Laptop will not turn on after shutting down to 'reboot' after scan.

[--mom--]

I had REALLY hoped to never have to be back in the forum with problems again, but here I am.

 

My daughter bought a Compaq Presario F700 Laptop (that is running Vista) from a friend because she was traveling in Turkey for the last month on a theatre job. It was working fine until two days ago when a message about a 'usb'-something came across the screen and prevented her from using the laptop. The battery eventually died overnight and she flew home all day yesterday. When she got home last night, we turned it on and the whole screen was filled with messages about Windows not being able to be accessed and would we like to revert to an earlier checkpoint. We checked the yes and it restored to an earlier point of its own choice. We then ran the IOBit Security 360 quick scan, found 5 threats, fixed them and then tried the full scan and the computer shut down. It wouldn't even allow us to complete the 'PC Security Analysis' without shutting down.

 

This morning, she turned on the computer and put a cd of the SuperAntiSpyware Free program which ran and reached the point where it said that it had to reboot the computer and could it do that now. She checked yes. It shut down the computer and it never turned back on. We have tried many times to start it. The lights come on, but a screen won't come up.

 

I can't do any of the suggestions under the post about what to do before requesting help because the computer won't turn on to let me do them.

 

If you can give me ANY direction, I would greatly appreciate it.

[solbjerg]

Hi "mom"

Please run the laptop with the power plugged in!!

Cheers

solbjerg

 

 

I had REALLY hoped to never have to be back in the forum with problems again, but here I am.

 

My daughter bought a Compaq Presario F700 Laptop (that is running Vista) from a friend because she was traveling in Turkey for the last month on a theatre job. It was working fine until two days ago when a message about a 'usb'-something came across the screen and prevented her from using the laptop. The battery eventually died overnight and she flew home all day yesterday. When she got home last night, we turned it on and the whole screen was filled with messages about Windows not being able to be accessed and would we like to revert to an earlier checkpoint. We checked the yes and it restored to an earlier point of its own choice. We then ran the IOBit Security 360 quick scan, found 5 threats, fixed them and then tried the full scan and the computer shut down. It wouldn't even allow us to complete the 'PC Security Analysis' without shutting down.

 

This morning, she turned on the computer and put a cd of the SuperAntiSpyware Free program which ran and reached the point where it said that it had to reboot the computer and could it do that now. She checked yes. It shut down the computer and it never turned back on. We have tried many times to start it. The lights come on, but a screen won't come up.

 

I can't do any of the suggestions under the post about what to do before requesting help because the computer won't turn on to let me do them.

 

If you can give me ANY direction, I would greatly appreciate it.

[enoskype]

Hi --mom--,

Addition to solbjerg, without charging the battery, the power from the wall may not be enough to start the laptop. I have seen that in a HP Compaq Presario.

 

If the battery is completely dead, you should try to charge the battery first before starting the laptop with power plugged in.

 

Cheers.

[--mom--]

Thank you for the suggestions. Computer is plugged in.

 

Thank you both for the suggestions! The laptop charged all night, so it was fully charged in the morning AND plugged in. Every time we worked with the laptop, it was plugged into the electricity. It has been plugged in all day today, too, and still isn't turning on and rebooting when we hit the On button. We are going to leave it plugged in all night again and try it again in the morning.

 

Another odd event that is sort of related to this problem is that when she couldn't get this laptop to reboot, she used the other laptop which, after days of work with evilfantasy's help, worked perfectly. (It hasn't been used since she has been away.) She searched the Compaq site for options to try to get it to start and everything was fine. She then logged into her yahoo e-mail account and this laptop suddenly shut down. IOBit Security 360 has shut down several times since then on this computer as we have tried it. We are wondering now if this problem might be connected to a virus which originated in her yahoo e-mail account.

 

I know I am confusing the issue by mentioning the problem with this second laptop which has not had a problem until now, but I thought it might be relevant to the laptop that isn't starting.

[wozofoz]

Power Reset

 

Thank you both for the suggestions! The laptop charged all night, so it was fully charged in the morning AND plugged in. Every time we worked with the laptop, it was plugged into the electricity. It has been plugged in all day today, too, and still isn't turning on and rebooting when we hit the On button. We are going to leave it plugged in all night again and try it again in the morning.

