Recently I have encountered a problem on my desktop PC. When I turned on the PC, the Windows 7 remains stagnant and refused to start up / boot. All that I saw on my LCD screen was the Windows 7 icon being frozen. I tried to restart my PC and also used the Windows repair option as provided in this operating system, but it did not work. I am no computer expert – in fact I am almost a complete idiot when it comes to repairing my desktop PC. My first thought was perhaps it was time to buy a new desktop PC – as this PC was around 2 years already. My desktop is a Intel 2 Core Quad with a 4 GB DDR2 memory – it is a very fast desktop and I could do many tasks simultaneously easily. So it would be such a waste simply to discard this desktop.

 

 

My next step was to called up a PC repair store and I told them the problem over the phone. The person told me that the charges to fix the problem was approximately US$200 and it could be up and going in about 4 hours – meaning that I could collect it on the same day. He mentioned that he would have to a diagnostic test on my desktop and most likely to replace my existing hard disk with a new one. The warranty period after the repair was one month. I felt that the repair cost quoted was expensive  and was hoping to find another repair store which can do it at better rate.

While I was watching the TV in the evening, I suddenly recalled that I have a hard disk which I had removed from my previous old desktop PC. I took it out from my store room and saw that it was a Hitachi brand hard disk. I opened up my desktop and remove the current hard disk from the slot. Before removing it, I had to pulled out the 2 cables that were attached to the hard disk. It was quite difficult to pull out the hard disk from the steel slot as it was a tight fit – the trick is to do it slowly with a firm grip. After removing the hard disk, insert the new hard disk into the slot; again do it slowly and push it in with a firm grip. Thereafter reconnect the 2 cables to the new hard disk.

 

 

The next step is to insert the Windows 7 boot up disk into your CD slot and the Windows 7 would automatically prompt you to install the operating system into the new hard disk. If there is no prompt, just off the PC and then turn it on again. – remember the Windows 7 boot up disk should be in the CD slot. Just follow the instructions as given and install Windows 7 – it took about less than 30 minutes to install Windows 7 for my desktop PC.

 

 

Now my desktop PC is able to function normally again. I believe the cause of the problem ( in my case ) was that the hard disk was corrupted. I am not sure whether there are any other reasons that cause the Windows 7 unable to boot or start up; but if you have a spare hard disk on hand, perhaps you can try out this method. Remember the hard disk that you are going to replace need not be the same size (GB) as the existing one in your PC. In fact I used a lesser GB hard disk to replace the current one in my desktop and it still work perfectly. You can increase the memory size in your desktop later by buying a new hard disk later and adding it to your PC.

 

 

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