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my wife left her ASUS laptop switched off for approx. 2 months.when she restarted it, it kept crashing.
i tried to reinstall windowsxp as an upgrade and halfway thro' the process it kept crashing.i then reinstalled windows xp as a fresh installation and she was able to use it successfully.however,whenever she started it up, unless she acted very quickly, it immediately tried to resume the windows xp upgrade installation and even if i inserted the xp cd,it would crash almost immediately after that . in addition she couldn't connect to the internet.
so i decided to wipe the harddrive and try to start from scratch again.i used a program called DiscWipe to do this. the only option available to me was harddrive 0 (i checked)and there was only 1 harddrive so i started the program. it took quite a while and when it reached 100% & nothing else seemed to be happening i removed the cd and inserted the windows setup disc and turned off the machine. i wonder now if i acted too hastily.
when i restarted the machine. the name ASUS appeared for about 4 seconds and then i was confronted by a blue screen with a flashing curser in the top left corner.
i tried typing an instruction but that didn't work either.there are no error messages and i cannot start it in safe mode.
is this machine terminally ill or can it be saved? any help would be gratefully appreciated, even if the news is bad.
thanks for reading this very long post.
don

Hello bloggo3, welcome to PCHF.

Why did you decide to use DiskWipe? You have the option to format the drive during the install of XP. Did you manage to finish the install?

BSOD's are normally caused by hardware issues, most commonly RAM or overheating. Where was the laptop kept for those months? The information on the BSOD is the key to narrowing your problems down further (even though it only appears for a very short time), please could you provide me with the information highlighted below:

thanks for replying to my post.
there is absolutely no message appearing on my screen ,not even for a millisecond.as far as i can tell the machine is not booting up at all.the ASUS logo appears for a couple of seconds and immediately goes to a flashing command prompt in the top left corner.when i try to type a command nothing happens.the flashing prompt appears just 6 seconds after i switch the machine on.
i decided to use discwipe because i did a new installation of windows and it failed to
overwrite the failed upgrade install which i tried to do first.
is there anywhere i can get a boot disc on cd as there is no floppy drive on my own desktop or my wife's laptop,and i would like to try and boot it up and see what i can do then to get you more info.
thanks don

Well DiskWipe would have certainly caused those problems.

At this point you'll need to use the Windows Setup or Recovery CD that would have been provided with the laptop? If you don't have one, then you will need to purchase one.

i am gratified that you seem to think that discwipe is probably the cause of my problem as that would indicate that it may be possible to retrieve the situation.
i have tried 3 or 4 windows set up discs that i received with various computers over the last ten years, but none of them boot up the computer. the only one i didn't try was an old windows '98 that i know i have somewhere, and i doubt if that would work either.
this RECOVERY DISC you mention , i am totally unfamiliar with.
1. would it solve my problem?
2.approx. how much would it cost?
3.where do i buy one?
i know i've seen an ad for a cd that contains about 69 solutions to problems for approx $15 would this do the trick?
if by some means i could boot up the laptop, then can i just install the windows xp that i had on the machine previously.
a lot of questions,i know.
thanks again for your prompt reply and all your help.
don

No prob's.

Even if those disks did boot, they would be completely useless without the CD. Since you have absolutely nothing on the hard drive at the moment, you'll need that CD to put Windows back on. When we come to the Windows setup, I'll provide you with some instructions of what you need to do during the setup to get that disk working again. (It's just a matter of creating a new partition and then formatting the drive properly).

A new PC will normally come with a recovery cd or a Windows setup CD (not normally both). The recovery CD's are different between manufacturers and their models. You can sometimes go back to the manufacturer of your PC and request for a recovery CD, which if available, may charge their own fee for. Alternatively, you can buy a Windows Setup CD from here: https://www.pronetcd.com/detail.asp?...N09-00984-DELL

That 69 solutions CD, have not seen it myself, but there is only one solution to this particular problem, and that it to fix your disk problems and install Windows from scratch. There is no way that kind of CD could resolve these issues. 69 solutions is also very insignificant when you consider there are an infinate number of possible problems a PC can develop, both software and hardware.

i know this will probably seem like a stupid question ,but i'll ask it anyway.if the set up disc that came with the computer won't boot it up then how will a new set up disc do so?
i've already tried 3 different windows set up discs without success.
in addition i downloaded and burnt an .iso file that contains 9 different boot discs and this didn't work either.would a recovery disc be any more successful? this computer is in some kind of limbo.
i wonder does the flashing prompt indicate that the computer is awaiting some action from me and is thus impervious to any other instruction.i am tempted to try and wipe the hardrive again,(if i can) in case it hadn't totally finished the first time i did so.could trying this do any further harm? probably not, as this machine is already getting very close to the recycling bin.
i feel bad about imposing on you especially when i am being so awkward, but thanks for all your help,i think it's helped greatly to crystalise my own thoughts.
don