FEMALE LAPTOP WOES

CrazyFoxMachine · 20 April, 2012, 07:17:06 PM

There's an 'normous problem with my girlfriend's laptop and she's in the final stages of her dissertation and it's rather freaking her out. I realise this is a bit of a long shot posting here for technical advice and no problem at all if you can't help but your imput would be greatly appreciated - !

In her words: "My computer will not turn on correctly. When started normally it gets stuck on the starting windows screen with the flag. it remains on this for 10 minutes or so and then reboots after the blue screen of death. When restarted this message appears- Windows error recovery: windows failed to start a recent hardware or software change might be the cause. If windows files have been damaged or configured incorrectly startup repair can help diagnose and fix the problem. If power was interrupted gerring start up to start windows normally. When booted to safe mode the computer will not load past " windows system32 drivers avgid seh.sys." it then does the blue screen of death and then reboots. I am wary of using system repair as I have tried it before and I lost all my files."

Also feel free to just be blunt or sarcastic. In these troubling times all we have is our BALLS MINDS.

Pyroxian · 20 April, 2012, 07:19:37 PM

Is it this problem:

http://www.pcrepairmansblog.com/avg-update-crashes-pc-how-to-restart-windows-xp-vista-7-2003-2008-boot-disc-startup/

Definitely Not Mister Pops · 20 April, 2012, 07:28:34 PM

Proudhuff · 20 April, 2012, 07:32:43 PM

A previous Huff huose laptop had that, wish I'd know about this then, should have asked here

Pyroxian · 20 April, 2012, 07:45:15 PM

Macs are evil... They actually cause me pain to use.

DoomBot · 20 April, 2012, 10:40:38 PM

Windows? Mac? Madness. Linux surely...

I'm probably of no help, but if it was my laptop I would grab the Ubuntu linux live distro from their site, bung it on a flash drive, boot the laptop with it. Access the windows disk partition to copy my personal data to an external disk, restore the windows OS as in clean reinstall, then restore my personal data.

Kowalsky (formerly JudgeGumpty) · 20 April, 2012, 10:49:11 PM

Safe mode copy all the files you need then wipe it with a fresh install. Before that id give it a good virus check first if you can.
If its making any weird noises like a ticking sound or clinking sound could be the harddrive.
Let us know how you get on.

Roger Godpleton · 20 April, 2012, 11:08:27 PM

If you try Triple Swearing at it, it may be so impressed that it comes back to life.

CrazyFoxMachine · 20 April, 2012, 11:10:23 PM

Quote from: DoomBot on 20 April, 2012, 10:40:38 PM
Windows? Mac? Madness. Linux surely...

I'm probably of no help, but if it was my laptop I would grab the Ubuntu linux live distro from their site, bung it on a flash drive, boot the laptop with it. Access the windows disk partition to copy my personal data to an external disk, restore the windows OS as in clean reinstall, then restore my personal data.

She's tried the Ubuntu method but the USB copying isn't working for her for some reason and she doesn't have any discs. "When used, message reads error no configuration file found. Googled problem, went to change file names, only files on usb are are text documents" She says of it. She even tried burning the iso direct to the USB but that didn't work either.

Hmmmmmmm it's a dilly of a pickle alright - grateful for all the help - she's just sketched out about losing dissertation stuff.

Buttonman · 20 April, 2012, 11:15:58 PM

If 'System Restore' desn't do the trick I'd tell her to go down the 'laptop ate my essay' route.

Fear not chums I've cleverly emailed The Beast to my Hotmail so that I can remote access it in the event of a non-porn related system corruption.

DoomBot · 20 April, 2012, 11:29:04 PM

Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 20 April, 2012, 11:10:23 PM
She's tried the Ubuntu method but the USB copying isn't working for her for some reason and she doesn't have any discs. "When used, message reads error no configuration file found. Googled problem, went to change file names, only files on usb are are text documents" She says of it. She even tried burning the iso direct to the USB but that didn't work either.

Copying to cd is the easiest I guess. Make her buy disks immediately. You could try a different distro such as fedora
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/How_to_create_and_use_Live_USB

Bat King · 20 April, 2012, 11:38:35 PM

Take it to a repair dude?

Even if the laptop is deceased they might get her files out safely.

CrazyFoxMachine · 21 April, 2012, 12:50:41 AM

Right, right, right -

It's all fixed now - I think that first link was the winner Pyroxian - she just wrangled it to the point that system restore worked and got out of it. Fuckin' AVG.

Cheers so much for your comments and that - Jazz has promised to bake you all cake - but given the geographical difficulty and postage costs involved it might be easier if she just writes oodles more Flaubert

IndigoPrime · 21 April, 2012, 01:09:46 AM

Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 21 April, 2012, 12:50:41 AMIt's all fixed now

Not quite. Now go and get an external hard drive and ensure all the important data is being backed up daily. And then get a Dropbox account (or similar) and make a separate online copy of important files. Then the data is (relatively) safe.

Bat King · 21 April, 2012, 01:36:42 PM

Much more Flaubert!!!

Really enjoying that thread.