10 won't open anything (and i mean anything)

Hi all,

I have been tasked with "fixing" an older Lenovo G550 laptop that originally came with Windows 7 (I believe Home Edition). The laptop's owner upgraded to Windows 10 when it was available as a Windows Update. It has worked fine (after fixing a few, um, hiccups due to the upgrade) other than being very slow to boot/load.

As of about a week ago, owner reports his computer "won't do anything". After getting the laptop I have to agree with his assessment.

The computer loads to the desktop (it is a single-user install). All icons are visible and everything appears to be fine, but you can't actually interact with anything. Nothing on the taskbar will work (start menu, search bar, icons - clicking them appears to lock up the taskbar). Nothing on the desktop will open except the right-click menu. No programs will open, not even the task manager or command prompt. I am able to use Windows + R to get the run prompt, but nothing I type in will open. I was able to create an "msconfig" icon on the desktop via right-click, new - shortcut, but double-clicking the icon does nothing but produce a "spinny". CTRL+ALT+DEL works, but none of the options within that screen work. I can click reboot, which creates a "please wait..." screen that hangs forever. The computer can only be restarted with a hard reset.

Computer does not appear "busy" as though a task is running. It allows me to highlight items on the desktop (single-click) and I can right-click, so the mouse/trackpad is working.

I can't seem to use F8 or Shift+F8 to get to Safe Mode, either. Since this was an upgrade, and was purchased with software pre-installed, there is no boot media.

Any one had an issue like this before? Where to start?

Hi Ken

Thank you for the reply.

As stated in my post, it is not possible to do a reboot on this machine. The only thing I can do is a hard reset. (Push the power button in until it shuts off). Therefore I cannot enter "Safe Mode" unless there is a way to do it from the boot screen. (I find it very strange that Microsoft has removed this option - did they not think people would need it?)

I also am not authorized to do a clean install - this is not my computer. I could do a repair or use the boot media to get into safe mode if there is a way to do that.

I am hoping for a non-destructive way to get things working again and hoping someone has some options for me.

EDIT: I was able to get some boot options by following this thread (option 6) https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...a.html#option6

This basically says to turn your computer off while it's in the process of booting Windows so that Windows "detects a problem" and allows you to use advanced tools.

I selected the Command Prompt and ran sfc /scannow. After a short verification scan, I received a message "Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation." I then ran "CHKDSK" and receive this message "Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected." (huh?)

Anything else I should try in the tools area?

Thanks!

Thats your problem disk is write protected remove protetection Disk Write Protection - Enable or Disable in Windows

How would it have gotten write-protected? This is the C drive (the Windows drive), not a removable drive. It worked fine for a long time and the users of the computer are not that knowledgeable. Wouldn't corruption be a more likely explanation? Especially seeing as how the Start Menu won't even open?

I just tried a System Restore, which failed stating there were errors in the restore file. sigh

Its a common fault

Samuria said:

Its a common fault

Sorry? What is a common fault?

Hi Ken, OK thanks for the clarification. I did look at his link and all of the instructions were for removable drives. This is for the C drive (main Windows drive).

Not really sure how to copy the data on the laptop, seeing as how I can't click on anything or open any windows. Would love to be able to back up his documents and photos though, if it's possible to do.

Thanks!