Guest RScotti Posted August 19, 2008 Posted August 19, 2008 A friend of mine is having trouble with her lab top.She is running Windows XP SP2. She starts it up and it goes directly to the advanced startup menu.(F8) without selecting (F8) If you select one of the options It just goes blank but she says she has to take out the battery to shut it down. Should we just deep six it or can it be fixed within reason? -- Have a good day, RScotti remove "nospam" in order to email me.
Guest RScotti Posted August 19, 2008 Posted August 19, 2008 Re: Sony Visio notebook Here is what she said in her email to me: Ok --- there are no numbers or codes of any kind. The only thing that comes up is the black screen with tiny white print "Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, etc., Last Known configuration and Start Windows normally --- I cannot get to anything else --- after the time runs down on "Seconds until Windows starts" nothing else happens. To shut it off I have to take off the battery and unplug. Computer is about 4 years old -- no warranty left -- it's an ultra-lite -- under 3 lbs. On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:48:38 -0400, RScotti <rscotti1@nospam.verizon.net> wrote: >A friend of mine is having trouble with her lab top.She is running Windows XP SP2. She starts it up and it goes directly >to the advanced startup menu.(F8) without selecting (F8) If you select one of the options It just goes blank but she >says she has to take out the battery to shut it down. >Should we just deep six it or can it be fixed within reason? -- Have a good day, RScotti remove "nospam" in order to email me.
Guest Malke Posted August 19, 2008 Posted August 19, 2008 Re: Sony Visio notebook RScotti wrote: > Here is what she said in her email to me: > > Ok --- there are no numbers or codes of any kind. The only thing that > comes up is the black screen with tiny white print "Safe Mode, Safe Mode > with Networking, etc., Last Known configuration and Start Windows normally > --- I cannot get to anything else --- after the time runs down on "Seconds > until Windows starts" nothing else happens. To shut it off I have to take > off the battery and unplug. > > Computer is about 4 years old -- no warranty left -- it's an ultra-lite -- > under 3 lbs. > > > On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:48:38 -0400, RScotti <rscotti1@nospam.verizon.net> > wrote: > >>A friend of mine is having trouble with her lab top.She is running Windows >>XP SP2. She starts it up and it goes directly >>to the advanced startup menu.(F8) without selecting (F8) If you select one >>of the options It just goes blank but she says she has to take out the >>battery to shut it down. Should we just deep six it or can it be fixed >>within reason? It's totally her call. I'd start by booting with a Linux Live CD such as Knoppix to see whether it's hardware or Windows. If it runs, see if you can access the hard drive from within Knoppix. If not, the drive has probably died. This is common in laptops. If Knoppix won't even run then the drive may be bad and other components failing also. If the hard drive tests good (use a diagnostic utility from the drive mftr. for another test), clean-install Windows from the restore media. Malke -- MS-MVP Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic! FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ
Guest RScotti Posted August 20, 2008 Posted August 20, 2008 Re: Sony Visio notebook Thanks you so much Malke, I thing you hit the nail right on target. I really appreciate your help on this. On Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:08:33 -0700, Malke <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote: >RScotti wrote: > >> Here is what she said in her email to me: >> >> Ok --- there are no numbers or codes of any kind. The only thing that >> comes up is the black screen with tiny white print "Safe Mode, Safe Mode >> with Networking, etc., Last Known configuration and Start Windows normally >> --- I cannot get to anything else --- after the time runs down on "Seconds >> until Windows starts" nothing else happens. To shut it off I have to take >> off the battery and unplug. >> >> Computer is about 4 years old -- no warranty left -- it's an ultra-lite -- >> under 3 lbs. >> >> >> On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:48:38 -0400, RScotti <rscotti1@nospam.verizon.net> >> wrote: >> >>>A friend of mine is having trouble with her lab top.She is running Windows >>>XP SP2. She starts it up and it goes directly >>>to the advanced startup menu.(F8) without selecting (F8) If you select one >>>of the options It just goes blank but she says she has to take out the >>>battery to shut it down. Should we just deep six it or can it be fixed >>>within reason? > >It's totally her call. I'd start by booting with a Linux Live CD such as >Knoppix to see whether it's hardware or Windows. If it runs, see if you can >access the hard drive from within Knoppix. If not, the drive has probably >died. This is common in laptops. If Knoppix won't even run then the drive >may be bad and other components failing also. > >If the hard drive tests good (use a diagnostic utility from the drive mftr. >for another test), clean-install Windows from the restore media. > >Malke -- Have a good day, RScotti remove "nospam" in order to email me.
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