Home Forums Discussions Coding and Billing help , computer crash

hello all,
I am urgently seeking help for a strange problem affecting 2 of my computers.
After a windows update, my billing computer just stopped responding to all typed words , we could not even put in our passwords to get to the desk top or type anything as the letters or symbols would not come up. As it was on our billing computer server our vendor tried various things and then did a system restore which basically crashed the computer completely and we got a black screen . We had to have the pogram reinstalled on a brand new computer . Shortly thereafter the same thing happened to a client . Tried to uninstall all updates but could remove all except one which cannot be uninstalled .
I am afraid to try system restore on this computer in case it crashes also
tried various suggestions online with no effect. Local tech support could not figure what went wrong but were able to retrieve data so our billing is up and running but am worried this may happen to other computers .
any help appreciated
bala

At the screen where you have to type your password, there's an Ease Of Access button on the bottom left.



If you click on that Ease Of Access button (does the mouse still work?), an on-screen keyboard can be opened. This way, you can type your password to login to Windows. Then try to roll back the Windows update & reboot.

Thanks John
I already did that , I was able to log in with the on screen keyboard and did a system restore on one computer which worked but the other one crashed during system restore . So I am trying to restore a system image on a new HD but this seems very difficult as windows recovery does not recognize the system image created by windows !so I am trying various things and may have to buy a new os .
bala

If the machine has an OS sticker (win7/8/10), it usually comes with an OS disk. If not, try one from one of other machines in the office. Once you get the OS running, you can use the lic key on the sticker to activate.

Dear Indy,
could you clarify?
during installation with the borrowed disk , does it ask for licence key?
sometimes the system automatically goes to the MS website to activate without asking for lic key
thanks
Bala

You could just restore a backup.

What do you mean vendor? Who decided to do a system restore? Have you booted into the BIOS to see if you are actually booting into the hard drive?

Did all of the computers get this update. All of our computers got all updates and none were corrupt and none were known to be corrupt.

You can also try throwing the question on www.experts-exchange.com under a few categories including viruses. But, no one ever does this so it is probably a moot point.

Do you have a reputable computer repair shop you could take it to? I would be running some serious virus scans on any computer that is working. Malwarebytes, etc.

Easiest thing would be to just restore from a backup.

hello Bert,
the local tech guys could not fix it so had to restore from a backup
the backup is a system image file .
with a new HD in place, initially used the repair disc but it could not find the image file on the backup - finally after removing all other files on that ext HD it did recognize it but got stuck at formatting and partitioning the drive ( though it has been formatted already) and will not go further . No success in gaining the licence key either as there is no sticker and it came preinstalled , so no disc . tried to retrieve key via software but no success , it is embedded in mother board per manufacturers web site .
so only solution seems to be to find some way to restore the image or buy new software
cant boot the computer with old HD so cannot run any virus scan - it just died after win update .
bala

Well it is good you have a backup. Is this computer considered the actual server. Do you back up all of your computers. It just sounds like you did not have a good backup.

You want an external drive, hopefully 3.0 or SATA. You want to use a 3rd party software even though Microsoft's native one is decent. But, I don't think you can do a bare metal backup with it.

There are many like OO and Macrium, etc. I use Macrium on my clients and server along with BackupAssist. But, Macrium makes it easy to do bare metal backup with the ability to image or clone. Plus, you can restore to dissimilar hardware. The idea of the bare metal backup is so you can restore no matter what the drive is doing. You should not have to use a repair disk. Most backup programs recommend you make a boot disk for their actual program. One nice thing about Macrium is it will download and install WinPE (a pre-environment) so you can restore from from the BIOS during bootup.

Have you booted into safe mode and uninstalled the update?

Have you put this on EE? Don't worry, no one does, lol. It's just free during the trial and there are only 30,000 experts better than all of us except Sandeep.

Purchasing a new OS is no big deal. Just go to Staples or download a cheaper one. Get an .iso image and burn it to a DVD. If you want to fix it, just pay the money.

