Computer restarts by itself

peter912

Member
Back up any important data to an external drive before they arrive to be safe but I doubt its the hdd.

Yes, this is what is causing me anxiety. You doubt it is the hdd and yet that is the part that they have shipped to be replaced . So if it isn't the hdd then that means that I will lose everything for nothing, such as my bookmarks for instance. I could buy an external drive before they come out but I don't know how to transfer from the computer to the external harddrive. Once I tried it and there was nothing on the external harddrive . What should I do ? Should I just cancel the service call and wait till it gets worse before doing anything ? Should I let the technician come out but I am not happy about replacing the harddrive, especially since you say that it is not what is causing the problem in the first place ?
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
I doubt its the hard drive, didn't say i'm sure its not the hard drive. Copy and paste your data. What browser do you use?
 

peter912

Member
Use firefox sync. I just built a new system and had sync enabled on old system and enabled it on new and logins and passwords were saved.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-set-sync-my-computer
However, you should keep a separate list like in word, notepad, wordpad of all your logins in case disaster strikes.

I have logins and passwords written down on paper but it is a hassle to look for it . This "sync" transfers it to another device, such as a smart phone, but really I wanted to put it in the computer in another place other than the hard drive. Is this possible ?
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Do you have a USB flash drive? You can save the file there and then restore it later. As far as sync goes, once you log into sync it automatically syncs everything. It's a simple process.
 

peter912

Member
The technician called me and said he will be here in the next two hours. I doubt that I will let him install the harddrive that he is bringing with him. He said that I have to reinstall Windows . Well that is the deal breaker because I can't reinstall Windows. I told him to come out anyways to at least determine what needs to be replaced. Maybe its not even the harddrive ?
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Dell will usually give you a drive with an image on it. It will go through the installation process when you turn it on. Just like when you buy a new PC. And even if you had to reinstall windows, it's not hard.
 

peter912

Member
Dell will usually give you a drive with an image on it. It will go through the installation process when you turn it on. Just like when you buy a new PC. And even if you had to reinstall windows, it's not hard.

The technician just left my home a few minutes ago. So here is the 411 . He brought a blank harddrive with him but he did not have a USB drive so he couldn't install it because it would render the computer useless. Anyways he said that all hardware in my computer is working good. Dell headquarters now thinks that the problem lies with windows and that it needs to be reinstalled but that I would need to buy a 16 GB USB to do this. So what do you make of all this nonsense ?
 

peter912

Member
Thank-you Dell, NOT ! I took your advice and reinstalled windows and lost everything. I can't even access my e mail. I should have just left everything alone. All Dell did was cause me a great deal of anxiety, I can't access anything anymore.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
If you use a third party program for your email, that would have to been backed up before reinstalling windows. Installing a fresh windows will wipe everything, thats why I told you to back up any important data first. I wished we had a better answer for you.
 

peter912

Member
Was it even necessary to do this and the Computer reinstalled Windows by itself. I looked it up on the internet how to do this.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Take it to a shop, you're in over your head from the sounds of things and Dell is gonna just keep jerking you around.
 

peter912

Member
Why should I take it to a shop if the technician said that there is nothing wrong with the computer ? How can I get the computer to go back to before I did this windows reinstall on the internet or is this not possible ? I liked it the way it was before .
 

peter912

Member
If you reinstalled windows, you can't go back to the way it was.

I also lost my search bar with firefox, how do I get it back ? So many little problems , it is the fault of the technician who Dell sent out . It would have been better if he never came here. He did nothing other than to give me advice that messed everything up .

Update: I got my search bar back.
 
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johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
You can always use the address bar as the search as well, thats what I do. It's not the technicians fault. Did he reinstall windows? You did. Everybody knows if you reinstall windows you'll lose everything unless you back it up. However you could have did the reset your pc method and could have saved your programs and files.
 

peter912

Member
You can always use the address bar as the search as well, thats what I do. It's not the technicians fault. Did he reinstall windows? You did. Everybody knows if you reinstall windows you'll lose everything unless you back it up. However you could have did the reset your pc method and could have saved your programs and files.

The technician did absolutely nothing. He claimed that all the hardware was working fine and then he called Dell and they said that windows needs to be reinstalled. He did not reinstall Windows because he said that he only had a blank harddrive with him and that would render my computer useless. So he left taking the blank harddrive with him. After he left that's what I did , reset the pc method. When I buy my next computer in the future, should I stick with Dell, go with another brand, or it doesn't make a difference ?
 
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