Author Topic: Computer Crash (Read 6755 times)

Gold and Blue · « **on:** January 13, 2010, 07:44:38 PM »

Have: Dell Inspiron 1000
Using Microsoft Windows XP
My computer will start but that’s about it. The cd driver does not recognize cd’s. Computer does not recognize flash drives. Can’t log onto internet. I plug the phone jack into the back of the computer but it does not recognize it. Can’t open anything on computer. Cant open itunes, Microsoft word, etc… I want to be able to get my pictures, music and word docs off the computer. I need the pictures and word docs badly.

Quantos · « **Reply #1 on:** January 13, 2010, 08:15:07 PM »

Have you tried starting the computer in Safe Mode?

Gold and Blue · « **Reply #2 on:** January 13, 2010, 10:32:45 PM »

Still Nothing

JJ 3000 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 13, 2010, 10:37:15 PM »

Do you have any virus protection?

How long has this been happening?

Did you make any changes to the computer right before this started?

Gold and Blue · « **Reply #4 on:** January 13, 2010, 11:14:10 PM »

Had AVG virus protection but apparently it's not working.

It's been going on for about a month.

None that I can remember.

JJ 3000 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 14, 2010, 12:35:37 AM »

Do you have your XP CD? You may need to do a repair install. A repair will leave all of your pics and word docs intact.
However...
If I were you I would slave that drive in another computer and get the data off of it before I did anything else. How experienced are you with computer hardware?

Gold and Blue · « **Reply #6 on:** January 14, 2010, 01:46:45 AM »

Not very experienced.

How do I save the drive in another computer? Is it complicated?

jkolak · « **Reply #7 on:** January 14, 2010, 08:01:32 AM »

You may want to get a friend more familiar with computers to help you.

He is talking about taking the hard drive out of your computer and putting it into a running computer as a second drive so that the data can be copied off of it before you lose your data to hardware failure or virus activity.

patio · « **Reply #8 on:** January 14, 2010, 08:04:03 AM »

Slave Drive Info...

Gold and Blue · « **Reply #9 on:** January 14, 2010, 10:24:39 AM »

Are there different directions for a dell inspirion 1000 laptop? Or any laptop?

patio · « **Reply #10 on:** January 14, 2010, 10:31:02 AM »

Laptop drive you will need an adapter...

2.5" to IDE adapter...Bout 5 to 8 Bucks from any PC store...

jkolak · « **Reply #11 on:** January 14, 2010, 10:36:47 AM »

Depending upon the laptop, the drive can also be quite difficult to remove. Some really need to go into the shop just to get it out.

This would rather defeat the purpose of the Do-It-Yourself approach to rescuing your data. Some shops may not be very diligent about trying to rescue your data, too.

You might be better off setting your BIOS to boot from CD, and then boot up with a Live CD. Then transfer your files to a USB drive or across a network connection to another computer.

patio · « **Reply #12 on:** January 14, 2010, 10:39:14 AM »

Most laptops have an access panel to remove the HDD with 1 or 2 screws...
Any other design would be foolish.

Gold and Blue · « **Reply #13 on:** January 14, 2010, 10:40:46 AM »

Looks a little over my head do I have any other options?

Gold and Blue · « **Reply #14 on:** January 14, 2010, 10:43:18 AM »

How do I do this boot up with a Live CD. Then transfer your files to a USB drive or across a network connection to another computer.

patio · « **Reply #15 on:** January 14, 2010, 10:53:51 AM »

Slaving the drive would be easier in my opinion...

jkolak · « **Reply #16 on:** January 14, 2010, 11:14:32 AM »

Quote from: patio on January 14, 2010, 10:53:51 AM

Slaving the drive would be easier in my opinion...

I agree if the laptop is one that allows easy removal of the drive.

I've made Vista and XP Live CDs over at Boot-land.net (Winbuilder), but it's not easy for a beginner. There may be other ready-to-go Live CDs you could point to. Otherwise, I've had Linux Live CDs get me out of these kinds of jams in the past. Easily downloaded at Ubuntu.com . They will even mail you a CD free. Doesn't take nearly as long as they say. Had mine in a week or two. But if you can download and burn your own, much better....

Gold and Blue · « **Reply #17 on:** January 14, 2010, 11:20:59 AM »

What does the Linux Live CD do?

jkolak · « **Reply #18 on:** January 14, 2010, 11:29:27 AM »

Making sure your computer is set to boot from your CD, and you have your USB thumb drive inserted, it boots you up to a desktop where you can open windows to both your internal hard drive and your thumb drive.

