Back to square one

[Svenskaflicka]

My computer went loco last week. No clue what happened to it. All of a sudden, it just started acting weird. Whenever I tried to start it, it would run the process up until you see the Win XP logo, and then restart itself. Again and again and again...

So, today I reformatted the whole thing. New, clean, fresh hard drive - for some reason, I didn't have to install internet, it installed itself.

Unfortunately, all my files are gone. I have back-up copies somewhere, but the way my place looks like now, I can only find those copies by using a shovel and a blow torch.

Ah, well, atleast I got rid of that nasty virus...

 

[sophia jane]

Mine has done this as well. For me, if I power down the computer while it's in the process of rebooting over and over, it stops the problem and I'm able to get on to Windows fine after that. My problem wasn't a virus; we thought it was the hard drive, but after replacing the drive it's still happened a few times, so I suspect it's a Mother Board thing.

SJ

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Been there too.....glad to have you back.

 

[cloudy]

I've had to reformat mine twice in the last couple of days. I can sympathize.

 

[erise]

What are you guys doing with your computers that I'm not?

 

[ChilledVodkaIV]

Fahrfox.
Control-alt-delete.
F8. Safe mode. (with internet connectivity)

Don't burn down the house just because you have mice.

 

[Guest]

Unless there's an error in the Windows operating system. That constant error and restarting action sounds like a missing file - something accidentally deleted, perhaps?

In that case, you'd have to reinstall windows.

But the important thing is, it's fixed. Yea, Svenska!

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Weirdness... I re-installed WIndows. All my files were gone - but all the programs I had installed were still there! Well, almost all... I need to look for the serial numbers for 2 of them. And the files I had downloaded were still in the downloading file within the Programs File.

*music from Twilight zone*

 

[SeaCat]

How well do I know that feeling. Unfortunately it seemed to be my hard drive that fried. (I'm not sure because I haven't taken the old box apart yet. I'll do that after I move.) Good luck finding your backups.

Cat

 

[CharleyH]

BACK? tTo Square One? Yikes


Its a nightmare of a suburban Mall here, and anything with the name must be as well. DO NOT GO BACK!!!! DO NOT!

(Rob will get this one, and Cloudy LOL though I tried to be explicit)

 

[Guest]

I'm just curious, how many of you having this problem have been using the Firefox web browser?

It seems there is a lot of this going on lately and in cloudy's case it just happened again. It's beginning to sound like the issue is software related an the only programs cloudy has installed since the last reload are Yahoo IM and Firefox.

So help me find a fix. Are you using Firefox?

 

[sophia jane]

I'm just curious, how many of you having this problem have been using the Firefox web browser?

It seems there is a lot of this going on lately and in cloudy's case it just happened again. It's beginning to sound like the issue is software related an the only programs cloudy has installed since the last reload are Yahoo IM and Firefox.

So help me find a fix. Are you using Firefox?

I had it installed before (but not on the new drive) and I rarely used it. So... that wasn't my problem. Did and do have yahoo im, tho.

SJ

 

[TheEarl]

Weirdness... I re-installed WIndows. All my files were gone - but all the programs I had installed were still there! Well, almost all... I need to look for the serial numbers for 2 of them. And the files I had downloaded were still in the downloading file within the Programs File.

*music from Twilight zone*

If you re-install Windows XP, then it will overinstall, replacing the core system functions, but without removing the programs. If you wanted a complete clean sweep, then you'd need to select the option to delete the partition in the Window's start-up and then you could reformat the disk.

If overinstalling solved it, then it may have been a registery error. However, my gut on that kind of problem would be to look for a hardware fault. My first checks would be fans (overheating can cause spontaneous shutdown), power supply, RAM and then hard drive.

The Earl

 

[TheEarl]

I'm just curious, how many of you having this problem have been using the Firefox web browser?

It seems there is a lot of this going on lately and in cloudy's case it just happened again. It's beginning to sound like the issue is software related an the only programs cloudy has installed since the last reload are Yahoo IM and Firefox.

So help me find a fix. Are you using Firefox?

Dran - Tell cloudy to get check out her hardware! If it is a power supply, case or processor fan problem, then the computer could suffer severe and expensive damage! Open up the side of the case and check everything's still spinning, before you do anything else.

The Earl

 

[Liar]

I'm just curious, how many of you having this problem have been using the Firefox web browser?

It seems there is a lot of this going on lately and in cloudy's case it just happened again. It's beginning to sound like the issue is software related an the only programs cloudy has installed since the last reload are Yahoo IM and Firefox.

So help me find a fix. Are you using Firefox?

I do. I have no problem with it. It's afaik a very stable piece odf softwarel. But one should be aware of a) that every Firefox browser window is a seperate process, and b) a Firefox process eats a helluva lot of system memory (much more than Explorer or Opera).

If she has an older puter with less memory, too many FFox-windows at the same time can make the system freeze up. This in turn can cause other problems, like damaged registry entries and file allocations.