Annoyances-Resolved: vista

Showing posts with label vista. Show all posts

g2m_download.exe the installer could not find suitable folder to install to

Situation with Citrix GoToMeeting:

The invitees are getting an error message when they try to join that says "Installer could not locate a suitable folder to install into". Find the solution below!

Got this error message, quite annoying, when trying to start a Citrix GoToMeeting software, for the first time. Tried several attempts, nothing worked. After 1/2 hours total, I fixed the problem which included the following found on fixya: http://www.fixya.com/support/t1551225-not_able_install_citrix_gotomeeting

It is crazy that I had to end up with UAC turned off on Vista, but here is the solution anyways:

THE SOLUTION WAS THIS
(I already had Java, latest version installed, so skip pts 1, 2)

3) Go to gotomeeting.com->Login->re-install software->download manually and save g2m_download.exe file;

4) Now do Unblock and Apply in g2m_download.exe file property General tab;

5) Then Vista users need to disable UAC, I suppose this is the same as "Uncheck the “Protect my computer …”" (Go to "Control Panel" and type "UAC" into the search box. This will bring up the link: "Turn User Account Control (UAC) on or off." Click it. Uncheck the box next to "Use UAC to help protect my computer" then click OK. Restart.);

6) After restart right click on g2m_download.exe and "run as administrator".

Thats it!

[UPDATE] This problem with Citrix GoToMeeting has still not been solved. Between disabling the UAC, and restarting your computer, this "workaround" can take 15 minutes! What a waste of time. See the newest report about this here: http://annoyances-resolved.blogspot.com/2010/10/gotomeeting-problem-starting.html

LogMeIn Plugin Crashes Firefox, Demands Upgrade, Upgrades In Wrong Directory

Now that is a handful. But there is a solution below for LogMeIn Plugin Crashes Firefox problem...

Finally, I found a solution, I posted it on LogMeIn knowledge base forum, it looks like this:

I had version 1.000.526 or so of logmein for firefox. The new version was supposed to be 1.000.608.

I'm running Firefox 3.6.8 and I was prompted several times to install new logmein plugin. After doing so, it turns out (had to check extensively the file system for this) that:

*** logmein downloads and installs the new plugin files into a directory

xxxxxxxx.default\extensions\LogMeInClient@logmein.com\plugins\npRACtrl.dll

This is the directory on a faster disk where I moved my xxxxxxx.default firefox directory.

However, mozilla firefox 3.6.8 looks for the plugin in the directory

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins\npRACtrl.dll

I had to go in and manually copy the new 608 npRACtrl.dll into the C:\... location above for the new plugin to be used and for the nagging to upgrade to stop... and for the firefox crashes to stop... looks like... for now.

Please advise how we can do upgrades in the future... without messing with the filesystem so much... and doing it the RIGHT way!

Thanks LogMeIn!

Oh, I'm posting this on http://annoyances-resolved.blogspot.com so you can add your solution in the comments there if you will!

Acrobat Failed To Connect To A DDE Server - Fatal Error When Opening a downloaded PDF file

Acrobat Failed To Connect To A DDE Server is a nasty problem but it has a solution. Read on!

Today I'm getting a FATAL ERROR - Acrobat Failed to Connect to a DDE Server on Windows Vista SP2. Just trying to view a downloaded PDF file. Searched the web, a lot of folks have the problem. No time right now. Just downloaded Foxit Viewer: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/addons.php This worked! I'm now reading the PDF in FoxIt! Anyone has a better solution that could work with Adobe Reader? Comment, let me know! ---update--- I saw this:

Generally this error comes from an anti-virus program blocking the software from connecting. Check McAfee for any type of Software blocks or firewall issues. If that doesn't work then uninstall and reinstall the program and see if McAfee then pops up with a message asking you for permission to let it access the internet.

at http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/itanswers/cant-open-pdf-files-in-windows-7/ so I stopped real time blocking with Avast. Result: Adobe Reader still not working with this file...

[SOLVED]Firefox, Vista Internet Shortcut Problem

[UPDATE 8/17/2010 - see below]
Recently, I have been having a lot of annoying problems calling up Firefox from a variety of programs. Like Windows Mail, when I click on an internet shortcut link, I get an annoying [and bogus] message like "Windows cannot find ...URL... Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again." Mozillazine at http://kb.mozillazine.org/Windows_error_opening_Internet_shortcut_or_local_HTML_file_-_Firefox suggests that a misbehaving plugin might be a reason for the problem and suggests eliminating one by one to figure out which one might be the culprit! This can take hours depending on how many plugins you have. I tried setting Internet Explorer as a default browser, which made the links in Windows Mail, etc, work, but I do not want Internet Explorer to be my default browser! So I switched back to Firefox to be my default browser and the problem reappeared again! I do have a workaround for this, but I would like to hear from YOU, if you have a similar problem or if you have a true solution. So here is my workaround.

Simple workaround:

EXIT FIREFOX
START FIREFOX IN SAFE MODE (ALL PLUGINGS WILL BE DISABLED)
EXIT FIREFOX
START FIREFOX NORMALLY

This makes my internet shortcuts from various programs such as Windows Mail, Xenu, and others work again, and I get the links show up in Firefox. So let me know if you have a true solution, better than that from Mozillazine. Thanks!

[UPDATE 8/17/2010] I found that: 1) The solution above is not permanent - I kind of suspected that 2) Just restaring Firefox in a regular normal mode helped as well. So definitely try that first. Any more permanent solutions, let me know in the comments. Thanks!

[SOLVED?] Wonder Wheel of Google Search Not Working in Firefox - Please Help Find the Interfering Add-On

[UPDATE: A more recent problem with Google Wonder Wheel is reported here: Google Wonder Wheel Missing]

PROBLEM: After you perform any search on Google with Firefox on Vista/other, click Show Options, and click Wonder Wheel, you get the first wheel. Then you click on one of the related searches, you get a nice rotating circle, and no related searches for that circle. You're stuck. Wonder Wheel does not work properly.

THE STEP TOWARD SOLUTION: Run the same Firefox in Safe Mode. The Wonder Wheel works as it should. It must be one of the Add Ons?

[SOLVED?] See the comment below: "Ok I got a hunch, Google Enhancer - True Knowledge 0.2.3 is the culprit. I got the Wonder Wheel to work after disabling True Knowledge Add-On and restarting Firefox! Anyone who sees the same, please confirm, give us a comment! Thanks!"

