Computer Problem again

[Cerek]

My PC was lagging on me, so I decided to shut it down. I had several programs running (word documents, different internet sites and a power point). It took several minutes for the PC to shut down and it wouldn't turn off by itself. I had to finally cut power to it.

I waited several minutes and turned the PC back on. When it came up, Windows would not restart. I can't even restart it in Safe Mode.

I have two writing assignments due tomorrow and I had just saved one of them to the PC. Any ideas on how to get it running again would be sincerely appreciated.

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

I assume you are on another PC at the moment?

Can you get in by booting to the Windows, or some other disk?

Oh, and is it telling you anything?

[Eagle eye]

Yes, I would recommend booting from a startup disk.
Standard question - Have you removed all peripherals..? My PC won't boot or shutdown if I leave my iPod in it - I sometimes forget it's there.

[SpiritWarrior]

Originally Posted by Cerek My PC was lagging on me, so I decided to shut it down. I had several programs running (word documents, different internet sites and a power point). It took several minutes for the PC to shut down and it wouldn't turn off by itself. I had to finally cut power to it. I waited several minutes and turned the PC back on. When it came up, Windows would not restart. I can't even restart it in Safe Mode. I have two writing assignments due tomorrow and I had just saved one of them to the PC. Any ideas on how to get it running again would be sincerely appreciated.

It could be tons of things. Hardware wise it sounds like a drive failure or some such, but it could be virul and software related. Best bet, find someone IRL who has tech know-how, as asking over the internet is usually just people stabbing in the dark.

[ocellis]

I suspect a failing harddrive. The "lags" probably resulted from I/O operations timing out. Since you apparently were able to select the "Boot into Safe Mode" option, the BIOS must have been successfully loaded, which makes CPU or mainboard problems unlikely.
Graphic card problems would have presented themselves as artifacts on the screen before the reboot, and RAM issues would have resulted in BSOD.

I would remove the harddrive, connect it to whatever computer you are currently using, and backup as much data as you can. Don't write anything to it, and stop trying to boot from it.

[Cerek]

The PC has a brand new HD in it. It did completely crash back in December on me and I had to start from scratch. If this HD is bad, I will expect the computer shop to replace it.

The good news is that I bought a 500gb external HD after the last crash and I did a complete backup Tuesday night in case I got the Conficker worm. I was hoping I wouldn't lose the writing assignment and especially the power point assigment, but both of those can be replaced fairly quickly

Thanks for the advice.

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Do you feel confident in opening it up, to make sure everything is fully plugged in? I used to work as a QC tech for DEC and this was pretty common. Just make sure you've grounded yourself.

[ocellis]

Heh, malware could account for both the slowdown, and the boot failure. But if your hard drive already crashed on you once, then there is a good chance that it contains defunct sectors.
So, mount the drive on another machine, back up what you haven't already, and then scan both drive and backups for malware. If the drive is broken, the malware scan will almost certainly crash.

[ElfBane]

You need to remove the HDD from this PC and install it as a slave in another PC with known good and updated AV, Anti-Malware, and Anti-Spyware programs,,,,,then run said programs on the slaved HDD.

[Felix The Assassin]

Sluggish operation under load, one known HDD failure, failure to start. Sounds like power supply coupled with over heating issues.

Unplug said HDD and try in another PC, follow other's advice from there.