help needed with xp.

[louisek]

Hi,

My name is louise, I live in uk, and need some help with a pc if at all possible. i know I'm being cheeky just coming on here asking for your time, I was transferred here by a search engine. Here's the story.

My sister gave my 8yr old son a pc. She told me it was just "slow", which in the past I have had to repair here kids pcs because they have viruses and allsorts on start up, as they never bother to clean them. I have started up this pc, and it comes on with the log in screen, I click on one of the names, and it comes up with an error that won't let me go any further. There is no desktop icons, no start button, the screen is just the screen saver. The only way i can get into anything is by the task manager (ctrl, alt, del). I've tried to run a virus remover disk, but it won't let me do that either, I've tried safe mode, still the same.

I thought if I could just delete everything on there except windows and office, I could then get rid of any viruses.

Please please help me, my son is now doing my head in consistenly going day and night!!! I have phoned a pc tech in my local area, told him the problem, and without even looking at it, he told me it would cost £400 + labour and vat!!

I was thinking if I could have a go myself, and save the money, if all else fails I will buy a new pc, which would be cheaper.

Thanks in advance if anyone can help.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Hi Loise

 

Welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help

 

Your not being cheeky, this what we do for a living.

 

Does your sister have the XP disk for that pc?

[Seth]

Welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help louisek.

 

We'll get it sorted out.

 

From the "Safe Mode" boot menu, try "Last Known Good Configuration" and let us know what happens.

[louisek]

Hi, Thanks so much for answering me,

no she doesn't have the xp disc, I've asked her and she could probably get hold of one.

I have tried the last known configuration and it's still the same, nothing but screen saver showing.

[Dalo Harkin]

There is nothing on a pc that you cannot do yourself and £400 is a joke :eek:

Like you say, you can build a new PC for that.

if all else fails you can buy a version of windows (£50ish) and we can talk you through installing it.

[louisek]

Thank god, I might be a bit dizzy headed when it comes to computers but I'm not a mug and I think that guy thought I was!!!

I have been to a well known pc store and they have windows for £155,

I thought that was about the going rate, although my sister knows someone that can get hold of one, and I could probaby look elsewhere I suppose. £100 is a lot to save if it means me shopping around.

Thanks for your advise.

[Dalo Harkin]

What is the spec of the PC - if it is very old then Vista is out the window and XP home may be a more viable option - have a look on places like Scan.co.uk and microdirect.co.uk

and they have them very reasonably priced

[Seth]

There is nothing on a pc that you cannot do yourself and £400 is a joke :eek:

Like you say, you can build a new PC for that.

if all else fails you can buy a version of windows (£50ish) and we can talk you through installing it.

 

Agreed in a certain sense.

 

However (There is always a "however" in Seth's mind) lol

 

What is the make and model of the PC?

 

I ask such as the computer may have a hidden hard drive partition in which you can restore the computer to factory defaults without the need for any disks.

[louisek]

Seth,

I tried last known configuration again, and it still does the same, when I click on username it says

EXPLORER.EXE -APPLICATION ERROR

(0xC0000005)

CLICK ON OK TO TERMINATE THE APPLICATION,

this comes up twice, then

RUNDLL

ERROR LOADING NEWDEV.DLL

INVALID ACCESS TO MEMORY LOCATION.

This comes up twicw as well.

After clicking ok, or leaving them and clicking nothing, it still goes to a blank screen saver.

 

Thanks Seth

[louisek]

It is a EMACHINES 270,

128mb ddr. I think it is a few years old, but it was only used a few months before they ruined it, and my sister just buys new stuff instead of getting things fixed.

[louisek]

it has xp home edition installed on it now, and I think vista would be a bad choice for my son as he is used to our laptop with xp on it, and knows how to use it really well!!!

I can't quite believe how helpful you guys are, I went on a website about a year ago, (not this one) asking for help, ( i was really nice) and they slated me for asking being a newbie, then didn't help me either!!!

Thanks again you guys, By the way I have spent 3 days looking through all the threads for answers before plucking up the courage to ask for help, I though my head would no longer be in sight! And I will definately be making a donation to your site whatever happens.

I have to go and get my son from school in a minute, then it's swimming and cooking a whopping great pie for my big husband when he gets in, but I will be back on as soon as I can and can only say once again thanks so much to all of you.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

If I found anyone slating new people on this site Loise they would be sorry.

