan on the power supply do not work.
2.Nothing in the computer works.(plug something into the USB power to see if there is power going to it)
3.No lights / fans or beeps come from the computer.

If any of the above happen to you try changing the power supply unit.This can be down by removing the computer case and removing the PSU(picture below. The PSU is only held by a few screws.

Put a new power supply unit in and try that and the computer should work.

STEP 2: System Disk Failure

If you turn your computer on and it says SYSTEM DISK FAILURE , PLEASE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ANY KEY, this means there is a problem with your hard drive.

FIRST check their is no floppy disk or cd/dvd disk in any drive.
Then restart the computer.

If the above paragraph did not work read below.

To fix this problem you can try to reinstall your operating system first.You can do this by inserting your windows XP/vista disk etc.. and then restart the computer. If the disk loads follow the on screen instructions and if this does not work read below.

If you have added any new hard ware into your computer that uses the same PSU as your hard drive it may be getting less power which will cause it to fail. If you added a new dvd / cd drive remove the power plug from it and try restarting the computer and if the hard drive loads the problem was the hard drive needed more power.

If you still want to use the new hard ware you could buy a new PSU that has more power output. this will give the new hard ware the power it needs and it will also give the hard drive the power it needs.

STEP 3: File Missing or Corrupt

If you get a black screen that says A FILE IS MISSING OR CORRUPT, this can be fixed very easily. Just insert the widows xp/vista disk you got with your computer and then the computer will automatically reinstall the missing file.

STEP 4: System Disk Failure (new Hard Drive Needed)

If you alreasy tried step 2 and your computer still says SYSTEM DISK FAILURE, then you most likley need a new hard drive.

WARNING !! REPLACING A HARD DISK WILL BE LIKE HAVING A NEW COMPUTER, ALL THE INFORMATION THAT WAS ON THE COMPUTER WILL BE ON THE OLD HARD DRIVE AND NOT THE NEW ONE.!!

Replacing a hard drive is simple. first open your computer and look below the dvd and cd drives for the hard drive.(picture below)

Now take the cables from the back of the hard drive. and check to see if it is an IDE or SATA hard drive.

The hard drives in the picture below are SATA , the SATA cable is the red cable connecting to the hard drive from the mother board.

An IDE cable is the ones connecting the DVD/CD drive to the mother board. these can be used on hard drives too so check before you buy a new hard drive.

remember
SATA: small cablecorrupt
IDE: Thick cable with about 24 pins on each end (the ends are long rectangles)

After removing the hard dive bring it to a computer shop and ask them for another hard drive the same or the hard drive you want.
You can buy a 80GB 7200RPM Maxtor hard drive for £30.

To fit the hard drive insert it into the pace below the disk drives and secure it with 4 screws and then put the IDE or SATA cables into it. then insert the power cable.

Turn on the computer and reinstall your operating system by using the disk you got with your computer.

Now your computer is fine .

P.S you may need to download drivers for your sound cards etc.

Comments

[kj.vergara.7]

hi ,, ahm , ,can u teach me all the parts of the system unit on how to fix all the problems . . if you can, teach me how please , because i want to learn a lot about computer hardware . .

[Victor805]

I remembered I had a very complete error flowchart, it might be useful:

I don't know if it's too much outdated, I guess most of the problems will still apply, sorry if it's a bit blurry, I think the uploader compresses the image.

[infraredman21]

Hey whats up? i'm chris and i have a "Dell Inspiron" i got it from a friend and it hade "Windows Xp" and it hade crashed before i got it, it hade a wipe out floppy that came with it and i did that and it so called wiped it so then i installed Window ME 2000 and then it booted up and it was very very very slow i mean like 3 minutes befor the mouse would move each time you wanted it to move so i hit the power button and it shut down and i turned it back on and it sade no "Hard Drive Fond" and i will now do nothing when i put the Windows boot cd in is loads and then say no hard drive fond, and the floppys that i hade my brother thout they was just so old floppys so he erased it now i have no undo floppy is there any thing you can help me do to fix it i would love to have it up and runing i've never seen it work befor other then that one time and boy i should have never turned it off please help if you can.....chris

[memyselfand1]

woah. excuse me while i mentally punctuate that.

[twitch2009]

Boot off a windows xp cd and boot recovery console and type in "format C:" this wipes that hard drive ...if you had spyware on it before it might of messed it up.

[infraredman21]

OH I ADDED YOU ON YAHOO MY NAME IS CARROCK19

[dean-101]

sounds like the hard drive is broken, but if it was running really slow first it could be the RAM, if you could try a new stick of RAM in it and it still does not work check all the cables and power supply on the inside of it. if this does not work take out the hard drive and put one in that you know works, install xp /2000 from a cd/dvd and it should work fine. but i suggest u try a different hard drive first then power supply and if problem is still the same try ram . if none of these work the mother board could be broken / overheating too fast

[Derin]

HELP!!!!!MY XP DISK WONT REPLACE THE MISSING FILE!!!!

[dean-101]

do you know if the xp disk is working perfect with no scrapes on it? , also if your computer is making any weird noises , your hard drive could be broken. you can buy a 70gb one for around £30. What happened to your computer? and i may know another way to fix it

[Derin]

no it is a good one and no weird noises except from heavy use of cd drive if you can help the file is named ntoskrnl.exe

[ReCreate]

ntoskrnl.exe? that file that is a part of the windows kernel, that is what contains the images(boot screen) that shows at startup, That is a very important file, You can try to replace the file, it is the windows/system32 folder(i think). You could use MS-DOS to copy the file back...Only if you are familiar with command line...

[ReCreate]

Or a linux distro, I like Slax And Puppylinux, you can try those.

[dean-101]

if u have a spare hard drive try using that or , get a ide to usb connector and take out ur hard drive and connect it to another computer via usb, if it works then copy the file from your other computer. If this does not work , it is most likly u need a new hard drive

[Derin]

thanks for the help i may use it if using the driver diskette doesnt work

[Derin]

and,i found another xp disc which didnt work without my newly obtained sata driver

[Derin]

the disk works when it wants to

[ReCreate]

OMG OK FIRST BACKUP EVERYTHING AND REINSTALL XP OK AND DONT YELL IN CAPS OK?

[Derin]

BACKUP IS HARD WHEN YOUR FILES ARE ALL OVER THE DRIVE

[ReCreate]

OMG O RLY? JUST COPY EVERYTHING OFF OF THE DRIVE PROBLEM SOLVED ALSO STOP YELLING OK? lol

[cavemaneca]

This isn't always the case. I recently had a problem with a corrupt file "windows\system32\config\SYSTEM", and putting in the install disk only asks for you to either install the OS or go to the repair console. Since reinstalling the OS my cause problems with having to reinstall programs, and reconfigure settings, It's usually less of a hassle to just fix it. How I do this is I have a clean backup of the OS that I can refer to. When I have a problem like this, I plug in the backup hard driver as a slave, then open the repair console, which is almost identical to DOS, and I transfer the missing or corrupt files from the clean OS copy to the one that I use. For those who have constant problems with the computer shutting off and corrupting files, and viruses don't seem to be the problem, download a program such as SpeedFan(free), which shows you the temperature of the computer. Optimal temperature is <40 degrees for the CPU and MoBo. 40-50 is 'uncomfortable', 50-60 is dangerous, and 60-70 is and immediate problem. If the computer reaches temperatures over 70, it may shut off without waring, corrupting vital system files. If temperature isn't the problem, then it's possible that you have a very low quality virus scanner, and it's missing things. I suggest actually paying for one, especially one that will update daily.