Crashed Computer

[Troy Loney]

My POS compaq desktop that I use exclusively for borrowing music crashed last night and I restored it. It went back to the factory setting or however that's termed. This recently happened to my Ipod and it ended up completely getting fried a month or so later.

So basically, is that restoration a major red flag and I should just throw the flag on this one and get a new PC?

[SoupOrSam]

Compaq. Wasn't sure a working one was even in existence. I keeeeeed, I keeeeeed!

[pittsoccer33]

It doesn't necessarily mean anything is wrong with it from a hardware perspective.

With Windows, every time you add or remove programs they make changes to the system's registry. Over time, it can be changed in ways that confuse it, slowing the computer down. Thats normally what is going on when someone says their "old" computer is too slow now.

Doing a system restore doesn't really fix this - it just removes the last few changes up until the restore point was created. If you really want your PC to run like a brand new machine you need to completely reformat your hard drive and reinstall Windows.

My best practice for this is to have one hard drive for Windows, and other drives for files I don't want to lose. I reinstall Windows every 18 months or so and its like I bought a new PC every time.

A while back wwhen I reinstalled I got everything set up just the way I like - a/v codecs, software, drivers, colorspace, etc, and make an .iso of the entire drive. Now when I run into problems I reformat the hard drive and load that .iso file onto it - a fully configured pc without needing to reinstall anything.

[Sarcastic]

Troy, I take it it was a software error. If you suspect a dying hard drive then back up your stuff, but it sounds like something just went wrong and the Restore fixed it. You should be OK now if it isn't a mechanical problem. Scan yourself with a good virus scanner.

I still have an old Compaq running Windows ME and the only thing that's ever gone wrong with it is a few hard drive failures (3, I think). PC's been running like a tank for many years.

[Sarcastic]

And I understand you did a restore to 'factory settings', not just a system restore in Windows.

[Troy Loney]

And I understand you did a restore to 'factory settings', not just a system restore in Windows.

I think so, it went back to scratch and made me re-register. The computer prompted me to do this when I turned it on.

[Sarcastic]

You're good. I guess you lost everything, the settings, and have to reinstall from start. Just be on the lookout for scratchy, metallic, mechanical noises coming from the hard drive and any additional crashes or lockups. If anything, back up at once. Well, back up anyway. Just saying.

[Factorial]

My POS compaq desktop that I use exclusively for borrowing music crashed last night and I restored it. It went back to the factory setting or however that's termed. This recently happened to my Ipod and it ended up completely getting fried a month or so later.

So basically, is that restoration a major red flag and I should just throw the flag on this one and get a new PC?

Get an external USB drive and save your music on that.

[Rylan]

Music you say? Of course it was "music"

[Sarcastic]

Yeah, Rylan. Something smells fishy. How do you 'borrow' music.