Acer Laptop Won't Star: Windows Repair Loop

[Tom Saurus]

My sister's Windows 7 Laptop up until this point has worked perfectly fine. It looks like she got it back in 2010, so four years with no problems is something to be grateful for. Well anyway Windows will not load in, and the Windows Repair Program takes it time and just repeats itself. I tried the Windows Repair Disc and that gives us some additional options but no magic bullet yet. My sister will probably drop it off at the Computer Repair Shop to see if the Tech Guy can get the laptop working again.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[redwudz]

Not enough info to do much more than guess.

BB or similar stores or repair sites will likely just wipe the hard drive and reinstall the OS.
Hope there isn't anything irreplaceable in the laptop as they usually wipe that also.

You may be able to boot it with a Linux live disc and at least backup the files. If that doesn't work, then maybe the hard drive itself is dead or dying.

[johns0]

Most likely the repair shop will do a windows reinstall and charge your sister $120 for an hours work.

[Tom Saurus]

redwudz & johns0: Thank you for taking the time to provide this information.

Windows failed to start normally this may be do to a recent software or hardware conflict. Then it gives you two options launch Startup Repair or Start Windows Normally. Starting Windows Normally just stalls before getting to the desktop screen. The Startup Repairs searches for problems but ultimately you end up having to start all over again. I had a bit more success with the Windows Repair Disc and I tried several options including the Startup Repair, trying to access a System Restore Point and I ran the Memory Diagnostic Tool which indicated no problems with the System Memory.

[davexnet]

Have you tried running a chkdsk from the CMD prompt? It can often help.

[Tom Saurus]

davexnet: Good news, my sister's laptop seems to have finally repaired itself. The desktop screen is back and I restarted it with some trepidation and it restarted, hanging for a few seconds but it loaded back to desktop with no problems. There was a notation saying that Windows had recovered from a blue screen error and hadn't been shut down properly, but that was before the restart.

I am going to back up some files; just in case that are on her laptop hard drive.

[redwudz]

I keep a copy of Acronis True Image around and try to back up my laptop to one of my server drives every couple of months. That's mostly for the OS and whole laptop. Acronis is cheap and easy to use, but there are other programs out there that are similar, some freeware.

I keep my documents, emails, photos, favorites backed up regularly. This laptop I'm typing on is new from about a week ago as my old one had a major MB failure. I was still able to use a Linux live disc to pull most everything off the hard drive.

I wanted to start with a fresh install, so I didn't use Acronis this time. It also pays to keep the installation files for all your regular programs easily at hand, along with passwords and user names used for installs stored somewhere convenient. It makes for a lot less stress when you suddenly have a dead PC.

I also use my servers, TY DVDs and Blu-ray and DL BD discs for backup storage.

[nic2k4]

Four year old laptop; you should remove the battery, unplug it, then remove the memory and wipe the gold contacts with a white pencil eraser (not ink!). While you're there use a stick to prevent the fan from spinning and blow some compressed air through the heatsink and fan openings.

[johns0]

No need to do all those steps,just do a backup as redwudz was talking about,sounded like the problem was an improper shutdown and windows taking its time to fix itself.