Hello, i'm looking for some advise :
I recently installed a network card on an old PC. When started the pc launched XP pro sp3, then rebooted automaticaly thrice. At the third time at reboot it launched the scan disk which it performed nicely. Then boot again, opened XP, reboot twice and at the third time the disk gave a read error. No way to boot XP. I ran the PC boot set up (f10 at launch) which has a disk test utility. The disk test (which i reckon is pure hard ware) tested the controller, the surface, read / write test / the cables, several time (3 loops) and all were fine, not errors. If i attached as slave the HDD and boot from a another disk, the disk can be seen but as unformated.

I wonder if while rebooting something went wrong at the MBR or elsewhere and if there were some tools (and which) which could help me to recover the files or get the hdd back in order to retrieve the files and most likely either trash it or reformat it completely after rescuing the files

Thanks for the orientation, best regards

If you have another (but definitely good working) hdd at your hand,
then try to set up xp with it. If that works, than you know where the
problem is. Would also change the cable (bet its ide).

If the problem remains after that test, its the question whether its
worth it to surch for the failure: Memory, graphic card, cpu, mainboard....

+++

Hi,

Use the MHDD (you can dowload from files section) to scan the hdd for read errors, and if have no error, you can use getdataback or similar for restore the files.

Your drive have several FS damages, the scandisck/chkdsk can't fix the problem anymore.
Unfortunately you need to reinstall the OS if you want the pc to work again...

Janod

additionally, falther have right, the sudden restarts is definitely a hw problem in the old pc...

If you want your data, then try running any logical data recovery software on the internet. Reliable software should cost about $80-$400!!

Do I understand correctly i should install a another hdd with XP on it. Yes this i have a working hdd wich i used to boot from and attached the failed drive as slave hoping i could read its content. The hard disk can be seen from the device manager but the system gives an error message where the disk cannot be read, like it would not have been formated or partitionned. I'm not intending to re used it only trying to find a mean to get the data back.


Could you name some please ?

Many thanks that is most helpfull, best regards