so i have a dell laptop that i have had for about 2 and1/2 years....i bought the full service plan...it includes beer spills, and everything for 3 years.....so i thought....

anyways lately i have had problems turning it on.....i could go to where i login, i would sign in, then would get the "welcome to windows" screen and the spiraling circle...but thats all...it would just keep circling, and never get to my desktop....then i would have to power off and try again....till i finally got my desktop.....

well now i can't even get to the login in page....i only get a black screen....i called dell, and they told me that the entire vista home premium operating system has to be reinstalled.....they also told me they can do it....but if i want to save any software or files that i have on my pc it would cost $129 !

anyways..a few questions....do i really have to reinstall the entire operating system ? and why?

also, can i pick up an external hard drive and save the files myself before they reinstall vista ? i can still boot up in safe mode .....and if i can this, will i save the "problem" onto the external hard drive ?

thanks,
MILM

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"It is more about them than it is about the team...Cannot play with them, cannot win with them, cannot coach with them. Can't do it. I want winners. I want people that want to win." - Mike Singletary

Tyler Myers - Future captain of the Buffalo Sabres, and future Norris Trophy Winner

Manning the machine gun on the Tyler Myers Bandwagon - just in case any teams have an idea of prying him away from us (3 GM's shot already)

Connolly/Roy - 2 goals in the last 47 playoff games

Since you can still boot into safe mode, I'd recommend going into there and attempting a system restore.

If that doesn't work, backup all your files, reformat, and reinstall. No need to have Dell do it, you can do it yourself..

Did you buy the 3 year plan from Dell?

Probably...because it's windows.
As was mentioned, try a system restore point first (or several) if you have them.
My best record with a single windows install was about 5 years on XP pro before it ate itself.

yes, you can, but you'd only be saving your personal unique data...not the OS.
You can't copy your drive wholesale, get a new windows installed, then copy everything back again...the OS wouldn't allow it.
So any programs that are installed will have to be manually re-installed again.
You can save your pictures, music, saved games, email, things like that, just not the OS or applications.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

That really sucks man.

Apple's protection plan doesn't sound glorious because it doesn't include spills and falls and what not, but at least they don't pull that stuff on you.

My experience with their help center has been tremendous.

Good luck with your issue. I hope you get it all resolved okay!

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Wheelhouse

yepp i still have about 7 months left on it too....they are saying they will reinstall vista for me....but if i want any personal data saved they are going to charge me $129....they say that it's NOT included in the "full" service plan...i'm not too happy about that one.....really thinking about getting a mac next

_________________
"It is more about them than it is about the team...Cannot play with them, cannot win with them, cannot coach with them. Can't do it. I want winners. I want people that want to win." - Mike Singletary

Tyler Myers - Future captain of the Buffalo Sabres, and future Norris Trophy Winner

Manning the machine gun on the Tyler Myers Bandwagon - just in case any teams have an idea of prying him away from us (3 GM's shot already)

Connolly/Roy - 2 goals in the last 47 playoff games

if i try the system restore and it works, will it only be a temporary fix ? won't the problem come back ?

seems like putting all my important data on an external hardrive, and then reinstalling vista again would be the way to go, no ?

and i still am having trouble why it has to be reinstalled over.....i have mc afee that has been protecting my pc....i just don't get what went wrong with it that it has to be re-installed...what went wrong ?

_________________
"It is more about them than it is about the team...Cannot play with them, cannot win with them, cannot coach with them. Can't do it. I want winners. I want people that want to win." - Mike Singletary

Tyler Myers - Future captain of the Buffalo Sabres, and future Norris Trophy Winner

Manning the machine gun on the Tyler Myers Bandwagon - just in case any teams have an idea of prying him away from us (3 GM's shot already)

Connolly/Roy - 2 goals in the last 47 playoff games

Dell's customer service blows. Next time you purchase a service plan, buy it through the retail store (a la Best Buy).

If you plan on buying a mac, congrats. Not a big mac guy yet, but I respect those computers.

If you plan on buying a pc, start with an HP build and customize your parts. Hewlett Packard is a solid company.

And never go back to vista again. It blows.

Something's evidently wrong with the OS. You probably could fix it without reinstalling it, but it would probably take way more time and expertise than a reinstall.

I'm not one that advocates reinstalling all the time - but if there's a problem with the OS, it's often easier.

If you're not even booting into Vista's login screen, it seems like a problem. Usually I'd say to go in and look for programs that are causing problems - decheck them from the startup programs - but if you're not even starting up, they won't have loaded yet.

Safe mode confirms that there's something wrong with the OS when booting in it's standard config. Usually that's going to be from some program running, but again, if you're not even booting up, that can't be the case.

If you can boot into safe mode, and do a system restore to a point where it starts, then boot up and run a virus scan and a registry cleaner.

Running a virus scanner like McAfee is important, but it's not going to stop everything. You can still get malware or even just programs that mess with the system.

At this point it seems like you're best to start clean.

I can't say anything bad about Dell laptops. I absolutely love mine. Their customer service may be bad - but I haven't really found any manufacturer that has good tech support.

hmmm....i wonder the program that caused my problems was "sopcast" so i can watch the hockey games online....i downloaded it about a week or so ago, and that seems around the time the problem started....

has anyone else downloaded "sopcast" to watch the games ?

anyways...i'm thinking at this point to just buy an external hard drive, and reinstall stinkin' vista....and then when my "dell protection" runs out in may, i'll get a mac....

yeah talking about dell support, anyone ever talk with them ? every guy i get is an indian dude with a heavy accent and hard to understand....one of them started getting mad at me once b/c i couldn't understand what he was saying....i kept saying i don't understand, and he just kept getting more pissed

_________________
"It is more about them than it is about the team...Cannot play with them, cannot win with them, cannot coach with them. Can't do it. I want winners. I want people that want to win." - Mike Singletary

Tyler Myers - Future captain of the Buffalo Sabres, and future Norris Trophy Winner

Manning the machine gun on the Tyler Myers Bandwagon - just in case any teams have an idea of prying him away from us (3 GM's shot already)

Connolly/Roy - 2 goals in the last 47 playoff games

sounds like what my HP did over the summer. turned out my motherboard fried. was i the only one who liked vista?

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I had a girl come into my work a couple weeks ago and as I went to sell her a Windows 7 computer she went "nope i'm a vista girl" and preceeded to have me sell her a vista loaded hp computer.

hahahahahahahahahaha

_________________
"It is more about them than it is about the team...Cannot play with them, cannot win with them, cannot coach with them. Can't do it. I want winners. I want people that want to win." - Mike Singletary

Tyler Myers - Future captain of the Buffalo Sabres, and future Norris Trophy Winner

Manning the machine gun on the Tyler Myers Bandwagon - just in case any teams have an idea of prying him away from us (3 GM's shot already)

Connolly/Roy - 2 goals in the last 47 playoff games