laptop problem

[i=p/u]

id say blue screen of death and requires the back up disc, which leaves you snookered if you have fake copy

 

[Darkwood]

His only prayer is hes got a duel bios on the motherboard but thats doubtful for a laptop, also other posibilities are damaged hard-drive, broken wire connection etc.... seems that the motherboard is passing the all the initial loading checks but as soon as it needs to access the hard drive for the windows system it stops dead.
Faulty hard drive (new computer)..... paying for it fitting buying new windows system etc means not worth saving.
Corrupted hard drive (may be able to rescue but not something you can teach over forum, may need second computer to do virus check on hard- drive)
Loose connector to hard drive (strip computer check all connections secure)
Lesson.... if you do 'and i hope you do' manage to get it sorted then create a rescue disk as its the drawback of modern computers, in that you are knacked if you get corrupted boot files from a virus etc only a motherboard with duel bios is a saviour if you dont have boot discs or original windows disc, it has its own backup copy that is isolated from the day to day software so isnt prone to virus and can be used to correct the corrupted boot files.

 

[grantr37]

Hello
Re: the laptop problem....

It won't be the Bios as stated by another user (Basic Input Output System) which is stored on a ROM chip on the main board (Read Only Memory) although it can be re-flashed (re-written) on new computers, which is so that it can be updated from the manufacturers website(some viruses can do that, but its so rare it basically never happens) so heres the two most likely candidates.....



(1) there's been a virus on there, which has deleted a booting Batch file (AN INI File) as many viruses do this to mess up the machine deliberately.....and it puts the start up sequence in a permanent failure cycle/loop ...this can be sorted by borrowing a Windows DVD from a friendly PC repair shop or buying one for (about £55.00)from somewhere like misco (google it- you might want to buy the OEM Option) thats fully legal and gives you permanent access to your own disk (an OEM is a computer seller/makers deal, its an Original Equipment Manufacturer copy, and it just means it legally has to be sold with a computer component ONLY....so they send you a packet of screws or a cheap cable with it to deal with that) this will save you about £200 on a version bought on the High street in any PC shop, and the only difference is a different wrapper and 3 different letters on the hologram sticker that comes with it...
if you get to borrow a copy and don't want to/need to buy one, you just type in the Licence key code that's on the sticker on the back of the laptop and which is the licence for that computer, its not legal unless there is a sticker on there with a licence key on it showing that it was paid up in the past, but with the previous sticker its legal as long as each computer has one (the licence code has to be for the software installed, ie an XP sticker for XP or a 7 code for windows 7 etc)
when you buy a disk, the licence stickers all come supplied in the box...

then its a straight forward repair (an option in the install menu when it loads into the laptop)


(2) as you have said that it just goes black-screen after the set up part of starting up (which is a few seconds normally) then the machine could be shutting itself down due to a faulty cooling fan..

almost all new fans have 3 wire connectors, and some have 4 wire/pin connectors, the most common is 3 wire, which is +5Volts and -Ve(Ground) with the third being a PWM output (Pulse width modulation) that sends a digital signal (A square wave signal) to the mainboard (motherboard) and if that's not sending out a continuous click click click showing rotation then the mainboard shuts down(turns off) after a few seconds to stop the main processor and graphics chips from melting permanently, so the computer turns itself off every time...
These fans do wear out, and replacing one is easy, just don't go out and buy a whole fan including metalwork(about £100) all you need is the fan part, which you can buy on ebay for about £4.00 as long as you are willing to wait about 3 weeks, otherwise that £4.00 in the UK turns into £45.00 and still a 2 week wait..
just type in the laptop model +the word fan in the search box on ebay...


