Laptop Help!!

[Tbone]

So after taking my laptop to work a few days ago and bringing it back, when I tried to boot it up I discovered that it would not start. It would begin to load Windows and then insta blue screen restart. I couldn't get it to load in safe mode or anything.

So I pop in the repair cd and use the repair console to chkdsk the thing, as well as fixboot. That allowed me to boot into Windows, but now I'm getting several random "Windows image", "dll", and "runtime" errors upon startup. As a result, almost nothing on the computer works.

Basically everything Windows-related is borked. System restore, network drivers, sound drivers. Certain programs won't start up at all. I double click and it just doesn't go anywhere. It feels like I'm running in some sort of strange Safe Mode where my computer is not allowed to run or do anything.

I've run virus scan, Spybot, RegScrub, Tuneup, and every other repair program I have. I've done chkdsk, sfc scannow, and most recently repaired the Windows installation via the CD. Nothing helps...if anything I've made it worse.

So my question is, what's going on here? Are all my system files just corrupt? I can boot in, but, for instance, if I plug in my external HD, the computer never recognizes it, so I can't save any of my files even. Won't connect to the internet either, even via ethernet. I'd like to at least recover it to the point that I can retrieve some files before just breaking down and reformatting. What's the deal??

Oh, and some error messages. These started after I tried the repair install:

Rundll: Error loading C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll
Rundll: Error loading C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvMcTrayl.dll

These have been appearing since the beginning:

AppleSyncNotifier.exe - Bad Image
The application or DLL C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\ApleSyncPref.Resources\en.lproj\AppleSyncPrefLocalized.dll is not a valid Windows image. Please check this against your installation diskette.

Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library
Runtime Error! Program C:]Program Files\Common ...
This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an ususual way. Please contact the application's support team for more information.

AppleSyncNotifier
AppleSyncNotifier has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

This comes a few minutes after starting:

BTTray
ERROR: Unable to start the Bluetooth stack service.

Windows File Protection has also been running after every restart recently, I'm assuming because of something I did that keeps trying to double-check what it did before giving up.

The only thing I did at work that makes me think it could be a virus is downoad some Tardis 2000 that is supposed to help your system clock. A guy on the DF forums linked it as the solution to the Lost Connection #2 error in DF that I kept having with my laptop. Made sense since I knew my laptop battery wasn't up to par and figured that could cause inconsistencies with the clock.

With System Restore not even working, I'm really running out of ways to troubleshoot this thing. I don't even know where to begin.

[Lithium]

It's possible that the hard drive is malfunctioning. A chdisk probably would have detected that? Did you have virus protection? The file sounded sketchy, a bad system battery could slow down or clear your clock if your laptop is turned off for a long period of time--but windows auto syncs to atomic time, so I'm not understanding what that file would do.

Best solution save any files you need to a disk, reformat completely. If you can get it to work again run the disk of old files thru a virus scanner first, then load them back on.

And I can never stress people enough to use good virus protection (like kaspersky) and run backup images once a month (like acronis.) It saves a lot of headaches and time for the very little amount of money it costs for the software.

[likwidtek]

Try this Tbone.  http://tinyurl.com/ogury2

[Tbone]

Try this Tbone.  http://tinyurl.com/ogury2

...and most recently repaired the Windows installation via the CD.

Care to read my post again? I've done a repair install two or three times now...

[likwidtek]

roger sorry missed that part.

Your only hope is to get the stuff backed up off the drive SOMEHOW... and format and reinstall.  My guess though is that even a fresh install wont work and it's a hardware issue.  I would try swapping out memory if the format / reinstall doesn't work.

[Tbone]

I was finally able to connect my external hard drive to it. A bunch of important services had automatically been stopped for some reason, and after trying to start all of them, I got enough of them working to connect a new drive.

After transferring over the files I wanted, I reformatted. Computer seems to be working again with a fresh install. Installing drivers and updates now. The screen casing is still coming undone, the audio jack still forces my audio not to work, and my right side fan isn't working, but she's still not quite dead yet. How much $$ do you think it would cost for me to get someone to repair those three issues?

[likwidtek]

My bet would be just some guy or even a computer shop wouldn't have much luck but you might try calling around.  Don't try best buy.  My guess is you'll have to resort to shipping it back to the manufacturer costing you a pretty penny.

[Tbone]

Hrmm, I guess I'll just keep trying to make it hop on one leg. At least if it goes down completely at this point, I don't have to worry about data loss.

[Guac]

time to go macintosh? :O

[Lithium]

time to go macintosh? :O

There is never an appropriate time to go macintosh.