Computer problem (multiple questions)

[txgroomer70]

Okay where do I start?  I generally leave my computer going all the time.  Evidently something happened while I was gone I came home from work and my computer was turned off.  I tried to start it ..nothing no power..okay power supply box went out on me no big deal, i've had to replace it before.  Well I finally got around to getting another supply box I installed it everything is hooked up.  Went to turn it on..YAY we have power.  Well when it booted up it would get just past the log on screen and then it locks up.  Turned it off tried again it locked up at the log in screen. Turned it off tried again tried to start with safe mode so I could do a system restore I got that far that time then it locked up again.  After many..MANY restarts it would lock up at different areas. Sometimes at the black screen where it asks which mode to start, I even let it do the countdown to starting windows (on the safe mode option screen) and it would lock up on the count down. It never would freeze at any one certain spot.  I could hear the hard drive doing it's "grinding" then it would just stop when it froze/locked up.  I tried ctl/alt/del it would do nothing.
 I'm not sure if this is due to a virus or a bad hard drive or what?  Is there anyway to find out with it doing this? Is there anyway to make it go further so I can find out what's causing it?  I have A LOT of stuff on my hard drive I don't want to lose.  I'm fairly sure I hooked all the cables up correctly when installing the power supply box. I did notice the fan over the processor was REALLY dirty and I cleaned that out, could I have fried the motherboard/processor by it getting over heated from the fan being dirty.. help please! TYA
Beth

[GX1_Man]

The real question is what happened when it went out. Was it a power surge that damaged other components? Is it a failure of the fan and the CPU overheated?  (If an AMD, this can be critical, but you didn't say what you had.) The first thing would be to slave that drive to a working computer with a CDRW to back up your data (and not on CDRW discs!). Then you can pursue this mystery. As the hard drive locks up you run the risk of damaging sectors and compromising the data.

I'll hold off on the importance of  backing up valuable data on a ahard drive alone. They all die sometimes, which is why a regular backup strategy to optical media is essential.  

Another idea would be to boot the machine with a Linux Live CD to see if the drive is intact and can be read and then copy to a pen drive, across a network, etc.  it won't even touch that hard drive. If the hard drive is already bad the data may be already gone, except for expen$ive data recovery services.

[txgroomer70]

It's a Pent 4 Processor no name "brand" type computer this one was built for me so it's not like a Dell, Compaq, etc.  The fan on the power supply had been making some noises off and on prior to going to out so I'm thinking the powersupply just went out.  Which it had done this to me before one day it just didn't come back on and I had to replace the power supply box but what else it did when that happened I haven't a clue so that is why I'm baffled it locks up during different parts of the boot up process.  

The computer I am on working now is basically the same thing just a different motherboard was also built.  How would I go about taking my other HD and put it with this one for it to work?  I'm clueless when it comes to this.  

About the backing up data.  I did back up a lot of data and I have most of all my stuff I want off the other HD it's just I have some graphic programs on the other one and I add "extras" added on to them and I just like the way that was working for me rather than having to go through allllllll setting back up again.  I have downloaded some of the programs on the one I'm on now, but it's just not the same, I really liked my old computer!! LOL  
So I guess any info on how to put old HD with this one and to try and fix it or troubleshoot or transfer data help would be MUCH appreciated and thank you so much for the info so far!  

[GX1_Man]

How big are the hard drives, and what are the other system specs comparing what you had to what you are now using? What operating system?

[txgroomer70]

The HD I'm having problems with is a 40GB the one I'm on now is not quite as big.  Both are using XP Professional.  Is that what you're wanting to know?

[GX1_Man]

Take the 40 gig drive and jumper it asw Slave (SL) and connect it to the IDE cable that hold the drive in the working computer. You do not have to physically install the drive. Just connect the data cable and a power cable to it.

Next turn on the machine and go to the BIOS/Setup and see if the drive is there. If so escape out of there and let WIndows boot. Can you see the files on it?

http://www.helpwithpcs.com/upgrading/install-hard-drive.htm

http://www.pcguide.com/byop/byop_SettingHardDriveJumpers.htm

http://www.driverzone.com/guides/hd/install/hdinstall_p1.html

[txgroomer70]

LOL ok, dumb question here.  I know what you're talking about with the jumper and slave thing.  Component side down looking at the HD the jumper is on the second pins   what do I move it to make it slave?

[txgroomer70]

LOL nevermind you answered that already thanks! I'll let ya know in a bit!

[txgroomer70]

ok, I'm guessing it's recognized i'm doing a scan disk on it right now.  When I clicked on My Computer it shows C drive and F drive and it's showing the HD now.    

[GX1_Man]

Just copy the data files off if you want. It sounds like you're fixed!  

[txgroomer70]

It's still doing the scan disk and checking for errors.  So, if there is nothing wrong with my HD is the motherboard or processor causing the problems on the other computer?

And thank you for all the help

[GX1_Man]

ing for sure what happened, the possibilities are motherboard, RAM, CPU (probably in that order of likelihood). You can try booting it up without the hard drive and see what happens. I would unhook any other drives and add in cards besides the video and only one stick of RAM. If it boots up to POST without error, let it run for a while. Then you can add one thing at a time and see what causes the problem.