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It will if the bios is resetting every time due to unsaved settings. Usually a warning is issued on boot when the bios is reset anyway.
Daily Mail caused Windows 7 PC to crash irreparably
- Thread starter Lysander
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It will if the bios is resetting every time due to unsaved settings. Usually a warning is issued on boot when the bios is reset anyway.
That's not been my experience. The only thing that's lost is date and time and other such things which are reset. The BIOS can still see the primary boot device.
This isn't to say that the battery shouldn't be replaced though.
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That's not been my experience. I've had systems resetting completely until the battery was replaced. Not to say this is the case but I wouldn't want a system with a dead battery.
Hmm fair enough. I'm being kind of lazy with getting the battery replaced. Will look into it.
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I would be tempted to get the system to boot, and remove (uninstall) firefox including all data. Install firefox in chrome and then block the dailymail website via the host file, point it to google or something.
Once resolved I would then be tempted to move from a HDD to a SSD via clone software. Then hope to god it activates.
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Agreed, but I was thinking of a clean install on a SSD.
You can download a Windows 7 ISO from Microsoft.
Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool
This new tool allows an easy and comfortable way to download genuine Microsoft Windows 7, 8.1 and 10, as well as Office 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016 disk images (ISO) directly from Microsoft's servers.
There are a couple of tools that will extract the license key too if you need that.
OK, thank you very much to everyone here. There were some very good ideas and suggestions. I had a two hour call with an IT friend from Turkey and after that, the machine is now working better then before!
Yes, Windows 7 is up and running and I even managed to clear out Firefox and add uBlock Origin on it thanks to @mrk. I also did a defrag and a malware scan... it's all good to go.
So... what was the "gotcha" then? The main issue was that the graphics card was on its way out, but why was this making it so that the machine wasn't booting Windows? Well, because the graphics card was dying, and the CMOS battery was dead, the BIOS was getting confused about what to display and was having difficulty switching to onboard even when the VGA was plugged into that port. So it just gave up and had the BIOS running with a black screen.
Fix: we turned the onboard to primary and removed the graphics card. Instant boot into Windows 7. But no 1920zx1080 resolution since the onboard chip didn't have the drivers for it. So we had to download the display drivers for the mobo from the Intel website [not Asus] and then, on reboot, all was perfect.
Thanks to everyone who came in to help. Now the computer should work for longer, oh, and at least we now know the HDD is fine since it's been SMART tested. Will she get an SDD though? Don't hold your breath...
Now, as for that Daily Mail link, you may be wondering, did I retrieve it? Of course I did. Please see it below... and click it at your peril [no issues with it here, btw]...
www.dailymail.co.uk
Have a good night, all.
Yes, Windows 7 is up and running and I even managed to clear out Firefox and add uBlock Origin on it thanks to @mrk. I also did a defrag and a malware scan... it's all good to go.
So... what was the "gotcha" then? The main issue was that the graphics card was on its way out, but why was this making it so that the machine wasn't booting Windows? Well, because the graphics card was dying, and the CMOS battery was dead, the BIOS was getting confused about what to display and was having difficulty switching to onboard even when the VGA was plugged into that port. So it just gave up and had the BIOS running with a black screen.
Fix: we turned the onboard to primary and removed the graphics card. Instant boot into Windows 7. But no 1920zx1080 resolution since the onboard chip didn't have the drivers for it. So we had to download the display drivers for the mobo from the Intel website [not Asus] and then, on reboot, all was perfect.
Thanks to everyone who came in to help. Now the computer should work for longer, oh, and at least we now know the HDD is fine since it's been SMART tested. Will she get an SDD though? Don't hold your breath...
Now, as for that Daily Mail link, you may be wondering, did I retrieve it? Of course I did. Please see it below... and click it at your peril [no issues with it here, btw]...
Harry recounts awkward moment William 'recoiled' from Meghan's hug
In his bombshell memoir Spare, the Duke of Sussex, 38, described the moment he introduced his brother his new girlfriend at Kensington Palace in 2016 as a 'classic collision of cultures'.
Have a good night, all.
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I don't know how, but I think that, in some way, that page helped 'break' the graphics card. Since that second time we loaded that page, the computer crashed as soon as it attempted to load it. Also, I think that the ad blocker that was on there before was no way as good as uBlock Origin. I since tried that DM page on her computer after cleaning things up, and it was fine.
What this does show, is that the internet can be a nasty place without a good ad-blocker/solution. And that the 'average' user can really get screwed over without the right resources.
The graphics card in question:
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Don
Get an SSD and install Linux Mint on it.
I hear you, but if she's not going to move off Windows 7, she's not going to move to Linux.
The thing is, Linux users still think that Mint is enough like Windows for Windows users to move over. It's really not for most Windows people. I moved one girl at work over to Mint on her laptop and she loved it for a few days before somehow deleting network manager. I then gave up on her and I presume she moved back to Windows.
Soldato
Is your browser set to use hardware acceleration?
This may explain using the GPU to render while on sites.
This may explain using the GPU to render while on sites.
You really need to get an SSD in that machine and just clone the hard drive onto it before the hard drive fails. Nothing will be changed or lost by cloning, she just gains a faster machine - everybody's a winner.
I'd be suspicious of the PSU too. It could be that something loaded the GPU hard enough to strain the ageing PSU.
I'd be suspicious of the PSU too. It could be that something loaded the GPU hard enough to strain the ageing PSU.
Soldato
Open Windows 7 cmd to enter:
wmic diskdrive get Name,Model,SerialNumber,Size,Status
See if hard drive is OK or Pred Fail.
If it Pred Fail then get hard disk clone to new SSD now.
My 4TB WD Blue SSHD still worked fine after installed some apps back in Dec 2022 to checked for SMART failure warned me I have less than 24 hours to backup data since had trouble ran defrag on D: and F: then ran chkdisk to repaired file system and later found critical warning in event viewer dated back on 21 Sept 2022.
I never heard of SMART Monitoring Tools and downloaded it and ran smartctl d: -a
Ordered 4TB WD Black SN850X on 28 Dec 2022, expected delivery on 4 Jan 2023 but delivery was refused by UPS on 3 Jan 2023 because it had no invoice information on delivery and send back to sender. I contacted WD support and then 2 days later received email with new tracking number said it now on way expect to deliver on 16 Jan 2023. Checked progress it arrived in UK on 13 Jan and today it arrived at Preston, far so good.
Oh tell your wife that browsers will be no longer updated on Windows 7 so she will have problem access to many sites. She will need to move to Windows 11 to continue update browsers. Windows 11 will work wonderfully on her old PC fine with some hack to bypass TPM 2.0, CPU, RAM and HDD minimum system requirement.
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