Anyone good at IT

[mickb]

My poor little laptop turns on sort of but before it boots it goes to the old DOS type screen telling me ''it cant find the required map''. Then gives me a command prompt "Shell: "

Problem is its only a $250 mini net book thing. It doesnt have any data or files I desperately need. Is it worth taking to an IT guy or rooted?

[JohnV]

Type this into the command prompt it might work rstrui.exe and press enter . It might open system restore and you may be able to restore it to a previous working state . If that don't work turn it on and before it can do anything turn it off . Turn it back on again and again turn it off . Turn it back on and then let it boot up it may go to a safe mode menu where you can find system restore or a recovery option . System restore does not delete your personal files but some recovery modes will .

[cz515]

What brand and model number is the netbook. Did it run Windows or what version of Windows.

Honestly if there is nothing on it, smash it up and bin it. You can get a cheap new laptop under 500. And the technician is probably 50-100/hr (companies are close to 100/hr) and it probably will cost 150 just to reinstall Windows

[Noisydad]

When it comes computering I tend to suffer technorage and pretty quickly want to bash the thing with the leg bone of an oxen like a caveman.

[Fionn]

Most likely the hard disk has died or you need to reflash the bios.

[Boundry Rider]

If it’s older than 36 months bin it.

[northdude]

Wife recons Im pretty good at IT

[mickb]

Thanks fellas will give some of the suggestions above a try. Its only 5-6 months old, one of those cheapo Olee models. https://www.wireless1.com.au/ollee-11-6 ... mc-storage.

If I press the Fkeys and escape enough before it boots(you can see how technical I am) I can get to that blue screen with all the old school text looking different options and assume someone who knows what they are doing might be able to do something from there.

[JohnV]

If it's windows 10 then the blue screen is a restore and recovery option look around the menu and it's there somewhere . The turn on , turn off , turn on , turn off , turn on and let it boot is built into windows 10 to get the safe mode up if it won't boot normally . The F8 key to safe mode does not work in Windows 10 .

[cz515]

He might be taking about the bios screen john.

[JohnV]

He might be taking about the bios screen john.

Possible . He needs to do the turn on turn off routine and get into the system restore feature .

[bigpete]

Wife recons Im pretty good at IT

Beat me to it ! Lol

[Robin]

Sounds like the drive maybe gone, without looking at it , it's hard to give 100% diags, have you got any photos of what it's doing.

Where are you located, if in Brisbane, I should be able to have a quick look and not bill you.

If its less then 12 months new, you maybe under warranty or at least be able to claim warranty as fair use.

[JohnV]

If he can get it going by using system restore or even a reset ( as he has no important files on it ) he may be able to do a disk scan and isolate any bad sectors . I think it's likely he has a virus in it and a restore or reset would delete the virus . Run an antivirus scan if you get it going again and then a disk scan .