OT: Computer Repair (Blue Screen of Death)

[endover]

This morning I got the infamous blue screen of death on my older Dell laptop (Inspiron 9300). I'm going to try a couple of fixes but I'm not very good with computer repairs and just don't expect it to go very well. I've never had to take a computer in for repairs so I'm a little leary that they would steal all my home banking info, passwords, etc.... What's the recommended safe practice to protect your personal info when taking a coputer to a fixit shop?

[JJkizak]

That's a good question. Trust isn't one of societies greatest attributes in todays world. Sometimes a low battery will wipe out parts of your operating system. You didn't give many details---will it go into safe mode?

JJK

[elitedemo]

i would update to a slightly newer operating system if possible, xp or windows 7 would be the only two choices i would use if you dont have it already, any other problems other than a bsod?

write down what you need or back it up on a usb stick and then proceed to format the hard drive and erase all information prior thats going to be about the only safe practice

[Audible Nectar]

What this world needs is a "NOSValves" of computer repair and custom building. Service is always the key to any good ownership experience, and I have come to the conclusion that it's a key reason I have spent the last computer decade doing a paltry percentage of what I should be doing with computers.

I am sufficiently desperate to be running a box now on Linux from the CD rom....and it only works half arsed. I tend to get really tight with the wallet when I don't have faith or evidence that the money spent will be fruitful - and I get to be really tight with my $$$ when I think about Bill Gates......

But hey, it took me 25 years to finally get the Heritage of my dreams, so I suppose if it takes me another 10 years to get fast comp that works all of the time I am still ahead of the game :-)

Anyone know a computer expert in the IL/IA region?

[jhoak]

Where in Florida are you? I'm right in the middle of the state, near Lake Wales. About an hour from both Tampa and Orlando.

Computers is what I do for a living. I'm currently "between jobs" so I have a lot of free time and can always use a little beer money... err... I mean mortgage payment money. Yea... That's it... Mortgage payment... []

As for securing your data unless you can get the machine to boot up and get the operating system running you're only choice to be SURE is to physically remove the drive. There are a number of Linux boot discs available that will let you boot the machine and copy your data off to a flash drive or portable HD. Unfortuately these boot discs aren't much help with "cached" passwords and the like unless you know exactly where to look fo them.

If you'want to discuss your options PM me your phone number and I'll give you a ring.

[Groomlakearea51]

Trick is to boot the machine off an operating system CD and see if the files can be accessed (and copied...) to flash/jump drives, etc.

Jeff can fix you up if you have not called him already

[H]

[mustang guy]

IMO, notebooks are cheap now. Consider buying a new one. Grab your My Documents, Desktop, email files (if you can find them), and basically surf through all your hard drive and look for stuff you might need. Copy these to an external drive, a share on the new notebook, or a thumbdrive.

BSOD is sometimes software/OS related, but in my experience it is usually hardware related. If you installed a new driver that was asking a peice of hardware to do something it was never designed to do, it can cause that, but the fact that your computer is running halfassed on leenuxe, leads me to believe you are on the virge of some serious failure.

[endover]

Thanks for the input guys. I dropped it off with a friend at work to dig into it. He's very inexpensive and knows it's old. If I can get it back running and get my data off the drive for $50 or less, I can let my kids have it and then I don't mind if something gets messed up. In the mean time, I'm eyeing a Dell XPS17 with the I7 processor. I don't buy computers very often so I try to buy the latest and greatest and not look back for about 7 or 8 years... It's worked well for me for the last 15 years or so. I'd rather not have to spend the money but a good computer at the house is now a requirement instead of a luxury.

Thanks for the suggestions and offers!

[jacksonbart]

15 years?! Wow, I say you got your money's worth. Good luck on the repairs/extracting data. I have employed external HD back ups for just that event with the idea that I loose the computer HD and operating system but not the data. In fact I store the more sensitive personal identity stuff only on the external HD, with a less frequent back up of that. 15 years for a computer life is pretty darn good.

