My laptop died

[Maddog5150]

My laptop wont start! I get the windows logo and then a blue screen of death. It restarts and offers to run a repair but it doesnt do anything.
I have so much important files. My music, letters, pictures. Is all hope lost? I'm going to FRYs in the morning where I bought it and going to see if they can fix or at least save my data. Think it's possible?

[BonnieB]

You've got a virus, as you probably have figured out. Take it to Office Max or Staples. They have staff in the store who will straighten it out. And they will advise you to install good anti-virus software, if you haven't already. Frye's probably have techs too

I hope you practice safe computing (Don't load your friends cd's and usb's into your computer. Don't go to iffy sites. Don't open emails from people you don't know.)

And you DID do your weekly backups, right?

[Maddog5150]

no. procrastination does it again I will do weekly backups now. I think I'm still under extended warrenty. I have Norton anti virus. It was probably a pron site.
Think my files will be able to be recovered?

[Dark Paladin]

Unless I'm mistaken, extended warranties only covers hardware failures, not software issues. You'll be shelling out some big $ for software recovery.

Unless the filesystem was trashed, your files are still recoverable. Any good tech will know how to mount your HDD onto a separate computer, recover files, and then replace your HDD and begin a OS rebuild.

[Montu]

yep, expect to bend over to get your data back..but it should be recoverable.

or you could diy it and save some cash...I think the going rate for pulling files off a crashed OS disk is about $80-90 and then you most likely will still have to pay them to fix the machine. My guess is to have the data backed up and os re installed they'll probably ask some where around $200-$300

[winnre]

Press F8 and try to start in safe mode.

[bigbearbear]

Your files should be fine, doesn't sound like a mechanical failure. Bring a USB drive/flash drive with you, the store can probably take the drive out and copy your important files out to your own drive. They do this using a USB dock.

[skale240]

Have you run any updates to software recently or made any hardware changes on the laptop??

Couple of things to try:

After booting up, keep pressing f8. it should bring you to the windows advanced boot menu.

Try last known good configuration

If that doesn't work:

Try Safemode or Safemode w/networking (gives you access to internet still)
If you're able to boot in safemode grab your data off w/an external drive or thumb drive

Once that's done try doing a system restore.

If all fails and you keep blue screening before windows then you can either take it to Fry's like you said and have them remove the data or you can do it yourself with one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

Assuming you have another PC/Laptop to hook this thing up to. I'm sure you can also buy one of these at Fry's.

It doesn't seem like hardware failure like bigbearbear stated unless you're hearing some weird sounds from the machine you didn't mention.

Good luck!

[sd_shooter]

Can you boot it in safe mode?

If so, install the 'free' version of the following antivirus programs and run them, they will fix it if there is a virus:
- Malwarebytes
- SuperAntiSpyware

Since you're able to post, I'm assuming you have another computer to work with. Use it to download the SW and put it on a flash drive. Install on the broken computer from the flash drive while in safe mode. Run the programs, then reboot.

[ElDub1950]

congrats! you now have a new 'target'

[glock 357]

1) Do you hear clicking sounds from the hard drive? Good indication drive is bad $$$ to recover files.

2) Sometimes memory fails. With the laptop off try removing your memory and re-seating it. If there are two pieces of memory, then take one out try to boot it. Switch between the two modules you may have bad memory. Never remove the modules while the computer is on FYI.

3) Also lookup Restore points. If you can get into safe mode as mentioned above you can restore it to the last know configuration (last time you remember it working). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZfCgm_13sM

4) QUIT DOWNLOADING PORN!!!!!

[billofrights]

Doesn't sound like a virus, sounds like the Windows install is corrupted, probably just a bad sector or two. I'd wager that all your data is fine, you just need to pull the drive and copy everything off, and install a new one in the laptop.

And don't go to Fry's, they're effing morons. I worked at the Manhattan Beach store for a while and across the board, they are tools. Find a reliable local guy.

[Coded-Dude]

Find a friend/family member that has a working PC and a CD burner and download Parted Magic(its just a live linux CD) - http://partedmagic.com/doku.php?id=downloads. Burn the ISO, boot the cd, plug in an external HDD, and copy over all your data. This is the FIRST thing you should do(try and copy the data off the HDD). You could alternatively use a USB stick for booting.

[DannyInSoCal]

98% of computer viruses are transmitted via porn sites -

I'm just saying....

[mossy]

that sucks, whatever you do do not take it to geek squad. they are a bunch of scammers who will try to sell you a new hard drive. last time i was hit with a virus and took it to them they told me i needed a new HD because the one i had was defective and would not let them reinstall windows........ i keep all my important stuff on a removable hard drive now so if something happens to my computer i still have all my stuff.