What happened? Need computer help.

Speeding · Jul 16, 2008

Windows XP, Sony Vaio laptop.

So I turned off my computer like any normal day but then attempted to use an inverter in the car to run it, but it wouldn't power up. Okay, no problem. So when I get home I attempt to power it up and it takes forever... probably 15 minutes. When it finally does I get the default desktop, and all of my desktop icons are missing. I freak and quickly start looking for my files in My Computer and I find everything. I don't think I'm missing anything, but I can only access it through My Computer. Thoughts? I'm currently backing up all my files before I attempt to troubleshoot.

John Galbreath Jr. · Jul 16, 2008

Find a Sony forum and ask or call tech. I would backup, reboot in safe mode, shutdown, boot regular and see if fixed.

bigsilly · Jul 16, 2008

Buy a Mac

Speeding · Jul 16, 2008

bigsilly said:
Buy a Mac

If I didn't have so much into this PC I would.

Calling tech support tomorrow... man I hate talking to them.

BamaTJ · Jul 16, 2008

Sounds like it had a HD or Memory failure. My view on CPU's is that they should never be used for storing files and if they crash you should never lose much. Why? External storage is cheap. I would take all the crap off your computer and leave it there. I would then wipe the OS and reinstall. If you have a problem once it is not a fluke and will happen again.

That said, always check for driver updates, windows updates and other updates to critical software when trying to get you computer right again.

vanguard · Jul 17, 2008

That info is stored in your profile.

C:\Documents and Settings\<login>

It probably got screwed up on the bad restart. Have you rebooted it and had a successful login to the machine? I've seen this before and a simple reboot fixes it most of the time. If it doesn't and you say your info isn't lost, figure out which login under C:\Documents and Settings\ you're using and copy your stuff into there.