Computer Help, Please!
May. 13th, 2004 09:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nemorathwaldDespite the fact that my virus cleaner is no longer finding Sasser, my AMD Athlon XP 1700 computer still doesn't work. HELP!
It starts up Windows, but when I see my desktop it shuts down to a blue screen proclaiming a memory dump and telling me to restart while holding the F8 key to access safe mode. This problem doesn't happen in safe mode, but of course I can hardly use my computer for anything when it's that way.
I want to format my hard drive and start fresh. It's a long over-due maintenance task anyway, and I've got my data and software backed up to CD. The only data I would lose by formatting is my past e-mails. Eudora no longer works because of an "unhandled exception" that shuts it down as soon as it starts. I un-installed it and installed the latest version, but to no avail. So, it looks like I'll lose all my e-mail records of who I sent ConFusion ads to. From now on e-Mol is my only mail client.
Unfortunately, to format the hard disk I have to do so from the BIOS. The operating system can't do it because of course the hard drive is the disk it's running on. When my computer starts up, before starting Windows the BIOS is supposed to tell me what key to press for setting options, such as making my CD drive bootable for the Windows installation disk. But it never shows any such option. F8 doesn't do it. All that gives me is that safe mode menu. The computer is bootable from the floppy drive, but I don't know why. What good is that?
What if I take out the hard drive and expose it to an industrial magnet? Just kidding. But I'm feeling desperate.
It starts up Windows, but when I see my desktop it shuts down to a blue screen proclaiming a memory dump and telling me to restart while holding the F8 key to access safe mode. This problem doesn't happen in safe mode, but of course I can hardly use my computer for anything when it's that way.
I want to format my hard drive and start fresh. It's a long over-due maintenance task anyway, and I've got my data and software backed up to CD. The only data I would lose by formatting is my past e-mails. Eudora no longer works because of an "unhandled exception" that shuts it down as soon as it starts. I un-installed it and installed the latest version, but to no avail. So, it looks like I'll lose all my e-mail records of who I sent ConFusion ads to. From now on e-Mol is my only mail client.
Unfortunately, to format the hard disk I have to do so from the BIOS. The operating system can't do it because of course the hard drive is the disk it's running on. When my computer starts up, before starting Windows the BIOS is supposed to tell me what key to press for setting options, such as making my CD drive bootable for the Windows installation disk. But it never shows any such option. F8 doesn't do it. All that gives me is that safe mode menu. The computer is bootable from the floppy drive, but I don't know why. What good is that?
What if I take out the hard drive and expose it to an industrial magnet? Just kidding. But I'm feeling desperate.
