Computer Help
 

I am pretty good with computers but I have hit a wall with a friends computer. When his computer tries to start up it says "Windows is loading files" with that white bar below it. It then goes to the normal loading screen with the green bar. After that it goes to a blank screen and no longer loads. I cant get the pc to load into Advance boot options by pressing F8, no safe mode, no nothing. I am stuck in Maine is my resources are limited, I tried making a bootable system recovery disk from my laptop for his computer but it doesn't work. It gets to a certain point in the process and freezes up. Does the recovery disk have to be specific to the computer its created on? Or is this a hardware issue?

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

This is a Windows 7 laptop. Acer brand.

RE: Computer Help
 

Bum deal.

You say you can't get into Safe Mode, but let's back up a step - can you get to the BIOS at all upon startup? It seems that every PC has a different key to do so (F5, F12, F8, DEL, whatever) - just keep whacking keys and see if you can even get to the BIOS as a starting point. Couldn't hurt to nose in there to ensure it's not all whacked.

I'm fuzzy on this, but to get to Safe Mode, don't you hit another key at bootup? Maybe the F8 you mentioned, to choose Safe Mode from? You can't even get to that? Is F8 the correct key?

RE: Computer Help
 

Just before the Windows 7 splash screen shown above appears, press the F8 key to enter Advanced Boot Options.

I always just press (up & down) the F8 key the moment I boot up the computer.

Silly Question - is the Function Keys enabled? On this keyboard the Function Keys are shared and I have to press the F Lock key if I want to use them.

RE: Computer Help
 

I can go into the BIOS or select a boot device. There is no Windows 7 splash screen. But the old windows vista loading screen( That green scrolling bar ). I dont think the Function key is preventing the use of the F keys because I can press F2 for BIOS or F12 for other boot devices. Im pretty sure F8 is the right key for advance boot options. Really puzzling. [&:]

RE: Computer Help
 

Sometimes the F Lock will not be on after the BIOS has finished loading - I don't know why...

There should be lights somewhere showing the CAP LOCKS, Number Lock and F Lock. Let the computer try to boot up and see which ones are lit - press the CAP LOCKS a few times and you should see a light blink.

Very odd that a Windows 7 wants to load Vista. Was the computer upgraded from Vista to Windows 7?

RE: Computer Help
 

bad install or hardware error. This happened when my processor wasn't in contact with several pins. It was a dell 3ghz Pentium D I overclocked to 4.0ghz:eek:

"windows is loading files" sounds like some kind of recovery process. Mine would start to load windows and then reset.

RE: Computer Help
 

This sounds like more of a hardware issue than software, almost like a sector might have gone bad and it can't load some of the important files.

Any idea who the hard drive manufacturer is (Hitachi, Sata, Westinghouse, etc)? You can get disks from them that will completely wipe the drive (sectors and all) and allow you to start fresh. Might be worth a shot.

RE: Computer Help
 

Its showing a big white bar completely across the bottom? That means its loading files for an install. My guess would be that its trying to boot from a recovery partition. Even with a completely corrupted OS, you would still either see the OS splash screen or an error. My best guess would be that someone played around in bios without knowing what they were doing. Because booting from a recovery partition (not using the recovery console) will usually cause it to lock about half way though the loading files sequence.

RE: Computer Help
 

I highly doubt the bios has been played with. The only change I made to it was to allow other boot options. I wont be able to work on his laptop for awhile now until he gets back from vacation. I just got home.

RE: Computer Help
 

Getting into the BIOS will tell you a lot of things if you want to start trouble shooting.