laptop not letting me log on

elantan

hi all am posting on behalf of son ...he is trying to log onto his laptop but he keeps getting the message

"user profile service service failed the log on user profile can not be loaded"

he has checked he is not in caps etc his laptop is an acer aspire 5734z and he is using windows 7 ... can anyone help ?

he needs it to get his uni papers finished


thanks

fwor

Was the laptop improperly shut down? It sounds as though the user profile data may be corrupted.

Can he start it in Safe Mode?

If so, I would try a System Restore to see if that helps, then maybe try more drastic steps, such as a Repair Install - though apparently you can't do this from Safe Mode with Win 7...

macman

But surely he'll have made a backup of all his important uni papers?

elantan

i will try that fwor thanks ... and macman i really hope he has .... but knowing my son possibly not ....

fwor

elantan wrote: »

but knowing my son possibly not ....

If not, this is ~probably~ not a disaster. If it's just a corruption to a critical Windows file then he should be able to access his files by booting from a Linux LiveCD (e.g. one of the Ubuntu-based distributions), from which he should be able to copy his files onto a USB pendrive or external hard disk. Obviously he would then have to use another PC to finish his uni work while the laptop is fixed/rebuilt.

gonzo127

fwor wrote: »

If not, this is ~probably~ not a disaster. If it's just a corruption to a critical Windows file then he should be able to access his files by booting from a Linux LiveCD (e.g. one of the Ubuntu-based distributions), from which he should be able to copy his files onto a USB pendrive or external hard disk. Obviously he would then have to use another PC to finish his uni work while the laptop is fixed/rebuilt.

well not really, i would personally say if it is urgent to put the version he chooses on a USB stick (burn of the data on to CD/DVD just incase) and use the included office software (open office for example) and open the file in that, he will be able to work on his laptop with this set up to finish the paper, and can then go about fixing windows

fwor

gonzo127 wrote: »

well not really

Your suggestion is fine if he is prepared to get used to Linux running off a USB stick, and then get used to the user interface of OpenOffice.

If he just wants to get on with his work, transferring it on a pendrive to another Windoze PC is probably just a bit easier than that as a temporary fix.

debitcardmayhem

I would suggest he uses Last Known Configuration that works (F8 on power up tap the key repeatedly as soon as power on screen shows). Also ask him if he has created a Windows Recovery(Rescue Disk) which may be useful.

elantan

thanks all ... he tried what fwor suggested ... it worked yay ... and he has been handed a usb thingy ( i had one spare) and been told to save everything .... adn to email it to his uni account just incase that goes down too

thanks for the help

macman

Good!
A USB flash drive is OK for transferring data, but no good as long term storage-too easy to lose, too fragile. Tell him to get an external USB hard drive and to back up reguarly to it. All hard drives fail eventually-this time he's been lucky.