Hi, I was sorting my friend's computer out yesterday and was running defraggler (the estimated completion time was wavering between < and > 1 day, so it definitely needed doing!).
After about 5 hours my friend, for some reason known only to her, decided to unplug the laptop and move it. But not plug it back in. Hey presto, one dead laptop that was in the middle of defragging.
We tried turning it back on and at first it took forever to start, so I rebooted again and it did start but explorer was not responding. So essentially windows was knackered.
Now I'm ok with computers, better than average, but I'm a bit stumped as to what to try next. This was at 10pm last night and I had to leave them with a knackered laptop.
So help! Any ideas?! Please and thank you's.
Can you tell us which version of Windows is on the machine (XP Vista or Win 7) Things like system restore etc come to mind but until you say what OS system it is advice may be limited.
Does Windows Task Manager work? (Right-click on taskbar and select task manager) try killing explorer.exe form there and restarting pc.
To start a new instance of explorer.exe do file -new task-and type explorer.exe in task manager and click ok.
Hi Hazelnut, thanks.
It is Windows 7.
After I rebooted it the 2nd time I tried to kill the explorer.exe process and see if I could recognise any of the other processes running (so yes, task manager was coming up, this was with ctrl+alt+del).
I managed to kill the windows process and just had the task manager running, but when I tried file>new task>run - the dialogue box wouldn't come up it just hung.
I might be able to talk her through a system restore over the phone if that's going to be the answer.
Thank you for your help! ![:)]()
Doesn't sound promising does it?
If you don't have the Windows system repair disc, get someone who has Win 7 to make you one it only takes a couple of minutes, that way if you boot with that in you should be able to do a system repair.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2083-system-repair-disc-create.html
Excellent, thank you. Doesn't sound promising at all, no! I'm going to *try* and find out whether they've got a system disc or if I'm now going to be hunting down a 32bit win7 to make one from.
Thanks so much for your advice.
You might be able to restore some basic functionality by booting into safe mode and running
sfc.exe /SCANNOW into the command prompt (cmd.exe)
1) Boot into safe mode by tapping F8 key right after power on, about once per second till you see safe mode options.
2) Select the option to boot into Windows without an internet connection.
3) On your keyboard, press Win + R to launch the run box.
4) Type rstrui & hit enter.
5) Select a date to restore to.