[NFBCS] Help! I broke my laptop

George osocalmo at yahoo.co.jp
Fri Jun 26 00:25:38 UTC 2020 

Hi,

I didn't answer to your email before, because I thought I might be 
wrong, but this is what I suspect (Please tell me if you think this 
happened):

You said that something strange happened and you did a hard reset.
Well, I think that, for some reason, your BIOS had started updating 
although I think it shouldn't update automatically (automatic BIOS 
update is very dangerous).
If this was the case, you must have heard a strange noise when your PC 
was starting, something like the fan of the PC was working very hard (it 
was flashing the BIOS).  Then it becomes silent for a little while and 
restarts automatically.

If this is what was happening and you did a hard reset, you interrupted 
a BIOS update, which is very dangerous.

The tech replaced the hard drive and it worked for a while, but, since 
the problem was in the BIOS, replacing the hard drive was unnecessary, I 
think. You shouldn't have had problems with Support Assist if the hard 
drive was the problem and it was replaced.

Your friend must have used an option to roll back the BIOS to the 
previous version and you were lucky, because your BIOS has this option 
and it worked.

Now, if it's possible, check your previous drive and if it's OK, you 
could replace it back, I think. You might be able to recover all of your 
data with your software environment by putting the hard drive back into 
the PC.

If you still have problems, you might need to update the BIOS to the 
latest version after backing up all of your data to prevent accidental 
loss of data if errors happen during the update.

Guys, be careful when computers take time to start.  Some Windows 
updates can take long to install and Windows 10 updates automatically. 
We should try to turn Narrator on to see if it says something or ask 
someone to see the screen. If neither is possible, we should wait. 
Also, I had once stopped my PC from restarting (I got nervous after 
waiting for 15 minutes and being unable to use NVDA) and I still have 
some temp files in a strange folder since then and some errors are 
written to the events, which I can see in Event Viewer. I don't attempt 
to correct those errors because I don't have big problems and I might 
get in trouble when trying to correct thouse errors.
I just think that my PC might be slower because it writes many events to 
the hard disk.

