So... I was watching a YouTube video when, in the middle of the video, the computer made some weird scrathy sound (kinda like a DJ scratch or a pop of white noise), and my screen went to this weird desert-sand colored screen with stripes. My computer was completely frozen, so I figured the best (only) thing I could do was try to hardboot it. When I tried to turn my computer back on, it would just start up for like 3.5 seconds and shut off again. The weird thing though is that it would continue to try to restart; it would just keep turning on and off and on and off continuously until I just hold the power button for like 16 seconds (much longer than usual) until it stays off. I tried waiting for about an hour to try it again, and it would do the same thing. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I don't want to lose anything! Thanks!
Is it old? Could it be a virus? Overheatd?? ---------- Post added 14th Sep 2010 at 10:48 PM ---------- My friends says it needs "Reflow" your GFX has blown
It's not too old; I bought it around April of 2008; it has Vista. It's not overheated; It wasn't hot when it spazzed out, and I gave it time to cool before retrying anyway. I don't know if it's a virus. I suppose it's a possibility. I ended up deciding to take it on over to the tech place to have them look at it. It costs $90 just for a diagnostic! Gah! >_> lol
What brand and model is it? I know for example many computers of that era with nVidia chipsets have extremely high failure rates which the manufacture may or may not cover. For example every HP of that era with an nVidia chip: http://hplies.com If nothing else chances are your data is safe on the hard drive, and could be pulled out and data retrieved.
Yeah, I'm hoping so. (My computer's still in the shop, and they didn't tell me how long it will take). It's a Compaq laptop with Vista, but other than that, I don't really know. I didn't pay too much attention, and I'm not really the most computer savvy guy out there. lol I also only had a one-year warranty which is expired by now. XD
I once had that happen to me and it turned out it was the hard drive that gave up the ghost. Of course, just at a point where I hadn't backed it up in months... So I hope your issue will be slightly less serious...
Is it possible to boot it in Safe Mode or doesn't it boot up to there yet? If it doesn't get to that stage, your hard drive is probably screwed. :S
