Computer Problems Part Infinity

[Handyman]

So last night I was burning a disk on my laptop and the system went haywire...it kept crashing which it has never done before...

Anyways I restarted in safe mode and got the disk out but when I put it back in the system crashed and now it won't start it prompts me to fix Windows than accesses the system recovery options.

When I choose system restore it says I have none saved which isn't true. When I run the startup repair it runs for hours and either commands me to restart and it starts over or it just keeps going on and on.

I am running Vista on a Dell Studio...I would rather not reinstall Windows and lose a year and a half worth of stuff including all my school stuff. Thanks

 

[LynahFan]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

So last night I was burning a disk on my laptop and the system went haywire...it kept crashing which it has never done before...

Anyways I restarted in safe mode and got the disk out but when I put it back in the system crashed and now it won't start it prompts me to fix Windows than accesses the system recovery options.

When I choose system restore it says I have none saved which isn't true. When I run the startup repair it runs for hours and either commands me to restart and it starts over or it just keeps going on and on.

I am running Vista on a Dell Studio...I would rather not reinstall Windows and lose a year and a half worth of stuff including all my school stuff. Thanks

I don't know how to do this, but I think your best bet may be to take your hard drive out and attach it to another computer as a non-booting disk, then see if you can copy your files onto that computer's hard drive (or another external drive). Then re-install windows (or buy a brand new hard drive - they aren't that expensive and you can probably upgrade for not too much $$$).

 

[Handyman]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

If this was a desktop I would feel confident doing that but I don't know thing one about laptops or how they are set up.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

If this was a desktop I would feel confident doing that but I don't know thing one about laptops or how they are set up.

Same thing can be done with a laptop. You can take the laptop hard drive out and use an enclosure (about 20 bucks) that will make your laptop drive into an external drive with USB. Than you can get the files onto another system and rebuild your existing one.

 

[unofan]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

If this was a desktop I would feel confident doing that but I don't know thing one about laptops or how they are set up.

Hard drives are probably the only thing in laptops that are easily replaced. Normally just unscrew two or four screws then slide it out.

 

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

If this was a desktop I would feel confident doing that but I don't know thing one about laptops or how they are set up.

I could probably help you out on Sunday? I think I have an external encloser that would work. I did this same thing with my old laptop, except now its a paperweight and I have my stuff...

 

[pirate]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

So last night I was burning a disk on my laptop and the system went haywire...it kept crashing which it has never done before...

Anyways I restarted in safe mode and got the disk out but when I put it back in the system crashed and now it won't start it prompts me to fix Windows than accesses the system recovery options.

When I choose system restore it says I have none saved which isn't true. When I run the startup repair it runs for hours and either commands me to restart and it starts over or it just keeps going on and on.

I am running Vista on a Dell Studio...I would rather not reinstall Windows and lose a year and a half worth of stuff including all my school stuff. Thanks

Go to another computer and go to bleepingcomputer.com they have great forums on solving issues...they'll assign an expert to you and they walk you through the steps. I've only used them for spyware/virus issues but they were great. What I wouldn't do is read somebody else's thread and just copy the steps...let somebody walk you through your specific issue on your computer. All free

 

[Handyman]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

I took it in to a shop that is a few blocks away...still waiting to hear back...

 

[Handyman]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

Ok, so I got the comp back today...the drive was flat out dead. They tried a dozen different things to try and recover the info but could not. That sucks a lot. The nice thing is they didn't charge me for the work at all (they only would have charged me if they recovered anything and it was $50) so I just had to pay for the new drive which cost me $65.

The customer service when I called in kind of sucked, but overall they did everything I asked and for cheaper than they quoted. I paid less to have them try and do the work and install the drive than those losers at Geek Squad would have charged to just look at the comp! If you live in Minneapolis, and need comp work done I would recommend PC Doodle on 27th and Hennepin.

The best part was with the savings I went to Office Depot and got a 1 TB External HD for $79 bucks! (plus 12 for a comprehensive in store warranty for 2 years)

Now I am just in the process of getting everything back up to par which takes a zillion years!

 

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

You may want to consider something like carbonite online backup

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

Define "dead hard drive"

I remember back when we had the old IBM deathstar drive go out on us. Literally placing the drive in the freezer for a certain amount of time allowed for brief periods of recovery. We ended up getting back all of the data.

 

[Handyman]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

I dunno...I got all new problems now!

Yesterday I decided to backup my files on the new external and it failed. No biggie right? Well after a Windows update my system went to hell! Now after about ten seconds of doing most actions the explorer crashes out and everything stops responding! I get maybe five minutes of use then the system is a waste of space!

I had been setting up restore points as I added programs but Vista can't find them!

I'm running a diagnostic now, then might try and save stuff and reinstall again but I don't want to...any suggestions?

I ran the diagnostic and got the same error code...

Won't lie, I'm kinda wigging out

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

I dunno...I got all new problems now!

Yesterday I decided to backup my files on the new external and it failed. No biggie right? Well after a Windows update my system went to hell! Now after about ten seconds of doing most actions the explorer crashes out and everything stops responding! I get maybe five minutes of use then the system is a waste of space!

I had been setting up restore points as I added programs but Vista can't find them!

I'm running a diagnostic now, then might try and save stuff and reinstall again but I don't want to...any suggestions?

I ran the diagnostic and got the same error code...

Won't lie, I'm kinda wigging out

You may have gotten another bad drive. Drives either fail right away or they last 3 years+.

 

[Handyman]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

Well I am pulling off everything now (got the external to work) and I'm gonna call the place I went and explain what is going on. I know drives can fail right away and I'm hoping it is just that and not something worse.

I hate this crap...

 

[Handyman]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

So I got everything off the HD saved onto my external (btw a terabyte external at Office Depot is 79 bucks on the low end) including making a file of all the settings and programs (the full backup still wont work and Vista still deletes my restore points!) and the machine runs perfect now. I have been running it for 5 hours using every intensive program I can, transferring files, web surfing, downloading music and what have you and not once has it even glitched. No explorer crashes, no slowdowns, no timeouts or error messages. I have even restarted and shut down a couple of times without incident. (last night it would go all screwy.

Seeing as I can play music and movies off the new external and the OS seems to run fine on its own right now I am going to try this set up for a while and see how it goes.

BTW I figure I might as well buy a backup computer to have around in case this thing fails out again or needs some major repair at some point. I looked on craigslist and saw some decent priced ones but I was wondering if anyone in the Cities knows a place to buy a good one that has a good rep. it doesn't have to be anything special...something from the XP era on will do fine. (if I could find a cheap Mac Laptop that would rock but that seems slim) Something in the range of $300.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

Not sure where to put this so I'll post it here:

So I keep reading about the new revision of HTML (HTML5) coming out. Can someone more in touch with this explain why I should be excited for this?

It seems as if it was expected to become a W3C recommendation in (or around) 2010 but the spec editor is saying 2022. Why the 12-year difference?

 

[St. Clown]

Re: Computer Problems Part Infinity

BTW I figure I might as well buy a backup computer to have around in case this thing fails out again or needs some major repair at some point. I looked on craigslist and saw some decent priced ones but I was wondering if anyone in the Cities knows a place to buy a good one that has a good rep. it doesn't have to be anything special...something from the XP era on will do fine. (if I could find a cheap Mac Laptop that would rock but that seems slim) Something in the range of $300.

if you're okay with a netbook as a backup - ASUS Eee PC 1005HA Seashell - Atom - 10.1″ - 1 GB Ram - 250 GB HDD

This one goes for $284 from buy.com, no taxes or shipping costs.