Computer Problem - Version 3.0 [Archive]

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JimBeam

11-04-2006, 10:21 AM

I have a Dell laptop and just recently its failed to completely boot up.It gets to the part where it says Windows XP is starting, where it usually makes the music, but never gets past that point.I had a problem with my laptop at work, also Dell, but I knew that one was going because I could hear it clicking slowly each time ( apparently a sign when a laptop's hard drive is gonna shit the bed ). That wouldnt even boot past the part where the little animation goes back an forth like Kitt from Knight Rider.I had recently installed Spybot but I never delted or removed anything that seemed like it would effect the computer.Any ideas ?Please tell me I wont lose everything on the hard drive and that its a simple fix.I can still start it up in Safe Mode though.Help

Gvac

11-04-2006, 10:25 AM

Maybe you're growing a vagina.  <img border="0" src="http://www.ronfez.net/messageboard/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/king.gif" />

JimBeam

11-04-2006, 10:28 AM

HeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeAhhhhhhhhhh come on. The posts arent supposed to follow you into another one.LOL

empulse

11-04-2006, 11:07 AM

If you can still boot into safemode, then you can Uninstall the SpyBot program.  Then try booting normal.if that doesn't work I think you can boot into safemode and then from START > RUN > TyPE: chkdsk c: I think.  and try typing it like chkdsk c: /help  and maybe a help will come up.. but it should fix your HD to work.if Not go into safemode backup My Documents,   Read about backing up your email to a single restorable file, And make a list of most commonly used programs and have em ready for install.  then ReFormat.  Think before you reformat and make sure to backup anything you might want.

JimBeam

11-04-2006, 11:11 AM

Sweet I'll try that.My g/f had it happen to her first the other day but she said after she restarted she was able to get on.I rebooted like 10 times and it never got past that point.I was running some system scan from Safe Mode ( I tried the F2 and F12 options ) when I left the house and it hadnt found any problems up until that point.Looked like it was checking everything internally.

empulse

11-04-2006, 11:27 AM

Also if your PC is a factory (DELL, Compaq, etc) they usually partition the HD to make what looks like 2 HD's.  One will have you windows SETUP on it, and i believe there is a Windows Recovery Option thru setup, but it WILL OVERWRITE your MY DOCUMENTS, and your email info (contacts, emails, etc) Back em up.  When an HD does this tho, its not long before it becomes unusable.  Look into replacing it.  I suggest Ebay.  or maybe even TigerDirect.com

JimBeam

11-04-2006, 11:30 AM

So you deff think its the harddrive even though I wasnt hearing that clicking I heard on my other laptop right before it went ?Also right as the Starting Windoes XP screen pops up you hear the fan kick into high gear, as it always did, but then right when it gets to the point whereit doesnt go any further you can hear the fan stop almost completely.

empulse

11-04-2006, 11:36 AM

probably upon installing the last program it may have written data to a bad sector or a sector that is going bad.  If an area of the computers boot sector on the HD is damaged or becoming damaged and boot data is written there it will cause XP to hang, or freeze.  But this process usually happens over a couple of days (usually) and you have time to get stuff off of your HD and try reformating it, XP will mark the sectors bad upon formating and not use them, but it seems like that is only a temp fix. i just replace it.  What i am saying isn't the gospel.  someone may know better, i do have 750gigs of HD on my desktop and alot of data to manage so i am very cautious of any potential problems.

JimBeam

11-04-2006, 11:49 AM

Cool I'll look into what you've said.If I have to take it to a professiona, maybe somebody at work, I may do that because while I'm in no way a computer retard I'd feel safer with them doing something to make sure I keep all my data.Thanks again.

OGC

11-04-2006, 01:30 PM

How old is the hard drive that is in the computer now? If it is over 2 years old you might want to replace it any way. If you do replace it, there are adapters that you can get to hook up the old laptop hard drive as an external hard drive. When you reinstall your OS on the new disc, you can access all (or at least most) of your old data, and most of the application settings of the programs you had installed.

