Hard drive failure? boot screen freeze

[acessmashed]

Hi, im (non techie) looking for some help/confirmation on a problem im having with my mother's computer. After a little bit of research on the net it looks like a hard drive problem but before i go out and order a new one for her i would like some confirmation the problem is the hard drive please.

Problem:
After powering up the PC, it would not progress further than the "logo screen", at the bottom of which was options to press keys for Boot Menu (ESC), and system recovery (F-key), all of which just froze the computer.

I've tried the following after reading some threads on here and elsewhere:
-removed all devices plugged in the PC.
-removed all external storage devices.

Both of these easy methods didn't change anything. I have now removed the hard drive and managed to get past the "logo screen" (HP logo not windows) by pressing "esc key" repeatedly, it is now asking me for a boot first device.

Obviously windows is not starting as hard drive is removed, so was it just a hard drive problem?

Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance to anyone who replies.

 

[RealBeast]

Could be, but just for the heck of it boot the machine with a bootable CD -- a useful one would be MEMTEST, which will also test her memory. If that runs and the memory is good, then yeah it sure could be the HDD.

 

[acessmashed]

Could be, but just for the heck of it boot the machine with a bootable CD -- a useful one would be MEMTEST, which will also test her memory. If that runs and the memory is good, then yeah it sure could be the HDD.

Thanks very much for your reply, can you explain in lamen terms what i do with that program, does it run without a HDD in? Should i burn to disk and boot from it? also what should i expect to see results wise, or should i post any results here. sorry, but really am new to all this, im delighted i even managed to get HDD out lol 😗

 

[RealBeast]

Sure, you just download the small iso image and burn it to a CD, insert it in the problem computer CD drive, and then start the computer up. The computer will boot into the diagnostic program and run a test on your memory. It has an interface that shows you testing happening and when done will tell you if the memory passed or had errors. Sure post the results here.

 

[acessmashed]

Sure, you just download the small iso image and burn it to a CD, insert it in the problem computer CD drive, and then start the computer up. The computer will boot into the diagnostic program and run a test on your memory. It has an interface that shows you testing happening and when done will tell you if the memory passed or had errors. Sure post the results here.

great, ill do that as soon as im home from work and will post up results. Thanks again, have a great day sir

 

[RealBeast]

Sure, and welcome to the forums.