[endover]

Ya know Jacksonbart...In all my years of being on this forum, I think this is one of the first time's I've ever seen you give a "serious" reply....too funny! Actually, I think I worded it poorly. I've had two computers in 15 years which means I spend about $1,500 to $2K for a computer that'll last me 7 to 8 years. I get to be at the cutting edge of technology for about a year or so and then it catches up and I'm eventually behind.

[nickfrost]

Just follow these steps.....

which had the following steps;

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Locate the UpperFilters value under the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
3. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click OK.
4. Locate the LowerFilters value under the same key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
5. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click OK.
6. Quit Registry Editor.NOTE: After you remove the Upperfilters value and the Lowerfilters value, if you notice lost functionality in a particular program, such as CD recording software, you may need to reinstall that software. If the problem recurs, consult with the software vendor for assistance.

7. Restart your computer.

This fixed the problem and I was able to do this from the "safe" mode.

Computer Repair

[Marvel]

If you can finish booting, you either use a linux boot disk that allows you to get to the hard drive, OR pull the drive and add it as a second drive in another system... copy everything you want and then reformat the drive or replace it with a larger/newer one, just to be safe.

With XP or Win7, you can perhaps boot from the install CD/DVD and do a repair. It often works when we need to do this at work.

Bruce

[CECAA850]

Hopefully he's gotten it fixed in the last 4 months.

[Mallette]

I've had a personal (and enforced on my staff at work) policy of NEVER putting any sort of data on a system drive. Windows IS going to crash at some point and on occassion take the drive with it. For years I installed programs and My Docs, etc on a D drive, but that has become more and more problematic and our IT group doesn't conform, so I went to a different plan.

These days I've installed a mirroring app on some computers such that my docs, desktop, mail files, etc are reflected in real time to a server or external drive for the convenience of folks like the PAW who can't seem to stay away from these Microsoft "conveniences." Yadis, a freebie, works fairly well, but I've since purchased MirrorFolder which is a lot more flexible and robust for a reasonable price.

Every system drive should be considered expendable.

Dave

PS - Another option even easier than Linux booting is to remove the drive and put it in another computer or external drive housing. Unless it's been destroyed by Windows (in which case you're screwed anyway) it will mount and you can get your stuff off.

[Marvel]

dang... caught me... []

[Marvel]

we do folder redirection through group policies.

profiles, desktops, my docs, pics, etc., are all on file server, and backed up daily (nightly). That also means that if their drive crashes, they can log in on another computer and all their files are there. When it works correctly, it's great. When it doesn't, it's a pain.

Bruce

[Mallette]

we do folder redirection through group policies.

profiles, desktops, my docs, pics, etc., are all on file server, and backed up daily (nightly). That also means that if their drive crashes, they can log in on another computer and all their files are there. When it works correctly, it's great. When it doesn't, it's a pain.

Bruce

That's a good way, Bruce. At home, I've put external drives on all our computers and mirror appropriate (music and video to my listening rooms and TV areas, other directories to other machines as required) and use MirrorFolder to keep everything synchonized. That way, neither intranet nor internet failure interrupts us much. Even though I have some wired,others homeplug, and wireless N machines the local drive is MUCH faster as well as providing real time backup.

Dave

[Guest " "]

I would be afraid of turing a 15 year old computer off for fear it would not turn back on. it probally has a 2 gig hard drive which can all be copied onto a 10 dollar 4 gig usb drive.

[JL Sargent]

Two weeks ago I installed some ram on my XP machine. One of the ram sticks wasn't quite seated. I started the machine and would you believe that ram improperly installed stick corrupted my System32 files!!! Windows would not start and reported that System32 files either corrupt or missing. I then found a free program called Ultimate Boot disk 4 Windows on the net and was able to get a XP shell going from my CD drive. I then manually restored system files from a previous save and get XP: going again. Whew, I thought I had lost a bunch. Now I have all those files on 2 separate computers.