SOMEBODY HELP INVESTIGATE THIS FURTHER? WHAT ADD-ONS/OTHER may be interfering with the Wonder Wheel?

Here is the list of my add-ons. If you are experiencing the same problem in Firefox, please publish:

1) Your list of Add-Ons in the Comments (I'll publish that in a minute)
2) Your version of Firefox (mine 3.5.8)

and we'll quickly find the offender.

Thanks!!

Firefox Unresponsive Workaround #7 for Flashing Minimize, Restore, Close Buttons

PROBLEM

We had a lengthy discussion previously about the problem with Firefox 3.5.3 - 3.5.5 about the situation where Firefox Minimize, Restore, and Close Buttons in the window frame start to flash and Firefox becomes unresponsive. For long periods of time. There is more discussion about this problem here.

I found yet another workaround (numbered #7) for this problem. There are six(!) other workarounds presented here. I am curious how this workaround #7 works for your guys. We still do not have the solution.

I found this to be the least painful workaround so far. What you do when you have Firefox Flashing Buttoms on Vista or Windows 7:

WORKAROUND #7

Go Start/Control Panel. Go Systems and Maintenance, then Performance Information and Tools. Go Adjust Visual Effects in the left pane. Then under the Visual Effects tab, unselect Enable Desktop Composition and hit Apply. I bet it was selected originally! That's it, wait maybe 30 seconds. Blinking should go away. Now you can select Enable desktop composition again, hit Apply, and wait another 30 seconds. No more blinking with fancy windows.

THIS WORKAROUND WORKED FOR ME, WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Let me know in the comments below if this worked for you. It is the quickest and least destructive workaround yet.

P.S.: FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT HERE:

How To Change Firefox Location Bar Search Engine

One last remnant of StopZilla's system modifications during install that it won't fix by uninstall: It changed the Firefox location bar search engine from google to ask. Thanks, but I didn't want that when asking for help with my malware. And I didn't mean uninstall everything you installed, StopZilla, except the Firefox Toolbar, and the Firefox Location Bar Search Engine, you see?

I meant uninstall Everything you installed, StopZilla! (You're not making any friends, have you noticed?)

Well this last piece is really easy to fix: How to change the Firefox Location Bar Search Engine. I found this on http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/how-to-change-your-firefox-location-bar-search-engine/ and modified it from "I'm feeling lucky" display to regular google search:

Perform this simple steps:
1. Type about:config in Firefox location bar and press Enter
2. Type keyword in Filter textbox and you will see only the preference keyword.URL.
3. Double-click on keyword.URL and change the value to: http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=
That's all it takes to restore default keyword search functionality in Google.
Note: You can use this to change to any search engine for keyword search

Voila! Hopefully this concludes the "How to completely uninstall Stopzilla" series ;)

Remove "Security Tool" a.k.a. SecurityTool Malware, Finally! (Uninstall Guide)

Finally I found the solution for the original "Security Tool" problem, and it is FREE! Read on!

BACK TO THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM

So by the end of the day I was able to remove all traces of StopZilla. It took me hours, but it will take you only minutes if you heed my directions here.

I was able to finally download McAfee virus scan and start the full scan which however found nothing.

I made the full circle and the "Security Tool" nagware is popping up again. This time I looked at exactly how much money they wanted (they would not reveal what website I was connecting to to pay, everything was done on their screen, not in the browser - awesome!). They wanted a total of $129.85 if I wanted to pay the full "protection package". I'm paraphrasing here.

FINALLY, WHAT LOOKS LIKE A TRUE SOLUTION

So I look into other solutions. I finally found one over at bleepingcomputer.com. This one worked, their recommended malware removal tool apparently got rid of my "Security Tool" and for one - time removal they charged nothing. Nada. Very nice gesture.

SOLUTION SO GOOD I'M CONSIDERING A PURCHASE!

For their capabilities I'm strongly thinking of purchasing them for ongoing protection if I ever feel I need one!

There are 4 pages of directions on how exactly to remove "Security Tool":

Automated Removal Instructions for Security Tool using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:

Print out these instructions as we may need to close every window that is open later in the fix.
Before we can do anything we must first end the processes that belong to Security Tool so that it does not interfere with the cleaning procedure. To do this, download the following file to your desktop.

rkill.com Download Link
Once it is downloaded, double-click on the rkill.com in order to automatically attempt to stop any processes associated with Security Tool and other Rogue programs. Please be patient while the programs looks for various programs and closes them. When it has finished, the black window will automatically close. While rkill is running, if you get a message stating that rkill, or another executable, is an infection, ignore it, and let rkill.com finish. This is just the infection trying to stop rkill from disabling it. Please note, you may have to attempt to run rkill quite a few times before the malware process is terminated.

Do not reboot your computer after running rkill as the malware programs will start again.
Now you should download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, or MBAM, from the following location and save it to your desktop:

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Download Link

Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.
Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the installation process. Do not make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing and is at the last screen, make sure you uncheck both of the Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware check boxes. Then click on the Finish button. If Malwarebytes' prompts you to reboot, please do not do so.

If you receive a code 2 error while installing Malwarebytes's, please press the OK button to close these errors as we will resolve them in future steps. The code 2 error will look similar to the image below.
As this infection deletes a core executable of Malwarebytes' we will need to download a new copy of it and put it in the C:\program files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\ folder. To download the file please click on the following link:

Malwarebytes' EXE Download

When your browser prompts you where to save it to, please save it to the C:\program files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\ folder. When downloading the file, it will have a random filename. Please leave the filename the way it is as it is important that it is not changed. You may want to write down the name of the file as you will need to know the name in the next step.
Once the file has been downloaded, open the C:\program files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\ folder and double-click on the file you downloaded in step 8. MBAM will now start and you will be at the main program screen as shown below.
Before you can perform a scan, you must first update the program. To do this click on the Update tab, and that at the new screen click on the Check for Updates button. Malwarebytes' will now check for new updates and download and install them as necessary. When the update is completed, you will be prompted with a message stating either that you already have the latest updates or that they have been updated. Either way, you should now click on the OK button to continue.
Now click on the Scanner tab and make sure the the Perform full scan option is selected. Then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Security Tool related files.
MBAM will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can take quite a while, so we suggest you go and do something else and periodically check on the status of the scan. When MBAM is scanning it will look like the image below.
When the scan is finished a message box will appear as shown in the image below.