 

I doubt your pc will run Vista anyway as has been said.

 

Please call back later by all means. :)

[louisek]

If I found anyone slating new people on this site Loise they would be sorry.

 

I doubt your pc will run Vista anyway as has been said.

 

Please call back later by all means. :)

Thank you, I shall be back on after school between being a good wifey and taking the kids to swimming lessons, the wifey thing is essential or my clothes and shoes allowance goes out of the window!! lol

See you later.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Tell hubs if the shoes go so does the pie :D

[Flair4it]

you can

 

If you can get into the task manager

 

you can try the following click on file new task and type explorer.exe that should re-try and load your gui

 

if you can get into task manager you will be able to get into System restore by clicking on file new task the click browse

 

 

go to local disc >Windows > System32 > restore and open the file rstrui.exe this will open up system restore

 

Try and restore your machine to the earlist date possible before all software installs it should clean up your registry and remove that error in explorer.exe

 

It will also free up some uncessery software that you might personaly choose for your self.

 

Hope this helps

[louisek]

Hi,

Tried the system restore as you suggested, and it said

 

SYSTEM RESORE IS NOT ABLE TO PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER, PLEASE RESTART YOUR COMPUTER AND THEN RUN SYSTEM RESTORE AGAIN.

 

I did restart, in safe mode and normally, and as an administrator and a guest, still the same thing pops up.

Anyone any other suggestions, or am I going down a new windows disc, if so I will look later on the recommended websites and get back to you.

 

Cheers again,

Louise

[louisek]

Tell hubs if the shoes go so does the pie :D

 

 

Unfortunately, my husband is a bit wiser than I take him for, My allowance is void if I don't feed him properly, and then he would go to his mom's to get fed!!! And I've had a bad day, I have to butter him up after I show him the receipt for the kids clothes because if I don't the kids will grass me up as my son said, AND I have to show him the HUGE dent and scratch on our new golf GTI which I this morning stupidly drove into the side of our cast iron gates because I took the turning to our drive too short!!!

 

Never mind I'll just tell him he's a better driver than me and that he can go fishing and the pub with his mates for the next 4 weekends and I'll promise not to moan when he's in bed with a hangover, but as soon as the 5th weekend comes, the hag will be back and all will be forgiven.;)

[Dalo Harkin]

Hmm - not an easy one to diagnose - some ppl (me included :rolleyes:) turn off system restore - it is NOT the be all and end all if something goes wrong, and has you have experienced doesn't work all the time (In my opinion Ghosts are much better, not sure if there is a post on this but will upload one if not), and in the mean time uses valuable disk space :D

If you cannot get into any of the accounts then you may to install an OS

Edited June 2, 2008 by Dalo Harkin

[louisek]

Thanks dalo,

sorry if I sound stupid to you supertechs, but what is an os?

[Guest Wolfeymole]

An Operating System Loise, eg; Vista or XP :)

[Flair4it]

HMMM Reading up on your prob

 

download update Windows XP (KB938828)

stick onto a cd

 

stick cd into the troubled machine

 

go into task manager and then browse to the cd drive and then install the file.

 

When the file is installed reboot machine

 

and try from there

[Seth]

There should be a series letter before the 270. Look on the back of the computer for a sticker that says such.

 

Do you have any recovery and/or re-installation cd's for the computer?

[louisek]

Oh right, could have worked that one out myself if I had thought about it for a second, (an os)

Thank you for clarifying that.:)

[louisek]

HMMM Reading up on your prob

 

download update Windows XP (KB938828)

stick onto a cd

 

stick cd into the troubled machine

 

go into task manager and then browse to the cd drive and then install the file.

 

When the file is installed reboot machine

 

and try from there

Thanks flair4it, will try that one later, although I have tried to install a cd to clean the system, and the same error messages come on after the disc starts to run then it closes the task. Will have a go though worth a try,

Cheers

[louisek]

There should be a series letter before the 270. Look on the back of the computer for a sticker that says such.

 

Do you have any recovery and/or re-installation cd's for the computer?

Seth,

Looked on the back, only says EMACHINES 270

PART NO- 511934

 

No other letters anywhere!