Network and Boot Issues

#1

I have a sweet little Acer netbook that our Family IT guy helped me research and purchase, and it’s served me well for the past 3 or 4 years. I just use it for Outlook (email and calendar), documents, connecting via Facebook, and surfing. Sometimes I make flyers on it with PowerPoint. For months and months, I kept getting that annoying pop-up that I could have the new Windows 10 FOR FREE!!! I ignored it and ignored it, and then got worried that at some point, they’d put out Windows 11 (or Saturn, Cujo, or whatever new nomenclature Microsoft randomly chooses next), and then I’d be stuck with an unsupported and unupgradable system.

So I did my research, and backed up all my files, and installed. It didn’t kill my computer, as it has for some, and it didn’t delete my files, as it has for some. So, that part was good. But nothing else was. Besides it being pretty non-user-friendly, little weird problems keep popping up randomly. It’s possible the problems aren’t related to Windows 10, but I’m pretty sure they are. I blame every computer problem I have on Windows 10, and also pretty much anything that goes wrong in my life. So far, I’ve been able to fix them on my own.

But recently, with no other changes made to anything, it stopped connecting to the internet. Hubby and I exhaustively tried different settings on our wifi router, broadcasting SSID or not, changing the channels, “forgetting” the connection or not, and finally got me connected. It stayed connected for 3 days, when suddenly today, it wouldn’t get email or web pages. I disconnected and reconnected, and a bunch of emails flooded in, but no webpages still. And I couldn’t send email. Then it wouldn’t connect at all. I went through the same exhaustive settings changes as before, but still no dice.

So I made my right hand into a fist and pounded it really hard on my keyboard, centered just about on the J, just once, and let loose a stream of blasphemy, vulgarity, and profanity that should have the neighbors avoiding me for the next month or so. My question is, is this an effective way to fix a Windows 10 problem? Because I can’t tell because now my netbook won’t turn on.

#2

To answer this reference, I would direct your attention to a quote from this article:


On to your next question.

To answer a humorous question with more humor, I recommend you watch Google’s tutorial on how to fix a broken computer.

In all seriousness, you could have a serious hardware issue with your computer. How far does it get through the boot sequence when you attempt to start it?

  • Does the login screen display?
  • Do you even see the Windows logo or loading animation?
  • Does the power light ever turn on?

After we determine when the error occurs, we can then deduce where it’s coming from. Once we figure that out, we can determine what the underlying condition is. Only then can we then attempt to repair any faults.

After we get your computer running again, I can help you run diagnostics to determine what is wrong with your netbook’s WiFi connection.

Here’s some information about collecting useful info on the computer we’re troubleshooting. This only applies if we can actually get it fully booted again.

#3

Ha! You’re funny, Muz!

Okay, here’s some more information. For humor purposes, I condensed the story a little. After I pounded on it, it didn’t die immediately. But my wireless mouse stopped working. Touchpad still worked, but not the mouse. So I yanked out the little wireless thingy (is that called a dongle? or am I inadvertently saying a dirty word?) and then stuck it back in. Then the mouse worked again, but whenever I clicked it took, like, foreeeeeeever for anything to happen. And then I couldn’t open the explorer windows. Or Outlook. Calendar gone, reminders of fun social events gone, niece and nephew birthday reminders - yup, gone. But I kept trying to do that control-alt-delete thing to get the task manager open, and it finally said, Oh, hey, you’ve got a serious system problem here, and it turned off. Yay! Then it turned back on, to the black screen where it says Hit F2 for Set-up. This has actually happened before, and hitting F2 results in a lot of staring at the black screen. So I did another hard shut down. Then, guess what! I got it back on! Isn’t this a good ending? It is now on, and I can click, and open Outlook! But of course I’m still not connected, and, honestly, I’m all set up on webmail on the hubby’s big, juicy laptop, so I think I’ll just let this one go. Plus, sometimes the netbook makes these really unusual little sounds… They’re kinda cute, like two crickets are swordfighting. So I’m thinking I’d better not put too much stock in the netbook any more. Thanks, though! This was fun!

#4

If you’re willing to do the work, I would recommend backing your laptop up and reinstalling Windows. I just finished this exact process with a client, and it’s not that difficult if you know what you’re doing.

At the very least, you can recover the Windows key that likely resides on a holographic sticker on the bottom of your laptop.