You should click on the OK button to close the message box and continue with the SecurityTool removal process.
You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should click on the Show Results button.
A screen displaying all the malware that the program found will be shown as seen in the image below. Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.

You should now click on the Remove Selected button to remove all the listed malware. MBAM will now delete all of the files and registry keys and add them to the programs quarantine. When removing the files, MBAM may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message stating that it needs to reboot, please allow it to do so. Once your computer has rebooted, and you are logged in, please continue with the rest of the steps.
When MBAM has finished removing the malware, it will open the scan log and display it in Notepad. Review the log as desired, and then close the Notepad window.
You can now exit the MBAM program.
Due to the fact that this infection deletes certain MalwareBytes' files, and we had to work around this, if you wish to continue using MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware, which we suggest you do, then you should uninstall and then install it again so that the files are created properly.

Your computer should now be free of the SecurityTool program. If your current anti-virus solution let this infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future.

MY ORIGINAL "BLACK FRIDAY" PROBLEM SOLVED

This solved my Black Friday "Security Tool" Malware problem. I'll let you know if I have another appearance of "Security Tool" or StopZilla in my laptop. Just stay tuned in. Bookmark this page or subscribe to the feed.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Have these last three posts been helpful to you? Have you found in this post exactly how to remove Security Tool? Do you have any other spyware or malware on your computer? Let me know, maybe we can create another post with the solution. Just leave a comment. Thanks!

Stop Zilla To The Rescue? Maybe Not! How To Remove StopZilla Toolbar

Has your computer been plagued by Stop Zilla or its notorious toolbar? Not able to remove either the software itself or the Stop Zilla toolbar? This post contains the solution! Read on!

BLACK FRIDAY SECURITY TOOL ATTACK

So I was telling you about the Black Friday attack of the "Security Tool". I therefore downloaded and installed Stop Zilla, an alleged malware removal program.

It turns out Stop Zilla itself justifies the adjective "mal" = bad... keep on reading.

I STEP INTO... STOP ZILLA

I installed and ran Stop Zilla. After a few hours it came back with seven potential threats:

Agobot.MG, Worm,Critical Severity
VX.Game.Temp_044, Trojan, High Severity
A Better Internet.Clean Get-Away, Adware, Moderate Severity
System Security, Rogue Adware, Moderate Severity
PromoReg, Worm, High Severity
SystemPolicies.DisableTask, Hijacker, Moderate Severity
SystemPolicies.DisableRegistry, Hijacker, Moderate Severity

Didn't look exactly like what I was trying to get rid of (C:\Windows\Temp\_ex-08.exe, see my previous post). Still, I go ahead and hit the Remove Button. When I hit the button Remove to remove the malware found, Stop Zilla wanted money from me (9.95, $30 off of the regular price for the whole year, a Black Friday Special - what a coincidence!? or $79.95 lifetime support). So typical. Everyone is willing to tell you how they found malware on your computer, noone is willing to remove it for free. I'm not surprised, this is how softwares like that make their money. But I decided to uninstall Stop Zilla. Another reason - I just remembered I have a free McAfee download available through my DSL provider AT&T (Thanks Mama Bell).

ON TO REMOVING STOP ZILLA - EASIER SAID THAN DONE

Easier said than done. Stop Zila uninstalls to the degree, and then stops and waits, doing nothing apparently. Waits for 10-20 minutes! Really slow uninstall! I ended up killing all Stop Zila processes and doing the uninstall manually through the Vista system. Job completed? Not really. A nasty surprise awaits...

BUT WAIT - WHAT IS THIS PESKY STOP ZILLA FIREFOX TOOLBAR DOING HERE?

It is impossilble to uninstall the "Stop Zilla Toolbar" bot for the Firefox 3.5.5 and for the Internet Explorer 8! The Stop Zilla simply doesn't clean that "detail" after itself. The Stop Zilla refuses to remove the (useless and disfunctional in my opinion) toolbar. When you go to Firefox Tools, Add-Ons section, Stop Zilla Toolbar is NOWHERE to be found, neither under Plug-ins nor Extensions! So how to remove the toolbar? This annoyance took me a few hours to figure out but I found a solution.

OTHER PEOPLE COMPLAINING TOO

I found a suspiciously similar complaint on this website http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/and-yet-another-security-vendor.html. There is a rebuttal by an officer from Stop Zilla... And now a rebuttal of the rebuttal of yours truly:

And yet another security vendor succumbs to temptation

12/3/2008 Correction/Clarification: This is not technically the Ask Toolbar. It's actually a STOPzilla toolbar that uses Ask search results. More here.

Yet another security vendor succumbs to bundling the Ask Toolbar with their product — and again, pre-selected (and when you go to uninstall the STOPzilla, you’re still left with the Ask Toolbar to uninstall).

This is getting gross.

AND HERE IS THE SOLUTION. IT WORKS FOR ME.

So, long story short, it is possible to easily remove Stop Zilla Firefox and IE8 toolbars by

uninstalling Stop Zilla as directed under Stop Zilla/Uninstall Stop Zilla -- you really need to kill all other processes for this to work, or just use the Windows Vista Uninstall Program feature.
going to C:\Program Files\Stopzilla!\ and removing all files from there. The Firefox won't find the extension there, and you won't see it in the Firefox frame anymore. A Big annoyance resolved! As for IE8, even with Stop Zilla installed, you could always disable the SZ toolbar.

Big toolbar annoyance resolved. Can we please get back to the "original" malware, the one that started this whole story?

[Update: Turns out this was not the last change Stop Zilla instigated and not reversed during uninstall. Find out how to restore google search in your Firefox Navigation Bar, if you notice the default search was changed to Ask...]

MCAFEE NOT DOING MUCH BETTER... TOOK FOREVER JUST TO INSTALL...

Talking about the "Security Tool" malware. Stop Zilla apparently did not take it out but I did delete some files as instructed. Has that been able to take it out? I was only able to run the McAfee "quick" virus scan with the updates. McAfee gave me a lot of grief just installing itself, and I had to install McAfee Virtual Technician too just to get the Virus Scan going. But I digress.....