lastly when you open up the laptop to change it, make sure you get a bit of A4 paper and write down by drawing a picture of the screw holes on the paper and placing each screw on top of the corresponding pen mark to put them back in the right hole...
don't get angry and force the case if it wont open easily, there's always at least 1 or 2 tricky "secret" screws hidden behind the keyboard going backwards through the laptop in order to put off DIY repair....the keyboard will pop off with a butter spreading knife by pressing the clips on the outside edge of the keyboard, take the screws out and the case will open easily, after that all the cables will unclip(carefully) from their connectors, wiggle the white/grey/or black holders gently at each side of the connection, they should move forwards by about 1 or 2 mm then the cable will fall out....do the same in reverse to clip them tightly back in once finished and putting back together..

you will need - 1 small and 1 medium phillips head(star) screwdrivers and 1 butter knife out of the kitchen drawer, along with a big sheet of cardboard box or a dust sheet to spread out everything on...

 

[grantr37]

forgot to add, if the hard drive is broken (which I doubt) then the light on the laptop for the drive will be permanently on(all the time) or it will blink and there will be a noise like a scratching sound which isn't very loud but is continuous, which is either caused by long term wear and tear or dropping the laptop and damaging the hard drive platter (stack of coated glass disks inside) if this has happened, then its the same as note number 2, just re-install windows after fitting a new hard disk drive, this is one screw on the case, slide out the old one, slide in a new one, close the cover (which has HDD engraved on it) and run the installation DVD, changing drive takes about 2 minutes total, the windows installs itself apart from a few yes/no question prompts that need clicked and typing in the sticker code, and the DVD takes about 1 hour to run its full course.....

hope that helps, might want to print off....any questions just ask



cheers

 

[Top Cat]

Hello
Re: the laptop problem....

It won't be the Bios as stated by another user (Basic Input Output System) which is stored on a ROM chip on the main board (Read Only Memory) although it can be re-flashed (re-written) on new computers, which is so that it can be updated from the manufacturers website(some viruses can do that, but its so rare it basically never happens) so heres the two most likely candidates.....



(1) there's been a virus on there, which has deleted a booting Batch file (AN INI File) as many viruses do this to mess up the machine deliberately.....and it puts the start up sequence in a permanent failure cycle/loop ...this can be sorted by borrowing a Windows DVD from a friendly PC repair shop or buying one for (about £55.00)from somewhere like misco (google it- you might want to buy the OEM Option) thats fully legal and gives you permanent access to your own disk (an OEM is a computer seller/makers deal, its an Original Equipment Manufacturer copy, and it just means it legally has to be sold with a computer component ONLY....so they send you a packet of screws or a cheap cable with it to deal with that) this will save you about £200 on a version bought on the High street in any PC shop, and the only difference is a different wrapper and 3 different letters on the hologram sticker that comes with it...
if you get to borrow a copy and don't want to/need to buy one, you just type in the Licence key code that's on the sticker on the back of the laptop and which is the licence for that computer, its not legal unless there is a sticker on there with a licence key on it showing that it was paid up in the past, but with the previous sticker its legal as long as each computer has one (the licence code has to be for the software installed, ie an XP sticker for XP or a 7 code for windows 7 etc)
when you buy a disk, the licence stickers all come supplied in the box...

then its a straight forward repair (an option in the install menu when it loads into the laptop)


(2) as you have said that it just goes black-screen after the set up part of starting up (which is a few seconds normally) then the machine could be shutting itself down due to a faulty cooling fan..

almost all new fans have 3 wire connectors, and some have 4 wire/pin connectors, the most common is 3 wire, which is +5Volts and -Ve(Ground) with the third being a PWM output (Pulse width modulation) that sends a digital signal (A square wave signal) to the mainboard (motherboard) and if that's not sending out a continuous click click click showing rotation then the mainboard shuts down(turns off) after a few seconds to stop the main processor and graphics chips from melting permanently, so the computer turns itself off every time...
These fans do wear out, and replacing one is easy, just don't go out and buy a whole fan including metalwork(about £100) all you need is the fan part, which you can buy on ebay for about £4.00 as long as you are willing to wait about 3 weeks, otherwise that £4.00 in the UK turns into £45.00 and still a 2 week wait..
just type in the laptop model +the word fan in the search box on ebay...


