(no subject)

[oyceter]

Hey,

So Rachel's computer seems to be fried... she says got the Spyware Protector virus, ran her SVG antivirus on there, but then couldn't seem to log into LJ (she deleted all cookies, then said to accept all for LJ, but got the "you could not connect" screen. She says she could see other sites, as well as log into Gmail, but just not LJ). She then turned off her computer.

When she turned it back on, it went through the Dell start up screen, the Windows start up screen and the Windows progress bar, but when it gets to Windows, the screen goes blue-gray (the normal color, not Blue Screen of Death color), the cursor freezes, and that's it. She's left it on for a while and it's frozen like that, and she's turned it back on and off several times by using the power button. Ctrl+alt+delete, ctrl+shift+esc don't seem to work.

I asked her to close the screen to see if it'd go into standby, and it doesn't seem to. I also tried getting it into safe mode by pressing F8 while it was loading, but I think either it didn't work or it just missed the tiny window where it works.

Any ideas?
Oyce

Comments

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

Other things she could try, if she hasn't already:

1. Clearing the browser cache. The cache (local computer copy of internet stuff) is different than cookies. On Firefox it's: Tools > Options > Advanced > Network (2nd tab). Find "Offline Storage" and press the "Clear Now" button.

2. If she's got more than one browser, she could try using another one and see if she can get to LJ. For example, if she normally uses Firefox, she can try and see if LJ comes up on Explorer. If it does, then it's a browser problem.

3. Check any firewall, ad blocking, anti-spam, or internet censoring programs she might have to see if they've blocked LJ.

Something more major:

Has she made any major changes to the computer? Is the problem only a few days old? If it is, she could try Windows system restore to reset the computer to a previous (presumably working) state. It only undoes recent major changes, and all of your data is kept. The link explains things better.

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

I was about to come suggest system restore, since my husband's Dell did something very similar two days ago and that's how he fixed it. (I've used his bad experiences to help Rachel before; I think they must have just about the same model of [crappy] computer.)

[oyceter]

Huh, was this from inside Windows to fix the LJ problem, or more to fix the weird blue screen problem? I think right now she can't even get Windows to load properly...

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he just told me that he was actually able to get into Windows, but the desktop wouldn't load until he got it into safe mode and did the restore. So maybe it was a different issue. Still hate stupid Dells, though.

[oyceter]

Haha, yeah. Mine is pretty slow too, and it just has all these weird quirks.

Maybe I'll see if she can keep trying to turn it on and hit F8 at the right point to bring up safe mode...

[oyceter]

Well, the problem is, the computer won't boot at all right now... it seems to be loading Windows and then getting stuck somewhere in the process. I think she mentioned that she deleted all the cookies prior to it completely crashing, but now she can't even get into windows...

I think the problem just started today after the virus hit. Do you know if system restore works if Windows is not booting up properly? (as in, Task Manager won't come up, the Windows button doesn't do anything, and the mouse doesn't work, and the screen just stays blue.)

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

Sorry, should have read closer and realized that the problem was more than a blocked website.

Fully powering down:

To make sure that the laptop's really powered down, she could try taking out the laptop's internal battery. It's not the external battery that you plug into an outlet. To get the internal battery, you have to flip over the laptop, and look at the bottom. Sometimes the battery location is labeled; sometimes you have to consult the laptop manual and look for a diagram. Take the internal battery out, wait for a couple of minutes, then put it back in.

Then start the computer.

Safe Mode:

If she can get to Safe Mode, then she can get to something like system restore for Windows XP. (There's also a Vista version of it.)

If that works, then run the computer on Safe Mode again, and then run an anti-virus program, or online anti-virus scanner like Microsoft's PC Protection, or McAfee. Follow directions, etc. A couple of years ago I had a bad virus on my computer, and this is how I deleted the infected files.

You have to do something like this, because the system restore point might still have the infected files. System restore only undoes changes back to a couple of days.

If that doesn't work, all I can figure out to do is reinstalling Windows (which will take the laptop back to the original factory settings), rebooting from a different operating system, or taking it into the shop. I don't know any intermediary steps between Safe Mode/system restore, and rebooting.