Please Help using Vista and stuck in loop on Error Recovery Screen

  • Thread starter Thread starter kalfury
  • Start date Start date
K

kalfury

Hi, I am desperate for help and hope some kind person here will be able to
help. I have a desktop pc which kids have been using running Vista for about
a year. The keyboard recently started playing up so I replaced it and it was
fine for a couple of days. Two days ago, it went really weird - bringing
weird smileys and then missing out letters completely. Tried to get into safe
mode yesterday and somehow it went to "Windows Error Recovery" page. I
thought great, we can do a repair now, even though keyboard won't work as
that option was highlighted and it was counting down form 30 secs.
Unfortunately when it got to 0 it started from 30 again and is stuck in a
loop of this.
Also it powers itself up if I switch it off.
I don't have backup disk as it came pre-installed with computer.
i have internet access as I have a new laptop, but kids are getting desperate.
Please help save my sanity.
Thanks
Karen
 
Try restoring BIOS settings to their factory default values.This is
typically done either using jumper configurations or clearing the CMOS
battery.If opening the chassis is not desired,the BIOS itself must be having
options to restore a pre-defined set of default factory settings.

Hi, I am desperate for help and hope some kind person here will be able to
help. I have a desktop pc which kids have been using running Vista for about
a year. The keyboard recently started playing up so I replaced it and it was
fine for a couple of days. Two days ago, it went really weird - bringing
weird smileys and then missing out letters completely. Tried to get into
safe
mode yesterday and somehow it went to "Windows Error Recovery" page. I
thought great, we can do a repair now, even though keyboard won't work as
that option was highlighted and it was counting down form 30 secs.
Unfortunately when it got to 0 it started from 30 again and is stuck in a
loop of this.
Also it powers itself up if I switch it off.
I don't have backup disk as it came pre-installed with computer.
i have internet access as I have a new laptop, but kids are getting
desperate.
Please help save my sanity.
Thanks
Karen
 
Hi,
Thanks. I should have pointed out that I am a total novice, I can use a pc
but I have no idea what you are talking about! I cannot get into any other
screen than the one I described and my keyboard is not working so is there
anything I will be able to do?
Thanks
 
Hi,
Thanks. I should have pointed out that I am a total novice, I can use
a pc but I have no idea what you are talking about! I cannot get into
any other screen than the one I described and my keyboard is not
working so is there anything I will be able to do?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Yea, understand that you are too stupid to use a computer. Either sell it
or use it as a doorstop.
 
kalfury said:
Hi,
Thanks. I should have pointed out that I am a total novice, I can use a pc
but I have no idea what you are talking about! I cannot get into any other
screen than the one I described and my keyboard is not working so is there
anything I will be able to do?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Take your computer to someone who knows what they're doing and pay them
to fix it.

Alias
 
When you power-on the PC,you should be getting a screen that typically
mentions your mother-board's manufacturer and perhaps chip-set/model number
of the mother-board along with some other information such as serial
number,amount of memory,etc.Do not worry if this is not the case,but please
note that I am talking about the very FIRST screen which one sees on the
display unit as soon as the system starts.Read this screen quickly.There
should be a message similar to the following:

Press F1 to enter Setup

For BIOS,press Del

[F2] Setup [F10] Boot menu

......and so on.In short,press the key indicated on that screen to enter what
is known as the BIOS (basic input-output system) setup,which is the
lowest-level software (often called firmware) that handles the hardware of
your system at the extremely basic level.Once you enter the BIOS,on-screen
instructions will guide you properly enough.Using them,try restoring the
BIOS settings to their factory default values.This is the recommended
method.However,if you do not want to adventure tinkering with the BIOS,you
can go the hardware way as well.For beginners,using jumper configuration is
not recommended.Clearing the CMOS battery becomes the easiest option.Turn
off the whole system,remember and double-check to unplug it from the power
supply/AC mains,disconnect all peripherals,protect yourself from static
electricity and then open the cabinet of the PC.You will see a large printed
circuit board(PCB) which is called as the mother-board of your system.In one
corner of it,a thin round disc-like battery cell will be seen,whose
potential would typically be 3.3 Volts.After making sure you are safe from
static,remove that battery and insert again.Close the cabinet,connect all
peripherals and then power-on the system.This should restore the factory
default settings.However,if opening the chassis is not desired or the
mother-board's layout seems too complex(in which case referring to the
manual which accompanied the system may help a lot),you will have to go into
the BIOS to restore a pre-defined set of default factory settings.
We are doing this to check whether it's Vista,the keyboard or users of the
system who could be at fault by unknowingly playing around with the
settings.Therefore,we need an `isolation` approach to arrive at the culprit.

