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Computer questions..........

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by phishcrazee, Nov 28, 2010.

  1. Nov 28, 2010 #1
    phishcrazee Riverside

    phishcrazee Experienced Reefkeeper

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    I took the hard drive out of my Dell desk top.  Reason being something is wrong with one of the motherboards I *think* and I can't get anything on the monitor to appear anymore........monitor was working, but it would work spotty, being black, then eventually getting lighter until you could see things again.  The monitor does work when hooked up to a different computer, so I'm thinking its something to do with the power being regulated to the monitor (?), but not sure.  It could be the HD is bad too, just don't know enough to be sure.
    I'm wondering if there's a gadget I can just "plug" my hard drive into to retrieve the data?  Should I just take the HD somewhere and have them monkey with it?  I don't mind some DIY stuff if its not super complicated, but I do have 2 small children around most of the time too, so time is limited.  
    Any help/insight would be much appreciated!
     
  2. Nov 28, 2010 #2
    phishcrazee Riverside

    phishcrazee Experienced Reefkeeper

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  3. Nov 28, 2010 #3
    jtesdall

    jtesdall Expert Reefkeeper

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    You should be able to throw that hard drive into another computer and read it just fine unless it is bad. You do need to know a little about the interface if the hard drive has the wide gray cable (about 3 inches, IDE) but the skinny 1/2 inch cable should just hook in and go if the new computer has that interface (SATA). Motherboards with SATA many times have both interfaces (IDE and SATA). IDE can take some configuration with two drives.
    Sounds like the video card may be bad or a loose connection on the old computer. If you move the cable around on the old computer does it get better? You might be able to pick up a cheap video card and stick it in the old computer. Might not be worth your time though if you aren't that familiar with how to do it.
     
  4. Nov 28, 2010 #4
    mthomp

    mthomp Inactive User

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    what JT said, it is most likely your video card. As far as replacing it. A lot depends on the age of the system also. Most cards are using pci express slots now you may be able to find agp.
     
  5. Nov 28, 2010 #5
    phishcrazee Riverside

    phishcrazee Experienced Reefkeeper

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    Thanks for the input. I did put the hard drive into a computer my husband had sitting around from work, but I should have tried turning it on first (doh!) because its not working, lol, so back to square one, almost.........now I'm thinking we may have just been lucky the time we hooked the monitor up to another computer and it worked. I have the(non-working) monitor hooked up right now to this (netbook) and it *should be displaying something, right? But its not. I can faintly see things on the desktop like before, but it just doesn't get lighter like it used to. Nothing happens when I jiggle the connections/cords.

    Do you think its still the video card or something else going on with the monitor? The monitor isn't that old, its a Dell flat screen manufactured in 2005 :/
     
  6. Nov 28, 2010 #6
    phishcrazee Riverside

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    Is it harder than removing/replacing the motherboard?  I've done that.......YouTube videos are a Godsend /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/blush.gif
     
  7. Nov 28, 2010 #7
    mthomp

    mthomp Inactive User

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    it is as simple and snapping the card into the correct slot, installing the drivers. and making sure your bios is set to use that video over the onboard one.
     
  8. Nov 28, 2010 #8
    phishcrazee Riverside

    phishcrazee Experienced Reefkeeper

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    Ok, I think I could do that ^. So if I put the old hard drive back into the old computer and hook it up to another monitor that I know is working and all is honky dory, then the problem was not the video card? I just remembered the kids old computer monitor that they play games on and was going to try that.........if it doesn't work, then try a new video card?
     
  9. Nov 28, 2010 #9
    mthomp

    mthomp Inactive User

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    yeah, it is either the vid card or the monitor imo. but you said the monitor works on another comp. you should also check to make sure you got a good cord connection on both ends.
     
  10. Nov 28, 2010 #10
    phishcrazee Riverside

    phishcrazee Experienced Reefkeeper

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    Tried the monitor with the kids old computer........it flickered on a second longer than usual, but no, its not working, so I guess its the monitor that's bad. Of course now I want to see if there's a fix for it, lol! I'm going to hook up the old computer with the kids monitor just to be sure though. You'd think a monitor would last longer than 5 years; what a waste!
     
  11. Nov 28, 2010 #11
    mthomp

    mthomp Inactive User

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    old tube monitor or lcd?
     
  12. Nov 29, 2010 #12
    phishcrazee Riverside

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    Its a 17" lcd monitor :/
     
  13. Dec 1, 2010 #13
    Andy The Reef Guy

    Andy The Reef Guy Inactive User

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    Is the computer failing to initialize start up sequence all together? cuz then it is the mobo and the bios is fried, move to data recovery options---->>

    Sounds like an onboard video prob to me! You'll want to determine what type of slots your mobo has and get the appropriate PCI, PCIE, or AGP video card for it and upon startup enter the bios and option your video to that slot. If you don't plan on salvaging that computer ne ways, -----> data recovery plan

    As for data recovery, you should be able to get a SATA-USB dock for it (external hard drive dock) and plug it into that thing and retrieve data from it. If it's a real dinosaur though it's likely SCSI hard drive and I don't know if they make external docks for those, but you can always plug it into a slave IDE slot on the mobo and access data from there. OR SCSI hard drive could be plugged into a raid card (raid would be a PCI or PCIE slot) and plug the hd into that to retrieve data. Raid 0, and raid 1 cards are SUPER cheap, most modern mobos have raid built in for SATA drives, you can get a SCSI raid card for 4-10 bucks. SCSI= ribbon cable, SATA= narrow clip plug thinggy.

    +1 on connectors.

    Good luck!
     
  14. Dec 1, 2010 #14
    Andy The Reef Guy

    Andy The Reef Guy Inactive User

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    How did you deduce that it's the monitor from this trial? if it doesn't work on two separate monitors then its the on board video or the mobo bios chip
     
  15. Dec 1, 2010 #15
    phishcrazee Riverside

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    Because the computer works fine with the kid's monitor ^ The monitor does not work fine with any of the other computers I've tried.
     
  16. Dec 3, 2010 #16
    Andy The Reef Guy

    Andy The Reef Guy Inactive User

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    OHhhhh I thought you were saying it DIDNT work with the other monitor. okay, hah!
     

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