#5

Good idea! I have actually been doing backups every once in a while, since my Mac died and I lost probably half my stuff. I should back it up again. As for using it again, I’ll have to see if the chirping stops. That may be a hardware problem I’ve caused…

#6

That sound is likely emanating from either a disk drive (mild issue), a cooling fan (moderately bad) or the hard disk (very very bad). Do you know if your laptop has a Solid State Drive (SSD)? If so, we can eliminate the hard drive as the source of the noise.

#7

Topic renamed to more descriptive title.

#8

I’m trying to find out what type of drive I have. I took my old Mac to a local Geek and he told me a little about SSDs, and I’m pretty sure my netbook doesn’t have one but I’m trying to find out. I can’t tell from the stupid Windows 10 Start Menu how to find the hardware information, so I’ve typed a question into the stupid Cortana search bar, and now the netbook is making sounds like it’s a Geiger counter that found a piece of radioactive metal. It’s coming up with really helpful answers, like, “One Drive.” I’m trying to open Settings but it’s taking a pretty long time thinking. Must be all the radioactivity in there. Oh, and my netbook doesn’t have any disk drives. It has a fan, but, now you mention it, I haven’t heard it whirring in a while, I don’t think. I’ll let you know if I can find out for sure what kind of hard drive I have. I can ask my family IT guy - he probably knows.

#9

Wow, that was painful. I finally got the netbook to tell me systems information. It is an Acer AO756. Processor is Intel Celeron CPU 877 @ 1.40GHz. RAM 4.00 GB. System type is 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor. Does that tell you what you need to know?

#10

Unfortunately, it does not. However, since your laptop boots again, you can now try the following method:

  1. Click Start, type in My PC, and click the first results that shows up.
  2. Right-click Local Disk (C:) and click Properties at the bottom of the context menu.
  3. Navigate to the Tools tab and click Optimize.
  4. Look under Media Type for each drive. Mine say Solid state drive but yours might say different.

Note: You might not have a drive called Local Disk (C:). It might be called something else, especially if you renamed it or if your version of Windows came pre-installed on your computer; however, it almost definitely ends with (C:). If you cannot find your drive by name or letter, look underneath each drive listed until you see one that has text similar to 1.23 GB free of 456 GB. If either of the numbers is more than 8GB, the drive is likely usable for steps 2-4.


If you have trouble seeing this image, click it open it in a new tab.

#11

Love the pictures! Unfortunately, my screen looks nothing like that. And Cortana stymied me by requiring that I be connected to the internet in order to search. Which is the problem. But whatever, Cortana. Somehow I got the information - the media types are all “Hard disk drive”.

#12

You know, I need to clarify - I was able to reboot almost immediately. All the funny sounds have been happening with the computer up and running. They are getting louder, too…

#13

If you stress your computer, does it get louder? How about when transferring files? It sounds like you either have something stuck in your computer fan, or that the fan’s enclosure has become bent or warped causing the blades to chafe on the frame. Stressing your processor by running a processor-intensive task such as playing a 3D game should cause the sound to grow louder as your fans spin faster to compensate for the extra heat output. Try running a processor-intensive task while listening to your fans, and then closing all of your programs to minimize processor usage, heat output, and fan speed. What difference do you hear, if any?

#14

Well, I don’t have any 3D games installed, and can’t run the online ones I’ve played, because, you know, I can’t connect. But I tried just opening a bunch of programs all at once, including ones I’ve never opened before, to try to stress the processor. The machine made the same little sounds, and it got stuck a few times, but didn’t get any louder than before. It sounds kind of like when an older computer is reading off of a CD.

#15

What happens when you do this? Does the noise stop? Does it get louder the faster the fans spin, and quieter the slower they spin?

#16

It didn’t change at all. Just kept clicking along. And then, an hour later, a big warning came up and said my drive is damaged, so I’d better back everything up, turn off the computer, and get the drive repaired. So, I’m thinking it was the drive.

#17

Yeah. I’d say so. Back up what you need to, then shut the laptop down until you can get it repaired. Damaged disk drives are highly volatile, so there’s no telling when it will finally cut out entirely.

#18

Done, and done! Now I just have to decide if repairing it is worth it. We might go to being a one-computer family. Big step.

#19

It’s always good to have a backup computer. I, myself, have three.

Replacing your hard drive with a similar disk drive will likely set you back about $90.

Replacing your hard drive with a solid state drive (faster, more durable) will likely set you back about $160.

I recommend upgrading to a solid state drive as they are faster and more durable; however, they cost a lot more and don’t have as high a capacity.

#20

THREE!? Well, you are Muzzin. But I am not, and I think we may go down to one computer, with a backup drive. And the next time we need a new computer, I’m pretty sure we’ll go with the solid state drive. Durability is key in this household.