Oh, Vista, you POS and other assorted questions.....

[judexavier]

So, should I try to build a Linux "repair" box, so I can actually fix these stupid expensive machines that really seem to want to destroy themselves?

First thing, a friend's fairly new expensive Toshiba vista laptop has decided to go into the "windows can't repair this problem" loop...apparently there are two corrupt files that it won't replace...before it went into this phase, I couldn't find any evidence of rootkits or other malware nonsense....
(still don't understand how the thing would get worse everytime it was rebooted)

second, I'm trying to make a bootable USB diagnostic drive to boot it, but, another Win 2000 machine killed my Lexar thumbdrive...(found out later that can happen)...

If anyone has a suggestion for putting together a comprehensive Linux repair machine/system, I would be very very appreciative.

I've googled some things, but I was curious as to what you people here used, and recommended.

Thanks.

 

[clint g]

I'm a firm member of the "When in doubt, format" club. Dont know if that will solve the problem in question but its never failed me.

 

[Amaris]

So, should I try to build a Linux "repair" box, so I can actually fix these stupid expensive machines that really seem to want to destroy themselves?

First thing, a friend's fairly new expensive Toshiba vista laptop has decided to go into the "windows can't repair this problem" loop...apparently there are two corrupt files that it won't replace...before it went into this phase, I couldn't find any evidence of rootkits or other malware nonsense....
(still don't understand how the thing would get worse everytime it was rebooted)

second, I'm trying to make a bootable USB diagnostic drive to boot it, but, another Win 2000 machine killed my Lexar thumbdrive...(found out later that can happen)...

If anyone has a suggestion for putting together a comprehensive Linux repair machine/system, I would be very very appreciative.

I've googled some things, but I was curious as to what you people here used, and recommended.

Thanks.

I really wish I could help, but I've never encountered that problem before in all the years I've been fixing them, which is many.

J.

 

[RyanLevy]

The main reason the laptop won't boot up is probably because it was improperly shutdown. The only way I know of fixing it is to either use the recovery dvds that should have been made once the machine was setup, or using the recovery partition to reset the machine

 

[Charlie Kelly]

If you could get into Windows Vista's version of the recovery console (you may need the original Vista disc) you could try running Vista's version of scandisk. I know that I've fixed a few problems with 2000/XP machines over the years where part of the file structure has gone corrupt and simple scandisk fixed the problem. It could be worth a try.

If that doesn't help or you can't do it then formatting and reinstalling Windows would be the simplest option (as others have already said), that is if you don't have any files you want to keep. If you do you could try doing a repair installation first but that option depends on what recovery media came with your computer. At least with the few Vista machines I've seen at work the manufacturer has used Vista's inbuilt recovery feature on a separate partition so if they've done that you may have access to all of the usual recovery options from Microsoft even if you don't have the Vista DVD.

Hope any of this helps.

Charlie

 

[judexavier]

Thanks for the advice, guys. This unfortunately doesn't have a backup partition or (apparently) a DVD. (Might be lost...hopefully found shortly).

Thanks again.

 

[BCI]

A nice version of Linux that even an idiot like me managed to install is Slax. It works from USB, it is very small, and the installation consists of unpacking the archive and executing a single file.