Scenario 1

[Nano3]

A fellow co-worker grabs me and tells me that her computer crashed last night while performing basic computer functions. I ask her to elaborate. She mentions that this happened while writing a document for school using Microsoft Word, her computer suddenly froze and voila! BSOD. She says that after restarting the PC she was given the option to either boot windows in safe mode... Or to start Normally. She says that she has tried both startup functions and gets past the Windows loading screen but as soon as that screen goes off, it gets to a black screen with the mouse cursor. She is able to move the mouse cursor. She is running Windows Vista on a Dell laptop.

I have not checked the laptop myself (I am on vacation till tuesday)

I am studying to get A+ Certified. This is the type of stuff i should be able to troubleshoot and diagnose. Before going to work on the laptop - I want to get as much help as possible. Figured, Why not ask the pros

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[zigzag3143]

A fellow co-worker grabs me and tells me that her computer crashed last night while performing basic computer functions. I ask her to elaborate. She mentions that this happened while writing a document for school using Microsoft Word, her computer suddenly froze and voila! BSOD. She says that after restarting the PC she was given the option to either boot windows in safe mode... Or to start Normally. She says that she has tried both startup functions and gets past the Windows loading screen but as soon as that screen goes off, it gets to a black screen with the mouse cursor. She is able to move the mouse cursor. She is running Windows Vista on a Dell laptop.

I have not checked the laptop myself (I am on vacation till tuesday)

I am studying to get A+ Certified. This is the type of stuff i should be able to troubleshoot and diagnose. Before going to work on the laptop - I want to get as much help as possible. Figured, Why not ask the pros

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Nano

Hi again

first of course we need the DMP from the BSOD, second in safe mode you can check device manger for video driver, etc. In event viewer (type evnetvwr in search) you can check for app hang, app crash etc. they will be in the wondows logs>application tab.
that should start giving you some back ground on why it happened
to fix it
run a system file check to verify and repair system files
type cmd in search>right click and run as admin>sfc /scannow
if that doesnt help
does she have a backup to restore from?
If not
does she have the win 7 dvd to do a repair install from

Good Luck mate

let us know if we can be of assistance

Ken J+

 

[chuckr]

She is running Windows Vista on a Dell laptop.

If not
does she have the win 7 dvd to do a repair install from

On a Vista laptop ?

 

[Nano3]

I just received the laptop. When booting i pressed f8 and entered the "Repair Your Computer" screen. When this screen pops up. I try logging in as Administrator, and a window pops up saying "Your account has been disabled. Please see your system administrator" I hit the drop down on the User Name box and i see that there is another user created. I am able to log in with that credentials. When i received the laptop i asked if there was a password on the computer. was told no.

Now in this screen, I see a system Recovery Option window with many recovery tools... Startup Repair, System Restore, Windows complete pc restore, Windows memory diadnostic tool, Command prompt, and Dell factory image restore.

I want to avoid losing personal information, so i go with system restore first but of course when click - There are no system restore points created on the PCs system disk.

It is a start up issue... SO i then decide to hit on startup repair. I runthe application and after a quick 10 second scan, Startup repair could not detect a problem.

I go back...

Oh well... before i try the Dell Factory Image Restore function... Is there anything else i should try?

 

[Uber Philf]

Open the Command prompt from the repair options, and run the SFC /scannow function.

 

[Nano3]

Opened the command prompt from the repair options, ran sfc/scannow. command tells me "There is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete. Restart Windows and run sfc again" I exit and restart. Go through the same process... I get the same message

 

[Uber Philf]

Hmm, try running a check disk from Command Prompt.

 

[Nano3]

Ran CHKDSK - No probs found

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Oh well... before i try the Dell Factory Image Restore function... Is there anything else i should try?

If you choose this option you should get an option to "save to backup" whatever you don't want to lose so be sure to have media available to send the backup to.

 

[Nano3]

Oh well... before i try the Dell Factory Image Restore function... Is there anything else i should try?

If you choose this option you should get an option to "save to backup" whatever you don't want to lose so be sure to have media available to send the backup to.

This is the screen that it's showing me

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Dell gives you no option to save to backup?

 

[Nano3]

I mean... I don't want to click on the box... and have them reformat the computer to only find out that i cannot save to back up, you know... i don't want to go through trial and error simply because it is not my PC. Should i click on the box and press next?

 

[Tews]

You should contact the owner of the PC, advise her that you may have to format her drive and reinstall the OS and ask her how she wants to proceed......put the monkey on her back...

 

[Nano3]

As mentioned before, The owner of the PC is my coworker, She advised me that there are important files all over her computer. Can it be a missing startup file? I was looking at BartPE to try and load needed system files onto the computer and try to save as many documents to my external hard drive. The only problem is that this PC does not have a Optical drive (CD - DVD) so therefore i cannot run BartPE or anything like that... Right? Can i maybe use a memory stick to load the files? Thanks, Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Nano3]

Am i allowed to bump once? :huh:

 

[Tews]

Yes, you can use a usb flash drive...

 

[Jacee]

You might want to start trouble shooting with an antivirus and anti-spyware program. This tells me that her computer has been compromised by a bot or hacker:

"Your account has been disabled. Please see your system administrator" I hit the drop down on the User Name box and i see that there is another user created. I am able to log in with that credentials. When i received the laptop i asked if there was a password on the computer. was told no.

 

[Nano3]

Never even thought about Virus removal... What way should i approach the situation if i have no optical drive?

 

[Jacee]

A USB flash drive would work ....

 

[Nano3]

Cannot find my USB flash drive ha... Is there any way to do it via micro sd with adapter? And what free antivirus software will do the job?