Hard drive recoverable?

HistoryFan wrote:

I'm asking this question on behalf of my uncle who is mostly computer
illiterate.

He has a Compaq Deskpro computer. Running Windows 98SE, Celeron
333Mhz
processor, 192MB of RAM, 3.1GB hard drive, 56K modem and NIC card.

A couple of days ago, his neighborhood suffered a power outage.
After
he turned his PC on, my uncle saw this message...."1781- Disk 1 Failure."

Is his hard drive repairable, or will he have to get a new one?
Does he need the data? I have had luck swapping the PCB from one drive to
another if they are the exact same model. If he doesn't want the data,
then its not worth it to try to fix it, toss the drive and put in another

HistoryFan wrote:

Does he need the data? I have had luck swapping the PCB from one drive
to
another if they are the exact same model. If he doesn't want the data,
then its not worth it to try to fix it, toss the drive and put in another

The only problem is that my uncle doesn't have the Windows 98SE
CD-ROM. It was purchased at a store (now out of business) that sold
used/rebuilt PC's. The operating system disc was not included.
Does he have the license paper and cd-key, those are what matter legally.
If he has those then a backup of another CD is perfectly acceptable.

I'm asking this question on behalf of my uncle who is mostly computer
illiterate.

He has a Compaq Deskpro computer. Running Windows 98SE, Celeron 333Mhz
processor, 192MB of RAM, 3.1GB hard drive, 56K modem and NIC card.

A couple of days ago, his neighborhood suffered a power outage. After
he turned his PC on, my uncle saw this message...."1781- Disk 1 Failure."

Is his hard drive repairable, or will he have to get a new one?

Does he need the data? I have had luck swapping the PCB from one drive to
another if they are the exact same model. If he doesn't want the data,
then its not worth it to try to fix it, toss the drive and put in another

The only problem is that my uncle doesn't have the Windows 98SE
CD-ROM. It was purchased at a store (now out of business) that sold
used/rebuilt PC's. The operating system disc was not included.

In addition to treating the obvious symptom/message as the actual cause (drive
failure), change out the motherboard battery. When the battery is gone or well
on its way, this can create odd symptoms when the CMOS repository of motherboard
info becomes corrupted. Hard drive "geometry" is kept in CMOS, and the
1781message can also result from attempting to read a drive using incorrect
drive geometry info from the CMOS.

Some DeskPros use the most common C2032 coin-sized battery. Others use a less
common larger one, C2450, I think. The former would cost maybe a couple of
bucks at a camera or electronics store, the latter probably more.

If the computer has never had its motherboard battery replaced, it is about
time, no matter what... Ben Myers

On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 23:30:57 GMT, "HistoryFan"
wrote:

I'm asking this question on behalf of my uncle who is mostly computer
illiterate.

He has a Compaq Deskpro computer. Running Windows 98SE, Celeron 333Mhz
processor, 192MB of RAM, 3.1GB hard drive, 56K modem and NIC card.

A couple of days ago, his neighborhood suffered a power outage. After
he turned his PC on, my uncle saw this message...."1781- Disk 1 Failure."

Is his hard drive repairable, or will he have to get a new one?

"Eugene" wrote in message
...
HistoryFan wrote:

I'm asking this question on behalf of my uncle who is mostly
computer
illiterate.

He has a Compaq Deskpro computer. Running Windows 98SE, Celeron
333Mhz
processor, 192MB of RAM, 3.1GB hard drive, 56K modem and NIC card.

A couple of days ago, his neighborhood suffered a power outage.
After
he turned his PC on, my uncle saw this message...."1781- Disk 1
Failure."

Is his hard drive repairable, or will he have to get a new one?
Does he need the data? I have had luck swapping the PCB from one drive to
another if they are the exact same model. If he doesn't want the data,
then its not worth it to try to fix it, toss the drive and put in another

If he has to recover the data, check the tech nation site for their list
of "100 Ways To Recover A Hard Drive". Most are one time solutions that
require you to have another drive to save the data on formatted and ready
before you revive the old drive.

KC