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Question

Laptop dying/dead

May 4, 2018 7:45PM PDT

I have an Acer Aspire 4GBDDR3 500 GB HDD that is probably 7 years old. It would shut down with heat at times but I have enjoyed this computer and do not look forward to losing Windows 7. My last backup was probably a year ago and I have no excuse for it. There are pictures and documents I would like to retrieve. I got an error screen that starts in 00000 ending with E9 ( my daughter says). The message said something is loose. I last saw the computer trying to load files and failing. It tried 3 times before I closed it and went for a walk.
My daughter says I will not be able to save anything via USB as Windows won't load. Help is appreciated. Speak slowly and clearly as my computer knowledge is limited. Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
saving files
May 5, 2018 12:17AM PDT

If the computer has a DVD drive, drop a LIVE LINUX DVD into the drive and boot to it. I'd suggest Linux Mint 17.3 as easiest for such an older computer. You can get one cheap for $6 at osdisc.com or create your own from download at linuxmint.com site. This will allow you to boot to DVD, run the file manager in linux mint, and copy all your files from the hard drive onto a USB flashdrive. After you save your files, on the same Mint disc should be a program called "Disks" you can use to check the HDD and see if it's failing, check it's SMART values too. Sounds like it is.

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Linux
May 5, 2018 9:51PM PDT

Great! I just placed an order. And my daughter just corrected my pronunciation of Linux.

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its worth a try
May 6, 2018 10:11AM PDT

This is surely worth a try. It is obviously faster (and for free) if you just download the Linux and make an bootable USB drive. Normally this process is done in 15min or so (depending on your connection). Anyways...if there is another problem with the computer you can always open it and take out the HDD drive, put it into another one and copy all of your important files.

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Files copied
May 17, 2018 5:04PM PDT

I downloaded everything I wanted to keep and very thankful for the advice. As far as running the disk program or anything else, I am stuck. I think I was finally able to find the disk program but I got a warning when I clicked on the first option and decided I'd better get some more help.I tried to ask this question on the Linux site and was just advised to get a Windows repair disk.
Thanks

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At 7 years it's likely to be a hardware issue.
May 17, 2018 5:13PM PDT

Why do you think it's a Windows issue?

Also, do you have the factory recovery media for this model?

Is it worth the 40 bucks or so to obtain this set of media?

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Just following others advice
May 18, 2018 11:51PM PDT

Getting the recovery disk was the advice from the Linux forums. I have no personal knowledge to even guess on what the issue is.

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Answer
Laptop
May 5, 2018 1:01AM PDT

Can you boot to safe mode?

Can you boot a linux live cd/usb?