Computer Help

[TortoiseDream]

If there's anyone technically skilled here I have a problem.

I'm at my folks house this weekend, and I shut down my laptop as opposed to making it hibernate for the car ride there. When I got home I tried turning on the computer. It boots and I log in, but if I try to do ANYTHING, the computer just stalls and I cannot do anything but move the mouse over nothing responsive. Ctrl+Alt+Delete doesn't seem to work.

So I booted in safe mode, and it works fine there. However if I boot in safe mode with networking I have the same problem, mostly, as when it does a normal boot. I ran McAfee and some spyware software to make sure it wasn't a virus or something. They removed a bunch of files, but I'm still having the same problem.

People online seem to think that it's a registry problem, however since I can't go online I can't use any of these registry cleaners. So I tried doing a system restore from a few days ago. It told me that the disc C had errors and that I had to fix them first. I used to startup repair option and I don't seem to have that error anymore. Anyways, then I tried running system restore and I get another error (0x80070002), saying that it can't find a particular file. I looked this up as well, and people were messing around with registry keys. I deleted the same ones that people recommended, and system restore ran. When I tried booting normally again, I log in and nothing happens. It's just a blank screen where you can move the mouse, nothing else.

I'm not sure what I should do. The computer was running fine before I left for home, I don't know what it would be acting dumb. If anyone has some suggestions let me know, thanks.

[rp08orbust]

If there's anyone technically skilled here I have a problem.

I'm at my folks house this weekend, and I shut down my laptop as opposed to making it hibernate for the car ride there. When I got home I tried turning on the computer. It boots and I log in, but if I try to do ANYTHING, the computer just stalls and I cannot do anything but move the mouse over nothing responsive. Ctrl+Alt+Delete doesn't seem to work.

So I booted in safe mode, and it works fine there. However if I boot in safe mode with networking I have the same problem, mostly, as when it does a normal boot. I ran McAfee and some spyware software to make sure it wasn't a virus or something. They removed a bunch of files, but I'm still having the same problem.

Were the files that it removed considered malicious? If so, then was McAfee installed before or after you discovered the problem with your laptop? If after, and the cause of the problem is malware, then McAfee quite possibly hasn't really gotten rid of the problem, as any malware worth its salt is programmed to sabotage anti-virus software while you're installing it.

[rp08orbust]

If I were you, I would

1. Make sure anti-virus software is installed and up-to-date on your desktop PC.
2. Get an adapter for connecting a 2.5" hard drive to your desktop PC's 3.5" HDD interfaces and connect your laptop's hard drive to the PC.
3. Copy the data you want to keep from your laptop's hard disk drive to your PC's HDD.
4. Reformat and partition the laptop's hard drive and put it back in the laptop.
5. Install Windows from scratch.

If you want details on any of the above, let me know.

[TortoiseDream]

If I were you, I would

1. Make sure anti-virus software is installed and up-to-date on your desktop PC.
2. Get an adapter for connecting a 2.5" hard drive to your desktop PC's 3.5" HDD interfaces and connect your laptop's hard drive to the PC.
3. Copy the data you want to keep from your laptop's hard disk drive to your PC's HDD.
4. Reformat and partition the laptop's hard drive and put it back in the laptop.
5. Install Windows from scratch.

If you want details on any of the above, let me know.

ugggggh really? i really want to avoid doing that for the moment. i have a shit ton of music and important files.

if that's the case, though, do you think i should try getting windows 7 instead of reloading vista? or would xp be better?

[rp08orbust]

ugggggh really? i really want to avoid doing that for the moment.

When Windows has gotten as f****d as it sounds like yours has, messing with the registry and stuff just makes things go from bad to worse in my experience. Once you've reinstalled Windows, you'll be amazed at how much faster it seems compared to what it was before.


i have a shit ton of music and important files. if that's the case, though, do you think i should try getting windows 7 instead of reloading vista? or would xp be better?

What are the specs of the laptop? Most laptops run better with XP than Vista unless they are the latest models with multi-gig memory etc.

[newbitech]

I am assuming you are connecting with wireless? is that true? If so, can you try running again in safe mode with network while you are plugged into an ethernet port.

[rp08orbust]

ugggggh really? i really want to avoid doing that for the moment. i have a shit ton of music and important files.

Btw, it could even be a damaged hard drive (not likely, given that it boots fine in Safe Mode). Just in case it is, you'll want to stop using the hard drive and back up all your data ASAP anyway.

[TortoiseDream]

Update: I added the guest account, and I can log into it normally. I can run a few programs fine, but as soon as I try AIM or Firefox the thing freezes. What do you think this means?

[John Q. Revere]

Install Linux, Ubuntu will do.

[newbitech]

Update: I added the guest account, and I can log into it normally. I can run a few programs fine, but as soon as I try AIM or Firefox the thing freezes. What do you think this means?


broken profile,

that's also probably why you couldn't boot up before, so I am assuming still that you are trying a wireless connection. is that what is working under the guest account as well? just like aim and firefox, the wireless profile settings are going to be unique to the installation profile unless you specified to make those programs available to the everyone group

i am going to go out on a limb and say that it is your wireless settings that are messing up your main account.

