Summary
Hi,
My name's Joe; tonight my laptop stopped working. Attempts to boot-up could be described as largely unsuccessful. Currently attempting a Start-Up repair; it's been running for about 1.5 hours now. In this post I describe the situation and hope that some altruistic person out there can/will help.
Personal Intro
Just a random 22 year old Canadian Grad student. I'm not particularly adept with computers. When I was growing up, my older brother was always the computer wiz in the house.
Anyways, this is my first post here so I hope I'm posting this in the right subforum.
Introduction to the Problem
I bought this laptop (ASUS U45J) about 1.5 years ago.
Everything has always been fine.
Earlier this evening, however, I dozed off for a few hours on what was supposed to be a 1-hour nap. When I woke up, I found my laptop screen was black; nothing was responsive.
I figured, "okay, no big deal. I guess it just crashed. Doesn't happen often, but whatever. Maybe it has something to do with the massive heat wave lately; and maybe it has something to do with me installing new software and drivers (Logitech Webcam) lately."
First noticing something was amiss...
I attempted to restart my laptop.
It said something about Windows not shutting down properly.
Being impatient, I told the computer to boot up as per usual (i.e., not in safe mode).
No such luck. After a loading screen (not the colourful blue one, but rather a simple monochromatic black and white loading bar) the screen just went to black (but the computer was still on).
Concerned, I hit the power button; held it for about 5 seconds. Tried to turn it back on again. I don't recall the specifics, but I essentially told the computer to restart.
Again, the screen was just black for a very long time. The CPU light was flashing intermittently, and I was starting to get a little unnerved. I powered off the computer, and powered it back on once more.
Same scenario, but this time I thought, "maybe if I give it time..."
Fortunately, after about 6 minutes, I was finally able to see a cursor appear on the screen. But nothing more. Hurray for progress? Still concerning though.
A few more minutes later, I was prompted with a window. Again, I don't recall the specifics, as this all happened about 2.5 hours ago. I do remember finding it odd that this whole process was taking so long; it's like everything was running in slow-motion (not literally; the cursor was moving just fine).
Non-successful System Image Recovery
The computer first attempted a System Image Recovery. However, this was to no avail:
"Windows cannot find a system image on this computer. Attach the backup hard disk or insert the final DVD from a backup set and click retry. Alternatively close this dialogue for more options"
Unfortunately (perhaps stupidly) I don't have any back-up CDs or disks where I'm currently living. In fact, I don't even remember whether or not this laptop came with any such disks.
Following the instructions on the aforementioned window, I closed the 'dialogue' and was presented with an array of system recovery tools:
1. Start-up Repair
2. System Restore
3. System Image Recovery
4. Windows Memory Diagnostic
5. Command Prompt
Non-successful System Restore
I first tried System Restore (#2); I don't remember the exact wording, but I was prompted with something along the lines that it didn't know what the OS was. Yikes! That's somewhat disturbing...
Attempting Start-Up Repair
I then decided to try Start-Up Repair (#1).
"Startup Repair is checking your system for problems... if problems are found, startup repair will fix them automatically. Your computer might restart several times during this process. No changes will be made to your personal files or information. This might take several minuets"
After a few minutes, indeed, I noticed that the progress bar has moved on to:
"Attempting repairs"
yay? Although, I then read, "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete.'
So now, I'm currently at my office/lab at the university. I first read the aforementioned prompt at 12.49am; it is now 2.16am (about 1.5 hours).
Can someone please enlighten me as to what is going on? And how long does a 'Start-up Repair" normally take? If it varies, what factors affect this length of time?
In the worst case scenario (I don't even know what that would be) I suppose I could take some amount of comfort knowing that this laptop comes with a 2-year warranty. Still; this came at a rather inopportune time. Then again, when is it ever an opportune time to have your laptop mysteriously stop functioning? ha. Oh dear...
