I had my computer on when during a power outage, and ever since then it takes 20 minutes for my computer to turn on. I tried doing a quick restore - no help. Anyone have any ideas? I'm starting to think it might be a motherboard problem.
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Computer help
- Thread starter dreamtheatervt
- Start date
I'm not a geek squad guy (its a company here that deals with computers) but you could also look into the power section (board,cord, or whatever it is inside?) I had one that went out & gave me problems or like you said it could be the motherboard & the comp got fried ? but lets hope for a simple cheap fix.
you could always never turn your computer off. thats what i do. i have no idea how long it takes to restart because my uptime is over 3 weeks. if you run linux you can go for years without a reboot.
if your start up is taking forever, its because you have shit on it that shouldnt be. click start, then run, then type msconfig.
go to the start up section, and see what is starting up. most malware / spyware / virsus that will slow the computer down will show up there. i.e. you dont need google desktop, or no matter how much you love the little weatherbug thing, its a huge resource hog and doesnt need to be on any self respecting person's computer.
*if you dont know what you are doing, this might not be the best way*, but thats how i always make my computer start up smoother. it shouldnt be a hardware problem, because the computer still works, correct? you can also do the start , run, then type services.msc. you can disable and stop things from running. again, if you arent computer savvy this is probably not the best method.
let me know if any of that worked, or if you have a question about one of the services and or start up programs you see, and i will try to provide you with some help.
if your start up is taking forever, its because you have shit on it that shouldnt be. click start, then run, then type msconfig.
go to the start up section, and see what is starting up. most malware / spyware / virsus that will slow the computer down will show up there. i.e. you dont need google desktop, or no matter how much you love the little weatherbug thing, its a huge resource hog and doesnt need to be on any self respecting person's computer.
*if you dont know what you are doing, this might not be the best way*, but thats how i always make my computer start up smoother. it shouldnt be a hardware problem, because the computer still works, correct? you can also do the start , run, then type services.msc. you can disable and stop things from running. again, if you arent computer savvy this is probably not the best method.
let me know if any of that worked, or if you have a question about one of the services and or start up programs you see, and i will try to provide you with some help.
have you tried something as simple as taking your computer apart and just reassembling it? sometimes something as stupid as that will clear up random bugs. one time my computer was having trouble and we just opened the case..blew around some dust, and it fired right up again. computers are special sometimes. 
does it take 20 minutes before it starts starting up? or just goes through the start up process very slowly?
off topic sorta - hey ross, i just checked my start up config and unchecked yahoo (it seems to be programmed to add itself to this list), but there is one that has no startup item name, no command (file name), but under location it has the same location as other start up items that should be checked.
think the nameless item is something i should look into removing all together? or at least unchecking?
does it take 20 minutes before it starts starting up? or just goes through the start up process very slowly?
off topic sorta - hey ross, i just checked my start up config and unchecked yahoo (it seems to be programmed to add itself to this list), but there is one that has no startup item name, no command (file name), but under location it has the same location as other start up items that should be checked.
think the nameless item is something i should look into removing all together? or at least unchecking?
LUCKYDOG said:
actually yes, just recently started using dsl. (i like cable better so far), but this isn't my house, so i can't complain.
i used to like adaware, but after using avg's free antispyware prog which runs in the background all the time (unlike adaware), i deleted it from my computer. avg found a bunch more things than adaware did. avgs virus prog and rootkit are good too.
my computer doesnt get spyware typically, because i know what i am doing when i am using the computer- but my boss does not, and the computer he uses at work had 14 viruses and 10 spyware programs. i scanned with adaware (what he had) and it only showed up 1 malware. installed the free avg thing, scanned it, and it came up with 10 malware instances.
you could also run a registry cleaner, but i think you have to pay for them. not sure. i have an older version of registry mechanic that i paid for, and thats what i use. its a killer program.
and anything with yahoo, google, search assistant, weather, and myway is trash and should be deleted, removed from services, and or from startup. they are all huge resource hogs. google earth is ok, provided you dont install all the other free trash that comes with it.
my computer doesnt get spyware typically, because i know what i am doing when i am using the computer- but my boss does not, and the computer he uses at work had 14 viruses and 10 spyware programs. i scanned with adaware (what he had) and it only showed up 1 malware. installed the free avg thing, scanned it, and it came up with 10 malware instances.
you could also run a registry cleaner, but i think you have to pay for them. not sure. i have an older version of registry mechanic that i paid for, and thats what i use. its a killer program.
and anything with yahoo, google, search assistant, weather, and myway is trash and should be deleted, removed from services, and or from startup. they are all huge resource hogs. google earth is ok, provided you dont install all the other free trash that comes with it.
