Recovery of PC and Finding Problems

[HatoriTakaya]

Alright this is my second thread and hope someone could lend their technical knowledge in the field of troubleshooting OS and hardware faults.

To run the situation, my Desktop Computer that has all my data was disrupted and affected by the repeated outage of turning on and off more that 8 times. Naturally this killed my Window 7 OS. Now I am in the process of trying to get a working OS on the system and so far Window XP Pro and Window 7 keeps failing on me. I am going through the hard drives with check disk functions and attempting to see any hardware faults.

What I ask now is what else I can do to find possible hardware faults as I can not afford to replace this computer since it already costs $2,000.00 in USD to get the same build and functionality.

So far I can confirm that the following but haven't been fully tested:
- Graphics Unit
- Monitor
- Plug and Play only Keyboard and Mouse
- One Hard Drive may have already failed (That's my VN collection with some of the HF codes that I was keeping in case people need it)

Ideas and suggestions to help me find and locate the problem will be grateful or knowledge what could of happened to the system when repeated outages in a row can do to the system. Hoping I can fix it without replacing it frankly.

 

[MoreDeath-11]

More than likely the hard drive is probably the only faulty part. See if you can recover data from that. Other than that you could probably visually inspect the motherboard for any blown capacitors to see if that is causing the issue.

 

[HatoriTakaya]

Yeah, after 14 days later I got lucky and was able to recover most of my data out of that HDD. Problem is that due to the constant misses and surges of power that was basically flickering on and off motion, most circuits within the system has more likely than not degraded in performance. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Kubi]

Is there a reason for the power faults? You should have a UPS or at least a surge protector connected. A UPS would prevent the computer from even shutting down. You would of course, want to turn it off after losing power to save the UPS, since most don't carry must of a charge anyways. The biggest advantage of a UPS is the surge protection. In terms of electrical damage, your PSU or motherboard are the most likely to be damaged, although anything connected at the time of the power surge could be bad.

The computer turning on and off repeatedly wouldn't necessarily damage the operating system as severely as it sounds like it did. It can certainly cause data corruption and other issues, but it sounds like a physical fault. Since you've already determined the drive is bad I'll assume you've replaced it.

I would first recommend replacing your PSU. They are relatively inexpensive. If you want brand recommendations let me know.

 

[ExtremeShinobi]

Buy a new Power supply and new hard drive, also intall a fresh copy of your windows. Check the System Requirements. :) If it still fails. Better buy A new PC Package. A brand new computer which is already assembled for you, some has competitive price. :)

 

[Kurokaze]

have u tried plug in power in another outlet
clean pc or check if any cable is damaged
open power supply to see if something has burned inside

 

[Kubi]

have u tried plug in power in another outlet
clean pc or check if any cable is damaged
open power supply to see if something has burned inside

LOL! Never open a power supply.

 

[Infamous]

Buy a new Power supply and new hard drive, also intall a fresh copy of your windows. Check the System Requirements. :) If it still fails. Better buy A new PC Package. A brand new computer which is already assembled for you, some has competitive price. :)

if you have to get a new computer and you want a powerful desktop computer, i don't suggest buying it already built. you said you'd have to pay 2,000 USD? i built a computer that can play the highest graphics available for about 500 USD

 

[Kurokaze]

LOL! Never open a power supply.

why?? i have already open a power supply to clean and then reassemble without any problem.
currently using it

 

[FinalPyre]

why?? i have already open a power supply to clean and then reassemble without any problem.
currently using it

Touching a capacitor even after it has been unplugged for a while can hurt you. If you don't really know what you are doing, you shouldn't be in there. They are cheap enough that getting a new one is almost always a better choice.

 

[HatoriTakaya]

Update: Thank you for all your suggestions. I have resolved most of the issues and ironed out some for the time being.

