help!!!!

[Guest]

i need some serious help, my whole family is in a rut off crashing computers.
My brothers computer is xp professional and it was working kind of slow so he
rebooted it but when he did he couldn't get it past the first loading screen,
he tried again and managed t get it into safe mode but we don't know how to
fix the problem we tried defraging that didn't work we tried virus scanning
and that didn't work any ideas?! my parents have a xp home edition on there
computer and when we tried to boot it theres no start up up screen or
anything just a blank black screen but we can hear the fan going like crazy
does anyone know how to fix it?

ps: my parents computer doesn't have a start up disc but my brothers does.
and also we have an old computer it's windows 98 SE and one day we went to
start it up and it said there is no secondary slave or master and no primary
master (or slave not sure which) followed by a warning that said Main Hard
disk Failure any one know what that means??

thanks Amelia N.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

i need some serious help, my whole family is in a rut off crashing
computers.
My brothers computer is xp professional and it was working kind of slow so
he
rebooted it but when he did he couldn't get it past the first loading
screen,
he tried again and managed t get it into safe mode but we don't know how
to
fix the problem we tried defraging that didn't work we tried virus
scanning
and that didn't work any ideas?! my parents have a xp home edition on
there
computer and when we tried to boot it theres no start up up screen or
anything just a blank black screen but we can hear the fan going like
crazy
does anyone know how to fix it?

ps: my parents computer doesn't have a start up disc but my brothers does.
and also we have an old computer it's windows 98 SE and one day we went to
start it up and it said there is no secondary slave or master and no
primary
master (or slave not sure which) followed by a warning that said Main Hard
disk Failure any one know what that means??

thanks Amelia N.

Do a thorough check for malware, following all of the steps at one of these
Web pages.
Help with malware:
All MS-MVP Sites.
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/darnit.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315

So How Did I Get Infected Anyway?
For quite a few people it's by installing Messenger Plus, whose ads for
malware don't identify the malware as such and try to convince you that you
owe it to the author. See also:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971
Don't ever do a "default" install of anything. Always choose Custom and see
what else is being carried along. Don't install any extras you're not sure
of.

 

[Rock]

i need some serious help, my whole family is in a rut off crashing
computers.
My brothers computer is xp professional and it was working kind of slow so
he
rebooted it but when he did he couldn't get it past the first loading
screen,

We can't see your computer so you need to be explicit. What do you mean by
the first loading screen? What does, "he couldn't get it past.." mean?
Does it lock up, or display an error message or what?

he tried again and managed t get it into safe mode but we don't know how
to
fix the problem we tried defraging that didn't work we tried virus
scanning
and that didn't work any ideas?!

Did you try a system restore to before the problem started? Did you run a
chkdsk?

Note: before running a chkdsk or attempting any other repairs first address
the question of whether there is a full and complete backup of important
information. If there is no current backup and the data is important take
care of that first before doing anything else. Here are some ways to do
that:

1. Take the drive out of the computer and install it as a slave drive in
another working Windows XP or 2000 computer. It should read the drive ok, so
you can copy the data.

2. Create a bootable Bart's PE disk, boot from that, then copy the data to
external USB drive or flash drive.

3. Download a bootable Linux distro called Knoppix. Create a bootable CD
from that, boot from it, and copy the data to USB drive or flash drive, or
if the computer has two CD drives, one of which is a burner, then use the
k3b burning program on the Knoppix CD to burn the data to CD.

4. Take it to a competent computer tech to backup the data.

What does, "we tried virus scanning and that didnt work" mean? Does it mean
the scanning wouldn't start or wouldn't complete or gave an error, or it
finished and didn't find anything? What did you scan with? Have you
checked for non viral malware using a combination of programs specifically
for that purpose? Here are some links for malware removal.

