real problem help

TrishTrish Posts: 2,625
edited December 1969 in Bryce Discussion

hi all....well the blue screen killed my computer so I set it back to default state....how do I get Bryce and the other programs back do I have to download everything again??? thanks Trish

Comments

  • HoroHoro Posts: 10,707
    edited December 1969

    @Trish - oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that. If you have copies of Bryce etc. you can just install them. The content can just be copied into the appropriate folders.

  • Fencepost52Fencepost52 Posts: 509
    edited December 1969

    UGH! I hate that for you! :(

  • Tim82Tim82 Posts: 859
    edited December 1969

    one thing to be aware of also is, if your computer is blue screening...90% of the time it means your hard drive is about to die! ...it might be worth replacing that before you go to any trouble re installing any of your software.

  • Roland4Roland4 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I'm so sorry for you.

  • Electro-ElvisElectro-Elvis Posts: 889
    edited December 1969

    Oh, that is really bad luck. I never had to set my computer to the default state, but I guess you only just have windows, don't you? If so you have to download your software. At least at DAZ3D you can still find a list of your purchased software and download it, not all software vendors offers this possibility. Good luck.

  • TrishTrish Posts: 2,625
    edited December 1969

    Thanks all for the best wishes.....It was my first time setting everything back to default also.....but the recovery...and the restore your computer to an earlier time did not work...I wish I knew what caused it though....I have malwarebytes and mcAfee so I thought I was safe but I guess not ......what does everyone else use??? Thanks ...Trish

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    I ditched McAfee some time ago and changed to Avast, They have a free version so you can try it out, and then if you like it change to the paid version.

    MalwareBytes is very good, so keep that.

  • TrishTrish Posts: 2,625
    edited December 1969

    I used to have avast...jeff is the one who told me about malwarebytes and I have the paid version of that one....maybe I should just stop downloading stuff from the internet......I am thinking bit torrent could be the problem....Trish

  • Tim82Tim82 Posts: 859
    edited December 1969

    @ bullit - for the cause of your crash, I mentioned before...blue screen crashes mostly only occur when your hard drive is at the end of its life or use, its not the only cause of them but its the most common in my experience so far.

  • Steve-LSteve-L Posts: 7
    edited December 1969

    @ bullit - for the cause of your crash, I mentioned before...blue screen crashes mostly only occur when your hard drive is at the end of its life or use, its not the only cause of them but its the most common in my experience so far.

    Seconded, this is far, far more likely to be a hardware fault than a virus infection. If you haven't already, make at least one backup copy of your hard drive to a separate external drive.

    Also don't leave that external drive in the same room as your computer. If, heaven forbid, you had a fire at your home you want your computer and your backups as far away from each other as possible to give one or the other the best chance of avoiding damage.

    There is a saying in the IT world, any files you don't have at least 3 copies of are files you're happy to lose...so if you've anything you'd be heartbroken to lose, back it up, password protect it and ask someone to keep it at their home instead.

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,308
    edited December 1969

    it can be a peripheral
    a faulty external drive caused event bluescreen on my computer, ditching that external fixed it
    my 3g modem dongle after I bent it dropping my laptop did it on my desktop too, switching to a wireless modem fixed that

  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147
    edited December 1969

    I used to have avast...jeff is the one who told me about malwarebytes and I have the paid version of that one....maybe I should just stop downloading stuff from the internet......I am thinking bit torrent could be the problem....Trish

    Get a external hard drive to backup to - do it now .
    Get { AVG } and use it .

    Last blue screen I saw was a person hard drive 0 track went -
    I uses to work on puters .

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969
  • TrishTrish Posts: 2,625
    edited November 2014

    I got an ext HD and am now backed up .....I know what you said Tim about the hard drive going bad but this whole system is only 1 and 1 half years old.....and the best I could afford....Thanks Pam for that article

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  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147
    edited December 1969

    I got an ext HD and am now backed up .....I know what you said Tim about the hard drive going bad but this whole system is only 1 and 1 half years old.....and the best I could afford....Thanks Pam for that article

    I have seen puter only 2 days old with bad hard drives .
    Could be virus or just a defect .
    No one is safe .

  • srieschsriesch Posts: 4,241
    edited November 2014

    Yeah, there are a lot of things that could go wrong from hardware through software. If you have a lot of free time, there's a way to set up Windows to try to record crash dump information that can then (slowly and painfully if you haven't done this before) try to figure out more or less likely causes. Google minidump I think, for Windows XP.

    If it turns out that you have bad memory, that's pretty easy to identify and then you can just replace the bad stick(s). I would suggest downloading and running memtest86+ . You burn it to a CD and boot from that, and it does a bunch of memory testing forever or until you turn it off. If everything is fine, you'll never see any errors. I usually run it overnight, or if I'm paranoid, for maybe 2 days straight. Do this on every new computer or memory stick you buy. And as I have learned the hard way, your good memory can go bad in time, so perhaps schedule this as a regular event maybe every year or something. I've seen brand new memory arrive bad, and tested memory go bad years later.

