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I have purchased a used laptop (as starter for my daughter) and want to restore to factory settings can you help? (IMB A31 with Windows 2000)

Since you purchased the laptop used, you might not have the manual or recovery disks available. However, if you do have them, refer to the manual for specific instructions on resetting the laptop to factory settings. Several strategies can be used to reset the laptop.

Resetting Laptop to Factory Settings: System Restore

It is possible to use the System Restore feature to reset the laptop back to an earlier date prior to the installation of secondary programs. While it’s unlikely that a restore point is available dating back nearly a decade, it can’t hurt to check. Follow this path: Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore. Use the earliest date possible to reset the laptop.

Resetting Laptop to Factory Settings: System Recovery

Lenovo ThinkPads feature a blue ThinkVantage button that can be pressed during boot up to access the power to complete a full system recovery that takes you back to the factory settings. The Blue ThinkVantage button at boot up is designed to generate a menu of options or system recovery tools. These tools include a full system recovery of the preinstalled Windows operating system. You can also access this by selecting the blue Access IBM button if you do not have the blue ThinkVantage button on your laptop.

Simply press the button early on during bootup and choose the option to reset to factory settings. When you reformat the laptop in this manner, any data or programs outside of the operating system are wiped away, so you might want to save anything that you have placed on the laptop already.

Resetting Laptop to Factory Settings: Use Restore Disks

If you have the restore disks for the IBM A31 available, you can use them to restore your laptop to its factory settings. If you do not have a set of restore disks, create them by following this path: Start>Programs>ThinkVantage>Create Recovery Media. You should have at least 2 blank disks to copy the data onto. In fact, even if you use the system recovery to restore your laptop to the factory settings, you can create a set of restore disks for use in the future.

After Restoring IMB A31 to Factory Settings

Once you have reset your IBM A31 to factory settings, you need to reinstall any software, drivers, games, and custom settings that you want on the laptop. These are all lost during the resetting of the laptop. In addition, you will need to update Windows.

Recently I bought a laptop that has Windows 98.  I want to change to Windows XP (I bought a CD). Is it possible that if I installed Windows XP that the laptop will not recognize other devices such as the 56KB modem, CD drives, USB ports, etc.? If so, how can I install the software for these devices drives if I do not have the discs for them?

If you hadn’t already bought the Windows XP disc, I’d probably recommend that you hold off and upgrade to Windows 7 - that is the newest Microsoft operating system. In any case, you will probably be happy with Windows XP, and it isn’t difficult to upgrade your laptop.

You will need the XP CD and the product key. There are two basic methods to install the operating system - an upgrade or a clean install. For both methods, make sure that all of your important data is backed up on an external medium. The upgrade should leave your data in place, but you can never be too careful.

Upgrade to Windows XP

Before you upgrade, try to update your BIOS settings from the computer manufacturer.  Otherwise, your upgrade could be compromised.

Start the computer with the Windows XP CD in the drive. Your computer should detect the CD. Choose Install Windows and the Wizard should start up to guide you through the process. You will need to select the installation type - choose upgrade then click Next. You should then see the prompts that will guide you through the rest of the upgrade.

If your computer does not detect the CD drive, go to Start and then Run. At the prompt, type in: CD drive (insert the letter of the drive here)\setup.exe and then click OK.

Clean Installation

This method repartitions and reformats your hard disk and installs the operating system to a clean hard disk. In doing so, you will wipe out all of the data on your computer, so be extra sure that you have a reliable backup for all of your information.

Put the CD in the drive and start the computer.  If you see the message “Press any key to boot from CD,” press any key. You should see the Welcome to Setup screen - press Enter.  Press F8 to accept the license terms. You will then follow the instructions to choose and format a partition where you want XP to install the operating system.

You shouldn’t have any problem with your device drivers, but if you do, you can go to the device manufacturer’s website and download the newest driver from there. Most manufacturers’ websites have the driver download buttons in an easy to find location.

I have reformatted my Acer TravelMate 4020. At first, it was normal, but when I restarted again, it opened but nothing appeared on the screen. I heard the start up sound but the screen was blank. Does it have something to do with BIOS because that was the last one I installed?

