My computer's crashed! What can I do?

Micdoh

My computer has crashed today. I think I know why but not sure. A friend installed Windows XP but didn't charge for it. It may not be 100% legit software. He's uncontactable now. I tried doing Windows updates today. Compter said I needed to shutdown to complete update. For two hours it kept stopping and starting - black screen with Windows XP written on it then shutdown, start again, shut down etc. Lasted for 3 hours before I turned the bloody thing off. What can I do?

decanay

Try hitting F8 at bootup and running windows from the last known good boot. If that doesn't work try booting into safe mode and doing a system restore.

brummybloke

im guessing you still have your last operating system? i would reinstall that after formatting your hard drive.

skiddy2k

did you install SP2 when you done a update? aint sure why, but on alot of my friends and my computer had similar problems when attempting to install SP2...
try to do a system restore (start>programs>accessories>systemtools>system restore) or re-install windowsXP

albertross_2

Do you get a message about shutting down in 60 seconds?

Micdoh

None of the advice worked, but thanks anyway. Looks like I'll have to get the wallet out :-(

intel

Micdoh wrote:

None of the advice worked, but thanks anyway. Looks like I'll have to get the wallet out :-(

Do not get that wallet out just yet... never give up hope..

Any messages that you got at the crash.....


Now lets have a better description if you can as it could be a Virus
or a RAM problem especially if it just shutdown or stopped responding as you might need more or New ram.......... :beer:

As XP uses more RAm... Just thinking on me toes here at the mo.

Chippy_Minton

Easiest option is probably to buy a genuine copy of Windows XP and do a repair install with it. See http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm. That doesn't require the hard drive to be reformatted so if your My Documents folder is on the same drive as Windows drive (C: normally) document files should be safe.

If a repair install doesn't work and a reformat is necessary and you have documents on C:, use a Knoppix CD to see the files and move them to another drive before reformatting.