JimBeam

11-04-2006, 01:47 PM

Its probably about 3 years old or so.Are the adapters to make the old HD an external HD expensive ?

OGC

11-04-2006, 02:12 PM

JimBeam wrote: Its probably about 3 years old or so.Are the adapters to make the old HD an external HD expensive ? A 3 year old hard drive is well worth replacing if you intend on keeping the laptop. It is probably due for failure in the near future.The adapters aren't expensive at all, check out <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130044127931&ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX_Stores&refitem=130043268224&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget" target="_blank">this auction</a> or <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/Ship-FREE-2x-2-5-Laptop-to-3-5-IDE-Hard-Drive-Adapter_W0QQitemZ190048056641QQihZ009QQcategoryZ42 184QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_self">this one</a> on ebay.  Plug your old laptop hard drive into that and get one of those and <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/3-5-USB-2-0-External-HARD-DRIVE-ENCLOSURE-CASE-PC-MAC_W0QQitemZ300044670437QQihZ020QQcategoryZ74949Q QrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_blank">one of these</a>.If you have a little bit of computer knowledge, you can figure it out. If not, any tech geek can help you. I can give you a little help if need be.You might be able to get the needed supplies from any local computer fix it shop around you too.

This message was edited by richg0404 on 11-4-06 @ 6:14 PM

MadMatt

11-04-2006, 02:24 PM

JimBeam wrote: Its probably about 3 years old or so.Are the adapters to make the old HD an external HD expensive ?For laptop drives External Enclosures can run $20-$50 (average) depending on what brand you pick up and where.  I frequently use one at work to retrieve data from drives that have "gone bad."  It isn't gauranteed to get the job done, but it works most of the time.2 other things to try:<ol><li><div>On startup, hit F12 for the Boot Menu.  Choose "Diagnostics" or a choice about "...Partition" (it should be the last available choice, and what it's called depends on the year, make, and model) to get you into the system diagnostics.  The computer will scan itself for errors and tell you if there is a hard drive issue. </div></li><li><div>In Safe Mode (or Normal Mode), go to Start - Run - and type msconfig in the box (hit enter or click run).   If you go to the "Startup" tab you can choose what programs will or won't begin on system startup.   Uncheck the box next to the spyware prog, and or anything else you don't need at start.  Of course, be careful what you turn off if you don't know what it does.</div></li></ol>Hopefully either or both of those will work.  If you need further advice or guidance, feel free to PM me.

PaulF

11-04-2006, 04:01 PM

Since you CAN boot into safe mode, do the following (in safe mode):<ul><li>Run your antivirus</li><li>Run Spybot and fix ANYTHING it finds</li><li>Run Scandisk</li><li>Defrag the hard drive</li></ul>If all of those show no problems (no excessive fragmentation, no disk errors, clean from virus/spyware) and it still won't start normally, then you can do a Window repair by booting from the Windows disk and selecting the repair option. This will not wipe out your docs, etc.I would expect that the above 4 items will probably take care of the problem because it will boot to safe mode. If it were the hard drive, there would probably be other signs.

SatCam

11-04-2006, 04:09 PM

I would say put your Windows disk in and try to repair the install. There should be an option that "re-installs" Windows but doesn't delete any of your files or your registry. Everything should be intact, except you may need to re-install some programs and change some default settings.

fohat

11-04-2006, 10:25 PM

You should be able to initiate a scandisk from safemode (same as chkdsk), and select both options and restart. it could also be a corrupt graphics driver.  If none of the hard disk checking helps, try uninstalling your graphics driver from safe mode. (right click my computer -> Properties -> device manager -> Hardware-> Display adapter -> right click -> uninstall) or something very close to that, I'm on my mac right now :)

JimBeam

11-05-2006, 09:23 AM

I ran almost every one of the scans in the F12 options and I dont think any of them showed errors.I had it running over-night and when my g/f went in and clicked " Press OK " after all the scans it went right to the desktop.So for know its working but I'm gonna start transefering the data to a new external hard drive.Thanks for everybody's help.

OGC

11-05-2006, 02:12 PM

Wahooo, it's great when things like that work out well.