    Don't assume that any "new" product coming out of the factory is guaranteed to work great, has been programmed properly, has not been dropped, etc. Assume the worst and you'll never be disappointed.

    Post edited by sriesch on
  • adbcadbc Posts: 3,115
    edited December 1969

    I experienced almost the same a month ago.

    I have Hard Disk Sentinel installed, it warned me that the HD was degrading, it went from 80 % to 40% in a couple of days,
    at that time I copied (almost) everything on an external HD and replaced the HD.
    My computer was only 1 1/2 old .....
    That's a good program that was in the giveaways at the time and I grabbed it for all my computers.

    I also have malwarebytes installed, my AV is Kaspersky Internet Security on some of them and
    BitDefender Internet Security on the other one(which also is a giveaway)

    Good luck.

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,134
    edited December 1969

    The BSOD doesn't necessarily mean you have to format, renew or replace anything. it all depends on what caused it. What you have to do is take a note of the error code that is on the blue screen and then get to another machine and google it. Here is a list of the error codes for future reference.

    http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/tp/stop_error_list.htm

    or here.

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/windows/hardware/hh994433(v=vs.85).aspx

    I would also recommend getting a backup program that backs up the system as well as programs and data. I have the paid Workstation edition of this.

    http://www.todo-backup.com/home/

    This even allows you to migrate the system to a new computer with different hardware so no need to reinstall all your programs and settings if you go for the Workstation one which is only $39 for one PC license :) It also does incremental backups in the background so that the backup is always up to date.

  • TrishTrish Posts: 2,625
    edited November 2014

    Pam: you are one smart lady ....that was the problem....the update....I uninstalled it and am good to go ....for now ...Thanks bunches Trish and thanks also to everyone else.....I hope this is it and thanks for the link fishtales...... one new website now...I was almost lost...where have I been oh yea stuck with this puter....LOL

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  • Tim82Tim82 Posts: 859
    edited December 1969

    @ Bullit - thats great news that your PC is sorted out :) ...i hope it can stay that way for you....fingers crossed :)

  • HoroHoro Posts: 10,707
    edited December 1969

    @Trish - great news. Well done!

  • adbcadbc Posts: 3,115
    edited December 1969

    @Bullit
    This is good news and I'm happy for you !

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    I just wish I had rememberd about that update earlier, Glad that fixed it for you

  • GussNemoGussNemo Posts: 1,855
    edited December 1969

    Diagnosing problems in complicated equipment can be problematic, especially when so many things could be the cause. It's best to form a systematic method of eliminating each possibility, or find a flow diagram which aids in the elimination process.

  • SixDsSixDs Posts: 2,384
    edited December 1969

    Glad you were able to solve the issue so simply (once you knew where to look for it). For reference purposes, if your PC uses either a Seagate or a Western Digital hard drive, both manufacturers offer free downloads of hard drive utilities that include a light version of Acronis True Image disk cloning and backup software. (they also both offer diagnostic utilities to determine the health of your drive(s) if you suspect a problem, as do all drive manufacturers.

    Something to consider, for what it is worth. I have long had the habit of separating my operating system and applications from my data files. I usually use separate physical disks for this, but it is possible to use partitions on a single disk in the same way. The advantages of having a separate boot drive (either real or virtual) containing the operating system and installed programs is that backups of this can be done easily and separately from data backups. For most people the changes occurring to the boot drive will be less frequent so backups do not necessarily need to be performed as frequently. If the operating system goes south, it can then be restored from backup independent of your data which speeds things up greatly. It also facilitates moving from an older disk to another in some scenarios.

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited November 2014

    I agree with you there, My C drive has only my OS, AV and Browser on it, everything else is either on D F or G

    Programs on D Content and runtimes on F and backed up on G

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • HoroHoro Posts: 10,707
    edited December 1969

    I second SixDs'advice. I have 2 HD and each partitioned giving me 6 drives (C thru H). C has only the system. D holds the applications, E tools, F data, G is for development and H has a copy of C.

  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147
    edited December 1969

    Horo said:
    I second SixDs'advice. I have 2 HD and each partitioned giving me 6 drives (C thru H). C has only the system. D holds the applications, E tools, F data, G is for development and H has a copy of C.

    then you should have 2 more to backup the two you have .
    if your hard drive goes so do your all partition .

  • HoroHoro Posts: 10,707
    edited December 1969

    bigh said:
    if your hard drive goes so do your all partition .

    Not necessarily, but it's possible. Sunday morning is my backup time. Three computers with the same setup got all important files exchanged, then there are 3 of 6 network drives in another room that also get the important stuff.
  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147
    edited December 1969

    Horo said:
    bigh said:
    if your hard drive goes so do your all partition .

    Not necessarily, but it's possible. Sunday morning is my backup time. Three computers with the same setup got all important files exchanged, then there are 3 of 6 network drives in another room that also get the important stuff.

    super - wish I had as many

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