broken computer

fyi Did you happen to do a windows update this week from Microsoft? If so be warned the problem could be from Microsoft Update KB977165 which has been triggering widespread BSOD.

You can google KB977165 for more information or here is site talking about it. https://patrickwbarnes.com/blog/2010/02/microsoft-update-kb977165-triggering-widespread-bsod/

If the harddrive didn't get damanged (which is not likely) you can just take it out, it is literally one screw. Then you can put it into a hard drive enclosure, again one or no screws that turns it into a USB drive. Something like this would work: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=sata+laptop+harddrive+enclosure&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=8885693598983377826&ei=ReeHS_mHNcnolAePqq3RAQ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CA8Q8wIwAg#ps-sellers

They probably sell the enclosures at Office Max or Radio Shack, although they will most likely be in the $30-50 range. If you pop the drive out (turn the laptop over and it will likely be in the lower right hand side, it's location is probably available in the manual which if you don't have you can likely download online. The drive just slides out).

Once you have the drive in the enclosure you can restore the data to another computer/disk.

I am pretty busy right now with work but if you can't find any solution PM me, I could probably pop it out in a few minutes, I have some enclosure's here to put it in. At that point we'd just need the other machine you want to restore the data to and we'd be good to go.

Sean

If you dropped a computer, it is most likely that the HD is damaged. If so - there is very little chance of getting information off of that HD - at least not with tools available on island and for any reasonable amount of money (there are forensic companies out there that can get info off of a damaged HD, but it isn't what consumers usually go for).

Thanks everyone. Stiphy, my hubby was thinking the same thing. The computer worked after I dropped it and hubby was using it then it froze up. He tried to reboot and it gets stuck in one place. I just feel sick over it.

There is a young super techie guy who's worked on our laptop for slow running, screen froze up, etc. He's top notch. His name is Tony Miller, owner of ISLANDigital. He's very good. His e-mail address is Tony@Islandigital.com and his phone is 340-332-2900.

Jumbie

I use Vic Roberge--excellent--860-933-9528 or vroberge@vnrconsulting.com

probably the HD but the drop may have knocked the memory card loose.

Try safemode, type F8 repeating while you boot up.

If this doesn`t work out for you,try going into bios(type del key repeatingly while booting.
when in bios, select "failsafe settings.

While in bios, you can check such things as memory size(a good suggestion was offered regarding the memory chip becoming unseated).
Since the display isn`t cracked, my guess it didn`t take a huge hit.
Good luck Tami!

One thing about this is - if you ever drop a computer, immediately back up whatever you can from HD. You sometimes get a few hours before it starts really going bad. I dropped my Macbook a few months ago, had about 20 minutes to back it up and then it froze and was pretty much done. What happens is that a drop puts plates out of alignment or moves disk heads, so in continued use they keep scratching the plate surface and that in short order causes disk to disintegrate. Or something like that - I am a software guy 🙂

Certainly don't try to play around with this machine too much. Sometimes it helps to cool the HD down (it worked for me once in the lifetime), but you can't really do this with a notebook (without taking it apart). You may get lucky and it will boot up once more after a day of laying there - if it does, copy anything you can and then dump it.

Don't wait for a disaster. Back up your computer regularly. Do it every X days by completing this sentence: "I could stand to lose X days of work, but not X + 1 days of work." There are lots of good backup solutions out there, including automated, off-site, and continuous (every 5 minutes).

I second Vic!

You may want to check out PC Paradise. Had really good service from them.

good advice from everyone regarding damaged hard drive. best get everything from my documents, email and address book, and favorites folders asap just in case it fritzes on you after.

by the way, mac osx leopard comes with "time machine" which does incremental backups automatically.

if on windoze, consider using a retail backup utility, or xcopy batch file via task scheduler, or the windows backup tools... worth it!

Computer Express is open in RH now. I hear great things about them! Look them up in STJ and ask for the new STT number.

Pamela

On most laptops nowadays the harddrives are designed to withstand a higher level of shock then many other components in the system. If the thing booted the harddrive is probably fine...just get the data off of it, then work on what could be wrong with the system. It could be as simple as DRAM (memory) chip that came loose which you could fix yourself.

Again let me know if you want to borrow a 2.5" (laptop sized) SATA or IDE enclosure or anything.

Sean

for the future.....Always backup. Carbonite.com is $4-5/month. Cheap off site peace of mind.

A few thoughts on this:

- I tell my kids in college to email their important documents to themselves. They have email accounts that keep the emails at "headquarters" (Netscape mail, Google mail work this way). This is an easy/cheap way to backup important documents.

- the above technique doesn't work well for email address books, application preferences, etc. That's why I prefer a complete disk cloning backup. As Sean says, the internal disks pop out of modern laptops so easily these days. So, at least once a week, overnight, I clone my disk to an external disk. I use an external disk that will fit into my laptop. Therefore, if I ever botch a software upgrade, or accidently delete a file, I can just swap disks and I'm up and running again (I usually can remember the important docs that have changed since my last clone).

- on Mac, CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner) is incredibly easy to use. I have to switch to PC for work (total bummer), so I'm trying to find an equivalently easy program. I think that Acronis True Image is going to be the easiest. Although I think you have to be concerned about "partitions" on PC which immediately changes something that is trivial on a Mac to completely obscure (unless you're a computer geek) on a PC. Yet another reason to use Macs, IMHO... but that's a different subject.

Good luck Tami...

If you just want to synch the important stuff, documents, etc. There is an application called Drop Box. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is free for 2 GB of online storage. The cool thing is you can set it up to synch with different machines (Windows,Mac and Linux - they don't have to be the same flavour) and your iPhone so you can have online access to all of your important files. This isn't a backup service (unless you have less than 2GB of backup files), but it is a place to store, and share if you'd like, important files.

Tim

For PC backups, I use Acronis True Image http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/ It's $49.99 and there's a free trial period.

I love it, as do many others. It has many options. The disk image backups are fast. I backup to an external hard drive.

I get really nervous about archiving my important docs online. It just seems like a red flag to hackers, that "here is my really important personal info... right here... come and get it". And when they say they'll encrypt it... ouch! If I/they lose the key, then what?

My disk cloning approach is not perfect either. If there is a fire in the house then I could lose my primary and back up. But really, I just use a laptop, and (sadly) it's always with me. So, I could/would probably grab the laptop in a fire. My wife says that she's saving the dog... the rest of us are on our own.