STOP ZILLA PROBLEM SOLVED FOR ME, MOVING ON TO THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM

Well, at the end of the day, Black Friday, the Security Tool popped up again, this time just the "Red" shield... I'm running McAfee again overnight. The battle of security tools... I'll let it run overnight.. If you don't hear from me tomorrow, my laptop's in trouble!

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Did you find the directions above useful for removing Stop Zilla AND its pesky toolbar? Let me know! Just leave a comment below. Or bookmark the page below. If you have questions let me know also!

Vista: No Sound. Problem Solved. Sound On and Off? Problem Solved.

I will explain how to fix your problem if your Windows Vista has no sound. Or if the sound on Vista comes on and goes off. Read on.

Remeber not too long ago I had a strange event happen: I had the sound coming out of my Laptop's speakers and out of my headset simultaneously.

THE PREVIOUSLY "RESOLVED" PROBLEM REPEATS ITSELF...

That was kind of weird but I resolved this strange sound problem then. It repeated yesterday. Hmm.

...AND GETS WORSE

Then today, while I was watching a video about making money with your blog the vista sound went away, totally. No sound on Vista! That was very annoying!

My laptop with "Windows Vista, No Sound" version is not much fun. I'm not very good at reading lips! Anyhow I played around a bit and I found a couple of weird things going on.

The headphones and the speakers playing simultaneously. Basically, the speakers wouldn't shut off when the headphone jack is inserted. This could be a jack problem, but it didn't look like one!
(later) No Sound from Vista. Pressing Fn Up Arrow showed the Volume Bar, and it was at its max, but no sound. The Video Player (Flash Video Player) sound button was at 100%.

I went in decided to go deeper than last time where reboot fixed the problem for the time being. I opened the Sound Driver Manager (Start, Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, Sound), looked at Configuration and Properties. Everything looked fine initially.

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED

Except this: Pressed on Speaker, Properties, again Properties under "Controller Information, High Definition Audio Device", clicked the Driver Tab on Top and pressed Disable to turn off sound! As soon as I confirmed the delete, the sound came on! I rejected the next popup suggesting to reboot to complete the changes. I liked having sound! This lasted for about 30 seconds and then the sound shut itself off again. Funny enough, I was able to repeat this procedure 3-4 times which repeatedly gave me sound for 30 or so seconds at the time. So let's add another "weird symptom" bullet:

the sound came on after hitting the "Disable" in the sound driver and confirming!

I searched for Vista No Sound type problems and indeed, I found a web site http://www.filecluster.com/reviews/102008/realtek-cards-no-sound-in-vista-problem-fix/. They suggested to reinstall the sound drivers and offered (a certain) driver download. I agreed with the reinstall part and decided to download vista sound drivers from the manufacturers site instead.

The strange behavior really ruled out any obvious hardware problem such as speakers or headphones or headphone jack switch. So next thing to think about: maybe the Realtek driver went bad. OK.

DOWNLOADING FRESH DRIVERS AND REMOVING THE INSTALLED DRIVERS

I proceeded to download the driver from the Acer (manufacturer) website acer.com. Selected my country, laptop model and Voila, there it was. It was a Realtek High Definition Audio Driver which seems quite common on Vista these days. About 37 Mbytes zipped. I placed it on my hard drive and proceeded to uninstall the existing driver as directed. Start, Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, Sound, Playback Tab, Speakers, General Tab, Properties, Under Controller information, High Definition Audio Device, Properties, Driver Tab, Uninstall Button (advanced). Agreed (checked) Delete the Driver Software. Click OK.

UNINSTALL SUCCESSFUL. HERE NOT FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS PROVES BENEFICIAL

The driver uninstalled successfully and Vista offered a reboot. I agreed contrary to the directions from the above filecluster website. This proved successful. It turned out, it removed the need to actually install the downloaded driver as Vista found (the old?) drivers and installed them during the restart process. Mind you, I feel the "old" Vista drivers were up-to-date.

VISTA NO SOUND PROBLEM SOLVED

The sound came back. Vista, No Sound Problem Solved. For now. I'll keep you posted.

MY PROBLEM SOLVED. WHAT ABOUT YOURS? LEAVE A COMMENT PLEASE?

Let me know if these directions helped with your sound or even if they didn't help you. Either way, leave me a comment, would you!

IF YOUR PROBLEM IS SOLVED, BOOKMARK THIS PAGE FOR LATER!

And if it did help you, I would appreciate your bookmarking this with your favorite service like Digg or StumbleUpon below. That way you can come back here when needed and others can find this solution more easily as well.

SOLVED: Vista Control Panel Blank, Not Coming Up

Shocking: Something or Somebody is trying to take control of my computer away from me.

PROBLEM: CONTROL PANEL NOT COMING UP, IS BLANK!

As you are beginning to notice I like to stay on top of things with my computer. So last night I was going to access Vista Control Panel (CP)on one of my laptops (Acer Aspire 5570z Vista SP2). I hit Start/Control Panel. The window pops up and the Control Panel does not get populated with graphics and options. Vista Control Panel stays empty, blank! I wait.

Nothing. The silly light green bar over the top of the window grows toward the right, almost reaching the right edge. As if there is progress made. You know better. Nada. Zilch. Blank white window. No control panel.

I left the computer like that overnight. No dice. No Control Panel.

WORKAROUND: CLASSIC VIEW

Luckily a click on "Classic View" brings up all the items in the Control Panel so I can do whatever I wanted. And, miraculously, I can click "back" to Control Panel Home, and the graphical, default Control Panel (CP)pops up! Problem solved?

WHAT OTHERS FOUND

A quick search for similar problems on the internet finds a variety of possible causes: Slowness caused by indexing of hundreds of thousands of files. This I excluded because my problem is not slowness, my problem is CP not working period. Ever. Plus I do not index anyways.

Another site http://forums.tweakguides.com/showthread.php?t=5228 suggests again that "slowness" of the Control Panel might be due to other applications such as Apple QuickTime. Indeed, I know that is a part of CP display. And, yes I remember, just yesterday Apple popup came up, offerin the upgrade of my Safari browser to 4.0 something. Which I declined. Is this Apple playing being offended?

Yet others http://forums.techguy.org/windows-xp/541064-why-does-take-control-panel.html suggest that control panes might take a long time because of lengthy registry searches. Could be but, this is not lengthy, this takes forever.

