IBM laptop - blue screen/checking disk on start up

[97tbird]

this is an R51 IBM laptop my neighbor gave to me as she had no use for it.

She said she reset the laptop to factory settings after she deleted all her files.

what happens is: SOMETIMES, after starting up and loading the desktop, the screen goes to the blue screen with "windows has been shut down due to bla bla bla, and then it starts rebooting again, will have another bluish screen with "windows has recovered from a serious error," and wants to check the disk - i let it do that, then desktop loads, and SOMETIMES it works fine after that, but sometimes the 1st blue screen (win has been shut down...) will appear AGAIN and it goes through this loop 2-3 times before operating normally.

It has no programs on it.
has Win XP pro SP1 (I am updating windows right now, and SP2 is being downloaded, will get SP3 too)

any idea what's going on?

Thanks.

 

[CourierDriver]

take it to the computer geek store near u and get it cleaned and viruses taken out of it,,they usually load free virus software for u,,its a thought

 

[Jehartley]

Possible hardrive failure beginning.

 

[Cutehumor]

sounds like windows have some errors. maybe she deleted some windows files by mistake when she was deleting her files? I would go with a fresh install of windows and runs some virus checks on it.

 

[97tbird]

Thanks guys - SP2 and SP3 installed now - after that, did several restarts successfully. I am going to put MS Security Essentials on it.

she said she just deleted her doc's and pics, and music, etc... and then used the blue IBM button on laptop to "reset to factory settings" (she did say that she experienced this blue screen stuff BEFORE in the past...before deleting files, etc...)

anyway, do you think the MS SE will be enough or should I also run some other scans like Malware Bytes, SAS, etc?

I MIGHT have the win XP pro disc that I got with MY laptop, i guess i can install it on one more laptop, right?

oh btw, the file format is FAT on that thing... i noticed my own laptop is NTFS...does this matter?

 

[youdontwannaknow]

corrupt/damaged system files (which might be the case since its working ok after SP installs), or a failing harddrive.

Running MB and CC wouldn't hurt if it hasn't seen any such thing before.

FAT is antiquated. Hope these help -

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/docum...2.mspx?mfr=true

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/russel_october01.mspx

 

[97tbird]

Thanks - I think I will do the conversion to NTFS using the command prompt. (I remember seeing "FAT32..." somthing on the blue screens that appeared before...so it might have had something to do with the file system being FAT? or perhaps it just always mentions the current file system?)...

I am pretty sure this laptop used to be NTFS but when she reset it to factory default it went back to FAT ???
(I am assuming the laptop was previously NTFS as we got these laptops from school - and they always had us convert FAT to NTFS on the 1st day setup of these laptops when we got them)

 

[Nyquist]

There is probably a log file with the failure in it if it is some sort of driver issue. I would look there.

 

[greenaccord02]

This sounds like a bad piece of ram or corrupt files.

The command to convert a drive to NTFS is:

convert c: /fs:ntfs

Where "c:" is replaced with the proper letter. But I wouldn't do this on an unstable machine.

 

[97tbird]

It's working ok now, but I still have FAT32.

I tried the above cmd prompt, and got this:

"...Convert cannot gain exclusive access to the drive letter drive, so it cannot convert it now. Would you like to schedule it to be converted the next time the system restarts? N>".

I hit Y and then I get this:
"Cannot schedule a convert to NTFS because Autoconv.exe can't be found"

what can I do?

 

[XCELERATIONRULES]

Does the laptop have a partition for recovery files?
Do you have the setup disk to reload the operating system?
Some systems keep all the operating system files on the computer itself,then running the setup disc just runs the software.
If you have access to a complete windows disk,and your driver files,you may be able to try a new hard drive.
Some laptops have the hard drive hard wired into the laptop though.
Sounds to me like some system files have been erased.

 

[97tbird]

After looking a lot online, I still cannot find a solution to the missing "autoconv.exe" file.
I did find some 2nd party software which should do the FAT32-->NTFS conversion, but still haven't tried it.

Worst case I'll just leave it on FAT; Main problem of the blue screen looks to be resolved. laptop starts fine and works fine.

Will update after I try that software; otherwise, any other ideas are welcome.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Jehartley]

If I were you, so as to eliminate all problems that are not hardware related, I'd reinstall windows fresh. This way, you can also make sure the drive gets formated and used as NTFS before the fresh install takes place.

After this is complete, if you still have problems, at least you will know for sure it is a hardware issue, and if you don't have any problems, then you're good to go.

Don't forget to back up any important data first!

 

[tmorris1]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
After looking a lot online, I still cannot find a solution to the missing "autoconv.exe" file.
I did find some 2nd party software which should do the FAT32-->NTFS conversion, but still haven't tried it.

Worst case I'll just leave it on FAT; Main problem of the blue screen looks to be resolved. laptop starts fine and works fine.

Will update after I try that software; otherwise, any other ideas are welcome.

Thanks for all the help.

Obviously autoconv.exe is not on your hard drive. The install is missing files. You could run a chdsk to check for bad sectors on the hard drive.

 

[tmorris1]

Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
take it to the computer geek store near u and get it cleaned and viruses taken out of it,,they usually load free virus software for u,,its a thought

This would likely cost more than the laptop is worth. That is about the equivalent of recommending Jiffy Lube for an oil change. They will try to rip you off.

 

[Gradient]

Please ignore just noticed my suggestion was a duplicate.