Reformat Blank Screen Error

This error could be as simple as removing the Windows recovery disc from the disc drive or a bit more complicated. Let’s start with potential cause number one before exploring the other options.

Recovery Disc Blank Screen Error

When reformatting the Acer, did you use a recovery or Windows installation disc? If so, when you rebooted, the computer may be confused because it has found a bootable disc in the drive. Make sure that all disc drives do not have discs inserted and then reboot your computer.

No such luck? Let’s see if you can start your computer in Safe Mode.

Starting the Computer in Safe Mode

Try pressing the F8 key as you reboot the computer. Does Windows load in Safe Mode? If so, you may be able to access some advanced troubleshooting and diagnostics tools such as Disk Management.

However, since you just reformatted the computer, if the problem is not related to a disc being present in one of the drives, it’s probably easier to reinstall Windows rather than try to troubleshoot the first reinstallation. Reboot your computer with your recovery discs or Windows installation discs in the drive. These are bootable discs, so you should see a screen with instructions for restoring the computer to its factory condition.  

Advanced Microsoft Help

The Acer TravelMate 4020 comes in both Windows XP and Windows Vista versions. If you have Windows XP, the following Microsoft Support article may be useful:

Computer Stops Responding with a Blank Screen when Starting Windows XP

If you have Windows Vista, the installation CD has a “startup repair” tool that you can try which Microsoft describes here:

Windows Vista Startup Repair Tool

Hopefully your computer is simply refusing to load because it’s confused by the disc in its drive and will come to life once you remove the disc and reboot. If not, a reinstall may be in order.

I am using Windows XP service pack 3, and suddenly when I try to start the computer, it takes forever to bring up Windows, and then forever to bring up Mozilla or IE8 or anything else involving the internet. Also, the sound on my computer is broken up, which just started. My CPU load fluctuates between 10% and 100% suddenly, with no programs running. I am also running Norton Internet Security, and am wondering if this could be the problem. Please HELP!!! I’m at wits’ end!

Sudden Windows XP Slowdowns

Since your computer just started to act up, your computer may have a virus or spyware infection. Norton Internet Security itself shouldn’t be causing such a load on your system. However, hidden programs running in the background could be to blame. Even with a good antivirus solution such as Norton Internet Security installed, it’s not unheard of for the occasional malware to infiltrate your system. After all, antivirus developers are always one step behind the malware developers. Fortunately, it doesn’t take too long for them to catch up. When they do, they release new antivirus definitions through updates.

System Restore

If you have System Restore enabled on your computer, check to see if a restore point exists from before Windows XP slowed down. If so, all you need to do is rollback your computer to this earlier point in time and your computer will return to its previous, well-conditioned state. System Restore does not affect your data but it does reverse any updates you may have received since then, so be sure to update Windows and Norton once the system is restored.

Another possibility is that a Windows update adversely affected Windows XP. Occasionally, an update is corrupt or incomplete, causing problems with the computer. Microsoft eventually updates the update and the problem goes away. When an update issue is suspected, you run Windows Update again to see if a new update has been released. If not, use System Restore to rollback the computer. Try updating again after the restore. A fresh update might take place, providing you with the protections released without the ill effects of the first attempt.

Potential Virus Infection

Depending on the version of Norton installed, your computer may or may not have real-time detection enabled. Even with real-time detection, undiscovered malware can get in and cause system slowdowns and other damage. A slight window of opportunity exists when your security software is not yet aware of the new malware. Once your product is updated, your computer will be protected from future infections but the current damage will remain until your system is scanned.

With that in mind, it’s smart to update Norton and then run a full system scan. You can also try o free online scan from another vendor such as Microsoft’s Safety Scanner or Trend Micro’s Housecall to see if these other vendors have detected a threat that Norton hasn’t yet detected.

My PC keeps freezing when changing from one user to another user. I am using an HP computer with Vista.

