Computer crashes at desktop, why?

[WhiteLotus]

OK, just let me explain in the best way i can:

well there is a computer, when you turn this computer on it can get to the desktop but then crashes - nothing will work, you cant do anything. to turn it of you have to rip the power plug out of the socket.

so whats wrong with it?

i'm thinking hard drive, virus, or maybe some sort of registry edit.

more importantly how do i fix this problem?

the person who this computer belongs to wishes to save the vast amounts of music and more importantly work that is stored on the drive and so doesn't want to go down the reformat route.


more information:
-she is not linked up to the internet so has no AV or firewall
-AFAIK the computer only has one hard drive
-the computer is about a year old, she does not know the specs of the system and lost all of her information you get when you buy the computer
- the warrenty has been voided so cant take it back to the shop.

now i was thinking of ripping the drive out, setting it up as a slave in mine and fixing it that way or at least try to salvage as much as i can out of it but i have not done anything like this before so not really sure on how to.

if some one can point me in the right direction or has any other ideas please reply!

[hat]

if there's no internet it can't be a vrius

I say make a copy of memtest86, the real bootable version and run that for at least 8 hours, if it comes back clean it's not memory.

If it comes back clean, take the drive and put it in your computer and run a benchmark like HD Tach on it. If the results look good, it's probably not the drive, salvage whatever you can and reformat.

[WhiteLotus]

ah yea sorry forgot to mention - college had a virus on their computers and she used a removable drive to transfer her work to and from college. As far as the romours go the virus has been there since August and McAfee didn't pick it up.

so maybe virus jumped computers?

[hat]

via the flash drive? Then refrain from putting anything in your computer thats been inside that one. For now, run memtest86.

[WhiteLotus]

right will have to do that then time to google "memtest86" and "bootable version"!!!

cheers hat

[xfire]

Does the comp boot in safe mode?
It could be due to lack of memory.For memtest if you have a bootable cd of ubuntu/kubuntu/xubuntu it has memtest in the cd itself.
P.S-I suggest using AVG instead of mcafee.

[WhiteLotus]

Mcafee is the college AV. and she says it doesn't boot into safe mode but I'm not sure if she did it right. and this problem only just started happening, as i gather everything was fine, she stuck her flash drive to save some stuff for college and it all went tits up!

so i orginally thought, safe mode, install AVG off a disk, run and kill the virus.

but memtest86 looks like it could also work.

[JrRacinFan]

How old is the computer? Is it a pre-built?

[xfire]

memtest tests the ram(I have a feeling that you think memtest tests for virus).should boot in safe mode.

[WhiteLotus]

How old is the computer? Is it a pre-built?

one about a year,
two yes pre built and taking back to shop to take advantage of warranty or anything due to it being voided as she removed the side panel for some reason.

[WhiteLotus]

memtest tests the ram(I have a feeling that you think memtest tests for virus).should boot in safe mode.


no i didnt think that memtest scans for viruses, but still it brought a smile to my face.:)

[JrRacinFan]

OK, was just checking about the age. If it was 3 years or older from the manufacturing date I was going to suggest discconnecting all peripherals from power supply and hooking them back up.

But, it seems like a ram issue. Sticks do and can go bad, just happens. Of course viruses are easily transferrable, I bet its a startup value in the registry thats causing this.

As far as taking files from the hard drive and rescuing them, I wouldn't because of exactly what you said earlier. It would just bugger everything up again.

[WhiteLotus]

so bootable memtest86 it is then! :) thanks guys.







erm btw, how?

[JrRacinFan]

No cd burner? Or a bootable flash drive?

[WhiteLotus]

well i downloaded memtest 86 and it gives an .iso file.

did i download wrong thing or click on incorrect link?

[JrRacinFan]

Nope you didnt download the wrong one, the ISO is a bootable CD image that you have to burn to a CD-r with Nero, Roxio, etc....

[WhiteLotus]

ah ok. i was thinking it would be a much larger file than 1794 KB though.

damn my assuming brain!

[JrRacinFan]

LOL, Its ok man. ;)

[WhiteLotus]

any that are free?

[xfire]

Uh! u talking about nero or memtest.
Memtest is free.

[WhiteLotus]

nero - got the trial version now, not to worry

[WhiteLotus]

update:

ok burnt the memtest86.iso file to CD, put it into drive, rebooted and changed order in BIOS and then rebooted again. and nothing changed, either it didnt pick up the file on disk or for some reason it didn't do what i told it to, OR i've done something wrong (most likely)

by the way this is on my computer not hers

[JrRacinFan]

Oh no no no you got it all wrong. Your supposed to burn the disc image not burn a data cd and put the iso in there as a file.

Here these may help:
http://fixunix.com/hardware/8454-please-explain-how-burn-iso-cdr.html

http://www.hiren.info/pages/how-to-burn-iso

[WhiteLotus]

ahhh thankyou Jr, i learn the ways!

will try again now

[JrRacinFan]

Anytime man, anytime! ;)

[WhiteLotus]

done and done, memtest started up fine on mine so shall try and go round and try hers out whilst at college tomorrow - that should give it plenty of time to run through everything it has to do.



cheers guys for all your help.
:)

[WhiteLotus]

ok well i'm back. ran memtest on her computer then went to college. came back at lunch time, it ran for 4 and half hours, did 3 passes and found NO errors.

so any other ideas, apart from safe mode, back up data and format it?


PS a bummer is that she has no XP disk, Acer never gave her one. the machine is an Acer Aspire SA80 or something if having this additional information helps.

[JrRacinFan]

Yup backup what she got and format. BUT, afterwards run a virus and spyware check on the files before really using them.

As far as the XP disk goes don't worry. I know this probably isn't the most legit way but if you have at least an XP key on a COA sticker on the computer, then just download XP and use the legit key. It is the same license so it will work . But the question is you guys, is that legal or not?

[WhiteLotus]

thats a good point. seems like it should be legal after all i guess that is what companies like Acer do, build the machines over and over using the same XP and then purchase the Key. it reduces costs - i see no reason why this should be illegal.

In theory then, if she does have a sticker with the key on it, could i use my XP disk and her key?

she has two hard drives by the look of things a C. and a D. so i shall move every thing to the D. drive that isnt used and straight format C and reinstall.

[JrRacinFan]

Yup, should work fine then. Have fun!

EDIT: Or I should say "should"

[Jimmy 2004]

As far as the XP disk goes don't worry. I know this probably isn't the most legit way but if you have at least an XP key on a COA sticker on the computer, then just download XP and use the legit key. It is the same license so it will work . But the question is you guys, is that legal or not?

I reckon it probably isn't but I doubt it would be particularly frowned upon here, as the license is legal.

Just a heads up if you use that method:

I tried it on my parents' Packard Bell PC (used my XP Home disk and their product key) and it didn't activate online, I think you'll need to phone M$ and explain that you've formatted and reinstalled but don't tell them it was with a disk that didn't come with the PC, because it might be illegal in which case they will refuse to give you the code. If you say it was with the Acer disk, they will probably believe you and let you activate, which IMO is legal anyway.