Pc keeps rebooting-can't do anything!!

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Reidy36

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I switched my pc on this morning and came up with boot up page, saying been an issue etc, reboot from last known safe start up or something like that.
When windows finally loads, my Internet security (kaspersky pure 3) won't load. And then pc just reboots.
I am a pc noob, so it will have to go down local shop but would like suggestions of what you think problem could be so I don't get stiffed.
TIA
 
when you say it "reboots" can you explain what you mean?

i.e. does it just power off and reboot, does it look like you get a blue screen and reboot, does it do a windows shutdown

has anything changed onthe machine recently? any updates to any software etc etc
 
I get the initial start up screen and then get the screen that gives me 4 options of booting up with 25 seconds to make my choice. Once I have chosen it looks like it will start up but does back to the initial dell start up screen then the options again.
No updates apart from Internet security ir standard windows ones but these were days ago, and only started happening this morning.
 
if you press F8 when its booting you should get a menu with several options. one should be along the lines of "disable auto-restart", hit that. do you then get an error message rather than it rebooting?
 
My spidey sense says RAM failure of some sort, can you make a bootable disk of MEMTEST 86 on another machine?
 
Sounds like malware to me.......
The fact it's getting into Windows pretty much discounts a hardware issue.

Do you see this?

shutdown.jpg


This doesn't mean anything in itself, but if so, you can at least stop this by using the run command and typing in "shutdown.exe -a"
 
Reidy36 said:
I get the initial start up screen and then get the screen that gives me 4 options of booting up with 25 seconds to make my choice. Once I have chosen it looks like it will start up but does back to the initial dell start up screen then the options again
Click to expand...

Lyonspride said:
Sounds like malware to me.......
The fact it's getting into Windows pretty much discounts a hardware issue.
Click to expand...

:shrug:
 
Had a call from the pc shop earlier.
Apparently the C drive is empty, nothing on it (thank god for an external back up drive).
They say they are going to sort it so it can be used again and no uncommon for the drive to do that.
Is it worth biting the bullet and just buying new desk top? Our would it be ok to use once they have done whatever to it?
Thanks again.
 
Someone wiped it, it was booting before and now the c drive is empty.


Hmmmmm
 
Sounds like the PC shop has wiped it!

If you were closer to me I would have said I would take a look at it.

Generally speaking the cost of PC now days means its effective to replace every 3 years.
 
Thank you for the offer but sounds like the damage is done.
Is it worth getting them to fix it, or should I tell them not to bother?
Was thinking about just taking the drive out and having it as a back up.
Don't want to spend too much if not worth doing and wouldn't be reliable after.
 
Sounds like the pc shop hope you haven't got a clue. Get it back from them they're crooks.
 
I am going to call them this morning, tell them to stop what they are doing. Hope what they have done won't cost too much.
Thanks again all.
 
You do expect them to do the right thing.
Suppose this is problem with being a pc buffoon, you have to take their word for it.
 
PC Repair is the new version of the handyman

You take it in, no idea what is wrong and watch them rub their chin with a sharp intake of breath and spout a loud of trollop about how much it will cost.

End result is the customer is ripped off.

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2012/10/18/pc_repairs_watchdog_probe/

Never ever ever take it to a PC repair shop.
 
Dale_tem said:
PC Repair is the new version of the handyman

You take it in, no idea what is wrong and watch them rub their chin with a sharp intake of breath and spout a loud of trollop about how much it will cost.

End result is the customer is ripped off.

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2012/10/18/pc_repairs_watchdog_probe/

Never ever ever take it to a PC repair shop.
Click to expand...

Better not get undressed in front of it. So when it all goes wrong, what do you do?
Insurance company sending specialist to look at it, see if I can claim for any loss.
 
Arses, just checked my external back up, for some strange reason it has spent the past few months trying to back up the same bloody folder! !!!
Means I have lost the last few months of photography course and god knows what else.
This is one of those Seagate external ones that auto backs up APPARENTLY.
Anything done since then I have now LOST
FFS, don't know what to do, it is meant to be plug and leave alone.
 
sorry to say it but always check your backup is running, no matter how "set and forget" its supposed to be.

you could try a recovery process on the laptop drive, assuming it is indeed blank.
 
