my computer went mad!

[ade]

HELP!!!

lol

used my pc the other night for general surfing (nowt dodgy mind) and when I turned it off it did the usual download and updating latest microsoft updates and shut itself down once done.

Didnt use it last night but when I came to use it this morning it went weird...

Turned on okay - gave me the 2 profiles (me n the wifes), chose mine, went away for an hour or so to clean the house (as you do) and when I came back the screen was black and there was a message saying - "no operating system found on any devices - press any key"

:eek:

pressed a key - pc went "brrr" and then message came up again. Turned it off and on - but the message automatically appeared!

:eek: :confused: :eek:

left it for 10 mins - tried again but this time pressed ctrl - alt - delete and a message came up on a black screen saying - "updating disk 1 (xxx) disk 2(xxxxx) disk 3(xxxxx)" - the xxx's were numbers (memory I think) - anyway it then rebooted and seems to be okay!

:roll:

So - what I want to know is - what the feck was that all about!?

Done a full virus scan and cant find anything (using McAfee and its up to date).

I want to back up all my stuff - and I mean back up everything! How the feck do I do it? Apparantly theres a backup utility tool in windows but the xp home edition doesnt have it pre installed and I cant find my disc. Anyone know how to do this?

HELP!

Ade
:p

[puss puss]

was yours a orginal windows disk or a copy of a mates bud?

[Novadex]

was yours a orginal windows disk or a copy of a mates bud?
What difference would that make? :wtf:

"sys restore" is automatically enabled when you install windows and in order to restore back to an earlyer date, you need to boot in safe mode. follow this link for instructions..
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx

If this dosn`t work you may need to reinstall windows. With some versions you can restore without formatting the hard drive, so all your data will still be there. Ive not had too many problems with XP so im no expert. hope this helps Ade

[Novadex]

Or do you have a windows repair option on your windows disk? i do with mine (Toshiba sys recovery disk) because you may just be missing a windows file somewhere and the disk just reinstalles the main windows files. Its not the most of stable os...

[Lee]

As for backups, i run a second hard drive and run 'My Documents' on it, as well as all the other stuff I save. When downloading progs, I always save the run files on this disc as well. Then if windows falls on its ****, your only task is to reload all your programmes.

[Novadex]

As for backups, i run a second hard drive and run 'My Documents' on it, as well as all the other stuff I save. When downloading progs, I always save the run files on this disc as well. Then if windows falls on its ****, your only task is to reload all your programmes.

Same here.. Saved me loadsa trouble in the past :thumb:

[Iain]

As for backups, i run a second hard drive and run 'My Documents' on it, as well as all the other stuff I save. When downloading progs, I always save the run files on this disc as well. Then if windows falls on its ****, your only task is to reload all your programmes.

Same but with my /home dir. Reinstall (if required) is nice and simple and it even remembers configs for everything :thumb:

If you want to back stuff up you could just mount the filesystem from elsewhere. I backed a mates stuff up by shoving his hdd in to my computer and copying the stuff across to my drives.

[Welsh Dan]

USB thumbdrive, or DVDwriter?

[Jon_nova1]

I just plug another hard drive in when it goes and get what i need or fix, installing programs on a seperate hard drive still means vital files are put in the windows or system folders.

is it on a laptop Ade? as it sounds like it has a windows backup, so if the original windows has corrupt files it gets replaced with a backup file

[Novadex]

thats what i was saying with the recovery CD...

[Jon_nova1]

oh sorry mate, i thought you meant you put the cd in and click the option, while i meant most laptops have a permanent hidden backup, and the updating disk message could have been this

[Novadex]

lol you were right the first time, i diddnt think of that.

[Jon_nova1]

Im right? thats a first lol

[ade]

lol - its a compaq presario 5143e (or summut like that).

Its been on all day and seems okay now - Ive got nero smart suite which has allowed me to back up most of my files. The systems really good as its got a separate D drive that stores the operating system on - however it was just weird when it loaded fine then went to black screen.

Burnt 5 dvd's worth of discs backing up - have all the compaq recovery discs too - thing with that is the pcs about 5 yrs old (still okay for its age though) but it resets back to windows xp v1 and recovery takes lterally all day!

I'm gonna leave it on overnight and run a few virus tests/drive checks see what it does...

[BaccyNet]

Could be a number of reasons why the screen went black, dying motherboard, dying disk controller, dying hard disk (be sure something is slowly dying :( )

The most likely reason the screen went black would be that XP tried to load a driver/piece of software/etc from the disk, encountered an error (such as a failing disk controller) and automatically rebooted (yeah nice one Microsoft that'll REALLY help!) and then because of the fault making it reboot, you get the message about no operating system.

If you want a copy of the files needed for the Backup util in Windows, PM me your email addy and I'll send you it :) (and yes, it's perfectly legal to do that)

(I've just realised it's been a looooooooong time since I posted on here :D )

[puss puss]

What difference would that make? :wtf:

"sys restore" is automatically enabled when you install windows and in order to restore back to an earlyer date, you need to boot in safe mode. follow this link for instructions..
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx

If this dosn`t work you may need to reinstall windows. With some versions you can restore without formatting the hard drive, so all your data will still be there. Ive not had too many problems with XP so im no expert. hope this helps Ade

oo soz misread the thread thought you had totaly lost windows i was gonna say because windows dont like copys my mistake

hope u sort it s00n bud :)

[Pillar]

whats people opinions on the mcafee virus check since i put it on my computer i seem to have nothing but trouble with it crashing, going slow etc

[puss puss]

tbh i use avg free edtion with anti spam ware, top top top stuff i like it a lot.

I personaly never tryed mcafee virus, but i wouldnt touch Norton with a long stick, a friend of mine had it on his gaming pc and it coursed him a lot of trouble.

[ade]

cheers guys - done a full back up (discovered the version of nero burning rom Ive got has a back up disc facility). 7 dvd's worth later...

Anyway - as for McAfee I find it good - its wuicker than feckin norton. the only think I find is the 2006 version Ive got wont auto update. You need to manually do it..Not too much hastle.

As for PC - seems fine now - chuntering away fine and happy!

[Welsh Dan]

I'd never use Norton or McAfee on my own computers. The only ones I could reccomend would be F-Secure or AVG. I fix PC's for a living.

[Jon_nova1]

i find mainstream anti viruses tend to be crap, wel not so much crap, but some viruses are programmed to target and disable well known brands ;)

[Welsh Dan]

True, but try flogging bit defender to Joe Bloggs. :)