ITRocks

my laptop has been giving me different problems the last few months. I got a virus and lost the sound and cd functions. I reinstalled windows and since then there has been a issue with the screen going black. It seemed that it might have onlly did this when cold. It hasn't gone black in a while. One night the computer just went blue and unresponsive. I restarted it and got a message that the hard drive was unpluged or not working. The next day it worked again, but certain programs won't open and the music sounds really bad when anything else is running. I ran virus and spyware scans and defraged, but it's still is working badly. It is way slower than ever. It's a Averatec 3250 with 1.6ghz amd athalon xp-m 2200+, 512mb ddr, 60gb hd, dvd-cdrw. It's only 1 1/2 years old and been in for a new lcd screen and volume control under warantee about 9 months ago. Anyone have any advice? someone told me the hard drive might be going out. I would like to try to fix it myself being that it's out of warantee now. I'm willing to learn how to fix it. I'm glad I found this site. I hope I can get help here. Thanks

ITRocks

I would like to try to fix it myself being that it's out of warantee now. I'm willing to learn how to fix it.

TechBoy

If you have your XP CD, wipe it out. Delete the partition, create a new one, then format it and install Windows XP on it.

Cyborg

Download the drive manufacturer's utility and run the diagnostic. If the drive proves to be bad, it should be easy enough to replace it your self. Post back

ITRocks

thanks, I need to know where to find the uttilities to check the hard drive. the manufacturer is standard disk drives, the # is 1C25N060ATMR04-0 Thanks, Mark

TechBoy

The recovery disk should take care of all this for you.

Semona

Hopefully, your Recovery Disk will have completed successfully & all is well now.

ITRocks

Thanks again to all that has reponded. I really apreciate the help.
I didn't have success making a ulitimate cd. I guess I'm not that experienced at downloading and making cds.

I did successfully install the recovery media and the laptop now has a brite screen even when I unplug the ac cord. There were some puzzlements. The processor speed stated 1.2GHz and later changed back to 1.6GHz in "MY COMPUTER". ?? no biggy, I guess. Also a puzzlement, why did the computer go dark blue, and unresponsive, on the reboot won't start with hard drive messages, and the next day, works with no issues.

It would be nice if there was something, maybe the ultimate cd that explains it all. I'll keep trying and learning. The TSF site is awesome.

Best Regards

TechBoy

Hi again

Don't worry about the Ultimate Boot CD - it is a little tricky to make: generally, if you have an .iso type of file and want it to be bootable, you have to make sure the program you use to create the CD is creating an "image" and not just a file. There are probably "help me" files on doing just that at the website I linked you to for downloading the CD.

That the screen behaves fine now, after you have run your Recovery procedure, means that your trouble could have been caused by settings that were off a bit (especially power-management settings), or driver files weren't quite right - or perhaps were damaged by a virus/malware infection (even if the malware was detected and destroyed, the files may still have been corrupted - or missing). Viruses and malware can cause all sorts of unpredictable behavior - - - another reason to remember to keep your system's defenses always running & up-to-date [in fact, after running a Recovery, always make sure that your firewall is running OK before re-connecting to the Internet. And - you usually need to update your antivirus and antispyware programs after a Recovery. Very important, too, is to visit Windows Update for all the Security Patches needed (since a Recovery is a bit like a time-travel for all the data on your drive).

If you need recommendations for antimalware tools = I find a nice combo for Windows XP era computers is avast! antivirus/ AdAware & SpyBot antispyware/ and either ZoneAlarm or Kero personal firewalls (only run one firewall or antivirus: running more would cause conflicts). All the programs mentioned have free-for-personal-use versions.

ITRocks

My laptop is still having problems. I was hoping that the recovery media would erase the problems, but it didn't. I had problems loading software for the printer. I had to have the printer drivers installed manually because the CD-ROM wasn't reading or installing automatically. Maybe it needs a CD-DVD drive. Also my screen is going dark. It comes back on when I Put the computer to sleep with the Zz button and then waking it up, but then sometimes it just goes dark again. Somethings wrong. Anyone have any Ideas? I haven't abused the lap top ever. It looks like new, but it acts like it's all worn out- broken- weak. Is it a goner?