Computer Help Needed Desperately

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  • phrog
    Veteran Member
    • Jul 2005
    • 1796
    • Chattanooga, TN, USA.

    Computer Help Needed Desperately

    Agreed to work on a friend's Acer Aspire notebook (Win7) which was taking 10 - 15 minutes to boot up. Figured she had a number of viruses. Finally got it to boot. Ran "msconfig" and unchecked all antivirus software and firewalls. She had a number and none would run. Also removed several programs from the startup file. (Screen nuisances) Closed it down and booted it back up. A bunch of the junk that had been a bother to her was gone but otherwise appeared normal.

    Ran msconfig again. This time I checked "Diagnostic Startup." Closed it down. Now it will not boot at all. It shows that Windows had not been shut down properly and gives me a choice of how to start. No matter what I choose, I see a gazillion files loading, then the screen goes black and nothing more happens - a totally blank and black and unresponsive screen.

    I haven't yet found out if she made "Recovery Disks." Am I without options if she doesn't have recovery disks? Any help appreciated. Thanks.

    PS Could it be a dying HD?
    Richard
  • phrog
    Veteran Member
    • Jul 2005
    • 1796
    • Chattanooga, TN, USA.

    #2
    Originally posted by I saw that!
    Blank screen = maybe corrupt graphics drivers or registry or you inadvertently disabled drivers when you were messing with msconfig.
    Try booting in safe mode (still F8 in W7) and troubleshoot from there.

    The above assumes the screen isn't blank in the BIOS bootup or DOS. If it is, you've got worse problems.
    Thanks, I Saw That. I have been trying to boot in Safe Mode but that is where I get the blank screen. First thing that happens - I get the screen that says "Starting Windows." Then the screen goes blank. After 10 or 15 minutes I unplug it. When I plug it back in and turn it back on I get an exact repeat. "Windows was not shut down properly" and then the safe mode choice screen. I choose Safe Mode and go thru the same thing. Hopefully she made Recovery Discs as I told her when the computer was new 3-4 years ago. Again, thanks.
    Richard

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    • Knottscott
      Veteran Member
      • Dec 2004
      • 3815
      • Rochester, NY.
      • 2008 Shop Fox W1677

      #3
      Have you tried to reset the BIOS via CMOS? It's supposed to set everything back to factory defaults. There are multiple ways of doing that....I usually head straight for shorting the prongs on the CMOS.

      Learn to reset your BIOS from within Windows or by accessing the motherboardIf you want to switch back to your original BIOS version after a bad update, it's easy to reset your PC's BIOS. This procedure can also be helpful if you need to...
      Happiness is sort of like wetting your pants....everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth.

      Comment

      • LinuxRandal
        Veteran Member
        • Feb 2005
        • 4889
        • Independence, MO, USA.
        • bt3100

        #4
        My father was working on mom's old machine, and it was loading forever. He let it try at the end of the night and left it on, the next day it was up and would boot up. (something that was loading was crashing and it finally got to the next step). But I would expect in this case the drive may be toast.
        Without those recovery discs, being ones with an actual OS on them, if the drive is failing, some discs just point to a hidden partition with the OS on the drive and rewrite from there, you won't have that option. (hopefully that is clear)
        If you have to replace the drive and find those are pointer discs, then you have to buy another copy, or choose another OS.
        She couldn't tell the difference between the escape pod, and the bathroom. We had to go back for her.........................Twice.

        Comment

        • woodturner
          Veteran Member
          • Jun 2008
          • 2047
          • Western Pennsylvania
          • General, Sears 21829, BT3100

          #5
          Originally posted by phrog
          I haven't yet found out if she made "Recovery Disks." Am I without options if she doesn't have recovery disks?
          Another option is to boot a Ubuntu (Linux distribution) from USB. There are utilities that will run under Ubuntu to patch or repair Windows boot loaders.

          You can also test the hard drive and memory in Ubuntu.

          If you can access the drive normally from Ubuntu (which can access a normal Windows formatted drive with no problems), you would at least be able to confirm the disk is OK.

          If the drive is working, the recovery disk may be on the drive, and you may be able to just copy it to USB or burn a DVD to make a working recovery disk - and you can do this in Ubuntu.

          You might find that the disk is just munged, and running a repair utility on the disk might fix it enough that Windows can recover.

          I would also let it run at least overnight - I, too, have had cases where the file cache had been removed, disk was badly fragmented, etc. where it was able to recover but took many hours.
          --------------------------------------------------
          Electrical Engineer by day, Woodworker by night

          Comment

          • radhak
            Veteran Member
            • Apr 2006
            • 3058
            • Miramar, FL
            • Right Tilt 3HP Unisaw

            #6
            Even if there's no recovery disk, it might be still recoverable - using a Win7 bootable installation disk and choosing the 'repair' option. Worked for me at times.

