Videocard update = Dead HDD?

Hi everyone

I recently saw on the ATI website that there is a new update for the ATI videocard. I went and download the update and as soon as its finished. I clicked install, once its done the computer asked for reboot. Which i accepted, than the hard-drive won't boot up. It keep saying disk-error and wanting to do disk check. I have this 60 GB hdd for over 2 and half years now. So it is A) i made a mistake to download the update which cause my drive to died. or B) Average life of a HDD is around 2 years or so, which mean it wasn't my lucky day today. Also my videocard is ATI x800 xt but the thing is i can't get any video output from my system after the crash. I was wondering if my system died because of a virus or something else beside my HDD has failed.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Sir Skulk

Well if you have no solution, this can't do any damage whatsoever to your Computer, right;

A solution if you know what 1 is, pull the Jumper of your motherboard and keep it of for 30 seconds then put it back on, and hopefully you might boot.

Don't know what a Jumper is, well...







It should look like a cover over 2 or 3 pins, and next to it is usually a circular battery, pull of the cover for 30 seconds and try.

Also, try and clean in your case and re-seat your Graphics Card. (take it out, put it back in).

thanks for the tip. I'm sure the HDD is now dead since i tried it in two of my system. My only remaining option is to reformat and reinstall everything. The videocard is no go so i'm kind of confused as why there is no image on the screen. Now i suspecting the motherboard to have a failure or even my power supply.

I haven't installed a different videocard into my system yet, should i do that first before i make the decision that the videocard is gone for good?

More than likely it's just unfortunate coincidence; something got corrupted somewhere along the line perhaps.

Does it come up with a "starting windows..." type of message at all, after the BIOS screens which show your memory/hard disks etc?

If so, try hammering F5 (or was it F8 I forget) around that time and it should bring up a menu asking you how to boot windows. Try "Safe Mode" and see if that manages to boot up Windows.

If it does, you can then try to uninstall the drivers (though I doubt they really had anything to do with it) and also try to do a hard drive scan from there too.


Edit: nvm just reread. If you have access to another computer try your video card in there. Try unplugging and plugging everything back in (loose connection?). Try removing and reinstalling your video card. Blow the dust out from any connectors. Try different power connectors. It could be anything really, so best to be systematic and try to isolate the problem, good luck!

Have you tried your PC without your Graphics Card at all? Also, are all your fans kicking in? Power Supply, Graphics Card, Processer fan, etc?

update for everyone, i did what Josh said and the system boot up without the HDD so the problem is on the HDD. Also i think its a bad update file since it probably got mixed up with my old ATI driver files so it won't boot up. I'm going to get the drive back (a friend of mine is helping me to get it working) than going to boot into safe mode and try to kill off all the update drives.

Check the HDD chips that are visable for chip burnouts, dont open it.
When handling components you should wear rubber gloves or an anti-static band.

Also check the back of the HDD because i have known hard drives to have loose power pins (four thick-ish pins on back).