Computer Problems

[go high fast]

computer is HP Pavilion dv6000 with Windows Vista. Heres what i have done:

1.) Twice now I have done a start in safe mode and did a Restore.
2.) after the first Restore I ran the Install for the Windows updates and computer would only restart to the "Welcome" screen and then goes dark almost like its in sleep mode. On the dark screen you can still see and move the cursor. I can do a control/alt/delete and do a shut down or restart but can never get past the Welcome screen before diving back into what looks like sleep mode with the dark screen.
3.) on the 2nd Restore I first downloaded Kaspersky and did a Full Scan which produced "No threats found".
4.) Upon the Window updates which were automatic as soon as i booted it up this morning and i am right back to square 1......sleep mode.

the problem seems to be with the Windows updates? Is this fixable or should I throw it in Flathead Lake tomorrow?

Any ideas??

Thanks guys!

 

[polaris dude]

yup, it sounds broken alright

 

[av8er]

if you can get a bootable disk or bootable cd

load it into dos then type in format c:
after it is done formatting, then load your vista boot disk for the restore, you have some garbage files in your boot drive limiting your restore disk

 

[ruffryder]

load it into dos then type in format c:
after it is done formatting, then load your vista boot disk for the restore, you have some garbage files in your boot drive limiting your restore disk

before you do this get into safe mode and back up all of your files....

The above is to wipe your computer clean and start over. All data and everything on your hard drive will be lost. I believe you can just enter in your vista boot disk and at the prompt state boot from CD to format your hard drive and reinstall vista.

 

[av8er]

I don't think his pc will boot at all

screen is black with only the arrow, doesn't show an bootable operating system, I already assumed all was lost , just trying to get pc back up again

 

[ruffryder]

Sometimes the easiest thing to do is start over. If in safe mode can you open windows updates and see if a graphics driver was updated?

if so you can try and roll back the driver and see if that helps.

 

[Scott]

I had the SAME problem one time last summer.

Did a full virus scan and it found NOTHING.

Took the battery out, held down the power button to dispurse all power and put it back in...and voila...it started up just fine.

BUT a couple months later it went to hell again. Took into best buy and they said I had 248 viruses on it. They did a big clean-up and it's been running well since.

They said that there are viruses that will come in and deprogram your Norton or other antivirus. It teaches the antivirus software to overlook it and ignore it.

 

[m8magicandmystery]

did you have a power failure or hit while your computor was in the middle of a windows update recently by chance..???

 

[go high fast]

thanks guys for all the input. Seems to be working better now but still slow as heck. One think i did do was bypass the User Account Control settings by turning them off from Safe Mode so I may had a password problem or user problem. Also i am removing all the games and other BS software that is not essential to what i am using it for which is a backup computer for me here at work. I only use Internet Explorer, Windows Outlook, and Microsoft Office and adobe.

thanks again for all the advice. I appreciate the help!

 

[ruffryder]

This is a laptop right? It could be that there is a lot of dust and crap in there, not letting it cool efficiently. Maybe take off the back section and check it out?

Is your CPU showing maxed out on the task manager?

 

[srx_600]

Just an FYI, the HP DV6000's were notorious for bad motherboards (DV2000's, DV9000's were also notorious). It is useless to replace the motherboard if it does go out because they were all defective. HP did not issue anything other than extending the warranty by a year. The specific problem with this model (and the models listed above) was the GPU (graphics card) over heating and going bad.

It will boot up still but nothing will display on the screen but you can hear windows booting and what not (it will not display a cursor or anything at this point though).

Also if you have time i would run the built in PC Diagnostics. I believe when you see the HP Boot screen right after you turn it on it is F9 (tap it until a menu pops up) and at least test the hard drive. ESC may also get you to a similar menu.

The reason it could be running slow is that the hard drive is going bad. It is having trouble "reading" what is on the disc and may freeze for a moment and then go again.

Worth a shot to test it, if you catch it early getting data off can be done fairly easily (usually).

(Not sure if you are still having issues or not, just stumbled across this thread and i used to be a computer tech and currently a network admin)

 

[sledhed]

Just an FYI, the HP DV6000's were notorious for bad motherboards (DV2000's, DV9000's were also notorious). It is useless to replace the motherboard if it does go out because they were all defective. HP did not issue anything other than extending the warranty by a year. The specific problem with this model (and the models listed above) was the GPU (graphics card) over heating and going bad.
<snip>
(Not sure if you are still having issues or not, just stumbled across this thread and i used to be a computer tech and currently a network admin)

SRX, you are essentially correct, known issue, HP extended warranty by 1 year for people with problems (we had one of these at work) but didn't really publish this fact unless you pressed them or searched the internet to find it out. But it sounds like GHF may have gotten it up and running again in which case he may have one that is still good or had the MB replaced.

Go High Fast, like someone above said sometimes you get a buildup of dust in the cooling fan / heat sink area, I used to blow it out with canned air, in reverse of how the normal airflow is, and even with a computer that was babied, get quite a bit of dust out of it. Helps with the cooling.

I would recommend that if you use it for anything more than browsing to keep everything backed up. Although if the MB dies you can always yank the hard drive. Been there done that.

And if you need internet security software give me a holler, I got a number of copies free after rebate so I have some extras, Kaspersky and Trend. And yes I know there are free AV packages out there, but I prefer to use something different (especially since I got it free anyway)...

Think snow!