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pc boot issue any help?
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i don't know why but for some reason my pc has just dicided not to boot properly. it was fine in the last hour or so .my wife switched it off i think off at the mains & left it . so i go on it & suddenly it is not booting properly. what i get is this. black screen with the usal message sorry for the incovence etc try booting in safe mode etc or the last time it worked normally.so do all that ,but to no avalial. tried finding an old boot disc to use ,but lost them all so can't do that. so its going round in circles at the moment trying to start up then back to the black screen message with the count down to start up. switching off at the mains has been done before but not like this?? any help? my pc is on WXP
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One thing to try is to press the F8 key repeatedly immediately after switching on. When the text menu appears try "Last known good configuration" and see if that will let the computer boot.
If that works then test things out for a while to make sure nothing serious is broken then shut it down cleanly and restart to make sure it boots back up OK.
ok will give f8 a go as i have not tryed that yet ,but did try LAST KNOWN GOOD CONFIG & that did NOT work
If you've seen Last Known etc. then you must have got into the F8 menu, possibly automatically.
If it just goes round in a loop coming back almost immediately to this menu no matter what option you select then that suggests something is really broken.
I have had that a couple of times with XP. The only solution I found was to re-install it. Which would obviously require an XP install disk and could result in data loss so I hope you have a good working back-up of everything important.
You might get away with an "upgrade" install which theoretically just replaces Windows and keeps your programs and data but even so always wise to have a safety back-up just in case.
that has just been tryed but again not working.
It really isn't worth paying anyone to look at it. Keep the hard drive though as it may be possible to recover your data from it.
You needn't even go as far as to install it as it'll run reasonably well (unless there's something wrong with your hardware) as a 'Live' OS without writing anything to your HDD.
Just don't choose the 'Replace Windows' option if you want to retrieve your files.
Plenty of YouTube videos to show you how:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=install+ubuntu+14.04+alongside+windows+7
Worth a try, unless you just want to buy a new one. :cool:
ok this is what i got
intel pen r 4 cpu 3.40ghz em64t capable .right now it boots up ok,& goues to the desk top. then it freezes & crashes ,then starts to re-boot. ,but also it freezes & stays where it is ,but you can't move the mouse or anything ,so you just have to push the re-set button to start all over again. as for the shop what they did i can't remember ,but somehow managed to get it working again. the info on the machine came via the f2 bios section
It could be a hardware problem. The first thing I would do, on booting the Ubuntu disc, is to run a memory test. If that passes, boot Ubuntu itself. See if it will run stably. See if you can access your hard drive without problems. Consider backing up your data.
ok thanks for that. so ok 1. how do i create a ubuntu disc? & 2. how do i run a memory test?
Do you have those?
yes i got a working pc & blank dvds
Burn the DVD. Use it to boot your faulty PC (you might have to fiddle with BIOS options or press a function key as your PC is booting to allow this). Select the MEMTEST option. If that passes (all the memory failures I've seen showed up within a few seconds, though in theory it could take a lot longer, so let it run through 1 complete pass to be sure), reboot and run Ubuntu itself (don't install it!).
If your PC can boot from a USB stick, write an image to that instead. It will be faster. The website tells you how to do it.
Get the Memtest here
http://askubuntu.com/questions/343114/how-to-check-for-errors-in-ram-via-linux
If there is a problem post back with exact detailed details.
Otherwise, use Ubuntu for a day or two or more (if you want) to confirm PC behaves.
Firefox browser is on the Desktop Screen.
Don't Install Ubuntu, you are just running it from the DVD
For example:
http://www.tier1online.com/windows-7-refurbished-pcs/?sort=priceasc
the unbuntu or whatever it is called ,download
It could be the hard drive. Or the RAM, or motherboard or PSU. Or it could be a driver problem, or malware, or various other Windows/software issues.
If you unable to carry out tasks like downloading Ubuntu, you could be in for an awfully long troubleshooting experience. There comes a point where, unless you have the skills to keep an old machine running, it's best to think about replacing it.
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/contribute/?version=14.04.2&architecture=amd64
It perhaps could be slightly clearer.
i have managed to download ubuntu which i didn't see earler trouble now the pc i am using that still works hasn't got freemake on it yet ,its the only burn software i know well enough to burn discs