Sorry to hear that....
 
:(

Bad news

Reidy - You need to find someone you trust to help you or use a recommendation.
 
Corrupt MFT would make a drive look empty and stop it booting......

However in the OP, it was stated that it booted to Windows before restarting?
 
Hidden amongst the 4 back ups a day of an empty file, I have actually found stuff I thought was gone, so hoping all is good.
pc getting picked up tomorrow by specialists appointed by insurance company, they have called and said thst insurance have said this is urgent job and will get looked at asap.
Funny as if I had claimed accidental damage, I would have had money for new pc already, shows honesty doesn't always pay ha ha
 
There is nothing wrong with using PC repair place as long as you can trust them.

Same with any industry.

It does seem pointless however paying £100++ for a repair when you can get new laptops from £300.

Normally when a computer fails not everything is shot, you can always take the hard drive out, memory etc and even flog the left over on ebay.

Also, just because a drive has been wiped it doesn't mean you cant get some data back off it. (So never sell a computer with the harddrive!!)
 
NeilReed said:
Also, just because a drive has been wiped it doesn't mean you cant get some data back off it. (So never sell a computer with the harddrive!!)
Click to expand...
If you erase it properly, only specialist labs MAY be able to get data back - although I'm not sure how much of an urban myth that is really. Erasing "properly" means writing all 0's or 1's (or random data) to the drive. Fairly easy to do in Unix (use dd), but you need a specialist program on Windows before Windows 7 (you can use cipher.exe from Win 7 onwards...).
 
Dale_tem said:
PC Repair is the new version of the handyman

You take it in, no idea what is wrong and watch them rub their chin with a sharp intake of breath and spout a loud of trollop about how much it will cost.

End result is the customer is ripped off.

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2012/10/18/pc_repairs_watchdog_probe/

Never ever ever take it to a PC repair shop.
Click to expand...

Bit unfair to tar all with the same brush - I'm in the process of trying to set up in this area and have no intention of going down that route.

There is plenty scope to make a decent living while still keeping things reasonably priced and ethical, and hopefully in doing so business will grow through word of mouth.

Will admit some of the companies out there are awful though.
 
NeilReed said:
Average Joe blog isn't going to wipe it with 0 and 1's.

They will format it or system restore.
Click to expand...
And?

My point was you can destroy the data on a disk safely enough to sell it. If you don't want someone disagreeing with you, don't use absolutes in your posts ;)
 
Last time I disposed of a 'puter I wiped the HDD completely. None of this peeing about with 1s and 0s, an angle grinder does a much better job!!! (It was a very elderly machine running 3.1. Not sure what the processor was but I suspect it was Synapsid powered rather than hamster...)
 
Well it has gone away to a specialists now (courtesy of my insurance company) be interesting to see what they say.
Believe current place just formatted the drive.
Will let you know the outcome.
 
Thorburn said:
Bit unfair to tar all with the same brush - I'm in the process of trying to set up in this area and have no intention of going down that route.

There is plenty scope to make a decent living while still keeping things reasonably priced and ethical, and hopefully in doing so business will grow through word of mouth.

Will admit some of the companies out there are awful though.
Click to expand...

I work with IT support companies all the time. I will tar 99.9% of people with the same brush.

A single person with knowledge = good to dangerous
A single person with a little knowledge = dangerous
A single person with no knowledge = dangerous

A small company (more than 1 person) = dangerous
A large company = dangerous

Why are companies dangerous?

A person may start up the company like you with the right idea, good knowledge and good service. Then they get busy as they are popular, then they employ someone who does not have the same knowledge and does their own thing, they may view photos on PC etc. You cannot control this.

Also with a single person, how much information is enough, is it the right information, up to date information?

It comes down to trust.
 