Finally, have you thought of Microsoft Support? They are a bit pricey, but they will likely fix the problem if it is software related. After all, it may be their update that did it. Again, they can be pricey, but they will charge you up front, but they generally won't charge you if they can't fix it. And, there is no better support. They are incredible once they log in. If they can log in. But, there are ways to do it even if you can't boot into Windows.

Have you tried moving the hard drive to a different computer and see if you can see it? Can you boot to it?

Good luck.

thanks Bert.
The system image was made by Windows so if that is not making a good backup it sucks!I tried restoring the system image with Easeus backup software which I have but it does not recognize the image made by windows
cant boot the drive at all so cant get to safe mode .
I think the lesson for me is not to make any more system images via windows - from what I have been reading many users have had similar experiences , they really need to improve their system imaging .
my only option at this point seems to be to get a new HD and reinstall win 8.1 pro but I will get Macrium .
thanks for all your suggestions , appreciate it
bala

Bala - I haven't been very available this week, but Bert has taken good care of you.

If there is data or files on that disk that you want, you can always add another hard-drive, fresh install onto it, and then mount the old drive to recover files unless it is physically damaged, in which case you don't want to reinstall on it anyway.

Bala,

First you can't restore an image with any other software than the software which made it. There may be some. The native Windows backup is less than ideal, but it is way better than the way it used to be. You must remember that Windows loves to copy other apps and incorporate them into their product. For instance, back when Roxio GoBack (system restore on steroids), was around there was no such thing as a bad restore. At least if you "went back" it worked 50 times out of 50. With Windows, System Restore, is a guessing game.

Where you went wrong (if I may say so) is not making a Backup Boot disk the moment you made an image. This is the only way to really get to your backup image properly in this situation. You can boot from the disk and restore that way. I always install an OS, get everything the way I want it, then image it and label it "Original Install." It's nice to know I can go all the way back to the beginning. All other installs after that, you can get to via the boot disk. The nice thing about Macrium, is it lets you make a boot disk and instal WinPE (Windows Pre-Environment) on the BIOS, so it comes up during bootup. Some of these boot disks allow you to install many other tools you can use when you boot from it.

What do you mean exactly when you say you cannot bootup. What happens when you turn it off and turn it back on.? That should have nothing to do with Windows as CMOS will control that. You should be able to boot to safe mode.

Another thing you could try is going to another computer, go to the backup program, and it should let you create a backup boot disk. Almost all backup programs now will practically yell at you to create a boot disk. With Macrium, any boot disk will work on all computers. Not sure about Windows.

Indy's idea is a good one. You may also try moving the disk to another computer and just temporarily connect a SATA cable and power cable and you should be able to access any files from it.

Dear Bert,
thanks for your suggestions.
1. I did in fact make the boot up disk . However it does not allow restoring the system image because it gets stuck with an error message' could not format or partition disk' and it cannot proceed further . I also have a boot up disk from my back up software but as I mentioned it does not recognize the windows system image.
This has been reported by multiple users in the past and in my opinion is a major flaw in MS system imaging
2. I have connected the damaged disk to USB - SATA and was able to access the files but that is not the problem, it is getting the actual computer to work
3. per Indys suggestion , I did try using a installation disk from another computer but it would not accept my licence key for 8.1 pro( I had upgraded from original in 8.1 to Win 8.1 pro) . The original OS came pre installed and I called Lenovo for installation disks which is the only reasonable option left . They will not release the original lic key and want to charge for the disks but I have no choice.I tried recovering the lic key with third party software on the damaged HD but was not successful .
The major frustration for me is that despite regularly imaging my systems and making boot up disks, I was still not able to restore the saved image .
4. When booting from the recovery CD I do not see any option to boot to safe mode
thanks
Bala

You won't see an option, once it starts booting you hit F8 over and over until it comes to safe mode. If that doesn't work, use F12 or F2 or Delete. Try them all. Every computer works that way.

If the drive is damaged, then you won't be able to image anything.

See PM.

The drive is irreparably damaged
so got a new HD , re installed win 8.1 and all required software
i will no longer rely on MS imaging
thanks for your help
Bala