New
#21
Well, we're home and attempting to fix this computer. I made a boot disk with something called UBCD, which is a linux thing, I believe, and has some diagnostic tools on it. I managed to boot the computer using the flash drive, but then when I selected PartedMagic, nothing happened. (It's a black screen that you can scroll up and down on, like old DOS.) When I hit enter, nothing happened. A blinking line at the bottom of the screen just kept right on blinking. I waited a few minutes and still nothing happened. So I shut down the computer.
Then it got very interesting. When the computer booted, it started with one screen, then shifted to another, and then instead of going to windows, it cycled though those first two bootup screens - over and over and over and over. I thought I "broke" the computer! I read somewhere to try unplugging a computer when this kind of thing happens, so I did. A minute later, I plugged it back in and started it up. It started just fine.
But....I can't apparently do any diagnostics on the computer. And we still have the restart any time we're on the internet. Connect to the internet and 1 to 3 minutes later, the computer restarts. Right now it's been on for over 1/2 hour - not connected to the internet and it's fine. But we'd like to use it for more than a lighted paper weight.
I swear, this just gets curiouser and curiouser, as Alice in Wonderland would say.