This is an inquiry from a co-worker who's having some trouble with her comp. Trying to get some feedback:QuoteOk, this is what happened: Last night my computer froze and I couldn't reboot it--in fact it wouldn't turn off at all until I unplugged it. After I plugged it back in and turned it on, windows started to load but stopped and the screen went black. The cursor was still there and moving, but that was it. I checked the fans and they still run, so I've crossed overheating off the list. I keep the insides pretty darn clean, so I don't think that's it. I run 2 virus scans every morning, Spybot and AVG, so I don't necessarily think a virus is the cause. The computer is a Dell and is about 5-6 years old. She's using a pirated copy of XP, if that helps.
Yeah im guessing that its probably that xp pirate copy, based on what I know occasionally windows sends a check to microsoft to see if windows is legit or not. I could be wrong though
I dunno if she'd tried a simple task of pressing F8 upon start-up and going into safe mode or something but that's the only help I could give her.
Only thing I can think of is that it could be some files got corrupted after pulling the plug. Booting with the Xp disc if any is available and running the recovery program to do CHKDSKIf they is none available there is the USB boot method I saw on Youtube before.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JUTNIeBVw0The download is in the description, if you follow the readme files that comes with, you should be able to boot into recovery console and perform chkdsk.if you have spare flashdrive just in case.