[kavy2]

My daugheter's Acer Aspire One froze yesterday and we have not been able to get it to start properly since. It boots up normally, she logs in but when it gets to the home screen, she can't click on any icons, can't get the start menu to open, can't ctrl-alt-del, right click does nothing. We tried to hurry up and click on something to see if we could open anything and I was able to open the control panel, but then it froze. So, it seems like it freezes after a few seconds. I tried starting in safe mode and the same thing happens. I tried to go back to the last know good settings and that did not work. I booted from a disk.. same thing. I tried chkdsk /f /r as was suggested somewhere else. It gets stuck at 19% completed. She really does not want to lose all her files. Any suggestions would be appreciated

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Did you boot to Safe Mode with Networking or just Safe Mode.
What is plugged into the laptop, anything.
Is it running on the power supply or the battery.
Do this pls. SWITCH OFF.
1. UNPLUG anything, ie Printer mouse etc. and if hard wired to internet unplug ethernet cable.
2. Take out the battery
3. Boot again using the power supply. Try normal boot.
4. If that does NOT work try Safe Mode boot.
Post back pls

[Macboatmaster]

Did you boot to Safe Mode with Networking or just Safe Mode.
What is plugged into the laptop, anything.
Is it running on the power supply or the battery.
Do this pls. SWITCH OFF.
1. UNPLUG anything, ie Printer mouse etc. and if hard wired to internet unplug ethernet cable.
2. Take out the battery
3. Boot again using the power supply. Try normal boot.
4. If that does NOT work try Safe Mode boot.
Post back pls

[kavy2]

Tried all that.. still not working.

[Macboatmaster]

From where did you run chkdsk pls, ie: from the Recovery Console or where.

[kavy2]

On starting the computer, I hit F8 and selected the safe mode with command prompt (or something like that).

[Macboatmaster]

Sorry I do not quite understand your reply.
If you can access Safe Mode. Then go to My computer. Right click the main drive with the Windows installation presumably "C" as described below.

1.Open "My Computer" and right-click on the icon for the drive that is to be checked.
2.In the context menu that opens, choose "Properties".
3.Click the "Tools" tab at the top of the Properties window.
4.In the "Error-checking" section, click the button "Check now".
5.A box showing the options for running Chkdsk is then available as shown in the figure below

Select ONLY the box "automatically fix file system errors.
Then click Start.

DO NOT DO ANYTHING ELSE while this is running and do NOT switch off, however long it takes.
It will be considerably quicker than the chkdsk you used. This chkdsk is effectively the command line "chkdsk C: /F"

Report results pls.

[kavy2]

I'm sorry.. I guess it was unclear. I can not do ANYTHING from safe mode. I can not open any programs.. can not shut down the computer.. can not I can not go to "my computer". The only thing I could do, was when I power on the computer, I hit F8. It then takes me to a screen that gives several choices.. one of them is to start the computer in safe mode but also display the command prompt. I did this and from there, I typed in the chkdsk command. Does this make sense?

[Macboatmaster]

Do you have the XP installation disc
Do not be concerned, I am not suggesting a reinstall.
We are going to use it as a repair disc.

[kavy2]

I have a reinstallation disk

[Macboatmaster]

Before we go down that route go to Safe Mode with Command prompt.
If you have C: with something after reduce to just C:
So if you have C:\Documents and Settings (you wont but as an exmaple)
type "CD\"
without the colons.
Then you will end up with C:\
now type "chkdsk C: /f"
note the space between C: and the slash

You will receive a message that this cannot be done as the drive is not locked do you wish to reschedule for the next restart.
Click the Y.
and restart the system
If this does not work we will have to use the CD and attempt repair through the Recovery Console.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 26 March 2010 - 06:32 PM.

[kavy2]

tried it.. did not work

[Macboatmaster]

Could you explain a little more.
You ran it once and it stopped at 19%.
What happened this time please.

Signing off for tonight.
Try this

Back to command prompt
follow advice in last post to get to
C:\Windows.
When you are at just C:\ type cd (space) Windows. Actually type "cd Windows"
You will then have the prompt above.
Now type "sfc /scannow.
Note space between sfc and /
If this does not work, I will pick it up tomorrow and we will go to Recovery Console.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 26 March 2010 - 08:51 PM.

[kavy2]

running the chkdsk from the c: it completed the task, I restarted and it froze again. I tried it restarting in safe mode and regular mode also.
Followed your instructions and got this: Windows File Protection could not initiate a scan of protected system files.
The specific error code is 0x000006ba [The RPC server is unavailable].

Edited by kavy2, 26 March 2010 - 11:46 PM.

[Macboatmaster]

When you said in the first post, you tried Last Known Good and that did not work, if it actually booted to Last Known Good then this will not be successful, but it will not do any harm either. You may as well therefore try it.

How to start System Restore by using the Command prompt
Note You must be logged on to Windows with a user account that is a computer administrator to complete these steps. To verify that you are logged on to Windows with a user account that is a computer administrator, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/admin (http://support.microsoft.com/gp/admin)
If a new program has made your computer behave unpredictably, and uninstalling the new program did not help, you can try the Windows XP System Restore tool.

Important If you have not previously set a restore point in System Restore, you cannot restore your computer to a previous state. If you are not sure, or if you have not previously set a restore point, contact Support.

To start System Restore using the Command prompt, follow these steps:
Restart your computer, and then press and hold F8 during the initial startup to start your computer in safe mode with a Command prompt.
Use the arrow keys to select the Safe mode with a Command prompt option.
If you are prompted to select an operating system, use the arrow keys to select the appropriate operating system for your computer, and then press ENTER.
Log on as an administrator or with an account that has administrator credentials.
At the command prompt, type %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe, and then press ENTER.
Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to a functional state

[kavy2]

I am assuming she never set a restore point. So, I guess this would not work. When I contacted Acer (it is still under warranty) they suggested I send it in for re-formating of disk. I guess at this point I should just take it somewhere to have the data saved to a thumb drive and reformat.