Laptop help please :)

kidcat

macman wrote: »

If you can't get to Safe Mode or 'Last Known Good Configuartion' from F8, then try tapping F12 at start up to get into the diagnostic mode. Then run the diagnostic program.

Have tried that and found no problems

kidcat

Browntoa wrote: »

THIS IS THE OPTION THAT REMOVES ALL DATA AND YOU WILL LOSE ALL HER STUFF ON THE LAPTOP

As the computer starts, press <F8> on the keyboard until the Advanced Boot Options menu appears on the screen

You must press <F8> before the Windows logo appears on the screen. If you press <F8> after the Windows logo appears on the screen, the Advanced Boot Options menu will not appear on the screen. If you do not see the Advanced Boot Options menu, restart the computer, and then repeat this step until you see the menu on the screen.

3 Press the <Down Arrow> on the keyboard to select Repair Your Computer on the Advanced Boot Options menu, and then press <Enter>.
4 Specify the language settings that you want, and then click Next.
5 Log in as a user who has administrative credentials, and then click OK.
6 Click Dell Factory Image Restore.

7 In the Dell Factory Image Restore window, click Next.
8 Click to select the Yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to factory condition check box.

If I do this will I need any disks or drivers etc or will it all be automatic?

Thanks so much

macman

Are you sure that you ran a full diagnostic check? It normally take a couple of hours to do that.
No, it restores from a full disk image in the recovery partition.
But all her data will be lost, including any aftermarket programs that have been installed. It's only a last resort fix.
And of course if the problem is hardware, then it won't solve the problem anyway.

kidcat

macman wrote: »

Are you sure that you ran a full diagnostic check? It normally take a couple of hours to do that.
No, it restores from a full disk image in the recovery partition.
But all her data will be lost, including any aftermarket programs that have been installed. It's only a last resort fix.
And of course if the problem is hardware, then it won't solve the problem anyway.

I am almost postive I ran a system diagnostic a few nights ago, but I will have another run at it before a restore - especially as she has just informed me her coursework has not been backed up anywhere else!!

kidcat

macman wrote: »

Are you sure that you ran a full diagnostic check? It normally take a couple of hours to do that.
No, it restores from a full disk image in the recovery partition.
But all her data will be lost, including any aftermarket programs that have been installed. It's only a last resort fix.
And of course if the problem is hardware, then it won't solve the problem anyway.

Am running the diagnostic now and its not something I ran the other night so far everything is saying PASS but will post back when its finished. Thank you for your help

macman

What is it about the techno-savvy generation that makes them incapable of backing anything up?
There's clearly something very wrong if the system is not creating any restore points. Antivirus installed and up to date (not AVG, Norton or McAfee I hope)?

kidcat

Its possibly AVG (am hoping I switched it to Avira when I swapped the others all across - but as it had a broken lid for 3 month over Christmas its possible I missed it!)

Browntoa

it will be possible as a last resort to download and burn to cd this

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

then boot the laptop with it and burn any files to cd that you want to save from the hard disk on the laptop

kidcat

Nothing found on the diagnostic:(

macman

Which leads me to think you have a serious corruption of the OS, rather than a hardware fault. So a factory restore may put things right (or would have done had your daugher bothered to make a back up).
Only other option is to remove the hard drive and try and recover the data using a USB caddy before doing the restore.