Help....Broken PC!

nunnygirl

Just come back from my OH's sisters and she has asked me if I know anyone who knows how to fix a computer, so I thought I'd try here

Her hubby downloaded LimeWire, and now her computer won't boot up properly, but she said it wasn't working properly before then, she reckons this was the final nail in the coffin

Got it with me now so anything you need to ask, fire away

It's running Vista but she hasn't got the OS disc for it, thats all I know about that side of things.

When you switch it on, a black screen comes up, asking if you want to start in Safe Mode, Safe Mode with networking and three other options.

When you click on any of them, it tries to load and then restarts


Thats about it for now......if you can help I'd be gratefully appreciative

Browntoa

download this to cd

http://www.free-av.com/en/products/12/avira_antivir_rescue_system.html

and boot the PC with that in to do a scan

you may need to go into BIOS ( F2 normally as the PC boots) to change the boot order to CD/DVD drive first

if you can borrow any Vista DVD then you should be able to doa repair

Browntoa

try slushpuppys answer first as it goes , if you can try CHKDSK before trying an earlier restore point

nunnygirl

There was never a restore disc made as it's a second hand PC

She doesn't want the things wiping from the computer, as there are some very important pictures on there, so is there a way I can get these off THEN fix it?

-TangleFoot-

nunnygirl wrote: »

is there a way I can get these off THEN fix it?

If you have a USB flash drive or external hard disk you can back up your precious data with the help of a live CD. I suggest you try Ubuntu.

cmatt360

nunnygirl wrote: »

There was never a restore disc made as it's a second hand PC

She doesn't want the things wiping from the computer, as there are some very important pictures on there, so is there a way I can get these off THEN fix it?

the start up disk - is just that. It is a skimmed down version of the vista install disk.

You can only really (sensibly) use the start up repair wizard... which does not format/reinstall vista.

I have used it before - and worked a treat

nunnygirl

Sorry for me ignorance, but what is a start-up repair wizard??

-TangleFoot-

nunnygirl wrote: »

what is a start-up repair wizard??

It's this thing.

nunnygirl

The thing is we haven't got the Vista disc so I can't do that

-TangleFoot-

That's why you need to download this.

nunnygirl

Ah, ok.

So if I download that, burn it to CD, put it in the other computer and run it, it will work without deleting anything??