Explorer.exe Crash

It sounds as though the Windows interface may be to blame. When your computer freezes after switching from one user to another are you able to get into Task Manager by pressing Control + Alt + Delete? If so, you should be able to stop the explorer.exe process and then restart it. To do this, click on the Processes tab and find explorer.exe in the list. Select it and then click the End Process button. Explorer.exe is responsible for the user interface so once it has been stopped all of your icons on the desktop will disappear. They’ll reappear once you relaunch the process.

To restart explorer.exe, go to the Task Manager’s File menu and click on New Task (Run). Type explorer.exe and then click the OK button. Your icons should reappear. However, if your computer is completely frozen, then this may not be a viable solution.

Fast User Switching

If you have Fast User Switching enabled for each user, you may be able to solve this problem by disabling this feature. Fast User Switching is turned on by default. This feature allows two or more computer users to share a single PC with their own user preferences, settings, programs, and document storage folders and then quickly switch from one user to the next without having to completely log off. For example, if you have several programs open and your partner needs to check his email, your partner could log on and check his email. Once done, you could switch back to your account and pick up where you left off. Your programs would still be open and waiting for you.

Unfortunately, Fast User Switching can tax the system as it takes quite a bit of memory to maintain the current user’s session. Try turning it off to see if you can switch users the traditional way without your computer crashing. If so, you will need to adjust to regular user switching which means the first user will need to log off before the second user logs on.

To turn off Fast User Switching in Windows XP, go to the Control Panel and click on the User Accounts icon. Select a user and click the option that says, “Change the way users log off.” Remove the tick mark in the Fast User Switching box.

It’s more complicated to turn off Fast User Switching in Windows Vista. There’s a good tutorial offering several methods over at Windows Vista Forums titled Fast User Switching. Before you go through the steps, try switching users by logging off the first user and then logging on the second user. If the computer doesn’t freeze, you’ll know that Fast User Switching is the cause of the problem. From there, you can either disable Fast User Switching or get into the habit of logging off instead of switching users.

I have the blank screen after I chose to re-format my computer. After I selected the re-install, the laptop rebooted itself and asked one more time at startup if I would like to continue. I then selected “no” and the computer would not boot past the blank screen. I tried loading the BIOS to no effect.

Without additional information about the process, we’re going to have to do a little troubleshooting here. I’m guessing that something prompted you to start the reformat process in the first place - any symptoms or error messages you were getting might offer some clues as to what is happening with your system.  I’m not sure why you selected “no” when asked if you wanted to continue - was there a problem with the reinstallation at the time?

Display Drivers

Before you go back to the CD that you were using for the reformatting, it’s possible that you are having a problem with the display drivers. Can you get into Safe Mode by pressing F8 at startup? If you can, then go to Start and then choose Run. At the prompt, type in: Devmgmt.msc. Remove the display adaptor device completely and then shut down the computer. Reboot normally and see if that solves your blank screen issue.

Hardware Problem

Most of the time, a blank screen is caused by a hardware issue such as a motherboard problem, a bad processor, memory or graphics issues. Because I don’t know what prompted you to start the process in the first place, I’m not sure if it is an original hardware problem or the fact that the reinstallation was never completed.
Reformat

The Windows installation disc features a “repair” installation that repairs important components and leaves your data intact while reinstalling the operating system altogether will require that you wipe out your partitions and start all over again, losing all of your data and settings. Were you able to do a complete backup of your data before you started the original reformat? If not, this might be a good time to pull the hard drive and either get the data off by putting it in another computer as a slave or by using an external drive to get the data and save it in another location.

Can you start the repair process over again by putting the CD in the drive and turning the computer on? If you can, try to do another repair. You will see a Welcome to Setup screen - press Enter. You will see a licensing agreement - press F8 to agree to that. You will then have to press R to have Windows start the repair by reinstalling important components. This repair could take over an hour, and you will then have to answer questions as if you were installing Windows for the first time.

Reinstall

If you have your data tucked safely away in another location, you can reinstall the operating system using the CD. Do the same process as a reformat, but choose to install a fresh copy of Windows. You will have to delete the existing drive partitions and reformat the hard drive for this process to be successful.

If you can’t get any response using the CD, you need to look into possible hardware problems. This is a lot of trial and error and you might want to get some assistance to test each piece of hardware that might be the culprit.