im fixing my friends hp pavillion, and it will not boot, except give her a blue screen, and then black, nothing else. I advised safe mode and go last known good configuration. she tells me it gives her a menu to do a disk partition. this tells me her hard drive has packed up. is there a way to retrieve her business data off the drive, ot maybe even a way to get her laptop up and running again? i did also advise a safe mode/restore, but she was given the same menu.

I assume you know something about computers since your friend trusted you to "Fix" hers. So, what would you normally do in a case like this? If Safe Mode doesn't work, I'd start with a Windows Repair. "So won’t you give this man his wings What a shame To have to beg you to see We’re not all the same What a shame" - Shinedown

aye, i do lol. yes, well my only worry about a system repair, is that if she has to re-partition her drive, she will lose her work. on the other hand, she does have her recovery cd, and am hoping to tell her a repair has a good chance of keeping her work. normally i would say a very good chance, but as its asking her to do this disk partition, it gives me doubts.

I think something is being distorted in the communications between her and you. What she is saying doesn't make a lot of sense. You probably need to check it yourself.

im inclined to agree with you. the unfortunate thing is, she's 10,000 miles away in america. so i think i'll give her the best advice, and to take to a local repairs. Many thanks for the advice :o)

"my only worry about a system repair, is that if she has to re-partition her drive, she will lose her work" You don't lose your work with a system repair. You would have to reinstall the Windows updates.

So you don't actually have the computer to fix it. I wouldn't spend the money to take it to someone else. Have her try a Repair first. "So won’t you give this man his wings What a shame To have to beg you to see We’re not all the same What a shame" - Shinedown