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Laptop wont boot properly

juliasdream
Grafter
Posts: 260
Registered: ‎09-06-2007

Laptop wont boot properly

Someone passed on to me an acer laptop in exchange for work I did
A Travelmate 231 Running XP home
It has 512mb memory showing 480mb as available
I get as far as login page and try to enter password
I can't get keyboard controls to respond properly
1st 2 letters work and the others are either impossible and eventually the mouse cursor no longer responds.
I got past the password bit in one try but then mouse cuyrsor became unresponsive.
All works normally in safe mode
From safe mode I ran malwarebytes and turned up 63 problems, many of them were trojan horses
Also I ran defrag which obviously was badly needed
+ I ran free registry repair
Back in normal mode same problem again
I tried system restore to a date anout 4 weeks ago
Still no joy
Can anyone suggest something please.
As a last resort I can re-install windows bu t I'm not sure at this stage if that will do the job
6 REPLIES 6
shutter
Community Veteran
Posts: 22,202
Thanks: 3,768
Fixes: 64
Registered: ‎06-11-2007

Re: Laptop wont boot properly

Download and burn a copy of Linux Mint 8 Helena..... you just burn it after downloading it.... then put it in your CD draw, and boot from there.... will (should) give you access to the hard drive, and you may be able to sort it from there....
It does not "load" onto the hard drive..... it runs from the CD
juliasdream
Grafter
Posts: 260
Registered: ‎09-06-2007

Re: Laptop wont boot properly

Thanks, but I am not sure about this.
What can I do when I access the hard drive in that way.
How is it different to using safe mode?
I can get into safe mode without problems and keyboard/mouse work fine
Its when I boot into windows normally that the problem occurs
I'm wondering if something in the windows system hasn't become corrupted after all those virus's that it had
I also ran check disc setting it to fix errors but no problems showed up there
adie:quote
HairyMcbiker
All Star
Posts: 6,792
Thanks: 266
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎16-02-2009

Re: Laptop wont boot properly

If there is nothing on it you want to keep just reformat and install windows (Or better still install Mint 8 like Shutter suggests  ;))
When it gets so fubared that it will not load properly it is easier to delete it and start again. (I would also run some rootkit checkers on it)
dvorak
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 29,471
Thanks: 6,622
Fixes: 1,482
Registered: ‎11-01-2008

Re: Laptop wont boot properly

If it starts in safe mode OK then you could try a repair of the install.
Go through setup as if you were doing a fresh install option (i.e. don't choose repair!) and when it asks you where to install it should see the existing installation and give you the option to repair that install.
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shutter
Community Veteran
Posts: 22,202
Thanks: 3,768
Fixes: 64
Registered: ‎06-11-2007

Re: Laptop wont boot properly

Whilst in "Safe Mode".....
OR....
When running the Linux Mint 8 Helena CD
you can access, and save, all your docs, files, and photos, to a USB memory stick...... along with any other "bits & pieces"  (email contacts  Firefox reminder etc etc)..... then you can go the "whole hog" and re-install the Windos OS.
If you just re-install, you are likely to lose all the above "useful" stuff....!
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: Laptop wont boot properly

If it starts in Safe Mode then its much more likely to be a software problem than a hardware problem, particularly if the 'start in VGA mode' doesn't work either.  In Safe Mode try using msconfig to block all non-Microsoft programs and services loading when Windows starts.  If that doesn't work use a more comprehensive program like Autoruns http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx to do the same thing.  As soon as you can get into normal mode re-run Malwarebytes then try other security software.  Since a repair re-install leaves your programs intact it won't get rid of any viruses so only use this as a last resort when you are certain the computer is clean.