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Computer problems

6 years ago

I leave my computer on 24/7 unless there's a storm. Last Tues morning, I had a black screen with the message of "hard disk drive failure. Strike F1, then F2, etc". Computer is a Dell Inspiron, w/Windows 8.1" When I turned pc off, and then turned back on, all was okay again. It does it every night. I can't do anything physical at all and am mostly homebound. Someone recommended Geek Squad. Called, got price of coming to my house, etc. Wanted to get more info first. Reviews online are NOT good and that's from on here about 3 yrs ago too.

I've asked friends/family. No one knows of anyone. Any advice at all for me. (Never know till you ask)

Featured Answer

User

6 years ago

Gadgets, I’m sorry you’re going through this. My DH is an IT professional who fixes computers all day long. (He even used to work for Dell) He said that it could just be a sector on the hard drive that is bad or worst case scenario is that your hard drive is beginning to fail. He strongly suggests that you save all your files and pictures on a USB stick drive or back up drive and then defrag your hard drive. We don’t use Windows 8, but I did find this tutorial via Google which can show you how to defrag if you’ve never done it before.

https://www.google.com/search?q=path%20to%20defrag%20on%20windows%208&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

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Comments (10)

User
6 years ago
I had that happen to me last July. I ended up having to get a new computer.
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User
6 years ago
Yeah...I agree with JoAnn, a new computer might be in order. One can always change out the hard drive, however if you have to pay someone to do it for you, the cost for the drive plus labor may not be worth it.
User
6 years ago
Yes. Back up your PC. At some point the hard drive will fail completely.

Mine is currently doing this. So far F2 etc. has been working. I've had dozens of PCs over the years at home and at work. This doesnt get cured easily and you might as well get a new one.
gadgets
Original Author
6 years ago
I went ahead and did the defrag like you suggested. When I pulled it up, it says it's set to do it once a week, but I did it anyway.

Okay, group, since most of you think I'm going to need a new computer, what would you recommend? Is there anyway I can get a new one with 8.1 on it? I've heard so many people say they're unhappy with 10. I cannot use a touch screen. I have a wireless keyboard and mouse.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
How much do you use it and exactly what do you do on it?

I have moved many of my older friends to a Chromebook instead of windows. No worries about viruses and you can do just about anything that you do on a pc. You just can't store a lot of stuff on it but you can use flash drives. You don't add programs like windows. Many many apps are available free to download.

If you have used an android phone it's very similar. Prices on them are very reasonable.

I love mine. And so do the ones that switched over.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
6 years ago
Here is a link to some free diagnostic tools you can try to find out what is wrong with the hard drive.

https://www.lifewire.com/free-hard-drive-testing-programs-2626183

I personally would never take my computer to geek squad. Find a good local computer repair shop instead.
Michael
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Your Dell Inspiron has built in diagnostic tools or visit the Dell site and run the diagnostics from there. It may take 20 minutes to complete the testing.

Go Here, choose Detect PC

Run Diagnostics
DawnInCal
6 years ago
The same thing happened to my laptop just as it was out of warranty. I had to have a new hard drive installed and haven't had any problems since, but I did lose some files that weren't backed up so be sure to back up your files while you still can.
gadgets
Original Author
5 years ago
UPDATE: Didn't want to leave you guys hanging since you're so helpful. It took a while to locate someone who would come to my house, but I did. He picked it up yesterday and just brought it back a little while ago. He said it was pretty close to going and not being able to back up. He backed up my entire computer, installed a new hard drive. Updated some files, cleaned up some things, etc. Price was extremely reasonable.

I found this guy by calling the County Council on Aging. He's not associated with them, but they just pick up helpful info as they run their programs. Another place a person could check is their local library. Never hurts to ask.

Raven: To answer your question. I'm not a heavy computer user. Mine's for email, keeping track of certain things, going onto different message boards, ordering things from places like Blair, QVC. I also like to go online to look up things or research some.

So thanks again to all who answered.

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