Sisters laptop

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She has an e systems ei 3103 laptop with 512mb RAM, 80GB hardisk and Vista Basic.

Which ever mode you run it in (safe mode, normal or with command prompt) it will hang either at splash screen or halfway through loading the drivers.

She has told me the hard drive was quite full but I don't think that will be the issue. Does anyone thing it could be that it needs more RAM? she did say that it was extremly slow before it was hanging.

 

yep tried all options

 

apparently my niece has put limewire on it, it wont shut off either it wwas just hanging my sister pressed shut down and when she came back to it in the morning it was still trying to shut down.

Do you suspect a virus?

 

no will do it now

 

that doesn't work either it hangs at \Windows\system32\drivers\crcdisk.sys as with all the other times

 

do you have any live cds?
Hirens boot disk, either called MiniWin or WindowsLive(linux based i think), Knoppix, Gnoppix, Backtrack or anything? If you boot up with one of those, they should have some form system check utilities for you to test the hardware and give you the ability to download.
If all else fails, it'll allow you to pull off the ffiles from the HD in which you can then try reinstalling\repairing the OS without worry of losing files.

 

She has taken the computer back to her house so I can't do anything now but she doesn't have any disks.

Apparently with this system you had the option to make backup discs but after a certain amount of time that option disables itself and you no longer get a repair option on the boot menu.

She is taking it to repair shop tommorow because I am at work and she want it fixed by dinner time. I think the best way to fix it is to take a hammer to it.

 

I hope they can get the photos of it before they do

 

If they just do a clean install instead of reformatting, the windows.old folder should have the pictures in it.

 

What's the difference between a 'clean install' and 'reformatting' ?

And GBL- she'll probably be paying at least £35 for this service.. can't she wait until you finish work? Then you can make sure all of her pics are safe

 

Good point. Maybe I should have said "fresh" install.

 

A 'clean install' is a bit of a vague term and could mean wiping it first. Also unless she was in the habit of keeping her pics in the Windows folder, they won't be there after a re-install. They will still be in Document & Setting folder in her old profile.

If you can get her to hold off GBL, there are a few ways you could get her data off the drive even though it's non bootable. Easiest way (assuming the hard drive is ok) would be to use a hard drive caddy or adapter, then just copy the files off. If the place she is taking it are worth their salt, then they would be able to do that no probs.

If it's a hardware issue though, they could charge her a fair bit to fix it.

 

Any photos you want to share will be welcome...

 

windows.old contains files from a previous installation, and preserves the file structure. It's not just the old windows folder.