Posted on 03/02/2008 3:52:23 PM PST by Chickensoup
Help!
Came home last night. Turned on the trusty computer and up came a long message, white on black saying: We apologize for the inconvience but Windows did not start successflly... with several option to start.
None of them work.
It then loops to the windows xp screen
Then to an ad for the mainboard
then to a scan devices screen
then to some sort of listing
This morning there was a listing that on each line named had a number of the programs I run at the end of each line. It has not come up this time.
The hard disk comes on for the main board screen and the listing screen
Sorry, FRiend, I ran out of “meds” in the late 60’s. LOL
You forgot Obama.
Obama’s a MAC, Hillary’s a PC. You knew that, right?
Obama’s a MAC, Hillary’s a PC.
LOL! That would work for a tagline! At least until after the DNC convention . . .Full disclosure: I bought an iMac when OS X was new . . . and have handed it down and recently bought a new iMac. The irony of the "staid, business" PC and the "artsy" Mac image is that underneath all the prettiness, OS X is Leopard gets UNIX 03 certification the industrial-strength OS and Windows is the one that has flimsy underpinnings.
I'm typing this reply in a bigger than normal text box. How do I get that, when you have to use the slider bar and can't see all your text at once? Under Leopard, Safari puts a handle on the bottom-right corner of any text-entry box so I can expand it to further to the right and/or further down. Not only so, but when I do a preview and subsequently expand either the "To" box or the "Your Reply" box to the right, the preview display also stretches out to the right (and consequently tends to shrink vertically since I then get fewer lines of text). Which presents the preview at a more realistic width to what you will probably view it at. Is that pretty, or is that utilitarian? I say, "Yes."
Macs are expensive? Yes - depending. They aren't particularly higher, may be actually cheaper, for the exact configurations which Apple offers. If you want something different than a standard configuration Apple offers, you are likely to be able to get it cheaper in a PC. But in a Mac you are getting quality in the hardware (individuals' mileage may of course vary) and in the software (making allowance for the fact that some things are merely different, and as such must be learned). So you will tend to hand a Mac down; they hold their value better. And now, Macs double as PCs anyway if you find that you need them to. In which case they are expensive PCs because you need to BYO legal copy of Windows. But even then, you have the advantage of being in a position to readily boot from a clean copy of Windows each time - so there's quality in that, too. And - for yet more software $$ - you can run Windows and OS X together.
A DSL modem/router is aq pretty good incoming firewall. Outsiders can’t see your computer unless you have a trojan horse pinging the outsiders.
What a firewall — hardware or software — adds is the ability to manage outgoing requests.
If you don’t know what happened, assume it will happen again.
Can you provide a link to your ISP's home page? Not Your Home page but the one your ISP uses for their customers to get info from.
http://www.timewarnercable.com/NewEngland/products/internet/RoadRunner/default.html
I think it is one of these two
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
>
So, then McPain is, what, a mechanical adding machine?
Excellent! I Have Time Warner also!
After you get your computer probs taken care sign up for Time Warner's CA EZ ARMOR Security Software. One of the techs at Time Warner will help you download it and install it. Its a very good system!
Click your second link and then click the Road Runner Member Benefits link it has the info on the EZ armor Service.
Its Free BTW
how could I have...he's so...everywhereeverythingallthetime...
So, then McPain is, what, a mechanical adding machine?
I’ve given this some thought. I believe McCain is plenty old enough to be an IBM OS/2, which some people loved, but completely and irrevocably bricked my Dad’s computer...
ChickenSoup - I’d like to give you a little post- computertrauma advice. I’m a Mom who sadly realized she had to become the IT person in the family. It’s taken me a long time to learn all I have, but it’s been well worth it. I’ve come a long way from the time when it took an entire weekend to reformat Windows 3.crap with a stack of floppies.
As a homeschooling mother, your computers are simply too important to your family. You need to homeschool yourself, and learn how your machines work. It’s not impossible, there are many great resources out there, you have folks to ask questions of here on FR. At the end of the day, you’ll be proud of yourself for having learned something new and difficult. You’ll feel in control of your machines and you’ll, lastly, be a great role model for your kids.
It sounds like you have serious problems on your hard disk. It could be missing files, virus or corrupted Windows files.
Try starting it with your XP PRO CD and running the repair option.
If that doesn’t work, pull the hard disk and install a new one. Format and install windows. Reinstall your software and run updates from MS website.
If you want your files from your current disk, I suggest buying an external drive kit from geeks.com and carefully copying files only after checking for virus.
When you have everything you want, repartition and reformat the old disk.
While this may sound pretty extreme, it will solve most any problem for about $100 and leave you with an external drive for what you would have paid in the first place.
The other possibility is that you have a hardware problem. If that is it and it’s not the hard disk, it will not solve your problem.
I suggest that if the recovery disk works, you will have eliminated all hardware problems except the hard disk.
Another interesting exercise would be to use another computer to download a copy of Knoppix Linux to a CD and boot from that. It is a complete operating system on a CD. It will allow you to access the Internet and to run its word processor. Assuming that works, your hardware with the possible exception of your hard disk is sound.
You still up and running?
So far. I get blocked from the netand need to disable zone alarm and then re-enable it.
Not good but you can boot it right? The chkdsk got you to boot, but there are few more things you should try. If you’ve got the time/inclination I can suggest a few.
I know this tip is wasted on most of the tech savy posters to this thread, but this thread shows how important it is to back up. I have about $70 invested in good imaging/backup software (although there’s plenty of cheaper shareware out there - in fact windows comes with a bare bones, but useful, backup program ) and an external hard drive. You can get such a drive for under $100 bucks and also use if for extra storage space. Although I’ve only had to use the software twice it’s worth every penny. It’s a breeze to use, just set it and forget it. Don’t be one that learns the importance of backing up your data the hard way.
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