 

Hi --mom-- :smile:

 

I will leave the virus question to the experts.

 

As to the power, since an all night charge did not help I would suggest:

• Unplug the Notebook from the power supply

• Take out the battery

• Leave it for at least one hour (more is ok)

• Do not put the battery back in the Notebook

• Plug the power cord into the Notebook

• See if it will turn On

 

My Acer Aspire One had a similar problem of not turning on after I had put it in Sleep mode. The only way to get it to turn on was to do the above.

In the end I found it was a problem in the BIOS (which I updated) and a problem with the built-in Acer camera driver (which I disabled and now use the built-in Windows camera driver)

 

I have only suggested you not put the battery in just to take the battery out of the equation. If the battery is compltely broken (dead) then it might affect the power getting through. It shouldn't but as I say, if the battery is not connected and the Notebook still won't turn on then at least we know it is not the problem.

If the Notebook does start you can put the battery back in (turn off the power first) and see if it still turns on.

 

Good luck :smile:

 

All the best, woz of oz

[--mom--]

Hi, wozofoz, :-)

 

Thank you for your suggestion! We followed your instructions and the laptop screen would not come up either time ... without the battery or with the fully charged battery.

 

So, then we thought maybe both the battery AND the power cord might be bad. (Although, when we try to turn on the laptop either with the cord or with the battery, the lights all go on .... the screen just doesn't appear.) We drove to BestBuy to ask if it was possible to buy a new power cord/ac adapter/battery and try it to see if it could fix the problem. The salesperson suggested we go to the 'Geek Squad' desk. They said that they could do a diagnostics test for $70 (which is non-refundable whether or not we choose to fix it with them) ... which might indicate that they could repair it in the store, but it's still going to be somewhere around $400. They said that there's a good possibility that it's the motherboard if it won't turn on. We brought the laptop back home.

 

Is there anything else we could try ourselves? That would be our first hope.

 

Secondly, she has her photos on this laptop. The tech guy at BB said that they could get the pictures off the hard drive somehow, but it costs around $160. Is there some way we can do this ourselves for less money?

[enoskype]

Yes --mom--, $160 is extremely high, you can get the pictures, and there is a way that even you can use that disk as an external hard disk for your other laptops/PCs.

 

There is a casing for that and the price is nowhere near even $100 (casing=>$10-$20) inclusive of hard drive, and you take out the hard drive of a laptop and put it in that casing. And that's it, it will be an external hard drive.

 

The problem is how you are going to find this casing. I will try to find out if there is a specific name and/or # for that.

 

OK, search for casing for laptop hard disk in the Google.

 

BTW, they are right and there is a great probability that your motherboard is malfunctioning.

 

Cheers.

[--mom--]

Thank you, enoskype. We really appreciate your response and we are VERY happy that she will be able to save her photos and files. We are going to search for one of those 'casings'; but, while we're doing that, we're still hoping that someone might also possibly know of something we can try to get the computer to start up again.

 

The strange events leading up to its shutdown really make me wonder if it was something we did. The original message was something about windows not being able to do something ... then, the message about do we want it to go back to an earlier date to which we said 'yes' and it did that ... then, the IObit 360 scan that kept shutting down ... leaving the laptop plugged in overnight and starting it up in the morning when it did work for a short time ... then putting the SuperAntiSpyware Utility cd in the cd-drive ... getting to the end where it asked if it should reboot to which she said 'yes'....shutting down and then never being able to reboot the laptop. The laptop never gave us a selection of dates to return to ... Could it have gone back to a time when there was nothing ON the computer? I'm grasping at straws now because the computers we saw in the store were really expensive!

 

IF we simply cannot get it to work and we find one of these casings, will we (as computer semi-illiterates) be able to take this hard drive out, install it in the casing and get it to run off another computer?

 

Thank you for any answers you give us! :-)

[samr]

Hi Mom,

Out of curiosity, will it start in safe mode?

(Power up, tap F8 button repeatedly- if a screen comes up, use the arrow up & down buttons to select "safe mode" then enter.)

Might be worth a shot. Once in safe mode you could try a restore point.

