Is it my HD that is dead?

[Iam]

I'm finally online on PC2, but PC1 I put together about 2 years ago is somewhat deceased.

If someone can advise me I'd be grateful ... I suspect I've got a dead hard drive, but want to see what you all think - could this actually be a software problem?

I was playing Star Wars Galaxies yesterday PM, & the game crashed, not for the first time - only this time the PC powered off & on, Restarting. However, it failed to Restart, & tried again, & failed, & so on.

It would not get as far as the Windows incoming screen - the one with the 3 dots running across the bar. A blue screen occasionally popped up - & vanished before I could read it - saying that there was a problem ... I even had loud beeping from the motherboard on occasion.

Occasionally I managed to get into Win XP, by hitting F8 & getting to Safe Mode/System Restore.

When I got there I tried various things to mend what I thought was a software problem ... Star Wars Galaxies has a file scanning thingy on it, I tried that - crash. Next time I tried getting into the internet for help - crash as soon as I opened IE. Norton AV kicked in during this, saying the Welchia virus had been detected - I managed to d/load Norton's removal tool & started to use it ... it removed one Welchia (had detected 3 or 4) whereupon I had a warning box pop up saying sysem would turn off in 30 seconds due to a problem with the RCS (I think) service.

I tried system restore a couple of times - no luck, said it had not worked (tho at least it got me into Windows), & the thing crashed to a Restart again.

Now however I look to be properly screwed, as I cannot get anywhere because I get disk reading error whenever I turn the PC on. Can't get to Safe Mode even. I've tried using a Windows Recovery Disk, & putting in my Win XP disk, & booting from that - going for a new reinstall of Windows. I get hard drive not detected, which with the error reading disk is what makes me think RIP HD.

I've opened the case, the HD's connections are secure. The BIOS does have the HD as the boot drive.

What do you think, dead HD or am I missing something?

[Moby-Dick]

sysem would turn off in 30 seconds due to a problem with the RCS (I think) service.

this is one of the symptoms of the welcia/blaster series of worms. You'll need to patch your system back up or you'll get reinfected.
Patches available from windows update.

I'm not convinced the HD is dead - but it is possible that you'll have to full a full rebuild from scratch ( ie completly wipe the HD first to remove any of the old operating system )

In terms of recovering any lost data , its possible to do so with a number of utilities that will boot into a properitry OS that will be able to read data and copy it off to another volume (network or otherwise )

[malfunction]

Edit - just read the bit about the pop up box - sounds like you do have the blaster virus... If you're quick enough you can change the service (RPC) to not do anything if it fails

Could be a virus like Moby-Dick says - the blaster worm was *everywhere* for a while - or it might just be that your HDD was being accessed when the PC reset - which may have damaged the data on your HDD (or possibly the HDD itself). Sounds like it's time to re-format and re-install windows. If you have any data you need to recover from the drive stick it in your other PC first (either as a slave on the primary channel or unplug your CD/DVD and leave it as a master drive on the 2nd channel) if you do end up re-installing might be worth checking your heatsink and fans too - clean out any dust, etc. Also if you're having general problems with the PC might be worth trying a few stress testers like memtest86, prime 95, etc to see if your system is stable, If you're overclocking set everything back to default when you re-intall (unless you're 101% confident that your system is stable)

[Agent]

To stop it shutting down so you can apply the patch.

start > run > cmd
type in "shutdown -a" without quotes, although you'll loose a lot of the windows services.

[Iam]

It's probably due to my ignorance, but I can't even get to a command prompt. I'd be perectly happy(ish) to reformat my HD & reinstall windows (presumably that would do for Welchia), but can't get there.

When I turn the PC on, I get "A disk read error occurred Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart" - then same again.

I get to to the BIOS, & have tried setting the PC to boot from floppy (ERD) & from CD, with my Win XP CD in, to re-install WIndows/reformat my HD.

However, when trying the latter I got HD not detected.