Advice on wiping out a harddrive and starting over...
 

I have a friend who is super computer illiterate and she pretty much ruined her laptop (3 years old)...I haven't had the chance to look at it myself but she wants me to try and fix it...says the computer won't turn on (which I think means won't load Windows) and that "cockroaches" appear all over the screen when she tries to turn it on...I think she's mildly reeruned but I told her I'd see what I could do...

What are my options? Could I re-install windows? What is the best way to try and savage the disaster she created?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

If it'll read a CD, use the system restore CD. I've had to do it to mine when installing a new HD.

Note: It will reset the hard drive to factory settings, basically like straight out of the box. Wiping the hard drive completely clean.

did you paint her house yet? that takes precedence, methinks.

Well, first you douse the entire laptop with Raid....

Do a fresh install from an actual Windows install disk. The system restore disks come with so much useless shit its not even funny.

Make sure that you backup any docs that are important to her before you do so.

In exchange for all the work you do she should let you take nudes of her.

Take the pics, then post them.

If I were you:

Find a clean XP Pro torrent CD that will pass WGA. Burn that as a bootable ISO on your computer.

Remove her Hard Drive from the laptop.

Find a 2.5" IDE enclosure, put the laptop inside, and attach it to the USB port of your computer.

Pull of any necessary files if you can find them and burn them to DVD

Format the drive.

Reinstall the HDD, and then insert the burned XP ISO CD and install a new version of Windows.

Install any necessary secondary programs that she wants, and you're off and running.

Why pull the HD and format when the Windows install will prompt you to format the HD anyways?

Because by pulling and putting it into an enclosure you can possible salvage data even if Windows won't load, as it will just read it as an external HD. Formatting it afterward is not a necessity, but two wipes are better than one for getting rid of old data if you've pulled off all the stuff you need.

I've always booted in safe mode to do my data salvage.

6 of one and a half dozen of the other I guess. :D

this

If you can't boot, you can't really salvage data on the computer in question without a pretty high level understanding of computers.

I understand.

But before cracking a computer open, I would suggest trying safe mode.

If his friend is computer illiterate, I seriously doubt that has been tried. :D

Just seems like the life span on laptops is usually 3 years....

Oh come on dude, I'm not halfcan. I can have sex with this girl any time I want...she's a little too dumb for girlfriend material.

Hamas...

Sweet dude.

But I don't care about any of her files and neither does she...basically if I can get Windows up and running again I am going to idiot proof her computer...

I know how to do this:

Find a clean XP Pro torrent CD that will pass WGA. Burn that as a bootable ISO on your computer.

Assuming she just wants to start over, do I have to do any of the other stuff? She said she only uses her laptop for music and internet...I can put all of my music on her computer when I'm done fixing it...

What do you think?