Finally, I came across a quite likely solution: Spicks and Speckled at whirlpool.net.au came up with the problem and the solution that will probably work, it just looks too good not to work http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/974866.html :

I came across this problem – but I'd been disabling lots of services as most weren't needed.
I found I couldn't open the control panel, or the power plan (power options) tool.
I fixed this with (from command line – i.e. start->run->cmd)
sc config SLUINotify start= auto
sc start SLUINotify
sc query SLUINotify
You can also fix with this command line tool to get into the services control gui (since I couldn't start it with the control panel)
services.msc
look for> SL UI Notification Service
I found the service does not stay running, but my control panel works now as well as the power plan changer. I guess it must start and stop as needed.

I also observed, like him, that the power button in he Vista Tray did not work properly. Left clicking on the battery button brings up the "Fully charged 100%" window, but I can not go into the power options, just like he describes. Well I was able to get into the "Classic View" in my case (see Workaround above) so I went there.

SOLUTION? EXPERIMENT WILL TELL

Went to "Start/Control Panel/"Classic View"/Administrative Tools/Services. Indeed I find SL UI Notification Service set to "Manual" and not started. Changed that to "Automatic" and started the service. By the way SL stands for Software Licensing Activation and Notification and UI maybe stands for User Interface? Sounds really like Apple was trying to do yesterday, install software?

Anyways, starting the SL UI works great. Does it solve the problem?? Let's see: NOT !! No Dice! I also restart Software Licensing service which in turn restarts SL UI. Still, no solution.

NO DICE, FOR NOW. STAY TUNED

No solution for now. I'll restart the laptop to see if that does it. Then maybe, Ill install Apple Safari version 4. In the meantime, you and I can use the Workaround above.

FIVE MINUTES LATER... PROBLEM SOLVED

Couldn't stay away with an unsolved problem... I restarted the laptop and Control Panel works like new. The solution therefore is: Set Service SL UI on Automatic. See EXPERIMENT WILL TELL above. Then restart Vista.

I SUCCEEDED WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Do you have the same problem? Let me know, leave a comment. Have you solved this or similar problem? Let me know, leave a comment. Do you know why I had to restart Vista to fix this? Let me know, leave a comment! Cheers!

SOLVED? Sound Output on Laptop From Both Speakers AND Headphones

PROBLEM - BOTH SPEAKERS AND HEADPHONES PLAYING

I had a strange thing happen to me today. Almost as if taken from a zombie movie.

Laptop speakers came alive all by themselves!

[UPDATE: This now appears as an overture into Vista No Sound problem, sound drivers going bad, and having to reinstall them later]

I inserted a set of headphones in my Acer Aspire laptop front panel. I was listening to a webcast and I didn't want to disturb my friend. Shortly thereafter my friend alerted me however that my speakers are playing loud!

Crazy- it was hard to believe. Impossible to know by myself because the headsets are all I heard!

Normally I'd expect that when inserting the headphones jack the speakers would be muted. Not this time. Tried plugging and unplugging the headset. Regardless, speakers keep on playin'!

ATTEMPTED SOLUTIONS

What would you do to fix this? Well I tried a few things. Plug/unplug the headphone jack failed. Went into my Device Manager, under Sound, disabled my Realtek sound card. That cut off the sound completely. Turned it back on, still, both headphones and speaker keep on playin'!

FINAL SOLUTION?

Finally, decided to reboot the Vista laptop. That solved the problem and everything works as usual.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Till next time! What do YOU think was going on? What would you do? Please comment if you have a clue!

OTHER PEOPLE WHO COULD BE HELPED BY THIS

This guy with an Asus could be helped, possiby.
These guys at Tom''s Hardware think this is normal behavior. Well not for my laptop!
Some folks actually prefer to have sound from both speakers and headset simultaneously(Win 7)!

Laptop Shutdown Caused By Overheating?

I was searching feverishly for possible solutions for the computer turning off and on repeatedly. I found that perhaps overheating was the reason!
Although today I am using a different solution (SpeedFan), it is actually very similar to the one given below...

I found this helpful advice by JimmyT1988 at kioskea.net:

-This is to avoid your cpu being damaged.

You can check if this is happening to you by downloading "coreTemp":

32Bit Windows http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/CoreTemp32.zip
64Bit Windows http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/CoreTemp64.zip

If the temperature is 90 degrees during your gameplay or infact if it is around 75 degrees whilst just using your computer... This is probably the issue you are coming across.

Laptop Solution:

Buy a cooler for laptop

Jimmy agrees with me that buying a cooler for a laptop is the way to go. If that was the reason for my laptop turning off and on repeatedly, the temperature must have gone up pretty fast! Maybe in a week's time, enough dust has collected to cause overheating??

Anyways...

I downloaded CoreTemp, the 32Bit Windows Version. I installed CoreTemp and it works superb. I keep it in my system tray. My temperatures vary between 56 C and 60 C and I set it so that it puts my laptop to sleep if the temperature reaches 90 C. By default it will not send computer to sleep or shut down in case of overheating. You can tweak the settings to change the display to Fahrenheit. If you just want to check the temperatures you do not need to change anything and just stick with the defaults.

RELATED LINKS

Laptop turning on and off repeatedly, won't boot. Solved!

Protect your laptop in style: Buy a cooler for a laptop.

I also found Speedfan, and I like that too. It can show and regulate fan speeds, and shows hard disk temperature as well.

Vista Laptop Not Booting - Again! (Part 2)

CONTINUING SAGA...

As I was telling you earlier, I managed after a few attempts to get my laptop to boot and work just fine from the state of turning itself on, blinking and disk spinning, then turning itself off again! That was really weird. I also told you I did not run a disk check!

THE NEXT MORNING, A RUDE AWAKENING

The next morning I was up for a rude awakening. Previous night I left the laptop in the hibernate mode. I pressed the on button and, darn, it got even worse than last night! This time, the "on" light, and the "caps lock" light, and the "numeric lock" light came on, but not the disk light, and there was NO SOUND from the disk either! Wow. It got even worse than last night! The computer is not booting up! What to do?

COMPUTER WILL NOT BOOT, SHOWS BLANK SCREEN, NO DISK LIGHT

This time, computer did not get turned off by itself. It just stayed on, and on, and on, with the blank screen and disk not making any noises. Just silence. That was terrible. Luckily, I knew from past experience about laptop not booting and showing blank screen that patience helps and that I needed to wait until I hear the fan come on and I may be able to fix the computer not booting. Or so I hoped.

