Blue screen, windows failed to start

[Jimmy9190]

I have a 4 year old Acer computer, basic pc, I use it only for Internet, Itunes and email. Today when I started it it gave a blue screen, and said windows failed to start, and asked if I wanted to use system restore to fix the problem. Did that 4 times, windows still won't start. I used safe mode to go back to a point in time 3 days ago where it did start OK, that didn't work either.

I searched on the Microsoft website, it might as well be written in Chinese. I am computer illiterate. I get the feeling my hard drive is toast and I will have to buy a new computer now. If anyone has any idea what this means and whether I can fix it (or pay someone who knows what they are doing to fix it) I am all ears.

Thanks

 

[mewisemagic]

if you have another pc,you can try to connect as slave and try running ckdisk on it to find/correct errors and even get your data off to another drive/flashdrive reconnect to see if it starts. if you have install disks you can buy a drive and reinstall,but you might be better off just buying a newer pc

 

[RoGuE]

(Maybe I can help you like you are helping me in my waterpump thread)

Since you say that you can get it to start up in safe mode and not normal, it seems like a driver may be corrupt, or system files are corrupted.


If you are able to get into safe mode you can try:

1. Go to Run, and type in chkdsk to verify your files.

and

2. go to My Computer/right click C:/ drive. Go to Tools tab and select the Error Checking (name for it on Windows 7, not sure what it is on XP if you have that. Make sure you select attempt recovery of bad sectors as well. it should prompt you to restart and it will run it on boot up.

If neither of those work, whether it is a separate partition or on a disk that came with it, try to run recovery and you can select an option that will retain all your data and just replace the system files. Use this only as a last resort unless you have your personal files backed up just in case.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: RoGuE

1. Go to Run, and type in chkdsk to verify your files.

and

2. go to My Computer/right click C:/ drive. Go to Tools tab and select the Error Checking


Those are the same thing

chkdsk /r is the most complete test to run. And that is where I would start.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks. I ran the chkdsk, it went through 3 sets of file checking lists then the window disappeared. I have Windows Vista Home Basic Edition. I can't find any "Tools' tabs on the C drive folder. Is there something else I can try or am I not looking in the right place for "tools"?

Thanks for the help, I do appreciate it.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Thanks. I ran the chkdsk, it went through 3 sets of file checking lists then the window disappeared. I have Windows Vista Home Basic Edition. I can't find any "Tools' tabs on the C drive folder. Is there something else I can try or am I not looking in the right place for "tools"?

Thanks for the help, I do appreciate it.


You have to run it with the /r (/f is the normal flag, but /r uses 5 stages of checks) and it will tell you it cannot run on a locked drive and ask you to reboot. It will run on startup and take a while.

 

[RoGuE]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: RoGuE

1. Go to Run, and type in chkdsk to verify your files.

and

2. go to My Computer/right click C:/ drive. Go to Tools tab and select the Error Checking


Those are the same thing

chkdsk /r is the most complete test to run. And that is where I would start.


hehe, you're right. Built my own computer and going for a degree in computers and I didn't realize that.

But yeah, just run the command chkdsk /r and select Y

 

[Jimmy9190]

OK thanks for your help. I booted back up in safe mode again and got back into system restore and picked the oldest date in the list, Jan. 19th. I was able to get the system restarted, but it has taken 30 minutes for everything to come back up online again. My Avast virus program took forever to restore itself on here. When my computer first booted back up there was a red error icon over the Avast icon in the start bar.

Does the chkdsk/r give me some kind of diagnostic report so I can let you guys know what it says and hopefully get the problem fixed? And can I run chkdsk/r when the computer is running normally like it is now? This same problem happened about 2 weeks ago too and the System Restore fixed it, or so I thought. Is this a virus or is some dirtbag somewhere hacking my computer or just my computer is about to bite the dust?

There's nothing on this computer I couldn't do without, but I would somehow like to back up my Itunes library. I have about 2500 songs there. Is there a way to do that? I thought about buying an external hard drive for my Itunes but I have no idea whether I can store my library on it. If you guys know that answer, I would appreciate the info. As I said, I am computer illiterate.

I do appreciate your help here. I am not turning off my computer again, at least until I can find out what the problem is with it.

Thanks.

