Is my laptop f*****

[NN Fox]

Laptop refuses to boot up. It runs Vista. Starts as normal with the with the green flashing loading box. It then switches to WINDOWS LOADING FILES across the bottom, it then flashes and tries to load a dialog box before switching to a blue screen and the cursor, nothing else happens. I've tried booting it with the recovery disk but the result is the same. Does kicking it help? My suspicion is that the hard drive is f*****. I would be grateful if somebody who knows more than me about computers, pretty much anybody, has any constructive advice.

 

[Nottingham Fox]

Sounds like the dreaded BSOD - Blue Screen Of Death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Screen_of_Death

 

[Cate Fox]

I had that, was a virus....

 

[NN Fox]

I always thought the BSoD displayed error messages and can be cured by switching off. This is just a blank blue screen.

 

[Blaarev]

Sounds like the dreaded BSOD - Blue Screen Of Death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Screen_of_Death

I had that, was a virus....

Sometimes viruses cause death

 

[NN Fox]

I had that, was a virus....

Would be helpful if you told me how you fixed it Cate. Was it hot lemon, paracetamol and two days in bed?

 

[Cate Fox]

I always thought the BSoD displayed error messages and can be cured by switching off. This is just a blank blue screen.

Mine was a blank blue screen too. Got it wiped and rebuilt - has been fine since.

 

[Jeff]

This might be able to help: http://www.avg.com/gb-en/avg-rescue-cd

 

[NN Fox]

Mine was a blank blue screen too. Got it wiped and rebuilt - has been fine since.

Thanks Cate. How much did that cost?

 

[Macky]

Are you able to load the BIOS? Usually achieved by pressing the F2 key after you power up the laptop

 

[Cate Fox]

Thanks Cate. How much did that cost?

Was about 50 quid I think; was a fella that BG recommended.

 

[spenno]

Can you boot into Safe Mode by holding F8 before the Windows loading screen appears? If you select Safe Mode with Networking, you'll be able to access the Internet too.

Either way, it sounds like you have access to another PC, so follow this guide TO THE LETTER: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407

I have fixed so many of my friends' computers by following it.

 

[SJN-Fox]

Use a working machine to download Windows Defender Offline. Download the appropriate 32-bit or 64-bit version here
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/what-is-windows-defender-offline

and burn a CD. Boot from the CD and run a full scan.

If you don't have a blank CD, use a USB stick, make sure it's empty as it will format it. Boot from the USB stick and run a full scan.

If you can get into safe mode, boot into safe mode with networking and then download malwarebytes and do a scan with that.

http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?tag=bc

 

[NN Fox]

Are you able to load the BIOS? Usually achieved by pressing the F2 key after you power up the laptop

Yes, I can access a menu by pressing Esc after switching on.

 

[Macky]

Yes, I can access a menu by pressing Esc after switching on.

That's not a bad sign, your motherboard is okay so. Look for a menu item in your BIOS that mentions 'Boot', I can't tell you exactly what it will say as it varies depending on what BIOS chip you have. If you go into the boot options you'll be able to set your CD drive as the first device in the order that it attempts to boot from. Save and exit, then try to boot off your Windows recovery CD again.

 

[NN Fox]

That's not a bad sign, your motherboard is okay so. Look for a menu item in your BIOS that mentions 'Boot', I can't tell you exactly what it will say as it varies depending on what BIOS chip you have. If you go into the boot options you'll be able to set your CD drive as the first device in the order that it attempts to boot from. Save and exit, then try to boot off your Windows recovery CD again.

Thanks for that Macky, unfortunately it's still not working. The CD is loading (you can hear it whirring anyway) and the screen says "Windows is loading files" with a timer bar moving across the bottom. After that it goes to the usual start up screen with the small green timer bar with Microsoft Corporation underneath and then everything just goes blue with just the cursor on screen! Looking like I'll have to spend some money.

 

[Biffa Bacon]

If windows is a write off why not try a new os you could boot a version of ubuntu

 

[NN Fox]

If windows is a write off why not try a new os you could boot a version of ubuntu

I could if i knew how, somewhat ignorant on this. Why would anther os boot when Windows and the recovery disk won't?

 

[Biffa Bacon]

I could if i knew how, somewhat ignorant on this. Why would anther os boot when Windows and the recovery disk won't?

If you use an os that can boot from cd or USB stick it will be complete without damaged/missing files that you seem to have in your windows os.