Update:
I spoke to the specialists who have looked at the PC.
The hard drive failed so they were getting onto the insurance company to fit a new drive.
My local computer cowboys were going to just reformat the drive and put the OS back on.
Hopefully all will be sorted by the weekend.
 
Dale_tem said:
PC Repair is the new version of the handyman

You take it in, no idea what is wrong and watch them rub their chin with a sharp intake of breath and spout a loud of trollop about how much it will cost.

End result is the customer is ripped off.
Click to expand...

Which is why I either refuse when asked, or do it for free.

Though I did get a pub lunch out of a work colleague who managed to re-install Windows on her computer by mistake (she had a problem with MS Office, went to reinstall and put the wrong Microsoft CD in the drive) and "lost" all her programs and data (data was backed up).

Not being an IT person, it's the first time I've seen what Windows does if you install it again to the same partition, renames a load of the important directories out of the way before writing the new ones, so you can put them back from the recovery shell (or whatever its called). A bit of bashing away at the prompt and everything was back how it was before she started and I got a free lunch :D .
 
Dale_tem said:
I work with IT support companies all the time. I will tar 99.9% of people with the same brush.

A single person with knowledge = good to dangerous
A single person with a little knowledge = dangerous
A single person with no knowledge = dangerous

A small company (more than 1 person) = dangerous
A large company = dangerous

Why are companies dangerous?

A person may start up the company like you with the right idea, good knowledge and good service. Then they get busy as they are popular, then they employ someone who does not have the same knowledge and does their own thing, they may view photos on PC etc. You cannot control this.

Also with a single person, how much information is enough, is it the right information, up to date information?

It comes down to trust.
Click to expand...

A small company run properly by knowledgeable, trustworthy and passionate individuals, with qualifications and good site references = Reputable.

A large company run properly by knowledgeable, trustworthy and passionate individuals, with qualifications and good site references = Reputable.

I hear what you are saying about the shocking level of under par, or downright abominable IT companies / IT departments (I've come across more than my fair share too), but with the ingredients I've mentioned above, you are well on the way to excellent service.
 
Thorburn said:
Bit unfair to tar all with the same brush - I'm in the process of trying to set up in this area and have no intention of going down that route.
Click to expand...

Thorburn, best of luck with your business.

A few words to the wise: :-)

1. Avoid the home-user market like the plaque. Unless you find a niche amongst wealthy clients, you will struggle to make a living and will be expected to be responsible for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that goes wrong with a client's computer - FOREVER!!!

That's good you might think - I will earn lots of reoccurring income. No, they'll say something like: "Hi Thorburn, ever since you got my printer working again, my Internet and PC have slowed down. Can you see if something you did might be affecting it?" They'll expect you to do this for free.

IT support for home users is a race to the bottom.

2. Avoid micro businesses. This group can be worse than home users. They will expect corporate-grade IT from the expenditure of a home user. You'll be pulling your hair out trying to provide them with the service they need using a budget that will get them the service they deserve. Harsh? Yes, but good IT costs and this market is notoriously difficult earn from.

3. Consider the impact that cloud-based services will have on your business. Microsoft, Google and the like are now in competition with IT providers. There are new opportunities to be had, but the traditional market of PC and server break / fix support has changed. You need to find new ways to support clients.

4. If you are up to the task, fast-growing businesses with 10-25 users are a perfect segment to go for. They have typically outgrown their existing provider and will often have stories of woe regarding existing and previous IT support!! This is a good opportunity to get in and make a good impression. You really have to know your stuff though, as you'll be expected to have knowledge on everything from Sage, to multi-site VPNs. You can earn a good living supporting just a handful of this type if client. Do a good job and you will grow with them. They are more likely to be amenable to investing in good infrastructure, services and support.

5. Get one or more business partners if you can. This is not a business to go into on your own. Getting stuck on a "business down" call at one customers site could be disastrous if all of your other customers need you too. Also in IT, never has it been more true that two (and preferably more) heads are better than one.

6. My final tip - have a exit plan! IT is very demanding and you won't want to be on the frontline for too many years.

Good luck with your venture!

(Excuse any typo's. written from my phone)!
 
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