A HALF HOUR LATER, THE FAN!

It took over a half an hour before the sound of the fan announced something has changed. The DVD player ( with no DVD inserted ) started to do its light show with the DVD light. Best of all, the hard disk light came on! I pushed the DVD eject button and the tray did come out. So that's different. A positive change. What next? I turn the computer off and back on, still nothing, this Vista is not booting up.

IF YOU HEAR A CLICKING SOUND FROM A HARD DISK...

I keep it on and, lo and behold, 3 minutes later, the hard disk light and the sound of the hard disk came on. That was good as a sign of life, however the sound of the hard disk was like a click. That can not be good.

BACK IN THE SAME GAME OF TURN OFF TURN ON

In fact, I got back to the game reported earlier, computer shutting itself off, by itself! Then back on, just like last night! The DVD light was blinking, even though the tray was out. Wow. The F8 didn't help this time. Weird! Now, the computer turned itself off just about once a minute. Then right back on! I just let it be. Just let it be.

PATIENCE HELPS, AGAIN

Remarkably, after about one long hour of waiting, the laptop came back up, took up the hibernate file, and restored the Vista as if nothing happened in the last couple of hours! Quite amazing. Yet, not quite unexpected as such miraculous healings of my laptop occurred previously, just about a month ago. As you may remember back then computer wouldn't boot after I turned the computer off during a disk check!

LAPTOP IS BACK UP, WORKING FLAWLESSLY

After giving thanks to the lord of miracles, I immediately executed disk checks of both my C: drive and the D: drive. The checks showed nothing wrong. So far my computer is running flawlessly. Just another day in the la-la land of laptop happenings and just another simple yet exciting and quite miraculous resurrection of an almost dead computer.

WHAT ABOUT YOUR COMPUTER?

What about you? Did you have similar symptoms with your computer? I'd love to hear from you. Did the story above help you solve your "windows computer not booting" problem? As simple as it may be, it may not be the obvious choice of trying to solve the problem. As one of the younger commentators says, they TRIED EVERYTHING to get his laptop to boot ( and he really needs it as it's hard to NOT play a video game after playing for five years, pretty much daily ). And his mom won't call the HP as the laptop is out of warranty! This example, and others, show that instead of trying EVERYTHING, sometimes you must do almost NOTHING instead. To solve this problem I just listened to what was happening with the machine and allowed the computer to come back up. All I did was patiently wait. Hardly the stuff video games are made of. Let me know if you had similar symptoms and if this story helped you get your computer to boot! Just leave me a comment below, either way!

P.S.: Although I trust miracles will happen again and my laptop will be safe, I'm diving into the land of backups. I am starting to be serious about making backups. More later!

RELATED POSTS

Part One of This Post - Computer Not Booting, Turns Itself Off And On

Vista or Windows 7 Computer Will Not Resume From Sleep, Suspend or Hibernate

An excellent guide to POST (power on self test) and cleaning your computer to prevent boot problems

Computer Turns On and Off: Booting Problem Resolved! (Part 1)

NICE TRIP TO MEXICO

I just got back from a super nice trip to Cancun, Yucatan, Mexico. The trip was about a week long. I really enjoyed the warm weather, much warmer than LA, and warmer Caribbean sea. I didn't take my laptop with me, I decided to travel even lighter than usual. The place where we stayed was pretty touristy, there were 3 Starbucks within walking distance, gosh! So maybe next time I will take the computer along. I wonder how high humidity would affect the laptop if the laptop was in Cancun?

BACK IN LA: LAPTOP AWAITS WITH A SHOW: TURNS ITSELF ON THEN OFF REPEATEDLY

As I landed back home in LA, I was in for a light show and an unpleasant surprise from my laptop. The laptop computer was in a very bad shape. As I pressed the "on" button, the "caps lock" the "numeric lock" and the "hard drive" lights, as well as the "on" light would come up, the hard drive would spin, and there would be a clicking noise from the hard drive. Then, suddenly, after about 5-10 seconds, the hard drive would spin and click for the very last time, and the computer would turn itself off. The screen never even came up. Then after a few seconds, the laptop computer would turn itself on again, and go through the same motions, again. And again! My laptop computer keeps turning itself on and off! There was no end in sight of this light show and the disk spinning and clicking show!

WHAT I TRIED, WHAT SEEMED TO WORK

I tried pressing F2, F12, and finally F8. Yeah! The F8 seemed to help and the laptop remained turned on but with a blank screen. I waited five minutes and the "Resuming Windows" sign pops up! Great! Not quite there yet! The computer won't boot up, it got stuck again! I turn it off again and back on. Now it comes up all the way. Started some programs, yeah! It works fine now! It was late, so I set it to hibernate and went to bed. Was that a mistake? Should I have run disk checks?

BUT WAS THIS A PERMANENT SOLUTION?

The next day: The saga continues...

P.S.: I keep wondering what could it be to cause this problem with my laptop just sitting on my desk for a week. There were some very strong winds in the area, probably low pressure... indeed on my way back to LAX there was some extremely strong turbulence in the air due to strong winds..quite scary. Was laptop feeling alone and abandoned? Did the temperature drop? Was there internal condensation? Who knows?

P.P.S.: Read on to find out if my Vista Computer was booting the next day!

RELATED POSTS

Vista Computer Not Waking Up From Sleep

The Battle of Two Softwares: Microsoft vs Firefox!

[UPDATE: As interesting as the development between Microsoft and Mozilla Firefox may be, see below, it does NOT correct for the occasional blinking and dis-funcionality of the Minimize, Restore, and Close buttons in Firefox. Bookmark the page about workarounds for the Close Button Blinking problem or FOLLOW through Google Friends Connect below to stay updated.]

The plot thickens. According to the analytics data from this and a few other blogs, the usage of Microsoft Internet Explorer had another few % drop in September. Firefox is holding its ground while Chrome gained about 2-3%. It looks like a Battle of the Browser, the Battle for Your attention among the "giants"! But back to the case at hand:

Several Firefox users Matt, Jae, and Hanna among others have recently reported their Firefox browsers misbehaving badly. The symptom was a blinking (flashing) Close, Minimize or Restore Button in the window frame of Firefox. The blinking buttons flashed on and off upon pressing them. The functionality of the buttons was nil. They didn't work.