[wozofoz]

Screens & Bargains

 

....So, then we thought maybe both the battery AND the power cord might be bad. (Although, when we try to turn on the laptop either with the cord or with the battery, the lights all go on .... the screen just doesn't appear.).....

 

This is probably silly but.....

When you turn it on can you hear the sound that Windows makes when it is starting up (put your ear close to the speaker)

There will be a key or combination of keys that turn the screen Off and On, try pressing that.

 

......I'm grasping at straws now because the computers we saw in the store were really expensive!......

 

Your Location says Ohio, you might want to have a look at TigerDirect. An internet friend got a great deal there.

@ http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=17&name=Laptops%20&%20Notebooks

 

If your daughter travels lot with her Notebook would a Netbook (10" > 11" screen) be more convenient ? (I love my Netbook, see my Signature :mrgreen: )

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=4013

 

I am sure there are other places on the web with bargains as well, as long as it has warranty and users say it is ok (Google the forums)

 

All the best, woz of oz

[So_sad]

Hello folks, and especially Mom :mrgreen:

 

Sorry to hear about those troubles...

 

Some good suggestions offered above. I've done a bit of digging myself and have a few questions and suggestions (all free ;-) ) ;

 

======

 

Do you not see anything onscreen when it tries to start ? Not even the black screen with a few options on it, before Windows usually loads up ?

 

Getting the hard drive out and hooking it up to another computer is the most efficient way to get your data back, but you need the external hard drive adaptor (case) and you need to pull out the drive from the laptop ; it's not that difficult for most do-it-yourselfers, but can be a bit daunting for rookies. Shops usually charge too darn much for this job, knowing they can do it all in less than an hour.

 

I noticed something in your first post :

It was working fine until two days ago when a message about a 'usb'-something came across the screen and prevented her from using the laptop.

 

Hmmm. Have a look here please :

http://forums.techarena.in/windows-xp-support/1067936.htm

 

Post #3 seems interersting :

Unplug all USB devices.

 

Shut down, unplug the AC adapter from the laptop, remove the battery. Now,

press and hold the power switch for one minute. This is the "secret

handshake" to clear the BIOS, and can force all these devices to be

re-initialised. Put the battery back in, plug the AC back in, and

restart.

 

Worth a shot. Quick and easy. If it doesn't work, then it could mean trouble with the motherboard itself...

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I don't know if this next tip would work or not, but you could try. If you get nothing onscreen when you try to start the laptop up, then it may be a waste of time. I'm thinking about booting up with a Live CD, to get your data. This method allows to get inside many seemingly "dead computers" to get what you need (files, photos, etc...) ; all you need is a bootable CD/DVD and a USB stick to use as backup media for your data, then transfer the data while working from the bootable CD environment. There are Linux and Windows based Live CDs ; the Windows ones are usually easier to work with than the Linux ones, for those accustomed to Windows and not Linux.

 

I'll let one of the malware fighters give you instructions on how to download and use a Windows-based Live CD, if you want to try it, because they use them now with some infections.

 

===

[--mom--]

Hello So_Sad, woz of oz, and samr,

 

Thank you so much for all your suggestions (and your sympathy!). We are really overwhelmed with this new set of problems to the point that she has resigned herself to the fact that she is going to have to buy a new laptop or notebook, or something even if she hasn't financially planned for that. She is also now talking to friends to see if anyone she knows can help her with any of the technical problems (like trying to save her photos and files) and more advice on what she can purchase for her needs at the best cost.

 

--On that, thank you, woz of oz, for the advice you included in your post on that! :-) --

 

So, having said all that, let me update on all the suggestions:

 

When we try to start up, we see nothing on the black screen ... not even a little blinking cursor in the corner or anything.

 

The forum posts on the 'usb error message' were interesting; but, because it was the first time it happened at the time and because it happened so fast (and she hadn't had any problems before this), she didn't really pay attention to its exact wording.

 

We tried every possible suggestion we have been given or read about for trying to start it with battery, without battery, unplugging it, plugging it in directly, etc.

 

The 'booting up with a live cd' is a bit complicated for us, but since nothing but a blank screen comes up when we try to start it anyway, it sounds as if it's not going to be something that works. (If she finds a friend who understands any of this, however, she hopes to try it!)

