What's wrong with my computer???

Early B.

I can't get on the full version of windows...

When I restart my machine, about 30 seconds into rebooting, the screen goes blank and nothing is happening. To get my computer to work, I turn off my power conditioner, turn it back on, then turn on the computer. Then I choose "safe mode" which is where I am right now. How do I get the full functioning of my computer back?

BTW -- what the hell happened to my print driver? I can't print anymore, either.

I've ran adaware and spybot yesterday, and I use AVG for virus protection.

Thanks.

bobman1235

? Sounds like one of your drivers may have gotten corrupted? While in safe mode, maybe try reinstalling your video driver, since your screen goes blank.

I'm sure someone more IT-oriented will be able to give you better advice, I just know that's where I'd start. Usually if you have to go into safe mode it's some sort of driver conflict.

bert26

Hey Early - Safe mode only loads the bare bones drivers to get your machine running which is probably why you can't print.

Did you get any error messages on boot up? Also, were you presented with an option to load the last successful start up?

Chris

madmax

Early B. wrote: »

I can't get on the full version of windows...

Did you press the AnyKey?
madmax

Fireman32

Early try going into last known good configuration. Safe mode will not load your print drivers. Also what OS are you running?

Early B.

bert26 wrote: »

Did you get any error messages on boot up? Also, were you presented with an option to load the last successful start up?

No, I don't get any error messages on boot up. it just goes to the safe mode screen. Yes, I get an option to load the last successful start-up. I'll try that. I better do a back-up first, I guess.

Early B.

Fireman32 wrote: »

Also what OS are you running?

I'm running XP.

PolkThug

don't do a backup now. Do the 'load last successful' first.

Early B.

PolkThug wrote: »

don't do a backup now. Do the 'load last successful' first.

Thanks, fellas. It worked. I'm up and running full steam ahead.

Now I have one more question -- what do I need to do to prevent this from occurring again? Do I need to run some sort of diagnostic program or something?

hoosier21

buy a Mac


ha ha

billbillw

You may get lucky and never have this problem again, but... If it were me, I'd back up my personal files, download and save all the device drivers to a CD, and do a fresh install of the OS and software. After that, I'd do a regular monthly backup of the main drive partition. I use Ghost to backup and it has saved my butt many times.

Fireman32

Agree with Bill on this one.

Early B.

billbillw wrote: »

You may get lucky and never have this problem again, but... If it were me, I'd back up my personal files, download and save all the device drivers to a CD, and do a fresh install of the OS and software. After that, I'd do a regular monthly backup of the main drive partition. I use Ghost to backup and it has saved my butt many times.

The problem occurred again yesterday. I'm in safe mode right now because that's the only way I can get onto my computer. I tried "last known configuration" and I used system restore, but neithor of those options worked.

Then I tried backing up my personal files using Acronis True Image, but got an error message. I think it has something to do with being in safe mode. Nevertheless, how do I save all device drivers to a CD? I suppose I could re-install Windows XP, but are you suggesting that I re-install all of my software, too? Also can or should XP be re-installed in safe mode?

Thanks.

THX 3417

Try going to “START” and “Control Panel” look for “Performance and Maintenance” click on it and then look for “System Restore” at the top left-hand part of the page.

Click on it You’ll then see “Next” click on it you’ll see a “Calendar” select a few days back or even a week or a month and don’t worry the whole thing is reversible if you what to return.

Please try and not worry you won’t lose any data or files give this a try and see if this corrects the problem.

If this doesn’t solve the problem ask a friend if he can add a new windows to your pc and turn off (Windows Updates) its your own worse enemy “Bill Gates” and his sodden updates:mad: he can keep them all they do is slow the pc down and make it worse than it already is.

Early B.

THX 3417 wrote: »

Try going to “START” and “Control Panel” look for “Performance and Maintenance” click on it and then look for “System Restore” at the top left-hand part of the page.

Click on it You’ll then see “Next” click on it you’ll see a “Calendar” select a few days back or even a week or a month and don’t worry the whole thing is reversible if you what to return.

Please try and not worry you won’t lose any data or files give this a try and see if this corrects the problem.

If this doesn’t solve the problem ask a friend if he can add a new windows to your pc and turn off (Windows Updates) its your own worse enemy “Bill Gates” and his sodden updates:mad: he can keep them all they do is slow the pc down and make it worse than it already is.

I already tried "System Restore," and it didn't work.

Good idea about turning off the automatic Windows Updates, though.

dudeinaroom

Re-installing is done before you even get to safe mode, disk in drive start computer. I'd go into safe mode and remove the printer driver. Click on start, then control panel. Double click on printers and faxes. Right click on you printer and click delete. Restart the computer the new hard ware wizard should come up(If computer does not come up, stays at the black screen it was not the print driver). On the wizard click no, not this time. click next, check the box that says install from a list or specific location( we don't want to reinstall the old driver). Click next. now if you have the cd for the printer put it in the cd drive and click next. If not go to the manufactures website and down load a copy of the driver. If the file is a .zip or a .rar you will have to extract it, I like winrar you can download a trial version here. After it is extracted you might be able to just double click on it and it will install if not from the wizard check the box that says include this location in search. Next to the drop down box click on browse and go to the location of the file you down loaded, or extracted then click next. And that should do it. If not just post back here or pm me. I'll send you a pm with my phone number if you need any more help.