lastly when you open up the laptop to change it, make sure you get a bit of A4 paper and write down by drawing a picture of the screw holes on the paper and placing each screw on top of the corresponding pen mark to put them back in the right hole...
don't get angry and force the case if it wont open easily, there's always at least 1 or 2 tricky "secret" screws hidden behind the keyboard going backwards through the laptop in order to put off DIY repair....the keyboard will pop off with a butter spreading knife by pressing the clips on the outside edge of the keyboard, take the screws out and the case will open easily, after that all the cables will unclip(carefully) from their connectors, wiggle the white/grey/or black holders gently at each side of the connection, they should move forwards by about 1 or 2 mm then the cable will fall out....do the same in reverse to clip them tightly back in once finished and putting back together..

you will need - 1 small and 1 medium phillips head(star) screwdrivers and 1 butter knife out of the kitchen drawer, along with a big sheet of cardboard box or a dust sheet to spread out everything on...

Ever thought you are in the wrong job!

You could make a fortune repairing computers!

 

[gutterball]

try booting from a free live cd Try Ubuntu before you install | Ubuntu that will let you see if the hard drive is still accessible.

 

[Darkwood]

Il take my hat off to Grant37 .... clearly more experience than me, i was relating to what happened to mine, and that 'rare' bios corruption was what happened to me, as i got a real nasty virus whos job was to destroy -- symptoms he said were similar, i was lucky to have Duel Bios so back-up cleared the corruption, but it had attacked most of the other system files too so took a few days of starting from scratch and loading all the back-up data, and yes agree more money out there repairing computers for less effort .... so are you in the wrong job?

 

[kingeri]

Ever thought you are in the wrong job!

You could make a fortune repairing computers!

I repair computers as well as sparking and other things. It's another industry that's drying up I'm afraid....or people want to pay peanuts.

 

[telectrix]

update.seen the laptop this morning. if you try and enter set-up, it asks for a password. this is unknown. when i hit continue, the screen goes grey and at the top it says please wait. this goes on forever. the licence key on the bottom sticker is worn away. no boot disc is available.

 

[i=p/u]

computer wiz kid it goes too then, they cant charge you that much, cause you could buy a new reconditioned one for a little more. i always get charged a tenner or 20

 

[grantr37]

a trip to the misco website i think for new windows disk(with key sticker)......viruses sometimes configure an admin password to lock the computer and it takes a good 4 hours to get round, so it would be easier to re-install...some even disable the DVD drive to try to stop this repair, if the drive is de-activated, then get a windows DVD, go onto another computer and download win2flash or similar to create a bootable memory drive (USB memory stick) as long as its 4GB or bigger this will do the job...this loads up windows installer onto a memory fob/stick that will start up on the machine and can't be blocked as its not a system drive, it starts its own boot loader right off the USB stick without ever entering the hard drive and will wipe it back to factory blank before installing a new copy of windows...

 

[kingeri]

As grantr37 says, unfortunately it sounds like a re-install. Problem will be what are you going to actually install. Shame the sicker is worn away.

 

[topcat]

HI Advent laptops have an onboard recovery to access this you need to press f10 key on boot up this will allow you to run a full instal.l You can download a hard disk checker but you will need to find out who made hard drive you can do this in th BIOS. If you cant get recovery to work then you can get recovery disks from partmaster but their not cheap about £50 I would down load HDD test on another computer and run it on laptop before I got disk.

 

[mayfair]

M8 go on the net and download Hirens boot disk it has all the tools you will ever need its what the pro's use most of the time. Great piece of kit .....and FREE

 

[telectrix]

update: got a computer repair man on it yesterday. the hard drive is damaged. he's running diagnostics on it. hopefully it's recoverable and can have windows reloaded. otherwise, it's a new hard drive at £80.