 

[RoGuE]

The fact that it took 30 minutes to start back up is worrying...could possibly be some background processes are running that shouldn't be. Do you know how to take a screenshot? If you could go to task manager and go to processes and take a screenshot of those, or if it's not too many maybe list them out. But I would try the chkdsk /r first. That could possibly repair any sectors on the hard drive that have gone bad.

When you run chkdsk it will give a quick report as soon as it finishes but disappears after about 2 seconds. There might be someplace that it stores a log but someone else will have to chime in for that. And when you run chkdsk it will restart the computer and run the diagnostic before it even loads Windows.

I don't use itunes but I would assume backing it up just involves copying the folder your music is stored in and copying it to your external hard drive. If you have a DVD burner and some DVDs, you can use itunes to back it up on a DVD.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1382

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Does the chkdsk/r give me some kind of diagnostic report so I can let you guys know what it says and hopefully get the problem fixed? And can I run chkdsk/r when the computer is running normally like it is now?

Yes and yes. If you've run chkdsk /r already, you can see the report it generated in the Event Viewer. To do so:

Right-click My Computer either on the desktop or Start menu, and choose Manage. Hit the + sign next to Event Viewer to expand it. Click on the Application log to view its contents on the right pane. Look for an entry under the Source field labeled Winlogon. It should be timestamped for when chkdsk /r finished scanning and rebooted the computer. Click on it to open it up and see the report.

Lots of fixed file indexes and such is somewhat normal, but you don't want to see any bad sectors. If you do, go back into Windows and run chkdsk /r until the logs are otherwise clean, then back up your data because the drive is on the way out.

This only checks the data area of your hard drive, not the electronics and overall drive health. You'll still want to download and run a diagnositc from whomever manufactured your drive. Most have downloadable tools available.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks for the help here. It was late last night when I was trying to get the computer working again and I was tired and a little frustrated. It probably didn't take 30 minutes to boot up, it was more like 10 minutes I guess.

I Googled on how to back up Itunes, I can either buy an external hard drive or just put my library on CD's. I did back up my Itunes on CD's 2 years ago and have not really bought or added that many new albums since then. I do have a stack of about 100 blank CD's and will just get into Itunes and make new CD's for the newer music I have now. It's much cheaper than buying a hard drive but will take longer.

I guess I can put all my other files I want to keep on CD too, I have a few years' tax records, some pics of my daughter and family, my resume' and a few other files I can put on CD's too. Then if my computer does finally bite the dust and can not be resurrected, at least I will still have the important files off of it.

I will try the chkdsk/r after I back up my files. I put my computer in sleep mode after I was done last night and I don't want to have to restart it again until I get everything backed up first. I'll probably need help then too and will post back when I run the chkdsk.

Thanks for all of your help. I know nothing about computers. I know how to use one but I have no idea how they work or what to do when they fail.

 

[QuadDriver]

hmmm, the "BSOD". A windows exclusive! Welcome to the family!

without seeing it on my desk Im not gonna give very explicit advice, but I noticed something: itunes.

I have a rash (3) itunes 'infected' machines right now from people. It appears the infection came from itunes purchased content itself. Still looking into it.....

when I scarf the files to a USB powered drive and run Norton '11 against them from a win7 machine, content is being found with trojans and worse.

question is, is itunes not scanning media they load, or are people getting media from 'itunes-like' places - dunno.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Wow. I had no idea. I thought Itunes would be safe, being from Apple and all that. I don't buy much off Itunes now anyway, I guess I should stop altogether and just use Itunes to import store-bought CD's to my library and Ipod now? Would that still be considered "safe"?

Thanks for the help.

 

[SrDriver]

What I recommend to speed up boot time is that you download & run CCleaner a free program that should make a marked improvement in things. When you install it you may not want Google Chrome or any tool bar and if so just take the check mark out before installing.

Take note of all the checked boxes then put a check mark in all boxes other than "Wipe Free Space" You may get some warning screens. Don't worry about them.

Run it which could take a few to several minutes.

Delete the stuff it finds.

After doing this go back and remove all the check marks you added. Run the default configuration about once a week or so to keep junk off the system.

You can download it here:

Link To CCleaner Download Site

Make sure you download CCleaner and not some of the adds or other software you may see!

Small program of 2.87 mb.

Post your results.

 

[QuadDriver]

I use system mechanic. I have a site license for 6 but have used others. PRO is a better version. but it will keep the junk off. I cleaned up one machine, that to fit the browser window on the screen, it had so many toolbars there was like 2 inches of content space....took 15-20 minutes to boot as well