It's been having a problem this last week or so where every time I try to boot it, it has to go to system repair, where it usually needed to do a system restore, and then it would boot fine. It was a little inconsistent - sometimes it wouldn't work right away, and sometimes it wouldn't need to do a system repair at all. I've been keeping it on life support for a while by just putting it into sleep instead of rebooting, but a windows update happened that forced my computer to reboot and now it's just f***ed. It can load system repair, but no amount of system repairing is helping, nothing I can do with my limited knowledge is fixing it. It's just kind of f***ed. I don't even know where to begin diagnosing this problem.
At this point, you should just reinstall Windows and start over. If you need to get any data before you do, you could use something like Ultimate Boot CD For Windows or an Ubuntu LiveCD (Linux) to be able to see your files and everything. From there, you can move your files to an external hard drive, upload them online, whatever.
There are things you could do that do not involve reinstalling Windows, but it is often much more complicated and time consuming, and it is not guaranteed to fix the problem.
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Everything is overrated - <D I would gladly take 90 whippings and be sentenced to 2 years in jail than have my account warned. - NotYou
Well, the good news is that I did back up a lot of the files that are really, really important. There's still a few files I didn't get transferred over that I'd like to have, but I could live without them. And of course, there's a lot of stuff I'd have to reinstall which would be a pain in the ass, but can be done.
The problem is, is this really something that will be fixed by reinstalling Windows? This definitely isn't some kind of hardware issue?
Yeah, I've seen computers die are two years, although most last longer. Reformat and reinstall and see how it works. If it's having the same problems, take it to a tech guy and see what they have to say about it.
This topic is proof that nothing good ever comes from mandatory windows updates.
Oddly enough, a windows update happened right before the first time my computer started having problems, and now a windows update happened right before my computer just go completely f***ed. It's probably nothing but it's not hard to be suspicious that these patches are f***ing me up for some reason.
Ugh, I don't know what to do. For one, I don't really know how to go about reformatting my computer and reinstalling windows (and I'm not sure where I put my windows CDs). Two, I still don't know if I feel comfortable about doing it unless I'm certain there's no other option. There are still files on the computer I'm not happy about leaving behind. God, this sucks.
From: Paratroopa1 | #007 Oddly enough, a windows update happened right before the first time my computer started having problems, and now a windows update happened right before my computer just go completely f***ed. It's probably nothing but it's not hard to be suspicious that these patches are f***ing me up for some reason.
I think this is what caused my computer to start having problems. Too.
My problem is basically, the computer will gradually lock up. First, I my browser starts opening/I can't even search for anything on Google.com (I can still click on GFQ's topics and browse the board). Then I can no longer open files on my computer. Then I'm unable open windows I've minimized. The final result is Start menu not working/taskbar not even able to open, before my computer would just lock up and I'd have to hit the power button. Windows just updated two more times.
This started about 5 days ago. My computer is fine right now. Will update later.
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Tornadoman78: tornadoman and tornadogirl like to kick box each other in my tornaolayzers and she dosent even mind getting hit
My computer works fine as long as it boots up. Which, by, the way, it finally did. I'm on my not-working computer right now. I just forced it to system restore from an earlier point, and it finally worked, although it initially told me after the system restore that it didn't work. But then the computer restarted just fine from that earlier point anyway.
I'll give that a shot once I'm done doing a more thorough backup of data on my computer. I got all the really high priority files saved already but now I'm getting some more secondary priority stuff.
yeah, back everything up. disable windows update since that's giving you problems.
then run the needed tests. memtest is a goodie here as faulty memory can lead to these kinds of issues. your hdd may be failing too, so a chkdsk may be in order, or any of the other billion things that diagnose your hdd.
hopefully it's not a power supply issue.
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The King Wang. Listen up Urinal Cake. I already have something that tells me if I'm too drunk when I pee on it: My friends. - Colbert.
ubuntu has gotten a LOT of momentum on its side lately. between Raspberry Pi, HP rolling out laptops with it soon, steam saying they're adding linux support, and Windows 8, that OS has never looked so promising.
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The King Wang. Listen up Urinal Cake. I already have something that tells me if I'm too drunk when I pee on it: My friends. - Colbert.
Looking at the diagnostics that windows' system repair was already running, I think it already did a chkdsk and that wasn't the problem. I do not know how thoroughly it ran a test on the memory though.
