how can I get files off of hard drive with bad motherboard

[tryintoo]

A friend's computer will boot up, but then starts making a whirling noise and freezes. She replaced the power supply, but that didn't help so she took it to a computer store in the area and they said the motherboard was bad. It's a 4 year old Gateway.

She brought it home and would like to get some files off of the hard drive. In the meantime going to try and save $ for new one. The OS on the computer is Windows ME and I have an older computer with that OS on it. Is there any way I can help her?

Thanks in advance.

[hech54]

First thing I would try is to place the HD in your computer as a slave then start attempting to pull important data that way.

[tryintoo]

thanks hech54. We will give your suggestion a try and I'll let you know how it turns out. Probably won't be for a couple of weeks though.

[icyhot]

Yep, I just had to do something like this. A friend's computer died, so I took her HD out and put it in mine, then backed up all her data to DVD. A real pain in the butt, but a hell of a lot better than losing all your data.

[jimmalenko]

It's situations like this that make the $20 I laid down on a removable Hard Drive tray absolutely priceless

I've used it for three different friends' computers' HDDs when their POS's have had "issues".

[kschang]

Starts making a whirling noise, then freezes?

Sounds like the CPU fan to me, not the motherboard.

[koinhelgo]

I agree with kschang a motherboard doesn't make a whirring noise (as far as I know) only beeps or tones. Fans make whirring noises. If the pc freezes it sounds like the cpu or some other component is overheating.
As the pc will boot and then freeze go into the BIOS and see if there is a hardware monitor option to check the running temp.
If not open the pc and see where the whirring noise comes from- you might see one of the fans start to become erratic or slow down, make sure they are muck free cos this causes problems.
I have had various overheat issues in the past, mostly with ASUS mobos and graphics cards. The first problem I had was with a gigabite mobo, overheated and froze for no reason, I never found the problem, but changed the MOBO to an ASUS one and it worked fine until a loud high pitched whirring noise that came from the small fan attached to the VIA chip not the CPU. This drove me mad and no amount of tinkering would sort it and couldn't get a replacement as it was such a specific small device although I suppose I could have adapted some kind of heat sink.
I also had random freezes with an ASUS graphics card that ran very hot. It also blew hot air from the fan onto the CPU as the fan was at the top of the board. I had to fit a hige heatsink and fan to the CPU and an extra external fan to take away the excess heat.
I also had a mobo that would produce a loud beep after being on for some time- this was the BIOS warning of overheating- this was a mobo problem and I gave it to a friend to look at he thought it was a faulty sensor and ran the computer for a longish time which fried the CPU.
So before discarding the mobo check the heat issues, it may also be worthwhile getting some thermal paste (and a spreader). Clean the old gunk off the cpu- you can also buy cleaning fluid to get rid of it abd spread an even layer of paste- you can get applicators now that only cost about £2
If you cant identify the problem, take out the HDD and stick it in your own pc as a slave and get the data- may also be worthwhile getting an image and burning this to DVD for the future.
Regards

[tryintoo]

Thanks everyone for continuing to post suggestions. I don't have the computer yet, hope to get it soon - we're still not over the "holidays" yet.

We had the computer open when we were trying to pinpoint the problem. but you can hear the noise with the side on. Maybe a better description is whine or high pitched.

It boots up and you can click on the desktop once and it starts to go to the program and that's about it. Then the noise starts and it freezes. So I don't think it has had enough chance to heat up. There is only one fan on the motherboard and we unplugged it one time to see if maybe it was shorting something out, but it still did it.

Both fans (one on the board and one in the power supply were running) and the noise does not seem to be coming from the front of the computer (where the hard drive is) - we were sure it was the power supply. But a new one did the same thing so that's when she took it to the computer store.

I didn't go with her but I have dealt with these people for many years and I have no reason to think they don't know what they're talking about.

Once I get it and try the hard drive outside of that computer I may find it is the hard drive - I don't know. I'll post the results. Thanks again.

[tryintoo]

This is what I found out. The hard drive was fine. I was able to connect it to my computer as slave and get off all her files and then I formatted it and checked it and there are no errors on it.

I took everything out and according to a guide that I have all the beeps checked out. The problem started again when I tried to set up the OS, it kept freezing at different spots in the setup.

It has a Jabil Athlon motherboard 950 MHz on it. She is using an extra one that a friend of mine was going to throw out. Uses it mostly for email and word processing so it's fine.

A second computer tech also said the problem was the motherboard, but as to exactly what in the motherboard he didn't know. Thought maybe the whirling noise has something to do with a short between the power supply and motherboard as the slight whirling sound does seem to come from the power supply.

When we tried another power supply it did the same thing.
Am moving on and using the other parts. The end.

[smearbrick1]

Sounds like the processor fan is failing which is causing the processor to overheat. This is causing the shutdown. It does not take long for a processor to heat up. There really isn't a warm up period. The heat is on the minute you turn on the PC. The heat gets hotter whenever you try to launch an app. That is what is causing your shutdown. Maybe power connect for the fan on the Motherboard is bad, but without checking voltages and such, you can't really know.

[tryintoo]

Thanks smearbrick1. The processor fan - if I know what you're talking about - is working. It's a thin fan clipped on to - I guess the processor. It's the only other fan in the machine except the one in the power supply. I even got a new one to try on it.

So I think you're suggestion that the power connection to the motherboard is bad sounds very logical to me. Since the computer had a few years on it - she didn't want to put anything into a new motherboard, etc. and I agreed.

Thanks though for your help.

[LloydAZ]

Thanks smearbrick1. The processor fan - if I know what you're talking about - is working. It's a thin fan clipped on to - I guess the processor. It's the only other fan in the machine except the one in the power supply. I even got a new one to try on it.

So I think you're suggestion that the power connection to the motherboard is bad sounds very logical to me. Since the computer had a few years on it - she didn't want to put anything into a new motherboard, etc. and I agreed.

Thanks though for your help.

It might also be the power supply itself. They have fans in them as well. A decent power supply shouldn't cost more than $30-$50 US, and they are usually pretty easy to change out.

[Doramius]

If you're having problems around a processor anyway, it may be best just to get a new MoBo & CPU. There are a bunch of us that can tell whether the CPU & MoBo are good or not, but sometimes the damage is not very detectable and you waste time and money on something that's not going to work anyway.

IMHO - Get a new MoBo & CPU & a Really good cooling unit for it. Buy a proper PSU and a decent, but small size HDD (or larger if you really want to). Load your OS on the new HDD and slave the old HDD. Sure you have to put some bucks into it, but you'll have a good system where you know what it'll stand up to.

Yeah I take the easy fix for a few bucks more, but while you're working on your computer, I'm beating your online high scores. :P

[tryintoo]

Yeah I take the easy fix for a few bucks more, but while you're working on your computer, I'm beating your online high scores.

You're exactly right Doramius - I'm outta my league when it gets into the motherboard and processors and I know when to call it quits. We took the "easy fix"!

Thanks everyone for all of your help, I couldn't have gotten as far as I did without it!