 

We put our ears to the laptop and listened to it when we tried to start it, woz of foz, and the only thing you can hear when it's trying to start is a 'clicking'.

 

samr, thank you for the suggestion. We can't start it in safe mode because it doesn't seem to 'power up' to the point where tapping the F8 key will work. We DID try it, though, several times.

 

Maybe some things just can't be fixed. We sincerely appreciated all the advice given, however! Thank you all. :-)

[So_sad]

Hi Mom ! (I love saying that :-P )

 

You speak/write with poise and wisdom :wink:

 

Now, if you two really want to try your luck with a Live CD, I have instructions for you that are within your realm of computer knowledge ; all you need is a working computer with an internet connection, a CD and/or DVD writer (burner) and a blank CD or DVD disk. Most recent computers have a CD/DVD writer onboard already, so all you need is a blank disk, then follow these simple instructions I found, which get you an easy to create/use Windows-based Live CD :

 

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=322157&view=findpost&p=1788655

 

If you are able to boot up with this CD (or DVD, whichever you choose) on the broken machine, then just do the scan as prescribed in that post once you're in, then copy/paste the log created on a USB stick. If/when you do have that log, let us know and we'll tell you how to get it here ; you won't be able to copy/paste it on this forum because of post size limitations, so we'll figure out another way.

 

Good luck.

 

===

[--mom--]

Hi, So_sad!

 

:-) I had to smile at your comments! Thank you!

 

Well, I read your post and followed and read the link, made the live cd, had the flash drive ready, and followed the instructions, but nothing happened. Well, maybe I shouldn't say 'nothing' ... while the live cd was in the drive and I put my ear to the speaker, there was a 'ringing' this time in addition to the 'clicking' ... but the screen remained blank. We tapped the 'delete' key and the F8 key as we were trying to start it, but it just did not cooperate.

 

We're open to, and appreciative of, any and all further suggestions, but we're losing hope that it's going to work again. At this point, she's talking to a friend in Indiana about trying to save her photos and files and then investing in a new laptop.

 

Thank you again for everything! :-)

 

--mom--

[So_sad]

Hi again Mom ! ;-)

 

Well look at you now... You've created a Live CD :mrgreen:

Keep the disk, just in case you need it one day.

 

So it didn't work, huh... Bummer :sad:

 

I think there's serious hardware issues with the lappy ; probably the motherboard. That USB error you got originally is making me think this, but I'm no expert in that field.

 

Best thing to do is get the hard drive out and connect it to another computer, so you can retrieve all the good stuff.

If you decide to do this yourself, just remember to get an adaptor for a laptop hard drive which is 2.5 inches, as opposed to 3.5 inches for a desktop hard drive. Folks here can guide you better than I can though, if you choose that route.

 

Best of luck :-P

 

===

[IonSurge]

You need to go into the BIOS to change the boot order so that it boots from CD drive first. Getting into BIOS usually requires tapping one of the Function keys like F11 or F12 but is different on different brands and models of computers. From the BIOS you should be able to change the boot order.

 

Also, instead of changing the boot order in the BIOS many computers will have a boot options menu that will come up when you tap one of the Function keys. This would let you select what device to boot from. If you find this menu, just choose to boot from the CD drive.

 

What might be easier than all of this would be if you could get ahold of a Windows installation CD. One of your friends may have one. If you can get the CD you would still need to change the boot order in the BIOS to boot from CD. Once this has booted up from the and the menus have stopped loading, press R then Enter to start the Recovery Console. From here you can try a couple commands such as fixmbr and fixboot. One of these will likely allow your system to start normally again. It's likely your master boot record got messed up and those commands can fix it.

 

All of this may actually not even be necessary. I had this exact same thing happen to me previously and my system would just display a black screen. Since I was only able to get into the BIOS I tried changing a couple settings. As soon as I changed the boot order to boot from the hard drive last, my system started right up even though I didn't have any other CDs or anything in any of the other drives. You may want to just try changing the boot order around to see if this solves the problem. Although I have no idea why this may solve the problem, it has for me once.

[So_sad]

Hi there IonSurge :smile:

 

That's certainly interesting. I haven't come across this type of behavior myself, but you have, so worth a shot.

 

I'm wondering how Mom is doing. Hope she comes back with an update ;-)

 

===