HTH

George

On 2020/06/23 1:48, Tracy Carcione via NFBCS wrote:
> Thanks guys.
> My friend was able to fix the BIOS problem in about 15 minutes, so now I
> have my laptop back and working.
> Luckily for me, I didn't have any files on the drive that I need.  I'll have
> to re-download some software and reset some settings, but that's it.
> If anyone wants to know, it's a Dell Inspiron I only bought last fall, so
> there was no real reason it should go bad.  I won't be buying any more Dell
> any time soon.
> Tracy
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NFBCS [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Gabe Vega
> Commtech LLC via NFBCS
> Sent: Monday, June 22, 2020 12:31 PM
> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
> Cc: Gabe Vega Commtech LLC; Tracy Carcione
> Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Help! I broke my laptop
> 
> we here at Commtech USA also offer computer repair for the blind. we
> have our tech center in
> 
> California where you can ship your device and for a set hourly fee
> receive repairs and your device talking out of the box when it returns.
> visit
> 
> https://commtechusa.net
> 
> for more information.
> 
> Gabe Vega
> 
> Tech Consultant
> 
> Commtech USA
> 
> 1-833-345-8324 Ext. 703
> 
> On 6/22/2020 6:37 AM, Tracy Carcione via NFBCS wrote:
>> Well, that was abust, and an expensive one, at that.  After I turned the
>> laptop off, I haven't been able to get it to boot up again.  BIOS
> problems.
>> I gave it to a friend to mess with, and told him, if he can't fix it, junk
>> it.  Money down the drain.
>> Tracy
>>     
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NFBCS [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tracy Carcione
>> via NFBCS
>> Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2020 2:58 PM
>> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
>> Cc: Tracy Carcione
>> Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Help! I broke my laptop
>>
>> After trying some things, I decided the problem was beyond me.  I got on
>> Nextdoor and asked for a PC tech, and got one who came over today.  He
>> said my hard drive had gone bad, and swapped it out for a new one, then
>> reinstalled Windows.  There's still a problem with the laptop starting in
>> Support Assist, but he showed me how to get out of that.  I don't know how
>> much of a pain that will be, but for now I have a working laptop with a
>> clean install of Windows, which is a good thing.
>> Thanks for the help.
>> Tracy
>>
>>> Hello:
>>>
>>> What drive letter is windows installed on? If x, then replace the C:
>>> with X: in my prior example.
>>>
>>> HTH,
>>>
>>> On 6/19/2020 1:40 PM, Tracy Carcione via NFBCS wrote:
>>>> I tried again, and now it says the type of the file system is raw;
>>>> chkdsk
>>>> canot work.
>>>> The command prompt is at x:\Windows\System32.
>>>> Tracy
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: NFBCS [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tracy
>>>> Carcione
>>>> via NFBCS
>>>> Sent: Friday, June 19, 2020 1:14 PM
>>>> To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
>>>> Cc: Tracy Carcione
>>>> Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Help! I broke my laptop
>>>>
>>>> Tyler, I did that, from wherever it put me when I chose command prompt,
>>>> Windows\system32: I think.  It says "cannot open volume for direct
>>>> access".
>>>> What do I try now?
>>>>
>>>> Kevin, thanks for your encouraging words.
>>>>
>>>> I sure am glad Narrator is working on these screens.  I thought I'd have
>>>> to
>>>> do everything with AIRA.
>>>> Tracy
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: NFBCS [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Littlefield,
>>>> Tyler via NFBCS
>>>> Sent: Friday, June 19, 2020 12:27 PM
>>>> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
>>>> Cc: Littlefield, Tyler
>>>> Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Help! I broke my laptop
>>>>
>>>> You can't say it's not a corrupt registry without knowing what the error
>>>> even is. The registry is useful pretty early in the windows boot cycle,
>>>> so it very well may be.
>>>> try going to a command prompt and using chkdsk /r /f C:
>>>> that will take a while to run. go drink a few pots of coffee. then
>>>> reboot and see if that helps.
>>>> If not, reply back with the error and we can try to help more.
>>>> HTH,
>>>> On 6/19/2020 12:18 PM, Kevin via NFBCS wrote:
>>>>> It doesn't sound like anything you did.  Sometimes the system has a
>>>>> hiccup as I call it and tries to recover from a bad crash and can't.
>>>>> If you can't reboot properly and are getting these options your hard
>>>>> drive got messed up.  No, it isn't the registry.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 6/19/2020 11:51 AM, Tracy Carcione via NFBCS wrote:
>>>>>> Last night, my laptop started doing something mysterious, and Jaws
>>>>>> shut off.
>>>>>> Instead of being smart and starting Narrator, I held down the power
>>>>>> button
>>>>>> and did a hard shutoff.  Now it won't start.  The Dell logo comes up
>>>>>> for a
>>>>>> while, then it asks for my keyboard layout, then it offers
>>>>>> troubleshooting.
>>>>>> I have tried auto-repair, system restore, and image restore, but none
>>>>>> of
>>>>>> them work.  There are also options to uninstall updates, use a command
>>>>>> prompt, and UEFI something.  I haven't tried them.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I tried Googling different errors, but the results haven't been
>>>>>> helpful.
>>>>>> One result muttered darkly about a corrupt registry.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I can try to find a tech, but things here are still pretty closed
>>>>>> down, so
>>>>>> it might not be easy.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Any advice welcome.  Oh what a dope I am.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Tracy
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/kevinsisco61784%40gmail.c
>>>> om
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Take Care,
>>> Tyler Littlefield (he/him/his)
>>>
>>> Tyler Littlefield Consulting: website development and business
>>> solutions. <http://tylerlittlefield.me> My personal site
>>> <http://tysdomain.com> My Linkedin
>>> <https://www.linkedin.com/in/ty-lerlittlefield> @Sorressean on Twitter
>>> <http://twitter.com/sorressean>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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