What's wrong with my laptop?

[des74]

Don't know if this should go in the laptop or not but please move if so.

So onto my problem, I have an ASUS UL80J, got it about a year ago. Very reliable, sturdy laptop till about 2 weeks ago or so. It will not load the Desktop, and recently, won't even login. When it did login, all it loaded was a blue desktop wall paper and that's it. You couldn't Ctrl Alt Delete or anything. But recently, once you login the blue load circle thing completely freezes. Only thing that works is safemode which i am typing from now (My desktop has given out). And this is all i have for now. I have no diagnosis as to why my laptop has done this. It was working flawlessly till then it randomly started doing this. A virus is highly unlikely as only my mother uses this to pay bills and do work stuff on. Only thing she downloads is pdf files and word docs. So if you guys could help me out that'd be nice...safe mode isn't that bad to be honest but i'd like the native resolution back. Thanks in advance!

 

[mcnumpty23]

if its ok in safe mode then its likely to be a software problem--possibly caused by windows updates going wrong or something

in safe mode try to use system restore to send it back to before the problem started

if that doesnt work then try safe mode and type msconfig in the search box--open msconfig and either choose diagnostic startup or look under the tab that lists all the programs that load at startup and disable any that dont look critical to bootup--restart into normal windows and see if that helps

 

[des74]

Thanks for the reply, I've tried msconfig and system restore, both have failed. System restore failed for some reason while it was trying to restore everything, Diagnostic boot probably wouldn't work because of the crapware called quickboot or something from asus. I'll try system restore again..


Anything else u could think of?

 

[mcnumpty23]

turn off your antivirus before doing system restore if its enabled--or use system restore by pressing f8 at bootup and choosing repair my computer option--if one restore point wont complete a different one might work

check for any recent windows updates that may have failed to install correctly

run ccleaner--free program that removes junk files

open a command prompt and type sfc /scannow and press enter--this will check system files

open a command prompt and type chkdsk /f and tell it yes you want to schedule it for next reboot

hopefully one of those might help

 

[mcnumpty23]

wont let me edit once again

theres 2 spaces between sfc and /scannow not one if i remember correctly

 

[des74]

sys restore failed i used another restore point that was 3 months old and it still failed. gonna try the cmd commands now

 

[de5_Roy]

A virus is highly unlikely as only my mother uses this to pay bills and do work stuff on. Only thing she downloads is pdf files and word docs.

a lot of malwares use pdf file to infect pcs. if you suspect a virus infection and can't scan the hdd, try an online scanner like trend micro housecall. or download a rescue cd from a anti-virus site to a clean pc, burn it to a disk, use that to scan the laptop.

 

[des74]

oh god guys, i made it to the desktop after disk check, but it froze on the desktop i was like fml...and things just got worse, safe mode refuses to boot now. it freezes on loading files. I have no idea what is causing this... it got worse i cant boot safe mode now and i am using Asus Express Gate. Asus's crappy os but it has a web browser. which i am using to talk now . i dont know what to do anymore i cant even enter safe mode, ill try again in a second but it probablyy wont work. *** dude can this get any worse? sigh....ill be back again

 

[des74]

Express Gate isn't all that bad, i am extremely limited to what i can do but i can still watch Youtube videos and it fully supports flash. I can also listen to music. Stuck with this till i can get a new computer since my Desktop is shot. I also have a CR-48 laying around but chrome os sucks + my CR-48 came with a broken speaker. What can you dou chkdsk messed safe mode up. something messed safe mode up. Alright well. Unless you guys have any bright ideas I'm stuck with Express Gate. Thanks for all the help though, i appreciate you guys taking the time to respond to this thread.

