Help! Two ladies in distress.

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Mariacristina
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Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Mariacristina » Mon Jul 03, 2017 1:30 pm

!. Have just had a frustrating time trying to log on to A. com. Went round and round in circles in a rigmarole that has never happened before . . . logged on with no problems and posted last week . . . is something strange happening on the site?

2. I've been telling a friend of mine to join the site for ages . . . but it is only now that she has a problem that she has done so (Typical!). I've been telling her how wonderful you all are . . . especially Enrique who has galloped to my rescue on more than one occasion. Now she has tried to join the site she was informed that it might be up to 5 days before she was accepted. That's something new too.

Anyway . . . .she has a major problem with her computer and I am going to let her explain it here herself . . . before she goes mad and throws it out of the window . . . .

3. Hello! I would be very grateful if someone could help me with this problem. I have a two-year old Toshiba Satellite pc. Since I got it, I have had to reset / refresh it four or five times, which is usually a simple enough process, and it works ok after that. Last Friday the pc crashed again and became stuck in a loop of 'analysing / diagnosing your pc', so I tried pressing F12 while it was starting to reset hard disk. From there I can get to a blue page that has about 4 options - one of them is troubleshoot / reset / refresh your pc - but on trying to click on this, the pc freezes and I can't do anything but switch the pc off again. I have also tried pressing F8 on startup but this does nothing. Can anyone please advise me what to do now. I need the pc urgently for work. Any help would be fantastic!

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IreneD
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby IreneD » Mon Jul 03, 2017 1:37 pm

Have you tried going back in time? I have to do this every now and then with my Toshiba. I go back to a time when all was working OK. I can't actually remember how to do it ......I would have to have a play around - I know I find a restore point. Has yours always given you trouble, though? If so, I suppose that wouldn't help.

Edit: Maybe that's what you mean by reset/refresh? If so you will have tried my suggestion. Hope someone else can help.

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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Paulinmalaga » Mon Jul 03, 2017 1:40 pm

Enriques your man, but he will need more information, such as what version of Windows you are running for starters.
In the meantime try a "System Restore" and restore it to a point in time when it worked as it should if you get that option.
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Mariacristina
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Mariacristina » Mon Jul 03, 2017 2:07 pm

Thanks for your help. It's Windows 8.1. Unfortunately, I can't do a system restore because I can't actually reach that point. When I open the pc it starts immediately 'analysing your pc' and this continues for about 2 hours then it offers to restart. Then on switching on again, I am back in the analysing your pc loop and so it goes on...

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Enrique
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Enrique » Mon Jul 03, 2017 2:13 pm

Hi Mariacristina,
I'm sorry I can't pop over I'm in UK getting some "Status" time in.......... :D

Please post model of Toshiba.

We need to break out of this diag mode.......... :idea:

Have you left it in this "recovery" for some time............. :?: sometimes they take a long time.
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Paulinmalaga » Mon Jul 03, 2017 2:15 pm

"If your computer has a single operating system installed, press and hold the F8 key as your computer restarts. You need to press F8 before the Windows logo appears. If the Windows logo appears, you'll need to try again by waiting until the Windows logon prompt appears, and then shutting down and restarting your computer"

Worth a try, but probably wont work on win 8.1 as this is what i used to do on win 7
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Enrique
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Enrique » Mon Jul 03, 2017 4:54 pm

Hi,
What happens if you do this...............

Power on your laptop and immediately press and hold down the “0” key (i.e. that's the number zero key). Release the keys when a warning message displays on your screen. If the recovery process offers you an option to chose an Operating System, make sure to select the most appropriate OS.

:!: :!: DON't go any further just let me know what message/screen come up :!: :!:

Thanks
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Paulinmalaga » Mon Jul 03, 2017 6:21 pm

Have a read of the following.....assume you have everything important backed up.

http://www.mytoshiba.com.au/support/items/faq/71
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Mariacristina » Mon Jul 03, 2017 6:42 pm

My friend with the Toshiba had to go home as she was working this afternoon . . . and so was I. She teaches English for a living and I teach it in repayment for all the kind things people in the village do for me. My poor friend lives half an hour away from me and has moved twice in the last five weeks so is a bit fraught . . . . and no, hasn't backed everything up. i haven't got mine backed up either and don't know how . . . but I'm a technical dimwit anyway . . . though fairly bright about some things.

Her computer is a Toshiba Satelllite 150D - B - 136. Processor is AMD A8.

I have relayed all the information on to her. A little earlier she emailed me to say that she had switched the machine back on and the screen says "Toshiba leading innovation" and below that is a circle of dots going round . . . and round . . . and round.

I'll be back later when she has finished her classes and I have finished mine.

Many thanks for the help.