LUCKYDOG - Must admit I haven't tried any of my stuff on Vista yet, I've been warning all of my customers, family & friends off it for a year or so after the BS with XP when it first arrived.
If your lappie came bundled with Vista then the "recovery" will simply wipe your HDD & all the info & re-install factory defaults.
I'd suggest grabbing a small phillips screwdriver and removing the HDD. Grab a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter like >> THIS ONE
If your lappie came bundled with Vista then the "recovery" will simply wipe your HDD & all the info & re-install factory defaults.
I'd suggest grabbing a small phillips screwdriver and removing the HDD. Grab a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter like >> THIS ONE
No it happened way before that. Its a friends laptop. I havent evn began thinking of Vista as the problems are rearing their ugly head. The recovery disk is on the system which is my trouble, he never made a recovery disk in the beginning and doesnt really care about anything on the system I was trying to restore it (First real dealings with Vista) I can bring it to XP pro and Im sure alot of the hardware will found in the HAL. However my versions of XP are "evaluation" copies until I can crack the activation process..... I mean activate it yeah thats it.... I am hoping to run across someone with a disk so I can at least recover back to where I can get to the recovery console. F11 brings the BSOD as well with a PFN_CORRUPT
PFN_CORRUPT normally points to faulty RAM - they should be accessible from a small panel on the underside of the lappie. Take them out & reseat them - If there's two, just leave one in - still a problem then put the other one in.
Swap them for known good ones if available.
If the problem still persists :-
- Did it come with a manufacturers disk?
-If it's a new lappie, are you sure it didnt come with OS installed? If so its under warranty, take it back.
- There is a chance the HDD is failing. Take the HDD cover off (you'll see it on the base) touch the HDD lightly with your finger & start up the system. If you feel or hear it ticking or spin up then down, its a hardware fault - warranty again.
- there is no way around the xp validation unless you have a genuine copy and you've done major surgery to the original machine (changed a mainboard etc.) If you try to install it - it will get to a certain point then give you a phone number & a code. Ring them, tell them the code & they'll give you a new number over the phone.
- xp home is fairly cheap now, but be quick if your mate plans to install a real copy - last I heard M$ in its wisdom was planning to pull it from the shelves in the next month or two. Vista only, oh the joy.
Good luck.
Swap them for known good ones if available.
If the problem still persists :-
- Did it come with a manufacturers disk?
-If it's a new lappie, are you sure it didnt come with OS installed? If so its under warranty, take it back.
- There is a chance the HDD is failing. Take the HDD cover off (you'll see it on the base) touch the HDD lightly with your finger & start up the system. If you feel or hear it ticking or spin up then down, its a hardware fault - warranty again.
- there is no way around the xp validation unless you have a genuine copy and you've done major surgery to the original machine (changed a mainboard etc.) If you try to install it - it will get to a certain point then give you a phone number & a code. Ring them, tell them the code & they'll give you a new number over the phone.
- xp home is fairly cheap now, but be quick if your mate plans to install a real copy - last I heard M$ in its wisdom was planning to pull it from the shelves in the next month or two. Vista only, oh the joy.
Good luck.
Thanks Bent I will try the pulling the ram tonight. Every thing I have read has pointed to the very same thing. No mfg disk its on a partition I cant access. If this fails I will have to order the recovery Vista Disk from HP its about 35$ (US) I know its something stupid thats why I am hesitant to flatten it.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Found the bad ram took it out and started, logged in but now I am getting a black screen, with in the black screen I can access the task manager window and command prompt, but not windows (?) running a repair it didnt find any problems, will try in safe mode in a few I will also check the hibernation mode as well.
**UPDATE** After removing the ram I managed to get System recovery to work and restored back to system defaults after a backup of the drive.
**UPDATE** After removing the ram I managed to get System recovery to work and restored back to system defaults after a backup of the drive.
Sweeet
Umm yeah. This is the first time I checked this topic (shame cause I prolly would've been more help in this one than the others since I'm an IT Tech.) But ... too little ... too late.... but for future referce:
Based on the symptom described, my first recommendation would've been downloading and building a diag/DFT CD on another machine and running it on the problem machine. Take out the hard disc drive (HDD) to determine the MFG, and go to their website. Search their site for "DIAG" or "DFT".
Booting from that CD would perform tests on all the system components and most probably would have detected the faulty RAM.
Based on the symptom described, my first recommendation would've been downloading and building a diag/DFT CD on another machine and running it on the problem machine. Take out the hard disc drive (HDD) to determine the MFG, and go to their website. Search their site for "DIAG" or "DFT".
Booting from that CD would perform tests on all the system components and most probably would have detected the faulty RAM.