computer startup problems

[ls225]

this morning when i went to turn on my computer, the dell start  up screen came on and loaded, but then the screen went black with only a small white line flashing in the top left hand corner... the screen itself is sort of flashing with it and its not loading any further. whats going on and how do i fix it? the computer is relatively new, 4 of us use it only for school, work and teenage web surfing??

[Allan]

1) What happened between the last time it worked properly and the first time it didn't (new hw, sw, virus, error, etc)?

2) What is the OS

3) Tell us a little about the system

4) Can you boot to safe mode?

[ls225]

1)as far as i know there was no viruses... we have a pritty good anti virus... but lately it has said that we need more backup space or somthing?!?! i wasnt the last to use it but my sister said it worked fine. it turn off as normal.

2)i dont know what an os is. explain that to me. im familer but no expert... haha

3)what do you want to know about the system? its a dell inspiron... good memory... windows vista... just a normal family computer. the only thing saved to it is music and pictures. we dont use limewire.

4) how do you boot to safe mode? and will that wipe the computer? its not the worst thing if it does because we uplaod our pictures to face book and theres no major documents.

thank you for even trying to help... sorry if im hopeless!

[Allan]

1)as far as i know there was no viruses... we have a pritty good anti virus... but lately it has said that we need more backup space or somthing?!?! i wasnt the last to use it but my sister said it worked fine. it turn off as normal.

It would be nice to know the exact message you were getting.

2)i dont know what an os is. explain that to me. im familer but no expert... haha

Operating System - but you say Vista in the next answer so that's fine.

3)what do you want to know about the system? its a dell inspiron... good memory... windows vista... just a normal family computer. the only thing saved to it is music and pictures. we dont use limewire.

So it's a laptop?

4) how do you boot to safe mode? and will that wipe the computer? its not the worst thing if it does because we uplaod our pictures to face book and theres no major documents.

No, it will not delete anything:   http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm#03

thank you for even trying to help... sorry if im hopeless!

[ls225]

i dont now if i can get the message. it said your back up system is low. but more now... or somthing similar. were useing norton secuity.

no its a desktop. with an lg screen.

ok ill give that a go.

what do you think it is?!?!

[Allan]

No idea.

[ls225]

rightio. ill try safe start it and see what happens. ill keep you posted!

[Mulreay]

OK just out of interest when the computer starts does the screen fail but is the HDD still working? As in are there still lights flashing?

[Allan]

If the OP is getting a black screen with a flashing cursor, the HD is working.

[ls225]

hey so i by the time i got back home my mother had seamed to get tit working again. but only after a very long call to india. it seams she was told to do the same thing you have told me but useing f12 instead. appaerintly the problem is caused by shutting down the computer with programes and internet windows and the like still running?!?! im not convinced because wouldn't the computer automaticaly warn you if this was causeing problems?

[Allan]

Shutting down the system with apps still running had nothing to do with anything - they are full of crap. Regardless, is the system working now?

[ls225]

haha i thought as much. well yes but it seams a little gittery. as if it could go at any moment. i turned it off last night and it started up fine again, so for now it seams to be working. i just want to know what caused the problem in the first place so that it wont happen again.

[patio]

Good time to consider a solid backup strategy...

[ls225]

and how would i do that?

do you mean backing up everything onto a hard drive or somthing?... wont that be expencive?

[patio]

Personally i use and recommend Acronis True Image...but it's not Free...
For a Free app my recommendation would be Macrium Reflect.

Both apps create an image of your HDD which can then be saved to another drive and/or burned to CD/DVD...