Today, a pop-up has appeared through my Firefox. I had never before received such a pop-up from Firefox! Quoting:

FIREFOX:

These Add-ons Have been blocked:

Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant 1.1 [Blocked add-on]

Windows Presentation Foundation 3.5.30729.1 [Blocked add-on]

These Add-ons have a high risk of causing stability or security problems and have been blocked. Restart is required.

Incredible! I checked and yes, I had .NET Framework Assistant 1.1 Extension installed in my Firefox. And yes, I had the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) Plugin installed in my Firefox. You can indeed find the .NET Framework Assistant and WPF in my original problem report to Firefox. I have yet to see if this will be a solid workaround for the problem described. Firefox is quiet about the details.

Let me know in a comment if you had a similar problem with your Firefox and if this workaround (Workaround #4) of disabling the two Microsoft Add-ons or if any other 3 workarounds given here helped you or maybe NOT! Let me know either way! Just leave a comment below.

Solved: Address bar not working in Firefox on Vista

[UPDATE 11/6/2009: Today, I upgraded Alexa Sparky to Version 1.4.5 and re-enabled it. If there are no problems with the FireFox toolbar, it means that probably, Alexa fixed the problem and you can go ahead and do the same, update Alexa Sparky to 1.4.5 or higher and enable it. Let me know in a comment if that worked for you. I will keep you posted as well.]

[SOLVED: This is a quick, 2 minute solution. I found out that Alexa Sparky Version 1.4.4 Firefox Extension/Add On which I downloaded today was the culprit. Do you have Alexa Sparky AddOn? I disabled Alexa Sparky 1.4.4. under Tools/AddOns and the address bar in Firefox 3.5.3 works again. See details below to make sure your problem gets solved this way too!]

Previously, I reported blinking Close, Minimize and Maximize button in a Firefox 3.5.3 frame using Windows Vista SP3 . Shortly after I observed that problem, the address bar functionality has been severed. I can not navigate to any websites, not even google.com. I can not see the URL of any website in various tabs that I have open. That is true even after restarting Firefox. I am about to downgrade to Firefox 3.0.14. I've downloaded it and ready. I got importan work to do online! And Firefox is my main window to the internet. If you have found any solution to this, please let me know. I could not find a solution on the internet as of yet.

SOLUTION (SAME DAY IN THE EVENING)

I found out that Alexa Sparky Version 1.4.4 Firefox Extension/Add On which I downloaded today was the culprit for the problem with the address bar described above. I went ahead, disabled Alexa Sparky under Tools/AddOns and the fabulous address bar in Firefox 3.5.3 works again.

P.S. Before downgrading to 3.0.14. I will still see if closing some of the Firefox tabs might help. I have 2 windows open with Firefox with about a dozen tabs each.

P.P.S. For future benefit, I'll post a link to Mozillazine.org's Standard Firefox Diagnostics and Troubleshooting process. A bit over the top for this case. Especially as I wanted to retain the valuable tabs opened. Here is the link: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_%28Firefox%29

SOLVED: Computer Goes Back To Sleep After Wake Up

This post will show you how to prevent your computer from falling asleep too soon.

PROBLEM: COMPUTER FALLING ASLEEP TOO SOON AFTER WAKE UP

PROBLEM: COMPUTER GOES BACK TO SLEEP SOON AFTER WAKE UP

PROBLEM: COMPUTER FALLING ASLEEP TOO SOON AFTER WAKE UP

I've been telling you how I resolved the problem of Windows Vista not waking up from sleep or hibernate. Now that this problem is solved, I encountered another one: Laptop computer goes back to sleep soon after wake up or resume.

This only happens when I don't touch the keyboard after the computer is back up. It is annoying because resume from hibernate takes quite a while, maybe 2 minutes. I leave to get something else done while waiting. I come back and find computer has fallen back to sleep/hibernate again. I lost 5-10 minutes that way.

Others schedule their computer to awake at a certain time for a scheduled task. Their annoyance is that the computer goes back to sleep before the task is completed. I will show here how both problems are resolved. The same solution applies to both.

SOLUTION

It turns out (credit for reporting this goes to http://vista64.com) that Vista will fall back asleep or hibernate after a specified amount of time if not physically interacted with. Such as by typing or moving the mouse. This amount of time is set to 120 seconds or two minutes. The value is stored in registry.

If you are uncomfortable changing registry, please ask someone else or just keep in mind you need to be there within 2 minutes of Vista computer waking up and need to touch the keyboard.

HOW TO CHANGE THE TIME BEFORE COMPUTER FALLS ASLEEP

Here's how to change the appropriate key in the Registry: Click Start, then in the box on the bottom type regedit. If prompted by UAC, click Continue.

Registry editor comes up. Follow the tree: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\238C9FA8-0AAD-41ED-83F4-97BE242C8F20\7bc4a2f9-d8fc-4469-b07b-33eb785aaca0\DefaultPowerSchemeValues

In the left pane, click on the triangle to expand DefaultPowerSchemeValues into three subvalues. They correspond to Balanced, High Performance, and Power Saver options. To be safe, just change all three values, under both AC and DC values. So total of six. I changed from the default 120 seconds to 300 seconds. So long as I'm back in 5 minutes the computer won't fall back to sleep or hibernate.

If a scheduled program is waking computer up from sleep, make sure you set the value to longer than the maximum anticipated duration of the run of the scheduled program.

THIS SOLVED MY PROBLEM. WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Have you found this solution workable, and useful? Are you now able to get back to your computer before it falls back into hibernate? Or, are the programs that are waking up your computer getting enough wake-up time to complete their jobs? Let me know either way, ok? Just click on the "Leave a Comment" link below!

SOLVED: Windows Vista Sleep Problem, Laptop Not Waking Up

ANNOYANCE: WINDOWS VISTA LAPTOP NOT WAKING UP FROM SLEEP PROPERLY

Are you puzzled by Your Microsoft Widows Vista laptop not getting back from the sleep mode? Don't you hate it when you need to reboot your laptop and lose all your settings and data in the process? You are not alone, I had the problem with Vista sleep, and so do many folks I met online. Read on, this could solve your problem of Vista not coming back from sleep.

PREVIOUSLY SOLVED: LAPTOP HIBERNATE PROBLEM

A few weeks ago I showed you how to fix a Windows Vista Sleep or, better, Hibernate Problem. The problem stemmed from the disabled hibernate file in Vista. Indeed, during the last month or so now, I had no problems with Windows Vista hibernate. However, as I also pointed out, Vista Sleep proper (not Hibernate) still failed from time to time.