            If it does boot from the disk, then the problem is with the installed OS; actually I can't think of any reason the screen will remain dark when doing that - other than the monitor conking off in a great case of coincidence.

            If repair doesn't work, worst case, you could re-install Win 7. That will need you to also reinstall all the other applications, but her data should not be at risk.

            Woodturner has a good point - I have a copy of bootable Mint Linux on a USB stick. Whenever I'm having problems accessing hard-disks, I boot from that and access the HDD. Couple of times I have retrieved data like that, data that would have been lost otherwise. And it does not change anything on your HDD, as you are booting from USB.
            It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
            - Aristotle

            Comment

            • parnelli
              Senior Member
              • Aug 2004
              • 585
              • .
              • bt3100

              #7
              In the past I've had systems hang for longer than 15 minutes on startup. I've also have some that never started.... but at the very least I'd let it run a bit longer whether trying safe mode or not

              Comment

              • phrog
                Veteran Member
                • Jul 2005
                • 1796
                • Chattanooga, TN, USA.

                #8
                Firstly, let me thank everyone for your help. I've learned a lot of things I did not know and my memory was refreshed on things I had forgotten. I tried to do a reinstall from the hidden disk partition but was getting the same blank screen. On the verge of giving up, I decided to look at the BIOS settings to see if there was anything that could be screwing it up. That is when I found a setting I had never seen before - something like "disk-to-disk recovery" -Enabled or Disabled. It had been "Disabled." I changed that to "Enabled" and pressed "Alt" + "F10" as the machine came on and was able to get to the "Recover" screen and directed the machine to go back to the virgin installation. It is now working. I had never seen that "Disk-to-disk recovery" setting before. Again, thanks to all who replied.
                Richard

                Comment

                • radhak
                  Veteran Member
                  • Apr 2006
                  • 3058
                  • Miramar, FL
                  • Right Tilt 3HP Unisaw

                  #9
                  Ooh - something new to learn! I like this sort of learning more than any other - where somebody else goes thru the pain but shares the knowledge for me to remember !

                  Good for you, your friend must think you are a hero now!
                  It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
                  - Aristotle

                  Comment

                  • capncarl
                    Veteran Member
                    • Jan 2007
                    • 3564
                    • Leesburg Georgia USA
                    • SawStop CTS

                    #10
                    Now that the computer is operational, do you need to go back and disable the disk recovery switch?
                    capncarl

                    Comment

                    • phrog
                      Veteran Member
                      • Jul 2005
                      • 1796
                      • Chattanooga, TN, USA.

                      #11
                      Originally posted by radhak
                      Ooh - something new to learn! I like this sort of learning more than any other - where somebody else goes thru the pain but shares the knowledge for me to remember !

                      Good for you, your friend must think you are a hero now!
                      Unfortunately, she knows better.
                      Richard

                      Comment

                      • phrog
                        Veteran Member
                        • Jul 2005
                        • 1796
                        • Chattanooga, TN, USA.

                        #12
                        Originally posted by capncarl
                        Now that the computer is operational, do you need to go back and disable the disk recovery switch?
                        capncarl
                        Good question. It must have been set to "Disabled" by default because neither she nor her husband are computer savvy and would not have even known what the BIOS is. No one else had ever worked on this computer. I think I will set it back to "Disabled" since it had been set this way by default and if I ever work on it again I will definitely remember to "Enable" it.
                        Richard

                        Comment

                        • durango dude
                          Senior Member
                          • Mar 2011
                          • 934
                          • a thousand or so feet above insanity
                          • 50s vintage Craftsman Contractor Saw

                          #13
                          might not be a virus - but could be:
                          - corrupted registry (big problem these days)
                          - spyware/malware

                          I keep my computer clean using the following:
                          - run Glary utilities a couple of times each month
                          - Run either spybot or Malwarebytes

                          Comment

                          • phrog
                            Veteran Member
                            • Jul 2005
                            • 1796
                            • Chattanooga, TN, USA.

                            #14
                            Originally posted by durango dude
                            might not be a virus - but could be:
                            - corrupted registry (big problem these days)
                            - spyware/malware

                            I keep my computer clean using the following:
                            - run Glary utilities a couple of times each month
                            - Run either spybot or Malwarebytes
                            Thanks for the suggestion about the utilities software. Downloaded it and it seems to be a great program.
                            Richard

                            Comment

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