Malware Removal
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

THE PARASITE FIGHT
Finding, Removing & Protecting Yourself From Scumware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm

Richard Harper’s Guide to Cleaning Pests
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm

my parents have a xp home edition on there
computer and when we tried to boot it theres no start up up screen or
anything just a blank black screen but we can hear the fan going like
crazy
does anyone know how to fix it?

What is the sequence of things that display on the monitor as it starts and
where exactly does it stop?

What is the history of this problem? Is is sudden or has there been a
gradual build of of problems? What is the malware status of this computer?
Is the data backed up?

ps: my parents computer doesn't have a start up disc but my brothers does.
and also we have an old computer it's windows 98 SE and one day we went to
start it up and it said there is no secondary slave or master and no
primary
master (or slave not sure which) followed by a warning that said Main Hard
disk Failure any one know what that means??

It means there is a hardware problem, not an OS issue. It could be a
problem with cabling, the motherboard, the drive controllers, or the drives.
Take it to a competent computer repair tech.

 

[mikeyhsd]

you will have to excuse our resident net nanny, he has problems understanding plain english.

since you have 3 computers in the same house with boot problems, question would be have you had any major power problems recently that might have caused the computers to fail.
might check with public library, high schools, or other schools to see if there is a computer club in your area and ask someone to give you some assistance. much better than paying a shop $$$$$$$ to check them out. might just be $$$ instead.






(e-mail address removed)

i need some serious help, my whole family is in a rut off crashing
computers.
My brothers computer is xp professional and it was working kind of slow so
he
rebooted it but when he did he couldn't get it past the first loading
screen,

We can't see your computer so you need to be explicit. What do you mean by
the first loading screen? What does, "he couldn't get it past.." mean?
Does it lock up, or display an error message or what?

he tried again and managed t get it into safe mode but we don't know how
to
fix the problem we tried defraging that didn't work we tried virus
scanning
and that didn't work any ideas?!

Did you try a system restore to before the problem started? Did you run a
chkdsk?

Note: before running a chkdsk or attempting any other repairs first address
the question of whether there is a full and complete backup of important
information. If there is no current backup and the data is important take
care of that first before doing anything else. Here are some ways to do
that:

1. Take the drive out of the computer and install it as a slave drive in
another working Windows XP or 2000 computer. It should read the drive ok, so
you can copy the data.

2. Create a bootable Bart's PE disk, boot from that, then copy the data to
external USB drive or flash drive.

3. Download a bootable Linux distro called Knoppix. Create a bootable CD
from that, boot from it, and copy the data to USB drive or flash drive, or
if the computer has two CD drives, one of which is a burner, then use the
k3b burning program on the Knoppix CD to burn the data to CD.

4. Take it to a competent computer tech to backup the data.

What does, "we tried virus scanning and that didnt work" mean? Does it mean
the scanning wouldn't start or wouldn't complete or gave an error, or it
finished and didn't find anything? What did you scan with? Have you
checked for non viral malware using a combination of programs specifically
for that purpose? Here are some links for malware removal.

Malware Removal
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

THE PARASITE FIGHT
Finding, Removing & Protecting Yourself From Scumware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm

Richard Harper’s Guide to Cleaning Pests
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm

my parents have a xp home edition on there
computer and when we tried to boot it theres no start up up screen or
anything just a blank black screen but we can hear the fan going like
crazy
does anyone know how to fix it?

What is the sequence of things that display on the monitor as it starts and
where exactly does it stop?

What is the history of this problem? Is is sudden or has there been a
gradual build of of problems? What is the malware status of this computer?
Is the data backed up?

ps: my parents computer doesn't have a start up disc but my brothers does.
and also we have an old computer it's windows 98 SE and one day we went to
start it up and it said there is no secondary slave or master and no
primary
master (or slave not sure which) followed by a warning that said Main Hard
disk Failure any one know what that means??

It means there is a hardware problem, not an OS issue. It could be a
problem with cabling, the motherboard, the drive controllers, or the drives.
Take it to a competent computer repair tech.