Then you just drag and drop whatever files you want to rescue into the thumb drive. Once you have rescued everything you need, it is no big deal if you just want to erase your hard drive and reinstall Windows.

The Linux desktop is slightly different from Windows, so the menu items are in slightly different locations, but just poke around and you will get used to it.

I'm not really a Linux user, and I hate to recommend it on a Windows board. It is just that my experience with building Live CDs over at Boot Land was somewhat daunting, and Linux CDs have really saved me from losing data twice now.

Someone else on this board might recommend a better Live CD.

Gold and Blue · « **Reply #19 on:** January 14, 2010, 01:27:44 PM »

When I go to ubuntu.com how do i burn Linux to a cd. Sorry if I'm dumb, I'm just not experienced with computers.

jkolak · « **Reply #20 on:** January 14, 2010, 01:30:54 PM »

Well, once you download it, you will have a CD image file in the .ISO format.

A CD burning program will be able to burn this image file to a real CD.

Then you just boot the CD.

This is all assuming you have another computer or a friend's computer to do this with since your computer does not seem to be working well enough to try something like this.

Gold and Blue · « **Reply #21 on:** January 14, 2010, 01:32:34 PM »

Whats an iso format

jkolak · « **Reply #22 on:** January 14, 2010, 01:36:50 PM »

It's a computer file type. Like .DOC is a word processing document, or .JPG is a photo, or .MP3 is a song, .ISO is a CD image.

Most people are familiar with Nero CD burning software. If you or a friend don't have it, there's plenty of free CD burning programs at CNET (www.download.com).

patio · « **Reply #23 on:** January 14, 2010, 01:38:49 PM »

Quote from: patio on January 14, 2010, 10:53:51 AM

Slaving the drive would be easier in my opinion...

This is why i stated the above...you'ld be saving files by now...

Gold and Blue · « **Reply #24 on:** January 14, 2010, 01:42:12 PM »

Sorry, I just didn't want to take apart my computers. It looked a little complicated. If I can get the files with a cd I would like to try that first.

jkolak · « **Reply #25 on:** January 14, 2010, 01:52:41 PM »

Yeah, it's tough either route.

Pulling the hard drive means a trip to a good computer or electronics store for the mini-ide adaptor, and then finding someone willing to open up their computer to slave it.

Burning a CD means going to someone's house to download and burn a CD, and a learning curve on that.

Best option is finding a friend who understands all these issues and can take care of it through either route.

JJ 3000 · « **Reply #26 on:** January 14, 2010, 11:13:57 PM »

We may have led you down the wrong path here.
Let's try to do a repair install. Keep in mind that a repair install should leave your data intact. There is a very small chance that it will be lost, but if you are not comfortable slaving the drive and you still want to repair your computer yourself, then this is the route that I would suggest.

Do you have your XP CD?

JJ 3000 · « **Reply #27 on:** January 14, 2010, 11:17:02 PM »

Wait a minute....
What happens in safe mode? Tap F8 repeatedly as the computer is starting. This will take you the advanced startup screen. Choose safe mode from the list. Do you still have the issues in safe mode?

jkolak · « **Reply #28 on:** January 15, 2010, 02:21:02 AM »

Quote from: JJ 3000 on January 14, 2010, 11:13:57 PM

We may have led you down the wrong path here.

This has been on my mind too, but because the symptoms in the original post are also very similar to my case over in the malware forum.

Safe mode, repair install, and System File Checker are certainly worth a try, though. These are all things I tried before I came here and learned I had malware.

Another point is that I don't see XP Home or Pro specified. On my CDs I noticed that repair install is only available on XP Pro and not on XP Home. Doing further reading I see that is just because the XP CD type must match the same type of XP that is being repaired. So if you have to borrow someone's CD to do a repair install, be sure it is the same Windows type.

Also, laptop owners often don't receive a Windows CD, but only a restore CD or a hidden restore partition on the hard drive, either of which wipe the computer and restore it to factory new condition.

Quantos · « **Reply #29 on:** January 15, 2010, 08:43:29 PM »

I think I already suggested Safe Mode, read up.

JJ 3000 · « **Reply #30 on:** January 15, 2010, 09:16:25 PM »

So you did! I must've forgotten.

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