Please help me with my computer problem

My sister has a computer that has windows vista on it i don't know much about it but it starts up and then goes to that screen with the loading bar and goes for about 1-4 seconds and then the whole computer shuts off and we don't know why

Have you cleaned the computer out lately? Like open it up and get all of the dust and dirt out of itl?This may be a cause of the problem.And make sure that all of the cables are securely in place in all of the places where they need to go as well.

ram? take it out, clean, put back in, start computer.

Yes when she brought it over here it was full of yellow dust everywhere(she smokes) and i cleaned it out and i will try the ram thing

do you think it has a lot of viruses?...that may be a factor in it as well...though i have encountered times when a certain cd/dvd drive wouldn't allow any of my desktops to boot... It was a pretty old cd-rom drive anyways.

Well the ram thing didn't work and i don't if its a virus but i think it could be i also think it could be a ribbon cable problem or a bad PSU or a bad hard drive would it help if i made a video of me starting it up until it shuts itself down
EDIT: oh yeah its only 2 years old she bought it in 2008

The boot file might be corrupt. Try a reformat.

Replying to #7

But that would delete all of her data on the HDD, and if they don't have the Windows Vista Install Disc, then they can't get Vista.Unless you're interested in windows 7? ;)

Gamer4life88266 · #6Well the ram thing didn't work and i don't if its a virus but i think it could be i also think it could be a ribbon cable problem or a bad PSU or a bad hard drive would it help if i made a video of me starting it up until it shuts itself down
EDIT: oh yeah its only 2 years old she bought it in 2008

Yeah, make a video just so i can see what it's doing.A computer that young shouldn't be doing something like this.It may be a cable in the computer case going bad.

Replying to #8

You can recover the data, easily enough. If not transfer it.

Replying to #9

true...but you would have to have external sata cables and another comp..easy enough :P@Gamer.
Do you have the Vista Recovery Disc(s)?

Yes we have the disc and have been suing it but it doesn't work and i will make the video

Did you change your system to boot from disc at the start? Some systems still don't launch from a recovery or OS disc and you have to manually enable it.

Her is the video i just uploaded it so its not viewable yet but heres the linkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg7Mt3VrN58

Replying to #13

Thanks!I'll see what i can....see... :D

My Windows XP has the same problem, only when you select Launch Repair, the white bar goes across, and then it shuts off.

I honestly don't know what to do except to reinstall everything... :PPartition the harddrive and what not, but this will cause a loss of all data.....

do you have other ram modules? when i have a problem with comp shutting down, my only problem always is the ram, bad damn useless god damn you MS ram.always reinstall/reformat is the last option.try going to bios and check how much ram is installed, if its below your advertised amount, then its the ram.

ok i will try again with the ram

I've seen your video and from what I saw I can say
you'll need to change the first boot device in your BIOS
it is set to boot from CD now and that needs to be your harddriveWhen you press your PC on and you'll see his systemsstart up press DEL (next to 0 on the right side of the keyboard) and you'll enter your BIOS from there change the boot setting and make sure you fist boo device is your HDD and the second boot device Cd Rom.I don't know if it solves your problem but it is something I saw from your video some PC won't start up if those settings are incorrectIf you don't know how to work in the BIOS and how to change those setting I suggest that you ask someone who knows. otherwise you can mess up your PC if you change settings wrong

I don't think that's the problem, since all my PC's have the CD-ROM drive set as the first bootable device, then HDD, then Removable Disks...I think a reinstallation would be the easiest answer to your problem.