As it stands:

• PS is stable and still able to work fine. I was fortunate since it was more a loss of power than surge of power due to the incident.
• Motherboard life capacipy probably got lowered. But it is still functional as to date.
• CPU performance may have degraded but still functional.
• Video Card seems perfectly fine.
• Only replaced one of the HDD
• Learned that I have a extension PCI sata expansion card which is the reason why I was not able to access the last HDD (GPT mode)
• OS system was practically corrupted
• Completed a Clean Install with diskpart command with another Window 7 Ultimate OEM (sigh)
• Now ironing out the occasional BSOD on the system that occurs every 1-3 days(?)

Is there a reason for the power faults? You should have a UPS or at least a surge protector connected. A UPS would prevent the computer from even shutting down. You would of course, want to turn it off after losing power to save the UPS, since most don't carry must of a charge anyways. The biggest advantage of a UPS is the surge protection. In terms of electrical damage, your PSU or motherboard are the most likely to be damaged, although anything connected at the time of the power surge could be bad.

The computer turning on and off repeatedly wouldn't necessarily damage the operating system as severely as it sounds like it did. It can certainly cause data corruption and other issues, but it sounds like a physical fault. Since you've already determined the drive is bad I'll assume you've replaced it.

I would first recommend replacing your PSU. They are relatively inexpensive. If you want brand recommendations let me know.

@Kubi: Well that's good to hear that the system that been fed with power which is goes on and off doesn't necessary damage the system, exclude potential corruption of data.

UPS, I've considered it but going to need more time to save money for it. Although due to the nature that I'm not at home half the time. If the power were to go out, I feel if there an option of actually force the electricity to disconnect from the entire system would be a better option. That day in particular, I was lucky enough to be relatively close by to just turn off the PC entirely after a few start ups and downs.

The reason of twas pretty simple, some intelligent large truck driver decided to do a rat-run in a small street and ended up pulling one electrical pole down which disrupted approximately two to four block of stable electricity. I would like to post the picture but the scene was deemed under criminal investigation after the incident to prevent any more pictures being leaked out.

@ExtremeShinobi: Thanks for the suggestion. Personally a new HDD was what I ended up purchasing with another OS (can't install the old Window XP OEM anymore, new motherboard setup confused me so I gave up after ten days. The failed installation on a HDD which messed some of the files up was the last straw.)

@Kurokaze: Have and found most of the part survived. Realized it wasn't a power surge since my old power surge boards (I think they are since they have a safety inside to disconnect power when there are surges) didn't disengage. Though one HDD went down with a few other HDD taking some corrupted data.

LOL! Never open a power supply.

@Kubi: Agreed.

if you have to get a new computer and you want a powerful desktop computer, i don't suggest buying it already built. you said you'd have to pay 2,000 USD? i built a computer that can play the highest graphics available for about 500 USD

@infamous: Well that's good to hear. Personally the country I live in, prices are well... expensive in my belief. With that said, that price tag included:

• A motherboard, at the time of purchase, to handle x4 HDD sata
• PCI sata expansion for another x1 HDD sata
• Decent 750W PSU, HCG Antec
• A decent case with average airflow
• Average 8 GB of RAM
• After-market CPU Cooler Replacement
• Warranty of the entire customized system
• Average priced GPU back in 2011
• Which pretty much came close to that amount after the extras I bought at the store later to replace all aging Computer Peripherals.

why?? i have already open a power supply to clean and then reassemble without any problem.
currently using it

In regards, it's more to the beginners rather than those who know what they are doing. I mean, some people don't take notes on what they doing when dissembling the product. Let alone reassembling it.

Touching a capacitor even after it has been unplugged for a while can hurt you. If you don't really know what you are doing, you shouldn't be in there. They are cheap enough that getting a new one is almost always a better choice.

True, although as long the power is out long enough and you remove as much static electricity from your body. You should be okay, though no idea why would anyone would touch the capacitor in that situation.

 

[ExtremeShinobi]

if you have to get a new computer and you want a powerful desktop computer, i don't suggest buying it already built. you said you'd have to pay 2,000 USD? i built a computer that can play the highest graphics available for about 500 USD

Well, it still depends on the buyer, which is the best, There's a lot of cheaper brands on the market now. :)