Thread: Help please, computer won't start

Originally Posted by Kevin B

U400 great machine I took one of them running Ozi explorer mounted on the dash 6000km from Adelaide and across the Simpson and back a few years ago, never missed a beat, if you look at the last 3 numbers of the serial number that indicates month and year of manufacture.

Hello Kevin,

Serial Number is 880 13868W

So this makes it what year and month?

I just put the battery back in & the power chord and it went straight to Windows Error message and asked me what mode I want to start the machine in. Normal start up is the automatic default option. It booted up to the desktop okay.

I will try the to get the bookmarks off.

Last night the computer locked up during its attempt to restore at a different point. I had to use the power button held down to turn the little beastie off.

Kind Regards
Lionel

Sorry Lionel,

My mistake its the first 3, that approx August 2008 Model

Ok,, so tonight, I decide to have a look at the comp, and I've managed to get into the control section and restore it back to roughly two weeks ago.
It worked.

So, just because I'm a complete idiot when it comes to this stuff. What course of action should I take to ensure I can back up all my info etc, and also, is there a way that should this happen again, I can fix it in an easier way,, as in, may be a CD or something that I can just pop in and it fixes itself ??

Hey Marcus depending on how old the computer is but it may have come with a preloaded CD with the original setup & software preloaded.
All you would need to do is format your hard drive & start up with the cd in drive & follow prompts.
Otherwise it may be wise to take it to your local PC guys & get them to clean up any viruses etc then make a ghost copy of your drive that you could use if anything else happened this would also pick up any additional software you may have installed since purchasing.

Originally Posted by FANTOM P38

All you would need to do is format your hard drive & start up with the cd in drive & follow prompts.

Don't do this chops! You will lose ALL your data!

Google: recovery disc set for your version of windows and model of computer. The discs you make will be able to either repair your drive or do a full install if things go really pear shaped. Do this now while your computer is working well. If in doubt, take it to a shop that will charge about $20 to make the recovery discs for you.
NOTE: Recovery discs are different to 'Windows back up discs' (which just back up your files)