 

[mcnumpty23]

you could use the recovery partition by pressing f9 at boot up--but dont know if it will offer a non destructive recovery so you might lose all your data

 

[JDFan]

What errors did chkdsk find if any ? and were there many errors ? --- If so it sounds like the HDD is going bad and is causing the files written to it to become corrupt - which is why the Operating system is not functioning properly since it is getting corrupt data when loading from the HDD. Do you have the restore disk or windows installation disk ? (if yes then best bet is to buy and install a new HDD and use the restore disk to reinstall the system - If not you may need to take it to a repair shop and pay them to replace the HDD and reinstall windows (they have the proper tools to reinstall the OS and pull important files that might still be uncorrupted from the old HDD and will most likely cost less than buying a new copy of windows and a new HDD if you do not have a recovery disk at this point)

 

[mcnumpty23]

i wouldnt go paying out unless you know the hard drive is faulty--even then its probably still under warranty

if you find out the maker of the hard drive you can use their diagnostic tools to test the drive

some laptops even have diagnostic software built in that can be accessed even if windows wont boot--dont know about asus

but paying out should be your last resort

 

[JDFan]

i wouldnt go paying out unless you know the hard drive is faulty--even then its probably still under warranty

if you find out the maker of the hard drive you can use their diagnostic tools to test the drive

some laptops even have diagnostic software built in that can be accessed even if windows wont boot--dont know about asus

but paying out should be your last resort

True -- but if running Chdsk found errors and was able to correct them (since he says he was able to complete booting after the chkdsk) and then the problem recurred and now can not even safe boot (but can still run with the ASUS program that is part of their BIOS so uses the hardware but not the software from the HDD) chances are there drive is dying -- and if he does not have the knowledge to run the tools to test even if he restores the system chances are the problem will recur in short time - so paying someone to replace the HDD and restore the system is probably cheaper and less time consuming ( and definitely safer ) in the long run.

 

[des74]

CHDSK didn't do anything, didn't even replace or recovver any orphaned files, so i don't know why safe mode isn't working anymore. I doubt this is hardware related as windows still gets to the login screen and such. Could be, I don't know. Maybe just a reinstall of windows will fix everything. And no, I don't have Windows, or repair disk.

 

[de5_Roy]

why not try downloading a linux iso and use that as a bootdrive to see if it can access your hdd.

 

[pale paladin]

look up a linux diagnostic tool called partedmagic. download the ISO and burn it to CD. boot to PM from the disk on your laptop. Use the smart diagnostic tool to test your hard drive. If it is fine then attach a usb hard drive to the laptop and move your essential files off to that drive. This will require mounting both drives which is just a click in disk mount. After documents are migrated run destructive restore from recovery partition. If the HD didn't pass the test then buy a new HD and order discs from Asus to restore the OS on the new HD.

 

[des74]

I don't have my desktop. 'I would've installed ubuntu over this thing already if i had my desktop. I don't have anything to download with. I don't have another computer at the moment. So doing any of that is out of the question,

 

[aford10]

I didn't see an answer to the question of the restore discs, or recovery partition. Do you have either (the recovery partition would normally be drive D).

Since safe mode will no longer load, try booting to safe mode with command prompt. At the command line, type rstrui. That should kick off the system restore from the command prompt.

 

[des74]

I can't get in at all anymore. After i chdsk safe mode does not work anymore.

 

[aford10]

There's still a couple things you can do....

You can remove the drive, and slave it into another computer by a cable, or by a docking station. You can then pull data off it, and/or run some diagnostics on it.

If you do have a recovery partition, or restore discs, you can try to restore windows.

 

[des74]

I don't have another computer at the moment.

 

[de5_Roy]

aford10
There's still a couple things you can do....

You can remove the drive, and slave it into another computer by a cable, or by a docking station. You can then pull data off it, and/or run some diagnostics on it.

If you do have a recovery partition, or restore discs, you can try to restore windows.

+1

if all fails and you can still use internet, download puppy linux or ubuntu, run it from the cd or usb stick, use gparted on your drive or use ubuntu's antivirus to scan your hdd.
the partedmagic method by pale paladin should also work.
good luck.