My desktop has been down for months. I love my desktop and my corner of the basement. I been using the laptop I got for my wife for xmas, but I got no pics, music, favorites, etc in it. What happened was I was doing a system restore. While it was doing it's thing I stretched my legs out under the desk and accidently pulled one of the speakers off the back and it hit the floor, and as luck would have it hit the power bar switch and shut the whole works off while the lil bar was doing it's restore thing. I figured oh well and tried to do it over only to be welcomed by a black screen. I've tried the boot menu, safe mode, and everything else I can think of. Everyone I've talked to says just take it to Best Buy/Geek squad but all they wanna do is replace the hard drive and charge me several hundred $$$ to keep the pics and music I got on there as well as my existing programs. I've heard some alternatives that may or may not make sense. I can't find the original boot disc (it was my late mother's pc) and have been told if I had that it'd reboot and everything I have will still be there. This board has many varied talents and I'm hoping this is one of em and I can get a realistic and rational solution. Thanks in advance any help anyone can offer.
OK, Non-PC mekhanic here. Is the power-strip verified as functioning? Are all relevent devices blinking, glowing and whirring as before? For some strange reason you are not seeing the screen "light-up". This sounds quite different from system being "screwed". I would be sure all simple ducks are in a row, (no wires broken, disconnected, etc.) before presuming its a more catastrophic breakdown. The restore task was interupted. You may be able to get back to re-run it. Lets hope so!
I've had mine lock up during a restore ( a couple times)and hit the power bar to shut it off. Everything came back up when I turned it on. So I'm with pit man, check out the power before going crazy.
Not sure where ColdWar's post disappeared to, but that's what I'd do. I just bring mine in to work here and the geeks I work with fix it for me! PM me and we'll hook up and I'll give it to one of them to fix you up! Last one cost me Coke.
a restore wont get rid of any files, all it does is replace system files to get the OS back as it was x amount of days/weeks ago - it doesnt touch user files. you should be able to buy a hard drive enclosure like the one below (they are $15) with a USB cable attached which will allow you to remove the hard drive from your computer, put it in the enclosure and hook it up to your laptop and get all your pics off then you can install windows again. because its a USB enclosure its PnP compatible with anything.
Since some asked, my system is Windows XP which I prefer over Vista for right now. I also need to say some of this makes no sense to me. I'm sure I could speak "Packard" to some and it'd sound just as foreign. Time to study up now I think... I really appreciate the input. I guess backup shoulda been done. I've used this for 4 years with never a problem just dumb bad luck I rekon.
Are you getting anything showing up on the screeen? If so then it goes to black then their is a system problem, If you have the system disc put it in and it will ask if you want to do a new install or repair, choose the repair and follow the prompts. depending on what sector it was in during the restore it could have lost the boot part and will not go any farther. why were you doing a restore ?
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Ok where are you in S.E. Michigan.... I used to build and sell pukers. Now that dont make me a genius but ive saved a few that were really fucked up... I cant garuntee ill get your data back and prolly not but id be up to looking at it and id prolly have to charge you nothing for my services... Any way im in jackson. pm me ill shoot you my number if you want... Im not working so if i need to make a road trip to pick up your system that will work also.. (give me some fucking thing to do) Dave
Insert the Windows CD, restart the computer. When it loads up the setup cd, run a repair installation. Make sure you choose the 2nd repair option. The first will ask you to repair using the console, skip that one and run the next repair. This will load you right back to where you were prior to the crash, no lost files nothing. I can find you a link with pics but if you google Win XP repair install it will point you in the right direction. Takes about 35 minutes to run. Once it is done re-run windows update to grab all the patches.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm There you go follow that and you are all set. Okay I guess the first thing for you to do is find a Windows CD. If you tell me what version you are running home/pro I can point you where to download a copy you can burn.
is may sound DUMB,,, but did you nopen up your computer to see if anything got jostled loose in the fall,,, that what happened to my BOYs computer,,,, the one he uses sounds like its about the same age/os,,,, anyhow,,, just a THOUGHT,,, xoxox MISS hootch
kinda like the DUMBASSES out there quick to replace an alternator/starte/battery when the car wont START,,, when in fact all it is is a LOOSE battery connection,,, miss hbh
My step son is almost a god when it comes to these dam things.. I have had countless upgrades, problems solved, virus issues delt with , and hardware and software upgrades and may other types of stuff..he works cheap.. like gas money and enough to get him some guitar thing or music..I have always trown him money because i know hes young and needs it..(hes out trying to make it on his own) very talented..maybe not motivated enough..but amazing what a few bucks can do to get him moving..if you want me to get with him...pm me
I agree with using a USB drive enclosure to backup your files on the hard drive in question. If you are trying to restore your desktop chances are the OS is installed via CD's whereas the laptops sometimes have a restore partition that can be activated via one of the function keys. Backup your files first then either try the repair option with install disk or just re-install OS. Then you can copy back the files from other computer.
Wow, thanks very much to everyone for the input. To answer some of the ?s asked... I don't have the original disc. I was doing a system restore after a cleanup of a trojan found by windows defender. I always went to a restore point afterwards (maybe not needed but I felt safe doing it and it always worked). The 'puter didn't fall down. My big fuckin foot got hooked into one of the speaker wires as I was kicking back waiting and pulled the speaker off the back of the desk and onto the power bar switch shutting the thing down while in process. When I turn it on I get the "Dell...whatever" screen then straight to a black screen. In "safe mode" it loads 6 items and stops there showing those 6 items.
ive seen my step son push F8 button i think a shit load of times right whjen the comp. comes on line and it puts it into some mode where he can do shit with it..no clue as to whats up with that..like i said before..hes 18 and been at this shit since he was 12..im 45 and friggen lost
yeah, try F8, or ctrl and F8 together, or ctrl, alt and F8 together when hitting the power button. Sometimes it'll get you in enough to get to restore. but then maybe not. . . worth a try tho'
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