Got a question about a computer I upgraded to Windows 8 from 7:

[madinmaryland]

It was acting a bit wonky before upgrading, and after upgrading I ran it for a few minutes and seemed to work fine. I then shut it down for the night. I did not create a boot/recovery disk. When I started it a couple of days later it would not boot up. The internal diagnostics indicate there may be a problem with the hard drive. Is it possible to create a generic boot-up disk from another computer or is there another option I might have? It is an HP desk top.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you in advance!

[BlueJazz]

1. It does sound like the hard drive. If it's a desktop, buying a new drive from...

...a computer store and changing it is easy. No, I mean easy as getting on a ladder and changing a light bulb.

After that, reinstalling windows 8 is even easier.
We'll walk you through both processes.

[madinmaryland]

2. It's been a while since I did computer repair. Installing drives and SIMM cards is a whiz.

I assume, the new drive would be set as the master (boot drive), and the existing one would be the slave.

Should I buy an internal or external HD? We have three laptops that I want to start saving stuff to.

The PC actually had Vista on it. Do I need to buy windows 8 again, or will my product key allow me to download it again, this time to a CD/DVD?

Thank you for your help!

[BlueJazz]

3. What model is your computer?

...and no, you don't have to buy 8 again...and yes you can download it as an ISO file. (look it up via Web if you're unsure what an iso file is)

I'd change the drive first...install 8, then put old drive as slave & see if the old drive is accessible (sometimes yes, sometimes no.

[madinmaryland]

4. It's an HP Pavillion Slimline with a Pentium processor. I'll have to get my

glasses to see exactly what it is.

Yeah. I have seen references to the ISO file, but wasn't exactly sure what that entailed.

Assuming I get the new drive, do I need to download the ISO file to a CD/DVD and then boot off of the CD and then install 8 on the new drive?

It was giving me issues before I upgraded, primarily when it updated the latest Micro$oft updates. I figured it was the OS (Vista) that was the problem.

Thanks!

[BlueJazz]

5. If it was originally Vista the drive is (most likely) at the end of it's life.

After you download the iso file you'll need to convert it to a bootable disk. (no big deal)

ISO files are easy to send to somebody. If you had to send all the windows 8 files separately, you'd never get it done.

[wandy]

7. This sounds like the hard drive went south. Let's try this first.....

If you have any of the original disks from any OS you have previously owned, do a re install.
For our need an old copy of XP or even Win 2K will do just fine.
If the install finds the drive do a full (not Quick) format.
If the drive survives the install, run the heck out of it for a few days.
If you are XP or later go ahead and activate it then apply service. (this exercises the heck out of the drive)
In some factory PCs such as Dell and HP a separate partition holds all of the system backup "stuff". (sorry can't be more specific on that as different suppliers and different models vary). If you haven't done so the user manuals should guide you in creating the "backup". Again sorry this varies by manufacturer and model. In the case of My ASUS Eee Pc it varies depending on how ASUS felt on the day it was built.
If you have gotten this far it is a good time to go up to Microsoft and get the ISO file for win 8. Fraid I've lost the link for Win 8 but somewhere at Microsoft their are instructions and a utility to turn the ISO file into either a disk or a thumb drive.
This is the link for Win 7. It should get you started.. You may note that they say it is for Win 7 except the link that points to Win 8 isn't active at this moment.
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool

If you couldn't get this far and are fairly sure you have a bad HD it's not as bad as you might think.
First go up to HP's website and find out what kind of drive is in you're model PC. HP isn't as good as some others in the documentation department, but with a little effort you'll find out what you need to know.
Now if you know you need a new internal drive and know what kind it is , this is a good place to start.....
http://www.newegg.com/Internal-Hard-Drives/SubCategory/ID-14

If it turns out that you have already replaced a perfectly good HD it by no means a bad thing.
Don't know if Win 8 can do this but Win 7 (Pro) can create a full system image on a second HD, or other media.
An excellent use for a HD you don't know what to do with. (Ha Ha)

If it turns out that you have one of those slim line cases that has room for only one HD,,, Not a problem. Just get an external enclosure and turn it into a USB drive..
Just a starting point.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519&IsNodeId=1&Description=external%20enclosure&bop=And&Order=BESTMATCH&PageSize=20

Hope this helps. It's really not as bad as it first appears.