Today I was looking to fix an old Dell Inspiron 8600.
I install Windows XP on a broken hard drive. Formatting took a clusterfuck of time. The install then commences and I enjoy my new setup about an hour later. I set up Internet, I install a modem software, and the wizard asks me to restart. I do and I get 2 short BSODs, and when the BSODs are gone I get an error at start-up telling me that Windows used the default profile.
I want to fix this, so I go onto the Recovery Console and use Chkdsk. That's done, I restart and now it says Windows lost a few vital DLLs.
Fuck this hard drive. Corrupted at will, and my dad had to get something new (with Vista!).