Hi,
My name's Joe; tonight my laptop stopped working. Attempts to boot-up could be described as largely unsuccessful. Currently attempting a Start-Up repair; it's been running for about 1.5 hours now. In this post I describe the situation and hope that some altruistic person out there can/will help.
Personal Intro
Just a random 22 year old Canadian Grad student. I'm not particularly adept with computers. When I was growing up, my older brother was always the computer wiz in the house.
Anyways, this is my first post here so I hope I'm posting this in the right subforum.
Introduction to the Problem
I bought this laptop (ASUS U45J) about 1.5 years ago.
Everything has always been fine.
Earlier this evening, however, I dozed off for a few hours on what was supposed to be a 1-hour nap. When I woke up, I found my laptop screen was black; nothing was responsive.
I figured, "okay, no big deal. I guess it just crashed. Doesn't happen often, but whatever. Maybe it has something to do with the massive heat wave lately; and maybe it has something to do with me installing new software and drivers (Logitech Webcam) lately."
First noticing something was amiss...
I attempted to restart my laptop.
It said something about Windows not shutting down properly.
Being impatient, I told the computer to boot up as per usual (i.e., not in safe mode).
No such luck. After a loading screen (not the colourful blue one, but rather a simple monochromatic black and white loading bar) the screen just went to black (but the computer was still on).
Concerned, I hit the power button; held it for about 5 seconds. Tried to turn it back on again. I don't recall the specifics, but I essentially told the computer to restart.
Again, the screen was just black for a very long time. The CPU light was flashing intermittently, and I was starting to get a little unnerved. I powered off the computer, and powered it back on once more.
Same scenario, but this time I thought, "maybe if I give it time..."
Fortunately, after about 6 minutes, I was finally able to see a cursor appear on the screen. But nothing more. Hurray for progress? Still concerning though.
A few more minutes later, I was prompted with a window. Again, I don't recall the specifics, as this all happened about 2.5 hours ago. I do remember finding it odd that this whole process was taking so long; it's like everything was running in slow-motion (not literally; the cursor was moving just fine).
Non-successful System Image Recovery
The computer first attempted a System Image Recovery. However, this was to no avail:
"Windows cannot find a system image on this computer. Attach the backup hard disk or insert the final DVD from a backup set and click retry. Alternatively close this dialogue for more options"
Unfortunately (perhaps stupidly) I don't have any back-up CDs or disks where I'm currently living. In fact, I don't even remember whether or not this laptop came with any such disks.
Following the instructions on the aforementioned window, I closed the 'dialogue' and was presented with an array of system recovery tools:
1. Start-up Repair
2. System Restore
3. System Image Recovery
4. Windows Memory Diagnostic
5. Command Prompt
Non-successful System Restore
I first tried System Restore (#2); I don't remember the exact wording, but I was prompted with something along the lines that it didn't know what the OS was. Yikes! That's somewhat disturbing...
Attempting Start-Up Repair
I then decided to try Start-Up Repair (#1).
"Startup Repair is checking your system for problems... if problems are found, startup repair will fix them automatically. Your computer might restart several times during this process. No changes will be made to your personal files or information. This might take several minuets"
After a few minutes, indeed, I noticed that the progress bar has moved on to:
"Attempting repairs"
yay? Although, I then read, "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete.'
So now, I'm currently at my office/lab at the university. I first read the aforementioned prompt at 12.49am; it is now 2.16am (about 1.5 hours).
Can someone please enlighten me as to what is going on? And how long does a 'Start-up Repair" normally take? If it varies, what factors affect this length of time?
In the worst case scenario (I don't even know what that would be) I suppose I could take some amount of comfort knowing that this laptop comes with a 2-year warranty. Still; this came at a rather inopportune time. Then again, when is it ever an opportune time to have your laptop mysteriously stop functioning? ha. Oh dear...
My Computer
At a glance
Windows 7 (both 64 and 32?)
- OS
- Windows 7 (both 64 and 32?)
