I dont even think i have the restore disk here with me, might be at home. grrrr ****.

 

holly shit! its starting, i think, its in that windows screen where its loading! i hope it boots, how do i check if the HD is ****ed up?

 

ok actaully it went to the windows check hard drive thing or something, its scanning.

 

I'd try to just get your files out first and then screw with figuring out what is wrong. If there is a software error, there's a bunch of things you can do. If the drive is dieing, eventually you will be able to do nothing.

P.S. Nice write up there benjamin. Good stuff.

 

ok it just booted, up i'm gonna swtich pcs and save everything to my iPod.

 

No. Most restores do a wipe before the restore... so everything would be lost.

 

i'm back on my laptop....is there any way to check if the HD is failing? so i can take it to bestbuy right away?

 

There should be a way to run a diag before windows loads, on a dell you press CTRL, ALT, D immediately after turning it on. Call gateway or look online they should have something similar. Even if the drive has no OS there is a way to run a diags.

 

just back up what you need then worry if your drive is dying.

 

Four golden rules for computing:

1. Back up your data.

2. Back up your data.

3. Back up your data.

4. Google is your friend.