(no subject)

[zig-mover.livejournal.com]

Emachines crap computer here in the office is malfunctioning. As soon as the Windows XP logo comes up on the screen, the keyboard locks up and the mouse won't move. When I boot into BIOS setup, they work fine. My boss insists this is a problem with the computer, and put in an RMA with Emachines (so I have a big box sitting here to put the computer into).

This is the kind of crap I have to deal with every day from customers. Their computer breaks, there's a power surge, or their house burns down, and somehow this is a problem with our DSL.

Why am I being forced to send this back? I don't know. Can anyone think of a reason why the keyboard and mouse would lock up when booting Windows? Tried USB and PS2 devices. Don't have any Knoppix cds here to check out. Tried safe mode and Last Known Good Config mode. And the network card doesn't seem to be working either, so I can't grab the boot logs off the drive.

(oh yeah, emachines computers just come with the restore CD, and my boss says we can't run that because it will delete everything.. but he thinks emachines will back up the files for us.)

Comments

[firthy.livejournal.com]

Someone arsed around with a setting or 25?

[zig-mover.livejournal.com]

the dude who would know whats up (since it's his computer) went on vacation for 3 weeks, so we have no idea what he did.

[wyrdlinks.livejournal.com]

he thinks emachines will back up the files for us

He's a bloody optimist - tell him to get them to agree to it in writing, and I'd still recommend sticking the drive in another PC and see if you can't copy the drive contents (just-in-case) - that way, if eMachines *do* screw it up, you come out looking perceptive. Rule 1: CYOA (Cover Your Own Arse)

[zig-mover.livejournal.com]

yep, same thing. gets to the desktop and won't accept any input.

[ghostdandp.livejournal.com]

Did you try a repair installation from a windows xp rd?

[ghostdandp.livejournal.com]

cd even

[jecook]

What wyrdlinks said.

Make an image copy of the machine before it goes out the door, or you'll never see that data again.

Or, if you've got a spaare drive of the same capacity, toss it in, and run the restore on it, to "prove" it's not a software issue.

It sounds like someone fucked with it, myself. I has a Winbook that did that same exact thing. It ended up being a software issue with XP.

[warlockd.livejournal.com]

Back it up. The e-mashines warrenty proberly has a data clause that says they arn't responsable for the data.

As for the problem, you need a reinstall. You can do a simple test and boot up to dos with a windows cd or such, or konopix disk, but just re imaging would be the first thing e-mashines would do so you migh as well save time and do it yourself.

[coyoteden.livejournal.com]

Ok, a little confused here:

The mouse works in the BIOS? Not unheard of, but that's not common. What kind of BIOS does it have?

When you say the keyboard and mouse freeze at the Windows XP logo, do you mean the splash screen with the moving blue bar, or the desktop? If you're talking about the splash screen, and you're even getting a freeze in safe mode, it's very possible there is a hardware problem. I've seen a bad system board or even CPU cause that. Image the drive, RMA it, and just blast it back onto the new machine.

[zig-mover.livejournal.com]

okay, after double-checking, this bios doesn't use the mouse, i thought it did.

If I push F8 before the XP boot screen comes up, the keyboard works fine. Within a few seconds after the XP splash screen comes up, the keyboard stops responding (i can tell by flicking numlock on and off, and it will freeze in whatever position it was on).

[celyste.livejournal.com]

had a similar issue a couple weeks back that started off with a simple dial up modem giving funny errors once in a while. Got to the point where we couldn't even get in to safe mode. ended up that if we took the modem out things worked fine, stuck it in a diff slot, life's still good. had a bit of finagling to get the right drivers in the right spots, but it seemed to be a hardware conflict.

I'd have to agree with a couple of the aboves and question the hardware.

[siggy-lxvi.livejournal.com]

I do tech support for the company that owns e-machines. Back up your data, since I know for a fact that the service center doesn't give a damn. Once you've backed it up, Format and reload. No point in doing a repair once you've got the data backed up. If the computer shipped with a recovery partition as well as the cd, try a recovery with backup (sometimes called a non-destructive restore). Worth a shot anyway. This is going to be a software problem, and all the service center is going to do is format and reload.

Also, be nice when you call in. The e-machines warranty says that if you're rude or abusive, they can (and will) void out your warranty and phone support.