Later,
dude

KrazyMofo24

Unfortunately preventing XP from crashing isn't an easy task although it doesn't happen often always best to have an XP cd. OEM pcs with just recovery cds is not a good option since you'll lose your info for any little thing that prevents you from booting to Windows. Even something simple as a corrupt file.

haimoc

I think you can fix this problem by restore the machine to the previous working state of your OS. Windows XP has this great feature for recovery.

fatchowmein

Early.

Boot into Safe Mode. Hit START, then RUN. Type in MSCONFIG. In the GENERAL tab, change from "Normal Startup" to "Diagnostic Startup". Take a look at the "Startup" tab. That's all the crud that comes up during bootup. One of these may be hanging your system. Reboot. See if you can get the system up. If not, try again and experiment.

If you're really adventurous, regedit HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.

Lastly, chkdsk /r. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265
However, it currently doesn't sound like a disk error but I've seen it before where you can get into Safe Mode even though it's a disk error.

If this is all too technical, you may need to pay for outside help.

Sorry.

dudeinaroom

fatchowmein wrote: »

Early.

Boot into Safe Mode. Hit START, then RUN. Type in MSCONFIG. In the GENERAL tab, change from "Normal Startup" to "Diagnostic Startup". Take a look at the "Startup" tab. That's all the crud that comes up during bootup. One of these may be hanging your system. Reboot. See if you can get the system up. If not, try again and experiment.

I didn't even thick about that when I was on the phone with him the other day.
You can uncheck every thing in there and it will not hurt your computer, the only draw back would be that some of the stuff that automatically start when your computer stars up would not (like you anti-virus which can easily be set to start up again.)

Early B.

fatchowmein wrote: »

Boot into Safe Mode. Hit START, then RUN. Type in MSCONFIG. In the GENERAL tab, change from "Normal Startup" to "Diagnostic Startup". Take a look at the "Startup" tab. That's all the crud that comes up during bootup. One of these may be hanging your system. Reboot. See if you can get the system up. If not, try again and experiment.

Just tried this. I cleaned up a bunch of crap, but the problem persists, so I'm back in safe mode.

I'll call Dell Customer Service in a couple of days. I'm working on a big project right now and I don't need to waste alot of time on the phone for two hours with some CS rep from India.

Early B.

Oh, initially when it occurred I got a warning message on a blue screen, but I don't recall exactly what the error message was. Aaargghh!!!!

I should have written it down.

fatchowmein

Early B. wrote: »

Oh, initially when it occurred I got a warning message on a blue screen, but I don't recall exactly what the error message was. Aaargghh!!!!

I should have written it down.

It *may* be a driver issue during bootup. You may want to investigate peripheral devices like peripheral pci cards. Remove them and see if the problem goes away or you can disable them in Device Manager while you're in Safe Mode. It may be that a device failed or a new driver was loaded that didn't agree with your setup.

To find out the error message, in Safe Mode, goto Start/Run and type in eventvwr. Click on System. This will show you the system event logs. Look for red X's. Keep in mind that while in Safe Mode, you will get warnings about drivers not loading but that's correct for Safe Mode. Take the info and let Dell know.

Good luck.

dudeinaroom

we removed his printer and video card under the device manager. Downloaded new video card driver said it was missing directx 8. downloaded directx 9.01c went way to quick for a dx install. ran diagx to check directx version I belive it said dx 9.01c tried again to reinstall the ati driver with the same issue. any other suggestions?

Rivrrat

Nevermind, what dudeinaroom said was what I was going to suggest.

I hate to suggest a reformat and reinstall, but that sounds like the direction this is going.:(

Early B.

Rivrrat wrote: »

I hate to suggest a reformat and reinstall, but that sounds like the direction this is going.:(

I tried to reinstall XP a couple of times, but I get an error message that says I already have a more recent version running.

Early B.

fatchowmein wrote: »

To find out the error message, in Safe Mode, goto Start/Run and type in eventvwr. Click on System. This will show you the system event logs. Look for red X's. Keep in mind that while in Safe Mode, you will get warnings about drivers not loading but that's correct for Safe Mode. Take the info and let Dell know.

I just tried that. I found lots of error messages and warnings, and went back to the date where I know it occurred (5/14/07), but I didn't see the specific blue screen message that I got (or at least don't remember it). Damn.

engtaz

Congrats on getting it working. Thank goodness for system restore. That's the least sorry MS could do for their junk software.

Early B.

engtaz wrote: »

Congrats on getting it working. Thank goodness for system restore. That's the least sorry MS could do for their junk software.

Huh?

I still don't have my system working properly yet. System Restore didn't resolve my issue.

engtaz

Soory to hear that. Have you tried reloading Windows as a update or going further back in system restore.

Early B.

engtaz wrote: »

Soory to hear that. Have you tried reloading Windows as a update or going further back in system restore.

See post #26.