Updates are suppose to make everything work better on your computer or laptop and most of the time they do. But sometimes it just doesn’t go all to plan.
It can be be quite scary for a technological point of view when your computer asks to to an update or upgrade.
There are so many programs on your computer. Do you update them all, just Windows, just the antivirus? It can be all too complicated.
But anyway you take the plunge, trust what you’re being told and go ahead with the update, only to restart your computer and it doesn’t turn on!
Don’t fear. Not all, but most of the time your computer or laptop does not restart properly after doing an update, you can recover your computer.
But before doing any update, or any major changes to your computer, always back up. No matter what happens to your computer, you can always recover your data if you have made a back up.
Backups can be as easy as copying your data, photo’s docs straight from your computer to a USB thumb or external hard drive. Don’t over complicate it!
Is it Software or Hardware
It doesn’t really matter if the problem is physical or programs on your computer.
It is easy to determine what type of problem it is by what happens when your computer restarts.
For instance, if you reboot your computer and it doesn’t turn on at all, not even lights on the front of the screen” it is probably a hardware physical problems stopping your computer from starting and not related to the update at all. Just a coincidence.
However, if your computer makes a beep and you start seeing things appear on the screen, even if its a logo it is more likely to do with your update.
Turning Off Your Computer Before Update is Finished
The worse possible time to tun your computer off is when it is doing and update or upgrade.
Its’s not always your fault. Maybe you lost electricity, bumped your laptop or something else on the computer including the upgrade itself restarted to early.
Most times the update will either try to resume or roll back to the previous configuration.
If you are very unlucky though it get cause major problems on your computer resulting in not being able to start the machine properly and even cases where all data has become corrupt, RAW or unrecoverable.
Did I mention you should always back up before doing any major updates?
Computer Malware/Viruses
Viruses don’t always immediately show themselves or their affects aren’t noticeable straight away.
A lot of viruses on peoples computers don’t even run at all. Some though, sit in the computers startup directory waiting for the next time the computer boots up, which often happens when you do am update or upgrade.
It can be by coincidence you just started your computer after doing an update and you are affected.
Also be careful when changing antivirus programs. If you have not properly dealt with any infections on your computer and you uninstall a antivirus program and update to a new, you can sometimes have problems.
Bad Drivers
Drivers are little computer programs on your machine which make the physical hardware components talk to the operating system.
Drivers are very important an essential to your computer running properly and optimal.
Every now and again your computer can download the wrong driver and it can cause problems. Most of the times they simply don’t load, but other times not only can it make your computer run bad, it can also stop it from loading.
This doesn’t happen a lot but it does happen and depending on what type of driver it is, for your graphics card, motherboard or sound etc? Can range from east to very hard to fix.
Failing Hard Drive
Hard drives work very hard, the spin anywhere between 5400 to 7200 times per minute.
These sorts of speeds and and constant work, generates a lot of heat and a lot of wear and tare. Hard drives are made to run for a long time but they do show signs of ageing after a couple of years and it is not unusall to see those signs when too much pressure is put on the drives.
Like the expression, “the straw that broke the camels back”. When a hard drive is failing and on the way out, it sometimes reveals itself during an update or upgrade.
Data Becomes Corrupt
Data becomes corrupt for all sorts of reasons. A lot of the time this happens because of software and other times it’s the physical computers hurting the hard drive.
Power is another thing which can hurt the drive. Surges created from the PSU (Power Supply Unit) can run into the hard drive and turn the drive RAW and corrupt the data.
When you computer is updating it is vital you do not turn it off unexpectedly. The sudden loss of power specially when you are updating can cause the drive to corrupt and your computer will not be able to start back up properly.
It Just Happens
Not the most technical term and something Im sure no one wants to hear, but its the truth.
Computers and software companies are not perfect, in fact far from. It’s a bit of an illusion that if a lot of people are using it and the company is famous and making billions of dollars, it will always work, but it doesn’t.
Most of the popular software vendors you have probably heard of are actually the biggest offenders.
It happens more times than you would think.
What You Should Not Do
Do not reset your computer if you are prompted to, unless you have backed up all your data.
If you do, you will most likely loose all your photos, music, documents, settings and programs. You probably wont get the far anyway, but if you do you could loose everything for good.
Don’t keep running the computer. If there is a physical problem and you keep the computer turned on, and the hard drives spinning you could further damage the machine and greatly reduce the chances of getting and recovering your data back.
What you should Do
If your computer is not starting properly you will most likely see it try to repair itself.
Its OK to let it run through this process but I usually only allow it to do this once to reduce the chance of the data becoming further damaged.
If you are only at this stage Townsville computer repair Nerds can help and have a much better chance of restoring your data.
Our number is 0402 807 890. We are a locally owner computer repair service who have been operating in Townsville over 20 years.