[ForLiberty-RonPaul]

my computer was freezing in kind of the same manner. It was a usb wireless internet adapter overheating. Is your wireless adapter internal or external?

If i had to guess at this point, here is what I think happened.

You're wireless adapter overheated freezing your computer. This caused disk errors which you found when you ran scan disk. When you messed with your registry you screwed up your profile which caused windows to not load properly.

goto...
start > run > type: msconfig

select-> selective startup
unselect-> process System.INI file
process win.ini file
load startup items

goto Services tab

select-> hide all microsoft services
click-> disable all
click-> ok

restart your computer

if it works let us know, because you're not done. you'll need to fix your registry, which i personally would not do manually. I use "Advanced System Care". It might find the error and fix it.

[TortoiseDream]

Update: Frig it. I'm putting on windows 7 and backing up my files now lol. Thanks for all the help, though. I was planning on upgrading anyways, so if anytime works it's now I suppose.

Time to wait for 120GB of music to be transferred...lol.

[rp08orbust]

Update: Frig it. I'm putting on windows 7 and backing up my files now lol. Thanks for all the help, though. I was planning on upgrading anyways, so if anytime works it's now I suppose.

Time to wait for 120GB of music to be transferred...lol.

Here's a suggestion, if it's not too late:

Create two primary partitions on your laptop's hard drive, the first one about 20GB, and the second the rest of the hard drive. You can do this with some trialware called BootIt NG. Then Install Windows 7 on the first partition and transfer all your data back to the second partition.

As soon as you've installed Windows 7 and all the hardware drivers (and ideally, before you've connected to the internet), create an image of the Windows 7 partition using Image for DOS or Image for Windows (from the makers of BootIt NG).

The next time something like this happens again, you simply restore your Windows 7 image onto the first partition and your operating system is like new again and guaranteed to be free of malware (if you created the image before connecting to the internet).

This method is vastly more reliable than Windows' System Restore. In fact, turn off System Restore on all drives and save a bit of resources.

[rp08orbust]

and transfer all your data back to the second partition.

Actually, skip that. You don't need to copy the data back to your laptop hard drive because BootIt NG lets you do all the partition work without data loss (though backing up first is always advised anyway). You can create new partitions, slide them around on the disk, change their order, etc.

Just make sure you do a low-level reformatting of the system (first) partition so that any surface defects are discovered.

[TortoiseDream]

Actually yea I'm having trouble figuring out how to format my C drive. I'm reading that you can do it before installing windows XP, but no options like that came up when I was installing windows 7. It's installing it now, but I don't think I've deleted everything on the C drive yet.

[rp08orbust]

Actually yea I'm having trouble figuring out how to format my C drive. I'm reading that you can do it before installing windows XP, but no options like that came up when I was installing windows 7. It's installing it now, but I don't think I've deleted everything on the C drive yet.

I'm not too familiar with the Windows 7 installation process yet.

If you're not too far into it yet, you might want to delete all partitions and add them again (that will at least do a high-level deletion of all files on the hard drive) with BootIt NG and then start the installation over again. You might as well not have any old crud hanging around on your new system partition.

[coyote_sprit]

Actually yea I'm having trouble figuring out how to format my C drive. I'm reading that you can do it before installing windows XP, but no options like that came up when I was installing windows 7. It's installing it now, but I don't think I've deleted everything on the C drive yet.

It probably found the remnants of your XP partition and you accidentally clicked upgrade instead of fresh install. This may fix your problem without you needing to completely reformat.

[TortoiseDream]

Update: Okay everything's running pretty smoothly now. However my laptop no longer

A. Can detect my external monitor
B. Allows the use of the touchpad for moving the mouse

I'm assuming I need drivers for these things? Where do I get them, from Windows or the respective companies of the hardware (videocard and laptop)? Or am I just wrong.

[rp08orbust]

Update: Okay everything's running pretty smoothly now. However my laptop no longer

A. Can detect my external monitor
B. Allows the use of the touchpad for moving the mouse

I'm assuming I need drivers for these things? Where do I get them, from Windows or the respective companies of the hardware (videocard and laptop)? Or am I just wrong.

If Windows 7 doesn't have them, then download the drivers from the laptop manufacturer's website.

[coyote_sprit]

Update: Okay everything's running pretty smoothly now. However my laptop no longer

A. Can detect my external monitor
B. Allows the use of the touchpad for moving the mouse

I'm assuming I need drivers for these things? Where do I get them, from Windows or the respective companies of the hardware (videocard and laptop)? Or am I just wrong.

Sounds like you need a video card driver and a touchpad driver, the most common video card drivers can be found at their respective sites.
ATI (http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx)
NVIDIA (http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us)
Intel (http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Default.aspx?FamilyId=39&lang=eng&currentproductstatus=Active&FamilyStatus=Active&FamilyName=Graphics)(Definitely won't have one of these unless you have an Intel CPU)
S3 (http://www.s3graphics.com/en/drivers/index.aspx)(Proboably won't have one of these unless you have a VIA CPU)

Synaptics (http://www.synaptics.com/support/drivers) is the most common touchpad maker and they have a universal driver for each operating system.