PC Techie question (frustrated)

[ac6789]

I'm posting this on behalf of my parents!

They've managed to "break" their PC yet again (3rd time in two months)! I've tired to convince them to get a mac mini but to no avil. First two times they managed to get a s**t load of viruses and spyware, had to do a complete wipe and reinstall. Dad thinks it OK to click large buttons that say "CLICK HERE" even after telling him "NO!"...Argh!

Anyways, this time when they turn on their computer they see the BIOS screen, and the windows splash (The thing with the windows logo and the scrolling blue bar) everything up to this point is OK.

but after the splash page the screen goes black. Their desktop doesn't load and it just sits there. I've tried starting up in safe mode, doesn't work either, same black screen.

I'm assuming the video card is OK since I can see the BIOS and splash page, the HD is not making any noises that I can hear.

Any ideas? I've checked, and all the cards are securely in place, RAM is seated correctly and only yesterday it was in good working condition. It just suddenly happened.

Their computer is a custom built AMD 2GHz with 512 ram, running Windows XP with a 40GB hard drive.

Do I really have to reinstal the thing for the third time in two months?

 

[ivi7]

Do I really have to reinstal the thing for the third time in two months?

No you don't have to reinstall it. Just pop in the Windows disk and go through with the instal but instead of choosing the start a fresh install you can choose repair but mimnd you not the repair console.
After you put the Windows disk in you'll understand what I mean.
This happened at work so I just repaired the users machine. Takes time and will make you feel that a reinstallation is taking place but windows will only repair the corrupt files.

 

[Gizmotoy]

If you're seeing the splash screen, the hard drive is working. Or it is at least partially working.

Your best bet, as the previous poster said, it to attempt to repair the installation using the install disc. If that doesn't work, a wipe and reinstall may be your only choice.

If you feel like trying to diagnose the problem, you can use some of the diagnostic tools on the UltimateBootCD, which is a great resource.

 

[ac6789]

Thanks for the replies. I'll definately do the repair installation if that saves me the aggrivation of re-dowloading all the patches, updates to windows and virus scanner.

Gimzotoy: thanks for that link. I'll keep it in my library of PC tools, could come in handy.

ivi7: You said this happened at work. Do you know why? Perhaps I can help prevent it..

 

[ivi7]

ivi7: You said this happened at work. Do you know why? Perhaps I can help prevent it..

It just happens once in a while I am not really sure to why but my guess would be if one of the system files get shuffled around or maybe overwritten then it results in a crash. It could happen when one of the softwares act funnily. No particular reason though.
The best solution would be to swtich to a mac

 

[shu82]

Tell them its the motherboard. Make up a huge number to fix it. Then show them the mini refub prices

 

[ivi7]

Tell them its the motherboard. Make up a huge number to fix it. Then show them the mini refub prices

Probably the best way to make them switch

 

[ethernet76]

You'll also want to make sure they're not running an administrator-level account.

That'll prevent about 90% of Windows messups.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I also might like to add put some basic stuff on the computer for them. Antivirus (set it to automatic scans) and some type of antispyware and have it set auto scan.

Also download and install firefox as the default browser. Make IE a little harder to get to. Heck my parents refused to use firefox for the longest time. I just installed it on their computer, made the icon easy to get to and low an behold at the end of the summer they hate IE and will not use it. As an added bonus I was used to spending 30-60mins when ever I came home from college cleaning stuff up. I took the time to do those little things I stated above and well I haven't really messed with it in over a year. Plus I showed them how to do some of the basic stuff.

 

[ac6789]

Thanks again for the replies.

Getting a mac mini for $649 CDN seems well worth it at this point. Two months of constant cleaning, installing, updating is very aggrivating and time consuming! I'm ready to throw the computer out the window!

I have them on a limited user account, have AVG anti-virus installed with all the latest definititions the only thing I don't have is firefox installed, perhaps I'll do that tonight.

My parents only just started to learn computers so they double click & click on everything!

Hopfully this will be the last "fix" i'll have to do for a while.. i hope.