WHY MIGHT YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH WINDOWS VISTA LAPTOP SLEEP

Here is my theory: Windows Vista Sleep is a combination of Suspend into memory and then, if allowed, Hibernate after a while. Microsoft calls this combination Hybrid Sleep. It is very useful for a number of reasons. Since hibernate part of hybrid sleep now works after the fix, the suspend part comes into question. I realized recently that Windows Vista suspend power requirement is not insignificant. That is opposite to hibernate which takes no power at all. Some claim that suspend could last 60 hours on a full battery. Others report maybe just 7 hours. What if your battery is not new? What if your battery is really really used up? What if your laptop runs out of juice before hibernate kicks in? If it does, you will come back to your laptop, press the "On" button, and you will not be able to recover, ending up with a lights on and blank screen. This is what a lot of people find.

SOLUTION FOR WINDOWS VISTA SLEEP PROBLEM: TIME HIBERNATE PROPERLY

I've played around with this theory and found it makes a lot of sense. So based on this theory, here is my solution #2 to the problem of Vista not waking up properly from sleep. Again, I'm assuming that your Vista Hibernate is already working fine. If not, go back and fix Vista Hibernate first following these directions.

To fix Sleep proper, you want to make sure that Hibernate kicks in on time. You know approximately how long your laptop lasts on battery. I would give it about that much time at most before I'd kick it into hibernate. You can accomplish this easily through Windows Vista Power Settings.

SETTING WINDOWS VISTA POWER SETTINGS RIGHT

Let's set Hibernate to kick in 60 minutes after sleep. If your battery lasts less than an hour, make the appropriate setting less than 60 minutes. Here's how:

In Vista go to Start/Control Panel/Mobile PC/Power Options/. Under your current selection of plan, click on Change Plan Settings/Change Advanced Settings. Then select Allow Hybrid Sleep ON (on battery). Second, set Hibernate (on battery) to 60 minutes. If your battery only lasts 10 minutes, set this to 10 minutes or maybe even just 4 minutes.

Save all settings and close all Power Options windows. That is it. You're done. Your laptop will now come back from sleep alright because it will never run out of juice during sleep. That is, it will kick into Hibernate before running out of juice.

MY PROBLEM SOLVED. WHAT ABOUT YOURS?

This solved my laptop's sleep problem. What about you? Have you been able to follow advice above? Has that helped you not lose data after putting your laptop to sleep? Let me know. Just leave a comment below, thanks!

UPCOMING RELATED ISSUES

Other issues: As I was playing around with the sleep and hibernate options, I got a glimpse of a possible solution to another related problem some people were reporting in the help forums. They found their Vista laptop came awake during sleep repeatedly and they lost all data and found a depleted battery when they returned back to their laptop. If you would like to find a solution to that problem let me know and I will investigate further. If the problem is happening with your laptop, please leave me as much information as you can in the comment below. Or, hit "Follow through Google Friend Connect" on the side.

SOLVED: Laptop won't boot and shows blank screen

VEGAS BABY VEGAS

If you traveled much you know traveling is stressful both for you and for your laptop. What if computer stops working suddenly? Read the whole story with the happy ending below...

If you traveled much you know traveling is stressful both for you and for your laptop. I was just waiting on my plane at the Las Vegas airport. I used the laptop on and off in Vegas. There are very few locations on the Strip with reasonably priced or free WiFi. More on that some other time. I was able to play around with the laptop sleep again and had problems booting the laptop with the DVD inserted. That's even though my DVD writer/player device is disabled. And the DVD lights keep coming up... Trying to boot from the disabled DVD? Oh well. Back to the main story...

CHECK DISK INTERRUPTED BY PLANE LEAVING VEGAS

I decided to do a "quick" check disk as I had over an hour left before the plane was leaving. As I mentioned I had some problems booting with a DVD inserted so I wanted to make sure the hard disk was in good shape. So I fire up the check disk to be scheduled on reboot. I reboot the laptop. Check disk starts and... takes forever. My group was called for boarding. How to interrupt checkdisk? I knew of no other way but to turn the laptop off, pack it and rush to the plane.

BACK IN LA - LAPTOP REFUSING TO BOOT

How would you feel if on boot, the hard drive light doesn't even come up and you end up with blank screen? At first I thought I crashed the hard disk when I pulled the plug on check disk. Hard disks are sensitive to this kind of abuse, right? At least when I still had the problem with laptop not booting from sleep mentioned earlier, the hard disk light came up. I'm talking about my Acer Aspire 5770z by the way. Now watch this.

WHAT I TRIED, UNSUCCESSFULLY

I tried a number of things. Tried resetting the computer by plugging out the battery and plugging out the power cord and pressing the on/off button for 60 seconds. 4o seconds is a long time. No help. I tried turning the laptop on and off numerous times, to no avail. So I just gave up, and went on to read a book I got in Vegas.

SURPRISE - A SIGN OF LIFE FROM THE LAPTOP

Imagine my surprise when, still reading the book, I suddenly heard the laptop's fan starting to blow. A sign of life! Just waiting patiently. Did the temperature rise? Oh well, I turned the laptop off, back on, and, voila, the hard disk came up and the vista booting proceeded. Not 100% though. But after a few attempts, the laptop came up completely and is now fully functional.

BOTTOM LINE - TIME HEALS ALL WOUNDS AND ESPECIALLY THE NON-BOOTING VISTA

Don't give up on your laptop when it's not booting. It could be that the system needs a high temperature kick. Maybe the disk self-heals after starting. Who knows? But my solution for this case of laptop not booting was to wait with a laptop turned on. Maybe about 1/2 hour. Something like that.

DID THIS SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM?

What about you? Were you able to resolve your booting problem by just waiting for the system to heat up enough and start properly? I wonder how common this solution could be. Definitely better than sending the laptop for a repair. Out of warranty, I'm sure the cost would be at least a couple hundred and who knows, they may need to wipe out your disk with all your data and settings! What a prospect.

LEAVE ME A COMMENT, BUDDY

Regardless, let me know in a comment below what kind of a problem you had that brought you to read this page. And let me know if you were able to fix your problem with your laptop or not. Either way, ok!?