FIX IT YOURSELF - USING THE RESTORE CD
There are several things that you can do yourself to fix a computer. If your PC is a name brand computer, notably HP, Compaq, Dell or Gateway, it should have come with a set of Restore CD's. Using these CD will allow you to wipe out and restore the PC to it's original factory state.



STEPS TO RECOVERING / RESTORING A PC

1 - Recover data
If you can start your PC and get into Windows, you may be able to copy all the files you need to keep. Usually, most of your important files will be in your "My Documents" folder. You may be able to copy them onto a CD or something similar. If your PC has a 3.5" floppy disk drive, you can copy a small amount of data onto a diskette. If your PC has a CD-RW (CD-burner) you might be able to copy your files to that. Keep in mind that depending on the software you use, your data files may also be stored in places other than "My Documents".

If necessary, we have equipment to recover data from your hard drive even after it's removed from your PC. So data came be recovered directly from the hard drive. You could buy a replacement hard drive, and restore your PC with a new hard drive and recover your data from the old hard drive later.

2 - Record device driver information
One of the more tricky steps in restoring a computer is loading the correct and appropriate device drivers. One step that can make this easier is to write down the names and version numbers of the most critica devices drivers currently on the computer. To do this in WIndowsXP do the following (note: older versions of Windows are similar):

START > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Device Manager

There you will see a list of all the devices currently on your computer. Click on the [+] to see the details for all the devices. Print a copy of this page, or write done all this information on a piece of paper to future use. The most important to get are the Display Adapters, Network Adapters and Sound Controllers.


3 - Restore PC to it's factory default state.
When a PC is new from the factory, it should come with a set of "Recovery CDs" which will help you restore your PC to the way it was when you first bough it. Computer manufactures like Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, Gateway and Dell are good like that. Bargan priced no-name brand PCs aren't quite so good. You can use these "Recovery CDs" yourself. Here are some thing to keep in mind:

a) they will wipe out the contents of your computers hard drive, so if there are files on your PC they need to be copied.

b) you'll need to remove any new hardware. Because these CD's will restore your PC to the state it was when it come from the factory, the hardware must also be the way it was when it came from the factory. If you've added any additional hardware, either inside or out, you must remove. You need to have the PC's hardware as close to the way it was originally for the Recovery CD's to work.

Things to remove include:

Printers, cameras, scanners, or any equipment that connects to the outside of the computer.

Anything you added to the inside of the computer, with the excetion of RAM (memory) and hard disk drives. This typically includes any network, sound or video cards that you may have added after you puchased the PC. Any additional RAM or hard disk replacement can be left inside.

Note: you usually came leave in any new RAM (memory) or Hard-Drive that you added after you puchased the PC.

3 - Reinstall software, accessories and data.
You'll need to reinstall any software that you added to your PC after you purchased the PC, so make sure you have the software CDs and serial nubmers for that. You'll also have to re-add or attach any additional hardware or accessries. There may be some software CDs that you need that came with the hardware accessories.