XP Office, if possible.
When you say “fan” do you mean the power supply or the fan that cools the CPU?
Sounds simple.....new power supply. One with no dust bunnies !
S3
Assuming the hard drive itself is good, once you acquire a replacement, if it’s not a laptop and has room for a second hard drive, you should be able to take the old hard drive and hook it up as a “slave”, and then copy anything you want to from it to the “master” that’s the primary in the replacement computer.
Once that’s done, do a “wipe” (do a search on “disk wipe”, here’s one sample: http://www.cezeo.com/products/disk-redactor/ )on the old drive, then “beat the tar” out of it with a large hammer.
Or, you could just leave the “old” drive installed and point the Windows swap file at it, taking some of the load off the primary drive.
It sounds like it’s a power issue and not a hard drive issue. 2002, you would probably enjoy a new computer and you can get a really good one for a few hundred dollars now. (Dell is under $300 at Walmart) Geek Squad at Best Buy or a computer repair shop should be able to take your hard drive out (let them so you don’t fry it with static, they have the right flooring for that) and move the information and data to your new computer for not a high charge.
Funny timing?
You can always add the current hard drive as a second hard drive on your new computer. Then read or transfer the information.
Make sure you didn’t pull the power cord loose or something simple like that. Weird things happen. I’ve seen my share.
Speaking generally?
Get a unit like this one ( there are several makers of them ):
http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adapt.php
Universal Drive Adapter
Pull your hard drive, hook up the adapter, and borrow a friend’s computer to find & copy your files.
Or, you could get another PC and connect the old HD as a slave or secondary drive, and poke around for your stuff.
Another idea would be to blow out the case ( to get rid of dust ) and try a replacement power supply.
If you desire to replace your 2002 PC which is somewhat elderly, I would make a deal at the local dealer to transfer the data from the old Hard Drive to the new PC for no or minimal charge.
Most likely a power supply or cabling issue. Check the internal power connection from the power supply to the motherboard, make sure it’s seated properly. Look for a model number on your motherboard and google it.
I had a motherboard that did a similar thing to me, and it turned out that if you unhooked all external connections to it, pulled out all the RAM (except for one piece), then powered up, powered down, replace one item, power up, etc, etc, then it would work fine again.
Weird issues can crop up out of nowhere like that. It happens, unfortunately. And, unlike what some other fools are saying, your OS has nothing to do with it.
If the PC won’t power up (a box fault) then open the case, remove the hard-drive and - when you have brought a new computer - plug it in as a secondary or “slave” hard-drive. You should then be able to read the data fine.
If the PC will power up but it fails to enter Windows (or whatever your operating system is) correctly, probably due to corruption on the hard-drive - then I recommend buying “SPINRITE”. It’s not free, but it is not expensive and it is a superb little application which will serve you well through life. Stick the Spinrite application on a floppy or other bootable media, and use that to cure your hard-drive.
Hope this is helpful.
Assuming that you do back ups.
Most people don't, until they get burned.
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It would be the power supply. It could also be a problem with the motherboard.
If it were the drive that was bad, the machine would still try to start, and you would hear a low grinding type sound as the BIOS tries to communicate with the hard drive.
Can you boot from a CD/DVD drive or 3.5 floppy drive? If so, try putting a bootable disk in and see if the computer boots from the disk. If it won't, then the problem sounds to be the power supply or motherboard.
If that is the case, you (or your technician) can probably reclaim the data on the hard drive to a new computer.
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Computers are relatively cheap. Local tech charges $99 minimum to even open a case. New computers from Tigerdirect.com, for example, are as cheap as $299.
I bought my last system without keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc., to save a few $$$$.
Weigh the cost of repair against the cost of a new one.
Did you remove the USB drive from the back or the front of the computer?
Yes, there is a difference. The back one is on the motherboard and the front one is connected to the motherboard. It may be a short.
Join the computer talk!
some pc’s won’t start up if the fan isn’t working. if you have pets in the house, or some hair has gotten caught with the dust on the fan blades they may not be turning. try cleaning it out first.
It sounds like you fried the mother board...and the father board, too.
blue screen of death ping
That's how I usually do it to save data, once it is determined that the hard drive is NOT the part causing the failure.
Did you knock the power cord out of the supply?