Comments | eric_hinkle: Computer repair questions

eric_hinkle

Computer repair questions

Dec 20, 2013 19:37

Not for me, but for my sister. Every time she turns her machine on she gets the BSOD and nothing else. She's going to be taking it in to Staples after the holidays, and is going to be very officially Not Happy until then ( Read more... )

computers, computer trouble, family

Comments 7

level_head December 21 2013, 00:44:32 UTC

I'm using an Acer at a client site, and it has delivered good value for years.

The screen should be posting some sort of error code, from which you might be able to determine what has gone bad (memory, drive, power, whatever).

===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle

eric_hinkle December 21 2013, 02:40:04 UTC

I'll check with her again and see about the error code. Though according to her it starts find and then refuses to bring anything up.

And thanks for the advice.

eric_hinkle December 21 2013, 16:18:57 UTC

Well, I got it to Staples as per her request and they said it needs a system restore. And one mistake of mine, it's not an Acer, it's a Gateway.

And we saw NO error message of any sort when it started up. No nothing. Just a blank screen.

Thanks again for the help.

level_head December 21 2013, 16:30:26 UTC

Ah -- this is different. BSOD is usually used to stand for "blue screen of death" which is an actual low-level system error report, containing error codes and a hex dump. Not usually seen immediately on startup, as it's a Windows thing rather than a BIOS message, but it was not clear how far along the boot had proceeded.

No screen image at all is different. There is no way for the repair store to get from this that a "system restore" is needed, so something additional was going on. For example, if the screen began showing the start-up sequence, and then went blank later in the process, that could be informative. But if it was always blank, there's no way to do a system restore; you couldn't see what you were doing.

I hope it all gets back together with minimal grief.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle

Thread 5

mauser December 21 2013, 08:40:24 UTC

Be careful, a lot of places "Repair" your computer by basically erasing the drive and reinstalling windows, and telling you "All better". Except you're fucked.

eric_hinkle December 21 2013, 16:20:17 UTC

At the Staples they said it needs a system restore. And this being a Staples, they have a good reputation locally AFAIK. That and they're kinda the only game in town right now.

But I'll tell her to be careful. Thanks for the warning.