Hey Guy's since I know there's really no place better to ask then f-chat I figured i'll try here first. I just got home from the doctor's and went to check my email(usually about 20-30 every hour) and was reading one when all of a sudden the screen when PINK and had crazy lines all over it and made the few windows I had open supersized and it was VERY slow to respond to closing them,sending mail etc., It said for me to restart to renew my setting back to normal and though it might be a virus so just turned it off. Now when I go to restart it the 'windows XP' screen shows up although the colours are all screwed up and then just goes black, nothing else just black. I can't see or do anything. I tried once before it went all black and it went all gray, but not the whole screen about 80% and it left a gap of about 1 inch all the way around the screen of black. I do have Norton Anti-virus(2008 or 09) but it is expired, however I do perform weekly scans and am usually finding one corrupted file. I am certainly no expert and don't pretend to know what i'm really talking about above this point. My website guy who used to work for I.B.M suggested I start it in safe mode and if the screens not blank, delete the latest programs i've installed and go from there. Any other suggestions? How do I start it in 'safe mode' thats when it's loading up and I have to press f8 or something right? thanks in advance!!!! James Simpson
My best guess is that it's a hard drive problem....have you dropped the laptop at all? I had the same problem, and it was the HD. It could also be the video card, or the connection to the LCD. But hard drive is what i'm banking on.
I don't have one, however I do have another laptop but wouldnt have the proper cords to connect it to my lcd tv or this laptop. I just started it in 'safe mode' and it starts up but with mostly green stripes running vertically across the entire screen. I was thinking that it just crapped out and it was it's time but why would the screen work in safe mode and not in regular if it was it's time to go? Thanks again in advance guys and girls!
Ideally I would like to transfer all my pics and most importantly my emails over to my 'new' laptop that I bought LAST winter in the hopes of doing this sooner! The problem is I can't remember my password when I set up outlook the first time! Anyone have a solution to that problem?? Can I save all the personal and business pics while in safe mode?
this may sound dumb but how can I save all the pics to a disc for example? just put in the disc and tell it where to save right? What I really mean is there a way just to start saving EVERYTHING to discs?
I'd be betting if its green or pink lines usually means your video card is overheating. I wouldnt be too concerned about your data. This is hardware cooking itself. If it was the CPU getting fried the system would just lock up but since its just funky colours that usually means video card. Since its a laptop you might be limited to what can be done. realistically you would need to open the laptop up
My laptop just turns itself off after what I thought was overheating. However, it turns out on my particular model, the plug connector bends off the motherboard and the connection goes bad. Well documented, but still a PIA and now the laptop has a corrupted config\system file. So I am trying to work the recovery console, and the computer just shuts off - great! I need to get a new laptop and get that data off the current laptop's HD..and fast
It works in safe mode because the video drivers are not used when in safe mode like they are in normal mode. So it works better because the video "card" (not really a card in a laptop, it's built onto the motherboard) is not using 3D acceleration, etc. My first guess is your GPU is dying. My second guess is the display itself is dying, possibly the backlight. As already suggested you could try plugging in an external monitor.
I will try plugging it into a seperate monitor. Theres actually been some new new's. Even in 'safe mode' now the screen is going all wonky with different colours and if I open a new window it's totally blurred with either blue or green to the point where the whole window is covered and unreadable. Thanks guy's.
Which model do you have? There might be solutions of overheating video cards already. Or a guide to opening her up and checking the fan hasn't stopped. (assuming it's not a faulty screen). rdefabri: I had a similar problem just yesterday!! my config\system was broken because I was testing various hardware and trying to repair the config\system, it would give BSOD. The only option was to delete the registry file and reinstall windows but you need a bootdisk and a basic understanding of dos to get the file deleted or using a linux LiveCD bootdisk (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) to get to that directory and deleting the file. You don't have to worry about your data, as long as you don't format it will be there when you reinstall windows. The only time you have to worry about data loss is when there is clicking sounds(hdd dying) or been effected by malicious virus/trojan.