Hi,
Thanks. I should have pointed out that I am a total novice, I can use a pc
but I have no idea what you are talking about! I cannot get into any other
screen than the one I described and my keyboard is not working so is there
anything I will be able to do?
Thanks
 
Thanks Hiren,
You are very kind, unlike The Cowboy who I found rather rude and of course I
will pay someone to fix this if possible, just wondered if there was a way of
trying to sort the problem out myself.
I will attempt what you said about entering bios, although I am fairly sure
that the screen I mentioned is the first one we see now - I used to get the
other screen first, but now I think we don't.
I will have a try and let you know how I get on.
If I can't do this is the pc likely to be worth fixing and would someone who
understood how to fix them be able to do anything with it?
Btw I'm not stupid, I can use pc's just not able to fix them and I
appreciate the help of those who do.
Hiren said:
When you power-on the PC,you should be getting a screen that typically
mentions your mother-board's manufacturer and perhaps chip-set/model number
of the mother-board along with some other information such as serial
number,amount of memory,etc.Do not worry if this is not the case,but please
note that I am talking about the very FIRST screen which one sees on the
display unit as soon as the system starts.Read this screen quickly.There
should be a message similar to the following:

Press F1 to enter Setup

For BIOS,press Del

[F2] Setup [F10] Boot menu

.....and so on.In short,press the key indicated on that screen to enter what
is known as the BIOS (basic input-output system) setup,which is the
lowest-level software (often called firmware) that handles the hardware of
your system at the extremely basic level.Once you enter the BIOS,on-screen
instructions will guide you properly enough.Using them,try restoring the
BIOS settings to their factory default values.This is the recommended
method.However,if you do not want to adventure tinkering with the BIOS,you
can go the hardware way as well.For beginners,using jumper configuration is
not recommended.Clearing the CMOS battery becomes the easiest option.Turn
off the whole system,remember and double-check to unplug it from the power
supply/AC mains,disconnect all peripherals,protect yourself from static
electricity and then open the cabinet of the PC.You will see a large printed
circuit board(PCB) which is called as the mother-board of your system.In one
corner of it,a thin round disc-like battery cell will be seen,whose
potential would typically be 3.3 Volts.After making sure you are safe from
static,remove that battery and insert again.Close the cabinet,connect all
peripherals and then power-on the system.This should restore the factory
default settings.However,if opening the chassis is not desired or the
mother-board's layout seems too complex(in which case referring to the
manual which accompanied the system may help a lot),you will have to go into
the BIOS to restore a pre-defined set of default factory settings.
We are doing this to check whether it's Vista,the keyboard or users of the
system who could be at fault by unknowingly playing around with the
settings.Therefore,we need an `isolation` approach to arrive at the culprit.

Hi,
Thanks. I should have pointed out that I am a total novice, I can use a pc
but I have no idea what you are talking about! I cannot get into any other
screen than the one I described and my keyboard is not working so is there
anything I will be able to do?
Thanks

kalfury said:
Hi, I am desperate for help and hope some kind person here will be able
to
help. I have a desktop pc which kids have been using running Vista for
about
a year. The keyboard recently started playing up so I replaced it and it
was
fine for a couple of days. Two days ago, it went really weird - bringing
weird smileys and then missing out letters completely. Tried to get into
safe
mode yesterday and somehow it went to "Windows Error Recovery" page. I
thought great, we can do a repair now, even though keyboard won't work as
that option was highlighted and it was counting down form 30 secs.
Unfortunately when it got to 0 it started from 30 again and is stuck in a
loop of this.
Also it powers itself up if I switch it off.
I don't have backup disk as it came pre-installed with computer.
i have internet access as I have a new laptop, but kids are getting
desperate.
Please help save my sanity.
Thanks
Karen
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi Again Hiren,
I can't press F1 or anything else because the keyboard won't work-I know
it's not the keyboard itself it's a newly replaced keyboard and works fine on
another pc!
 
kalfury said:
Thanks Hiren,
You are very kind, unlike The Cowboy who I found rather rude and of course I
will pay someone to fix this if possible, just wondered if there was a way of
trying to sort the problem out myself.
I will attempt what you said about entering bios, although I am fairly sure
that the screen I mentioned is the first one we see now - I used to get the
other screen first, but now I think we don't.
I will have a try and let you know how I get on.
If I can't do this is the pc likely to be worth fixing and would someone who
understood how to fix them be able to do anything with it?
Btw I'm not stupid, I can use pc's just not able to fix them and I
appreciate the help of those who do.
Click to expand...

When the computer first boots up, try hitting Del repeatedly and see if
you can get into the BIOS. Do it BEFORE the beep. If that doesn't work,
try F2. It's usually one or the other.

