hello geniuses:
i am not too familiar with computer lingo but i willtry to best explain what happened.
about 20 secs after opening a friend's email last week my computer just shut down.
i tried to restart on "normal mode" safe mode" or even the last confirguration that worked...nada...nothing.
it keeps going on a loop counting down to start up windows but never makes it there.

i am begining to fear the worst...that my dearly beloved computer is terminally ill.
can someone help please.
aneta

Your not alone, I am going through the same problem, but this time my gf downloaded some stupid program from a file sharing program that has totally taken over my computer. It keeps restarting over and over again, never allowing me to get to Windows XP...So i'll wait for any response to help me in my problem. Just wanted to let you know, your not alone....

Same here. Last night I was on line and suddenly the screen went blank and it rebooted itself. It won't go past the Windows screen that has the F1 F10 options across the bottom. I am at the library now. I just took my 1 1/2 year old HP to the Computer Doctor to see what's up. It would not allow we to use my recovery disks are anything. It said the DDL was missing.

Good luck you guys. I will let you know what my computer doctor says. I have always used these wonderful website. They even got a Trojan off my computer once....but this time I did not have enough computer to get to them and did not even think of coming to the library until after I had dropped my CPU off at the doctor. I hope these guys can fix your problem for less than it is gonna cost me.

This post has been edited by lhp: Nov 2 2006, 12:30 PM

Pop over to the malware gang...it sure sounds like an infection.

Hopefully, you have a floppie drive available, or access to the bios so you can re-boot from another CD. If you have a floppie drive, check out Hard Drive Mechanic to see if the drive is hunkey dorey. Also check to see if you can do a scan of the drive from the floppie drive with a trojan cleaner and a virus cleaner. They will advise as to which to use. If worse comes to worse, and you can afford to do it, re-format...that will surely set things to right. But, I would ask the advice of the malware specialists.

hello everyone:
thank you for sharing your stories....at least i know i am not alone
b1caez01...as i said i am not well verse in the computer lingo and do not quite follow what your suggestion is...i am quite green.
is there anything i can do while it is attempting to reboot that will help diagnose the problem?

Specifics? What do you not understand? I am sypathetic, and always learning stuff, myself!

Did you enter the malware forum and check with them, before coming back here?

I get letters of discouragement when I go off on my own and try to help folks, and not send them to the correct forum. Sorry, I'd like to be of more help.

I still think it is a malware problem...

snarkiness unnecessary b1caez01. i no longer request your help.
i will appreciate someone else's input please.
thank you.

You misunderstand my friend...no "snarkiness" was intended. It was noted that "computer lingo" was not understood. The logical question, is, then, what do you not understand. I am at the ready to explain further, if you wish, and if I can do so.

I tried to make that clear, by stating that I was "sympathetic" to your needs.

Imagine me as a big, dumb looking puppy, who is busy wagging his tail waiting for the next stick to be tossed his way.

No bites here...

P.S. ...in general, no matter what forum you attend, someone will tell you that there may be a better mouse-trap somewhere else...or that you have come to the wrong place to find the exact answer to your specific questions...especially, if they have been on the site longer and are more familiar with the better fora to visit for your purposes...

This post has been edited by b1caez01: Nov 4 2006, 07:16 PM

The results are in. Mine was a bad hard drive. What I have found with HP is that you either get a good unit or one full of problems. This time we got on that had glitches from day one. It was purchased in April 2005. There is no way a hard drive should not last longer than that.

Sorry, HP, never again!

Try not to be too hard on any hardware mfr, as, probably, one in ten gets a cursory check, and one in 100 probably gets a thorough check. Like cars, we get a lemon once in a while...but that is not necessarily a reason for not driving a particular brand of car any more. HP has been a pretty stable company for many yrs...there may be a bit of upset presently, in the Board Room, but not in their products. I support them, even after having a few blips on my screen.

I did some research on hardware a couple of yrs back...monitors were said to last, on average, 5 yrs [I actually had one go down smoking ozone on my desk, that is what prompted my research]; hard drives, 3 yrs; key boards 5 yrs; mice, the same...

I have had hard drives last forever...I am still using the same one on my junker, bought 10 yrs ago...mind you it gets little use any more. And my newest one, about 3 yrs old, has had two drives in it already, and I am on my third [as one nears its "time" I relegate it to slave status]...but it gets daily use, and almost 24 hrs a day... so I would say, it may be a function of useage... those swing arms take their toll on the wee platters over time, and all your data ends up as a pile of dust on the bottom of the computer... So, the platter mfr may be more at fault then the maker of the actual computer...

Here are a couple of sites to consider...to get a "feel" for the process...

http://free-backup.info/how-is-a-hard-driv...overy-done.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,78048-page,1/article.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_recovery


This post has been edited by b1caez01: Nov 4 2006, 07:17 PM