Join for free
Page 2 of 2 < 1 2
Tedc's Avatar
Tedc
Senior Member
Tedc is offline
Berkshire, UK
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 4,872
Tedc is male  Tedc has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
01-12-2020, 07:24 PM
11

Re: Acer TravelMate 2350/4050 series laptop

Originally Posted by Pesta ->
Sorry I've been so long getting back Mark and Ted and thank you both for your input, not forgetting Meg too

Thank you Marty, you're a good lad. I've done as you suggested in your first post and I'm in.

Now, hope you can make sense of my ramblings here and questions ......

I was flummoxed when the page 'Press F2 for set up' kept appearing. When I did press it, it brought up a page I've never seen before and meant nothing to me. I was expecting to see the usual page where 'safe mode' etc is (ie if I'd pressed F8).

I then figured each OS and different make of computers each had their own 'F' number. I worried if I pressed F8 instead of F2 as it was telling me to, I'd make everything worse.
Googling and watching Youtube sites were not really helpful, basically because as you say, it's all in what you put into Google. I was getting info about 'changing your
password'. One site suggested press 'power and delete together'. It's all so confusing for a dork.

An old Vista laptop I use for games now, suffered with black screen (or maybe it was the blue screen) many years ago and I think I had to press F10 to get into 'safe 'mode'. The one I'm using now, Windows 8 went into black or blue screen and stuck in a loop (if I could get in) so as I say I had to get JL to sort that out. I know I need to press F8 for 'safe mode' on this one. (Clever devil aren't I? )

Anyway, I'm in the Acer now thankfully, but it will only let me in if I press F8 and go to 'last known good configuration'. Is it ok to do this regularly? How do I get it back to normal, or will that be too 'techy' for a computer dork?
I've retrieved the majority of the photos, onto two memory sticks, I've one more memory stick but not sure it will take them all. I'll get on with that another day.

Incidentally, I have the two discs for reinstalling but I'm not keen on getting involved with all that and I think I read things could go belly up.

Can I also ask (and please bear in mind I am a dork) is the F2 page in the 'BIOS'(??) ie the same area you get into by pressing F8?
F8 is commonly used, during boot up for getting into the BIOS.(usually achieved by rapidly tapping the key once you have told the PC to restart. You are offered safe mode, in there)

Not all PCs use it for this, some use the delete key instead..

The BIOS is a small storage area where the PC keeps information about what the built in bits are, where to boot from, what memory there is, etc.

Bios is kept alive, all the time, by a small built in battery (usually). If the battery goes flat, all sorts of Boot problems can occur.

You can usually tell if the battery is going flat by seeing if you can read the time, on the bottom right of your screen. If the battery is going, or gone, the time will keep going badly wrong. If the time looks wrong the battery is the first thing to think about.

Some are easy to change - others are NOT.

Here's how F keys get used(Double click on this):-

https://www.simplemost.com/a-definit...1-f12-keys-do/

Hope this helps.
mart's Avatar
mart
Chatterbox
mart is offline
South of England
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 6,151
mart is male  mart has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
01-12-2020, 08:46 PM
12

Re: Acer TravelMate 2350/4050 series laptop

I'm not sure how intact System Restore would reinstate the uninstalled programs but that might happen. You could hopefully end up with a computer that boots properly though. If programs are intact and the computer works, perhaps just leave them there, or try a more cautious approach to getting rid of the programs you don't want. Uninstall them one at a time, rebooting before going on to the next one and so on. This is assuming System Restore puts the computer back into a more reliable condition.
Pesta's Avatar
Pesta
Chatterbox
Pesta is offline
North of the South UK
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 6,337
Pesta is female  Pesta has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
01-12-2020, 10:33 PM
13

Re: Acer TravelMate 2350/4050 series laptop

Originally Posted by Tedc ->
F8 is commonly used, during boot up for getting into the BIOS.(usually achieved by rapidly tapping the key once you have told the PC to restart. You are offered safe mode, in there)

Not all PCs use it for this, some use the delete key instead..

The BIOS is a small storage area where the PC keeps information about what the built in bits are, where to boot from, what memory there is, etc.

Bios is kept alive, all the time, by a small built in battery (usually). If the battery goes flat, all sorts of Boot problems can occur.

You can usually tell if the battery is going flat by seeing if you can read the time, on the bottom right of your screen. If the battery is going, or gone, the time will keep going badly wrong. If the time looks wrong the battery is the first thing to think about.

Some are easy to change - others are NOT.

Here's how F keys get used(Double click on this):-

https://www.simplemost.com/a-definit...1-f12-keys-do/

Hope this helps.
Thank you Ted for the explanation re BIOS and also the link to the F's. I've had a quick read now and bookmarked it. Will settle tomorrow and have a proper read.

I remember when I was first introduced to a computer at work many years ago, and the chap I was working with who was techie minded nearly blew my head off when I went into some area with all the workings. Whether it was BIOS or not, I can't remember, I only know he frightened me to death and maybe that's why I'm rather useless and 'unsure' about the workings of computers.


Originally Posted by mart ->
I'm not sure how intact System Restore would reinstate the uninstalled programs but that might happen. You could hopefully end up with a computer that boots properly though. If programs are intact and the computer works, perhaps just leave them there, or try a more cautious approach to getting rid of the programs you don't want. Uninstall them one at a time, rebooting before going on to the next one and so on. This is assuming System Restore puts the computer back into a more reliable condition.
Thanks Marty for that. I'm just going to sit on everything for a while now. I'm proper puffed out with all the input I used up yesterday actually getting into all the photos and transferring as many as I could. My brain started to ache. Not to mention nudging memories way back in the early 2000s with documents and things that are on there, both mine and my daughters.

Incidentally, I came across Rover too... shame he's not still around

mart's Avatar
mart
Chatterbox
mart is offline
South of England
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 6,151
mart is male  mart has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
02-12-2020, 01:05 AM
14

Re: Acer TravelMate 2350/4050 series laptop

I've had some tragedies with computers too Pesta but although diving in can lead to problems, I think lots can be learned at the same time. Just have to take a breath and tell yourself that the object is just a home computer, not a heart and lung machine. Well, that's what I used to do.

As long as all the important files (photos for instance) are stored in a few places where they can't be damaged or lost, there isn't usually much that can't be sorted out one way or another. Perhaps many of us have more than one device to use on the Internet and post here etc. so it maybe isn't 'the end' if one won't work until whatever has gone wrong with it is sorted out.

Regarding BIOS, I once upgraded it on one computer I owned years ago but the upgrade file I downloaded for it was corrupt. The result was that the upgrade failed and the computer immediately turned into a brick. If the BIOS chip/I.C doesn't work, a computer can't even attempt to start up.

It was my only computer back then and the one thing I couldn't sort out myself. I had to take it to a repair shop to get the BIOS chip re-programmed. I ordered a spare ready-programmed BIOS chip after that so I could plug in and use that if ever the same thing happened again (it never did). Just all part of learning I suppose.

Modern Windows computers don't have BIOS. it's been superseded by something called 'UEFI'.
 
Page 2 of 2 < 1 2

Thread Tools


© Copyright 2009, Over50sForum   Contact Us | Over 50s Forum! | Archive | Privacy Statement | Terms of Use | Top

Powered by vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.