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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Paulinmalaga » Mon Jul 03, 2017 7:41 pm

Mariacristina wrote: i haven't got mine backed up either and don't know how . . . but I'm a technical dimwit anyway . . . though fairly bright about some things.
If you have important or sentimental things on your computer if you don't have it backed up you risk the possibility of losing everything should your computer die or get stolen. There are many different ways to do it to suit an individuals needs, have a read below for an outline
https://www.howtogeek.com/242428/whats- ... -computer/
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby chrissiehope » Mon Jul 03, 2017 10:31 pm

re backing up - I use Synctoy (free :-) ) as recommended by El Cid, and an external hard drive that only gets connected when I want to back up (so less chance of it being infected) Synctoy is really easy to use - once set up, run it regularly (if you remember !) and it whizzes thro your system and copies everything since the last time you did it :-)
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Miro » Mon Jul 03, 2017 11:48 pm

Mariacristina wrote:!. Have just had a frustrating time trying to log on to A. com. Went round and round in circles in a rigmarole that has never happened before . . . logged on with no problems and posted last week . . . is something strange happening on the site?
Is anybody going to address this issue? I was locked out for 10 days for no apparent reason. There's clearly a problem with the site (or the administrators) but nobody seems willing to admit it or discuss it.
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Mariacristina
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Mariacristina » Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:02 am

!. Thank you miro. I thought that bit of my plea for help was being ignored. I had to ask for a new (and complex) password. . . . and whenever I try to login now I am told it is not a secure site. My friend was also told it would be up to five days before her application might be accepted. Now that so many people have returned to the UK and we have sadly lost some real old faithfulls it seems to be much harder to join the group now than when I joined many years ago. Are we not encouraging new members? We have such brilliant moderators and the some smashing members.

2. Update on my friend's computer. (I shall ask her for the user name she asked for today and refer to her as that in future . . until she can update herself!)

Latest is that she pressed "0" on startup; Message appeared "Hard drive recovery process has been selected. Choose "Yes" if you want to continue. Then screen goes to "choose an option".

The options are:-
1. Exit and continue to 8.1
2. Use a device - -usb, network connection or Widows recovery DVD.
3. Troubleshoot - refresh or reset.
4. Turn off PC

. . . . and at this point the computer freezes again . . . .

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Enrique
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Enrique » Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:47 am

Hi Mariacristina,

" and at this point the computer freezes again . . . ."

So you can't input Option 4 ..... Turn off PC ............ :?:
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby El Cid » Tue Jul 04, 2017 10:23 am

Miro wrote:
Is anybody going to address this issue? I was locked out for 10 days for no apparent reason. There's clearly a problem with the site (or the administrators) but nobody seems willing to admit it or discuss it.
Since it has only happened to two members out of the hundreds we have, it is unlikely to be a system issue. As It clears up on its own that suggests a problem at the user end.

Sid

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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Miro » Tue Jul 04, 2017 5:10 pm

Interesting. Perhaps it's purely a Hotmail issue then, although I find it hard to believe only two out of hundreds of members are using Hotmail. Can you confirm that my several requests for assistance were actually answered? Because I never received any replies - but maybe my Outlook app has been deleting mail from A.com, assuming it's junk. (If that's the case, so has Live mail, which I use on the PC). By the way, what about the phone number that nobody answers? The strange thing is, after receiving no response to my repeated pleas for help, after 10 days I was able to re-access the forum using my original username and password, so even if I did miss some communication about resetting either of them, in the end it appeared (to me at least) that the delay was simply waiting for admin to hit a "reset" button.
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quebin
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby quebin » Tue Jul 04, 2017 7:07 pm

I'm using Hotmail but I don't think I have any problems.

Mariacristina
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Mariacristina » Wed Jul 05, 2017 8:38 am

Enrique..... this is Mariacristina's friend. It is my computer that is driving us to the point of jumping off a cliff.

Regarding clicking on option 4 to close the pc down - yes, I have done this on many occasions. The pc closes down and then when I re-open it, I am, once again, back in the loop of the Toshiba leading innovation screen with the little dots circling below, and under this a message - 'Diagnosing your pc'.

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Enrique
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Enrique » Wed Jul 05, 2017 9:04 am

Hi,
So the menu works.........

You need to work through the Options.....

Start with 1..........if that doesn't work get back to Menu and go to option 3 and do a refresh........

If that doesn't work get back to Menu and option 3 reset.........this will reset the Computer back to Factory settings(LIKE WHEN YOU FIRST BOUGHT IT) and you will loose all your Data...........If that fails you will need to take it to a Computer shop for repair as it would indicate a possible hardware problem.

Please let me know how you get on.
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Mariacristina
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Re: Help! Two ladies in distress.

Postby Mariacristina » Wed Jul 05, 2017 9:30 am

Enrique, many thanks for this advice. Unfortunately, the only option that works from the four offered is number 4, to switch off. The others - 1 to 3, simply freeze when you click on them, forcing me to shut down the pc with the on/off button. Then, I am back in the loop of diagnosing your pc when I switch on again. I think the next step is to take the pc to a computer shop. I am in Baena, so there are a couple of possibilities. Many thanks to you and everyone else for their very kind advice.

Christine here again now: Enrique . . you are a treasure. I'll let you know what happens.

Sid: Sorry if I annoyed you but I was having trouble.logging in. New password from A. com now and all is well. I don't use Hotmail so it wasn't that.


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