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I had a pacbell computer running win98 SE and suddenly it just wouldn't boot
up, no sound, no nothing. Now I took it to a tech and he tested the computer
and said that the mother board was friend, seems that the computer being old
(bought in 1996), and having it connected to phoneline directly for long
time that this contributed to the motherboard not working anymore. My
question is, can i remove the hard drive from the computer? the tech didn't
tell me that the HD was damaged so i'm asuming that whatever is on there
(such as my docs.) can be rescued. If i want to do it myself, what hardware
or tools will i need? Or should i just let a professional take care of it.
Thanks,
Rosa

"Rosita" <> wrote in message
news:MD5qd.176797$hj.175575@fed1read07...
> I had a pacbell computer running win98 SE and suddenly it just wouldn't
boot
> up, no sound, no nothing. Now I took it to a tech and he tested the
computer
> and said that the mother board was friend, seems that the computer being
old
> (bought in 1996), and having it connected to phoneline directly for long
> time that this contributed to the motherboard not working anymore. My
> question is, can i remove the hard drive from the computer? the tech
didn't
> tell me that the HD was damaged so i'm asuming that whatever is on there
> (such as my docs.) can be rescued. If i want to do it myself, what
hardware
> or tools will i need? Or should i just let a professional take care of it.
> Thanks,
> Rosa
>

Providing the drive is actually working the easiest way to recover files
from it is to put it into another Windows PC as a 2nd (slave) drive and then
you can access/copy the files as necessary.

Removing it from the old PC should be quite straightforward. Check out the
'Add The New Hard Drive...' sections of the following web site for details
of how to fit it into another PC:
http://www.harddriveupgrade.com

HTH
Stace.

"Rosita" <> wrote in message
news:MD5qd.176797$hj.175575@fed1read07...
|I had a pacbell computer running win98 SE and suddenly it just wouldn't
boot
| up, no sound, no nothing. Now I took it to a tech and he tested the
computer
| and said that the mother board was friend, seems that the computer being
old
| (bought in 1996), and having it connected to phoneline directly for long
| time that this contributed to the motherboard not working anymore.

Bull. Fire your tech. Having a phone line plugged in *forever* is not going
to affect your motherboard. Now, a power surge up the phone line might, but
just being plugged in, no. You might consider a protection device on the
phone line though.

Truth is, the 8 years you got out of the original motherboard is
plenty...maybe it just wore out on it's own <g>

| question is, can i remove the hard drive from the computer? the tech
didn't
| tell me that the HD was damaged so i'm asuming that whatever is on there
| (such as my docs.) can be rescued. If i want to do it myself, what
hardware
| or tools will i need? Or should i just let a professional take care of it.

Go for it. Have you already purchased a new computer? If so, you can take
your old hard drive out, put it in the new computer. I usually suggest (for
simplicity's sake) unplugging the CD-ROM in the new computer and putting the
old drive on those cables. That way you don't have to mess with master/slave
jumpers or cable select problems (usually). Power up the new computer, and
the old drive will show as the C: drive. You can get your data from My
Documents (and anywhere else...Corel/Word Perfect likes "My Files"), and you
can get your email address book, even your old emails that have been saved.
If you would like "step by step" on any of this, just ask.

What they all forgot is that phone lines already have an
effective protector installed free by the telco. Effective,
among other things, means the protector makes a short
connection to protection. An essential requirement that
plug-in protectors do not meet. A protector and protection
are two different things. I note this because plug-in
protectors adjacent to a powered off computer can even
contribute to damage of that powered off computer. Tech may
have forgotten to mention that.

So what damaged your computer? If they did not describe the
specific motherboard IC damaged, then they could only wildly
speculate on reason for damage. Common among computer techs
who only understand computers as far as component swapping.
One need not understand basic electrical principles (ie. that
protector is already installed on your phone line) to swap
parts - a process called shotgunning.

In short, a phone line causing damage is just wild
speculation. Easy and necessary to speculate when a tech
cannot even point to the specific part on motherboard that is
damaged.

Numerous possible reasons why the computer failed includes
manufacturing defect or defective power supply. Yes a power
supply that lights LEDs and spins a fan still may be
defective. But then this is now only speculation. Based upon
facts provided, no one can answer your first question.
Recovering data from drive has been accurately described.

Rosita wrote:
> I had a pacbell computer running win98 SE and suddenly it just
> wouldn't boot up, no sound, no nothing. Now I took it to a tech
> and he tested the computer and said that the mother board was
> friend, seems that the computer being old (bought in 1996), and
> having it connected to phoneline directly for long time that
> this contributed to the motherboard not working anymore. My
> question is, can i remove the hard drive from the computer? the
> tech didn't tell me that the HD was damaged so i'm asuming that
> whatever is on there (such as my docs.) can be rescued. If i want
> to do it myself, what hardware or tools will i need? Or should i
> just let a professional take care of it.
> Thanks,
> Rosa