Fao Buenchico Please

[poisondwarf]

Sorry to bother you again, but I have had a repeat of yesterday's problem of a 'frozen' mouse. When I boot up, my laptop gets as far as the Windows logo - and I can't do anything after that! I have tried inserting the recovery drive, but there is no response from Mouse nor from touch pad. I would like to back all my files up to a memory stick before I take the laptop to my 'friendly neighbourhood computer shop' - or are you going to tell me to take it straight there in the morning?
As ever, I am in your hands; I respect your advice and apologize for giving you another headache!
Many thanks in advance.
Chick

[Old_Geezer]

Never hurts to back it up.
Nor to clear your browser history ;-)

[poisondwarf]

Thanks OG, but I can't do anything until I get back some control.
Best
Chick

[HansUrbancka]

Is your mouse a wireless or cabled item. The latter being more reliable?.

Hans.

[Old_Geezer]

You can download programmes that will interpret the .dmp files for you.

[Old_Geezer]

That's interesting. I wasn't in this thread !!!!!

[poisondwarf]

I have a wireless mouse, which has been fine for about twelve months, and into which I have fitted a new battery this afternoon. If I take out the 'mouse' USB, I still can't use the touch pad, so I can't control anything at the moment! Thank you for all your suggestions. Much appreciated.

[Togo]

Have you tried removing the mouse and using the Laptop touch pad?

[Togo]

Forget that, you answered as I was asking the question.

[Togo]

You have driver problems, have you made any attempt at sorting it PD?

[poisondwarf]

Sorry Togo, what is PD?

[Old_Geezer]

You are :-D

[Togo]

Ta Geezer.:)) W10?, W8?, Other?.

[Togo]

Your first problem is going to be that you can do nothing without a mouse if you do not know how to negotiate the screen from the keyboard. But first have you tried a clean reboot to see whether a third party application is causing the problem? To do this switch off, wait a few minutes and switch back on whilst holding down the F8 key.

[poisondwarf]

Togo
Sorry I didn't even recognize my own initials! As you can imagine, I am pretty stressed out over this.

I will try booting up while holding down F8 again, and let you know if there is any change.
Many thanks for all the suggestions gentlemen.
KRs
PD

[Togo]

With no mouse control you can scroll the screen options by touching down the Ctrl key (bottom left) and using the up and down arrows until your option is highlighted.

[poisondwarf]

Sorry gentlemen, no change. I am getting fed up now, but never mind, I've just made yet another cup of tea!

[Buenchico]

Sorry for the delay in replying; I've only just seen your post.

Have you checked (as in my previous post) that your touchpad isn't simply disabled? (If it is, you might just have a dodgy mouse).

Accessing the contents of your laptop's hard drive can be tricky if you've got no mouse or touchpad. I'd suggest getting your local techie to back up your files before he does anything else. To do so, all he needs to do is to remove your laptop's hard drive (which usually takes about 30 seconds, as there are just a couple of screws to undo) and plug it into a USB drive caddy (another really quick job). The, after 'taking ownership' of the drive (yet another quick task) he'll be able to access your files in the same way as he can access files from a memory stick (allowing him to back them up to somewhere).

If you'd rather do that yourself first, you'll need to buy a USB drive caddy (online, for just a few pounds - link available on request) and follow the instructions (which I'll be happy to give you) for 'taking ownership' of the drive from another computer.

[poisondwarf]

Hello Buenchico, or may I call you Chris?
Many thanks fore getting back to me. I think I would like to try to do this myself with you keeping a watchful 'eye' over me. If you would be kind enough to give me the link and any further information I might need, I would be very grateful. I only bought the mouse because the touch pad was over sensitive. Once we get this sorted I will go back to the touch pad, with a wired mouse for standby. Incidentally, should I pay for a Driver Updater, eg AVG, or leave it to my 'tame' techie? As always I am forever in your debt, and appreciative of your advice and, of course, your patience!
Many, many thanks.
Chick

[Togo]

1.Press Windows key + X and go to Device Manager
2.In the Device Manager window find your touchpad drivers.
3.Right-click them, and select Uninstall.
4.Select the option to delete the driver package from the system.
5.Go to the Action menu of Device manager and select Scan for Hardware changes to reinstall your drivers.
6.Restart your computer.

To scroll with no mouse use Ctrl and up and down arrow. To select use enter key.

But if your lappie is "stuck on the windows logo, you may not be able access settings so will still need a safe reboot.

[Buenchico]

If you're going to try things yourself, you can probably forget about backing up your files for now anyway. You need to get hold of a proper recovery drive (on a USB memory stick) for your version of Windows. So which version is it? (Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10?). You might also need to know whether you've got a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows. (If you don't know, please provide the make and model of your laptop from the sticker on the bottom).

What you'll need to buy will be one of these:
http://tinyurl.com/lucagjj
(I've not suggested a particular one as I don't yet know which version of Windows you've got).

Then you'll need to ensure that your laptop is configured to look for a USB boot drive before examining the hard drive for a boot sector. To do so you need to get into its BIOS. You do that by pressing the relevant key during its boot-up process. (i.e. before Windows has loaded). There's usually an on-screen prompt to tell you which key to press. Once into the BIOS, you navigate around by using the arrow keys, together with 'Enter' and 'Esc'. It's usually not too difficult to find the settings which determine the boot order.

Then you power down your laptop (by removing the battery, and then replacing it, if necessary), plug your recovery drive into a USB port and boot up. You should then be provided with an option to repair Windows.

If you'd still rather back up your files first (by removing the hard drive and inserting it into a USB caddy) you need one of these:
http://tinyurl.com/mcw84ls
You simply remove the laptop's hard drive by undoing a couple of screws in the bay underneath it (using the watchmaker's type of screwdrivers which any pound shop can sell you a set of) and sliding it out. You then just slot it into the caddy and connect it to your PC via the supplied cable. You'll be able to see many of the files on the hard drive but not your personal ones. To do so, you need to 'take ownership' of the drive:
http://www.techfleece.com/2011/05/15/how-to-take-ownership-of-files-or-folders-or-an-entire-hard-drive/