when i turn my comp. on it goes to a black screen and in the upper left corner of the screen it says

that there is a hard disk error press ctrl alt delete to restart.

restart, and same happens.

is this a full blown fried hard drive or is it just a missing OS

im pretty sure its the hard drive

just checkin tho

 

 

a reply with useful info would be

MUCH appreciated

Assuming its a Windows PC , you`ll need to startup Scandisc , as its convoluted how to use it for checking/sorting errors , you`ll need to access Microsofts online help , as different OS`s have different ways of use , XP , 98 etc . Good luck , if its just a disk error , scandisc will just mark it as unusable for the operating system , thereby getting you up and running ..... if its a big problem , ie hard disc failure , it should tell you that as well .

Read this thread about Scandiscing and the urls for help on it - http://www.goldfrapp.com/msgboard/showthread.php?t=11269&highlight=hard+disc there are 3 pages to read , have a flick through them all for info .

Sounds like the boot sector of the hard-drive has been damaged, either physically (in which case you will have to join the "I needed a new hard-drive" club) or virusly.

 

If your friend has his XP disc, stick that into the drive and boot up using the recovery program, which will re-build the boot sector :D