thanks for all the advice guy's!! It's a Toshiba Satelitte 5200, as I said earlier I bought it used a couple of years ago for about $3-$400 and this so far has been the ONLY issue with it besides the 'E' and 'I' key's falling off and a shelf breaking and my box of business cards falling right onto the keypad breaking all the crystals in it, but surprisingly it still works fine! Now a new problem, yesterday it was working fine in safe mode and all the colours were how they should have been, I shut it down and once I figured out how to save all my outlook contacts I started it up again in safe mode but now even there all the colours have gone wonky!!! purple,yellow,green etc., to the point that any window I open is completely unreadable! I really don't care about the computer as I had already bought a new one but there are TONS of pics of clients cars as well as vacation photo's but most importantly my email contacts are what I need the most! Again Toshiba Satellite 5200 w/Harmon/Kardon loud loud amazing speakers built in! Is there a way to 'turn off' the video card? or would nothing work then?
Nope. Your best bet is to take your laptop somewhere where you can plug it in to an external monitor. Often times this can just be a problem with the screen going bad. If that is the case, everything should work fine using an external monitor. If you still have problems, then it is most likely a video card issue, you can 'try' to find a replacement video card to put in the machine, but chances of that are slim, so most likely the hard-drive will need to be removed and placed into either another laptop or an external drive enclosure in order to recover all of your data to another machine. If you don't have either of those available, then you will most likely need to find a friend that does, or pay a professional to do it for you. I also suggest buying an external hard drive or two, backing up regularly to the hard drive(s), and archiving everything onto some non-volatile memory, like DVDs every 6 months to a year, if your data is very important to you. If this is business related data, I highly recommend taking a look into off site data back up services.
Using this very Satellite from Toshiba right now... it had the same problem you are having, unfortunately it's your screen, take it to Best Buy or your favorite repair place and have them install a new screen, did for mine and I never saved the data I had, got it back with all my data still intact. I fortunately don't keep any sensitive data on the computer but rather on some flash drives from now on... I also got the factory reset disk from Toshiba in case this happens again I can recover from any crash now. Good luck.
I'm not a computer expert, but I play one on a daily basis for the guvment. IMHO, it's going to cost more than the laptop is worth to have the screen replaced. You mentioned that you have another laptop. Go to the local computer hardware store or newegg.com and order an external 2.5" hard drive case. Remove the hard drive, mount it in the case, hook it to the new laptop and transfer your data. Or, just move the old hard drive to the new laptop. When you boot, it will ask for a new license. Click the "activate by phone tab", call the 800 number and input the code it give you on the screen. The automated system will generate a new license code. Input the code and you're good to go.
There really is NO where better then F-chat if one has a problem! Thanks alot guy's for all the advice etc., I don't think it's worth it to put a new screen in so I'll have to pay someone unfortunately to transfer all my stuff over to my new computer which will be nice considering I bought it last year and never use it~! Thanks again! James Simpson
how much did the new screen cost you? I asked once about a new keyboard and the place told me about $200 I think and if it's anything like that it's certainly not worth it now a days with everything being so 'cheap'
Small world! Yes, in process of doing that now. I've deleted the registry (and related files). Now I have to copy the repaired files from the Windows folder into the Windows root. It's a real PIA too - everytime I get to a point, the computer gets that issue with the plug and shuts down...lame. Is there any way to copy the data without the OS operational? There used to be bridge cables / software to do so. Any ideas?
I had the warranty still but it would have cost me around $245 plus labor, I have the bill and will check later... but I paid nothing since it was under the BestBuy extended insurance plan... I think you can buy a used Satellite for less than that and either replace the harddrive or use the screen for a lot less than sending it to repair. I wouldn't say it isn't worth it my kids and wife have the Acer laptops (less than 1 year old) and I think the Toshiba tops in quality... they had a post in Yahoo about laptops just recently and Toshiba/Sony laptops came out on top compared to other laptops. Nick
Like Powerpig said, get an external HD case to contain the laptop's HD and then transfer the data to another computer. Works like a charm... Image Unavailable, Please Login
You just need the case, not the case with a drive in it. You then install your drive in the case and you're good to go. They run around $15-$20.