I disabled windows update (it checks for updates but does not download or install without my permission), and although I've only restarted once since then, I had no issues. So whatever the problem is, windows update was certainly a component of it, confirming the gut reaction I had the very first time this happened. That helps me figure out what the problem is and lets me use my computer for now, but I don't feel like it's a permanent solution. I'd still like to know what the hell is up.
Well, my computer's done. Even though I told windows update not to install updates, it installed updates anyway. Predictably, my computer did not boot. I tried to system restore. It failed, and actually failed, for some reason. Computer didn't start. I decided to try again and... all of my system restore points are gone. It just got rid of them all when they didn't work. There's nothing I can do - I have to reinstall windows now, but I can't find my disks.
I will no longer buy any Microsoft products or services. I'm done with them. The things they put out are shoddy quality and I don't trust them. I'll continue to use Windows 7 for now, but the next time I buy a computer, it will not use a Microsoft OS.
that sucks. hopefully you managed to back it all up. next time also set it to just not even check for updates, just do nothing. does seem a bit strange that it changed on its own however, so it's possible a bug was in there (there are known viruses that fake a windows update to screw you over). if it wasn't, then... yeah, weird and still sucks.
still, i wouldn't say it's "shoddy quality" here - yes it has its problems but those problems come heavily from being popular and a billion parts being used. it's possible that the OS wasn't entirely at fault either, but something faulty inside the hardware/not enough juice in combination with the upgrade did it. too late to know what it was specifically NOW, but there are updates that just clash very, very badly with specific hardware and give problems like the one you had. regarding popularity though, apple users are finding out, the increase in popularity makes an increase in being targeted, with kaspersky outright saying they're a decade behind the times on security. now not wanting to move on to windows 8 is a whooole other story, but 7 should end up being like XP: still viable and reliable after almost a full decade.
linux basically becomes the only truly reliable one and with HP putting out a ubuntu laptop, steam saying they'll support it, and the rapid growth it's having, that OS may serve as a solid backup as security + reliability are the backbone of linux.
for the near future (as in, next 2-3 years) your options will basically be Windows 7, whatever macs are on, and ubuntu. the BEST answer to what you should do is dual boot your system - have ubuntu in one HDD, have windows 7 in another. then you'd be guarded against the problems you had now and if you choose to really leave windows you'd have a solid backup with massive support growing at a ridiculous pace. windows 8 is gonna be a weird mess that i'm still not sure what to think, but the changes scream that it's not gonna be as reliable as 7 is. macs meanwhile will remain as macs - consistent, but due to a bigger base, targeted a lot harder and apple's not fairing too well on that already.
edit: also before i forget, windows disks will forever confuse me in why we still need them. fact is there are... ways to fix your disk problem, especially so if you have the serial, since at that point you're doing what major retailers already do and probably is legal for a consumer to do too: have a standard copy of windows ready and you pay for just the code. literally that's how upgrade "disks" are done now too from guys like amazon, they just mail you a piece of paper with a serial on it and tell you to download it from microsoft. >_>;
the serial itself is the missing part. but it's the internet. you can figure that out.
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The King Wang. Listen up Urinal Cake. I already have something that tells me if I'm too drunk when I pee on it: My friends. - Colbert.
Yeah, I know it might not be Microsoft's fault. I'm just mad right now.
Regardless, the fact that Windows Update ran even when I told it not to do so without asking me is pissing me off. I thought that maybe this could be a virus doing something, but I ran pretty thorough virus scans and whatever they caught didn't solve my problems, so I kind of doubt it. I think there must be some compatibility issue at fault.
I shouldn't have to do anything questionably legal or download anything new right now. I should just be able to find my disks and use those. Of course, I shouldn't have to do any of this, this is really obnoxious and it's coming at basically the worst time for me thanks to school.
oh by all means, this is one of the worst things that can happen. the only upside is that you somehow managed to save the most immediate data. MS has holes in it, but dual boot it with linux next time. i know it's not a fair solution or hell, even a reasonable one, but it's the best choice of action to prevent these issues unless you're a gambling man (i am, and it may bite me in the ass one day). hell, if you were to boot with ubuntu you probably would still find the data in the hdd right now as i'd sooner bet the OS is screwing things up leaving you unable to access the data than the data being gone. unless, of course, it's a hardware failure. which is the "just pray this isn't the power supply" category.
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The King Wang. Listen up Urinal Cake. I already have something that tells me if I'm too drunk when I pee on it: My friends. - Colbert.