A Plague Upon my Computer. . .Help Please

[virgino_orsino]

Part two. I was hoping there wouldn't be a part two. I thought that I was going to be able to solve a bunch of issues with various cleaning up proceedures. What happens instead is that yesterday, I get five blue screens in a row. Five. They all basically say the same thing and have lots of code numbers in the tech. part. The first one came up

Comments

[grand_director]

when is the last time you did a clean install of your Operation System? Just running defrag and deleating unused programs isn't going to help. I say back up eveything that is important and start fresh.

[virgino_orsino]

How do I back up everything if I can barely get the thing started up? Do I need to do some sort of safe mode start up?
I have never done a reinstall of windows, so this could be one of the problems. I've had the computer for 7 years.

[pepperedmoth]

I bet the information on the hard drive is still salvageable. Take it in to a computer shop and have them take all of your photos, etc. off onto CDs or a USB drive (if it will stop crashing long enough, I bet you can do that yourself), then install something new yourself

[virgino_orsino]

I'm sure it's salvagable. I just don't know how to do that sort of thing. I'm a little leary of changing my operating system, though. It sounds like a good idea, but I just don't know enough about this stuff to know whether I want to do that. I'll look at the site link you sent, though.

I think what I would definitely like to do is get a nice fat USB stick or two to get all of my data onto. Of all the info I have on that computer, the most important to me are the photos.

But thank you so much for checking into all of this! I keep you posted on what I want to do.

[pepperedmoth]

Do! But don't look just at that site; that's the distro I thought you might like best. There are tons and tons of options when it comes to Linux, so the more you look around, the likelier it is that you'll find something you like . . .

[virgino_orsino]

Thanks. If it can stay up long enough for me to back up the info, then I'll be feeling a little better.

[dorkwis]

I'd have to agree with the clean install idea. However, I wouldn't necessarily recommend linux, even one of the simpler ones. Even the most basic linux install requires a high level of fiddling to get it right for your computer.

First and biggest question: is this a laptop?
Next: What kind of computer is it? (Mac v. PC, mostly)

If it's a PC, I think I might have a copy of Windows XP: Pirated edition floating around somewhere, and I'd be more than happy to help you get files off, and get the install started.

[virgino_orsino]

This is a PC, a Dell Dimension 4400 desktop/tower to be exact. It's about 7 years old. It could use a little bit more RAM as well. But I don't think that is the problem here.
I do still have all of my original software that came with the machine, so having a copy of Windows isn't the problem. I am a fan of this clean install idea, I'm just not sure how to do that.

[grand_director]

You bought it from Dell? Did they give you a "System Restore disk"? That thing should do all the work for you.

[virgino_orsino]

Huh. I'll check when I get home. It's not something that I've thought about to check since I haven't ever had a problem with the machine before.

[theincubus]

Here's the backup drives that I use (I have 3). It is inexpensive and rock solid reliable with a 5 year warranty from Seagate.

Best Regards,
Jordan

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148235