Author Topic: question for computer people (Read 1771 times)

weekapaug19 · « **on:** May 02, 2011, 07:54:17 am »

Looking for any advice if possible.....my laptop keeps automatically restarting itself whenever I turn it on, and about once every 20 or so tries it will stay on (not restarting), but the screen is black the whole time (both when it restarts and stays on). Any idea whats going on with it? Completely dead? I already bought a new one, but would like to fix this one as well if possible, several files on there I would like to get back and my music collection is on there. Thanks

weekapaug19 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 06, 2011, 10:18:12 am »

anyone?

Igziabeher · « **Reply #2 on:** May 06, 2011, 10:19:15 am »

no clue, my laptop is on its last legs as well.

bdfreetuna · « **Reply #3 on:** May 06, 2011, 11:46:23 am »

It\'s impossible to troubleshoot your hardware/software issue based on your description. So, remove the hard drive and get an external eSATA/USB 3.5" hard drive compatible dockstation, then you can recover your files from a new laptop.

You might have permissions issues on the drive from a new computer. It\'s good to keep a live Linux CD handy for such recovery procedures. You can probably recover the stuff from another Windows computer but I wouldn\'t personally attempt it.

weekapaug19 · « **Reply #4 on:** May 06, 2011, 11:58:59 am »

well that sucks...thanks for the response. I\'m horrible with tech/computer stuff as you can probably tell by my description of what happened

bdfreetuna · « **Reply #5 on:** May 06, 2011, 12:01:49 pm »

What I would do is download an Ubuntu 11.04 CD, burn that.

Start your computer up with that in the drive, don\'t install, but select "try Ubuntu" or something like that.

It will bring you to an Ubuntu desktop running off the CD (which will be pretty slow, cuz it\'s not off your hard drive).

You can then use this temporary operating system to grab your files and back them up to an external hard drive. I can tell you how to do that if you decide this is something you\'d like to try.

weekapaug19 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 06, 2011, 12:41:28 pm »

good deal, i\'ll probably be getting back to you...thanks

kindm's · « **Reply #7 on:** May 06, 2011, 03:21:54 pm »

Quote from: weekapaug19;268779

Looking for any advice if possible.....my laptop keeps automatically restarting itself whenever I turn it on, and about once every 20 or so tries it will stay on (not restarting), but the screen is black the whole time (both when it restarts and stays on). Any idea whats going on with it? Completely dead? I already bought a new one, but would like to fix this one as well if possible, several files on there I would like to get back and my music collection is on there. Thanks

When you say "restarting itself". Do you mean that as soon as you turn it on it turns off or does it start to boot, show you windows is loading AND then restart ?

RE: Black Screen. No images or text at anytime when you turn it on or... ?

Tuna has a good suggestion about removing the old HDD from the busted laptop and just get an external enclosure or cable to connect it to your new laptop. You will be able to browse the files / folders and just copy off the data. If you run in to permissions issues there are a few command line options you can run to take ownership of the files but i highly doubt you will run in to those issues unless you were doing special things with your laptop or if it was from work etc

The Ubuntu idea is very good but a little overkill if all u want to do is get data off the old HDD.

bdfreetuna · « **Reply #8 on:** May 06, 2011, 04:18:02 pm »

I think Ubuntu Live CD is the easiest way to rescue files of a hard drive.

As long as you got an external drive, all you gotta do is boot it up with the CD and pull files.

Better than buying a hard drive enclosure and taking apart your old laptop. But that\'s another way to go about it.

After you\'re done with that you might as well use that Ubuntu CD to install a proper operating system

ChrisF · « **Reply #9 on:** May 06, 2011, 04:34:12 pm »

Quote from: kindm\'s;268959

The Ubuntu idea is very good but a little overkill if all u want to do is get data off the old HDD.

overkill!? kindm\'s are you afraid of linux or something? i cant think of any easier way to do it. especially without requiring another working computer and having to buy a laptop hard drive usb cable.

ive thrown ubuntu discs at noobs and they were able to retrieve their files themselves with the live cd without my help.

weekapaug will be fine as long as he can figure out how to burn the .iso file to cd-r correctly

kindm's · « **Reply #10 on:** May 07, 2011, 12:19:17 pm »

Quote from: ChrisF;268967

Quote from: kindm\'s;268959

The Ubuntu idea is very good but a little overkill if all u want to do is get data off the old HDD.

overkill!? kindm\'s are you afraid of linux or something? i cant think of any easier way to do it. especially without requiring another working computer and having to buy a laptop hard drive usb cable.

ive thrown ubuntu discs at noobs and they were able to retrieve their files themselves with the live cd without my help.

weekapaug will be fine as long as he can figure out how to burn the .iso file to cd-r correctly

no not at all. I didn\'t realize you could mount the internal HDD using the live disc method. I haven\'t played with it in a long time. good to know

bdfreetuna · « **Reply #11 on:** May 07, 2011, 01:41:58 pm »

Yup it will automount and you can also sudo chmod -r 777 the permissions if nescessary. (force universal read/write permissions)

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Author Topic: question for computer people (Read 1771 times)