Alias
Hiren said:
When you power-on the PC,you should be getting a screen that typically
mentions your mother-board's manufacturer and perhaps chip-set/model number
of the mother-board along with some other information such as serial
number,amount of memory,etc.Do not worry if this is not the case,but please
note that I am talking about the very FIRST screen which one sees on the
display unit as soon as the system starts.Read this screen quickly.There
should be a message similar to the following:

Press F1 to enter Setup

For BIOS,press Del

[F2] Setup [F10] Boot menu

.....and so on.In short,press the key indicated on that screen to enter what
is known as the BIOS (basic input-output system) setup,which is the
lowest-level software (often called firmware) that handles the hardware of
your system at the extremely basic level.Once you enter the BIOS,on-screen
instructions will guide you properly enough.Using them,try restoring the
BIOS settings to their factory default values.This is the recommended
method.However,if you do not want to adventure tinkering with the BIOS,you
can go the hardware way as well.For beginners,using jumper configuration is
not recommended.Clearing the CMOS battery becomes the easiest option.Turn
off the whole system,remember and double-check to unplug it from the power
supply/AC mains,disconnect all peripherals,protect yourself from static
electricity and then open the cabinet of the PC.You will see a large printed
circuit board(PCB) which is called as the mother-board of your system.In one
corner of it,a thin round disc-like battery cell will be seen,whose
potential would typically be 3.3 Volts.After making sure you are safe from
static,remove that battery and insert again.Close the cabinet,connect all
peripherals and then power-on the system.This should restore the factory
default settings.However,if opening the chassis is not desired or the
mother-board's layout seems too complex(in which case referring to the
manual which accompanied the system may help a lot),you will have to go into
the BIOS to restore a pre-defined set of default factory settings.
We are doing this to check whether it's Vista,the keyboard or users of the
system who could be at fault by unknowingly playing around with the
settings.Therefore,we need an `isolation` approach to arrive at the culprit.

Hi,
Thanks. I should have pointed out that I am a total novice, I can use a pc
but I have no idea what you are talking about! I cannot get into any other
screen than the one I described and my keyboard is not working so is there
anything I will be able to do?
Thanks

kalfury said:
Hi, I am desperate for help and hope some kind person here will be able
to
help. I have a desktop pc which kids have been using running Vista for
about
a year. The keyboard recently started playing up so I replaced it and it
was
fine for a couple of days. Two days ago, it went really weird - bringing
weird smileys and then missing out letters completely. Tried to get into
safe
mode yesterday and somehow it went to "Windows Error Recovery" page. I
thought great, we can do a repair now, even though keyboard won't work as
that option was highlighted and it was counting down form 30 secs.
Unfortunately when it got to 0 it started from 30 again and is stuck in a
loop of this.
Also it powers itself up if I switch it off.
I don't have backup disk as it came pre-installed with computer.
i have internet access as I have a new laptop, but kids are getting
desperate.
Please help save my sanity.
Thanks
Karen
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
kalfury said:
Hi Again Hiren,
I can't press F1 or anything else because the keyboard won't work-I know
it's not the keyboard itself it's a newly replaced keyboard and works fine on
another pc!
Click to expand...

Is the keyboard connect to an USB port? If so, get an adapter and
connect it to the mouse port.

Alias
 
Glad to be of help.I myself am new here (first post made just about 25 hours
ago) .In fact I must admit that I am new to using Windows Mail too,which I
am currently using and just love it.This is a voluntary community as far as
I know,and therefore,no charges involved.
I will wait for your follow-up on this.
Er............no,the screen which I am talking about,called typically as the
POST (Power On Self-Test) screen,ALWAYS appears when you power on the system
even if no secondary storage device has been installed in the system,let
alone bootable file-systems containing operating systems.There is no way you
can control whether the POST screen appears or not.
Yes,a physical inspection by a well-trained and qualified technical support
professional/service technician mechanic will be much more quicker and
yes,your system is far from any ir-reparable state.

Thanks Hiren,
You are very kind, unlike The Cowboy who I found rather rude and of course I
will pay someone to fix this if possible, just wondered if there was a way
of
trying to sort the problem out myself.
I will attempt what you said about entering bios, although I am fairly sure
that the screen I mentioned is the first one we see now - I used to get the
other screen first, but now I think we don't.
I will have a try and let you know how I get on.
If I can't do this is the pc likely to be worth fixing and would someone who
understood how to fix them be able to do anything with it?
Btw I'm not stupid, I can use pc's just not able to fix them and I
appreciate the help of those who do.
Hiren said:
When you power-on the PC,you should be getting a screen that typically
mentions your mother-board's manufacturer and perhaps chip-set/model
number
of the mother-board along with some other information such as serial
number,amount of memory,etc.Do not worry if this is not the case,but
please
note that I am talking about the very FIRST screen which one sees on the
display unit as soon as the system starts.Read this screen quickly.There
should be a message similar to the following:

Press F1 to enter Setup

For BIOS,press Del

[F2] Setup [F10] Boot menu

.....and so on.In short,press the key indicated on that screen to enter
what
is known as the BIOS (basic input-output system) setup,which is the
lowest-level software (often called firmware) that handles the hardware of
your system at the extremely basic level.Once you enter the BIOS,on-screen
instructions will guide you properly enough.Using them,try restoring the
BIOS settings to their factory default values.This is the recommended
method.However,if you do not want to adventure tinkering with the BIOS,you
can go the hardware way as well.For beginners,using jumper configuration
is
not recommended.Clearing the CMOS battery becomes the easiest option.Turn
off the whole system,remember and double-check to unplug it from the power
supply/AC mains,disconnect all peripherals,protect yourself from static
electricity and then open the cabinet of the PC.You will see a large
printed
circuit board(PCB) which is called as the mother-board of your system.In
one
corner of it,a thin round disc-like battery cell will be seen,whose
potential would typically be 3.3 Volts.After making sure you are safe from
static,remove that battery and insert again.Close the cabinet,connect all
peripherals and then power-on the system.This should restore the factory
default settings.However,if opening the chassis is not desired or the
mother-board's layout seems too complex(in which case referring to the
manual which accompanied the system may help a lot),you will have to go
into
the BIOS to restore a pre-defined set of default factory settings.
We are doing this to check whether it's Vista,the keyboard or users of the
system who could be at fault by unknowingly playing around with the
settings.Therefore,we need an `isolation` approach to arrive at the
culprit.

Hi,
Thanks. I should have pointed out that I am a total novice, I can use a pc
but I have no idea what you are talking about! I cannot get into any other
screen than the one I described and my keyboard is not working so is there
anything I will be able to do?
Thanks

kalfury said:
Hi, I am desperate for help and hope some kind person here will be
able
to
help. I have a desktop pc which kids have been using running Vista for
about
a year. The keyboard recently started playing up so I replaced it and it
was
fine for a couple of days. Two days ago, it went really weird - bringing
weird smileys and then missing out letters completely. Tried to get into
safe
mode yesterday and somehow it went to "Windows Error Recovery" page. I
thought great, we can do a repair now, even though keyboard won't work
as
that option was highlighted and it was counting down form 30 secs.
Unfortunately when it got to 0 it started from 30 again and is stuck in
a
loop of this.
Also it powers itself up if I switch it off.
I don't have backup disk as it came pre-installed with computer.
i have internet access as I have a new laptop, but kids are getting
desperate.
Please help save my sanity.
Thanks
Karen
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Oops...........sorry..........didn't notice this coming through in while
composing the earlier message.
Anyway,I assume that you mean to say that for your system the key to enter
the BIOS as displayed on the POST screen is F1 but even after pressing F1
repeatedly while that screen is still displayed the system does not accept
the input,nor does it accept any other key-presses which are considered
valid on the POST screen.
In that case,this problem does not deal with Vista.You had also mentioned
that your new keyboard worked well for the first two days as well as it
works with another system.........in that case,something `under-the-hood` is
at fault.Instead of tinkering with it,at this moment it's best not to take
risks and contact a maintenance worker or your local computer repair shop.

Hi Again Hiren,
I can't press F1 or anything else because the keyboard won't work-I know
it's not the keyboard itself it's a newly replaced keyboard and works fine
on
another pc!
 
But here he has clearly mentioned that it worked well for the first two
days...............so probably not an issue of protocol-interfacing.

kalfury said:
Hi Again Hiren,
I can't press F1 or anything else because the keyboard won't work-I know
it's not the keyboard itself it's a newly replaced keyboard and works fine
on
another pc!
Click to expand...

Is the keyboard connect to an USB port? If so, get an adapter and
connect it to the mouse port.

Alias
 
Kalfury,
Replace the keyboard with the same kind, type, manufacturer as the one which worked.

karl

Hi, I am desperate for help and hope some kind person here will be able to
help. I have a desktop pc which kids have been using running Vista for about
a year. The keyboard recently started playing up so I replaced it and it was
fine for a couple of days. Two days ago, it went really weird - bringing
weird smileys and then missing out letters completely. Tried to get into safe
mode yesterday and somehow it went to "Windows Error Recovery" page. I
thought great, we can do a repair now, even though keyboard won't work as
that option was highlighted and it was counting down form 30 secs.
Unfortunately when it got to 0 it started from 30 again and is stuck in a
loop of this.
Also it powers itself up if I switch it off.
I don't have backup disk as it came pre-installed with computer.
i have internet access as I have a new laptop, but kids are getting desperate.
Please help save my sanity.
Thanks
Karen
 
Some said:
Your name is VERY apt; COWARD!
F**k off!
--
Mick Murphy - Qld - Australia


"The Coward Robert Ford" wrote:
Click to expand...

And I'm AN OLD FOOL sometimes, Robert. If you
are still in the group, I apologize.
Sometimes I'm just a LOSER!!!!!!!!
 
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