Constant freezing progresses to boot errors (ACER Aspire x1200 Vista)

Hello,

I am going to start out by saying that I am not tech-savvy. I don't know much about computers. So I apologize if I sound stupid.

So basically, it started with the computer freezing up. I woke up one morning, and moved the mouse to wake the computer up (I never turn it off completely...That might be something that caused the problem in the first place,who knows). The screen came on, and I could see the desktop and the mouse, but the mouse wouldn't move, and the keyboard wouldn't do anything. I tried to turn the computer off by holding the power button, but that wouldn't do anything. So I had to turn off the power manually. When it booted up again, it was fine. So I left for work.

Then my boyfriend woke up, the computer was still fine. He played WoW, checked email, went on the internet, and then left to go shopping.

I got home from work and moved the mouse to wake up the computer. The screen came on to only the background picture of my desktop. The icons and mouse were gone. Again, I had to cut the power to reboot the computer. It booted up again and tried to run a disk check or something in BIOS or DOS or whatever it's called before Windows starts up. It froze mid check. I had to reboot again. This time, it wanted to run a virus check in BIOS. Again, it froze. I had to reboot. When it booted up again, I declined for any checks to happen. Windows started up. I ran a registry check, and it was fine. Ran a virus check, and it was fine. Thought maybe it was just a weird fluke, so I went about business as usual, going on the internet and checking e-mail. I went to the kitchen to get a snack, and then came back, and the computer was frozen again (on the desk top, mouse visable, but not moveable, no response from the keyboard).

I rebooted. Pressed F8 and chose to run Safe Mode. Froze up while loading. Rebooted. Pressed F8 and chose to Run Last Successful Boot Attempt. Froze. Rebooted. Much of the same as above, etc. Finally, one attempt worked and the computer loaded. By this time, I had to leave again for a friend's birthday.

I came home late and just went straight to bed without checking the computer.

This morning, I woke up to find a blue screen with an error message. I didn't writ down what it said unfortunately. Had to reboot.

Now, every time I reboot, the same thing happens.

"NVIDIA Boot Aget 249.0542
Copyright etc
Copyright etc

Port 01: Reset Port Error!!
Port 02: Reset Port Error!!"

"CLIENT MAC ADDR: 00 1D 72 A7 0F E9 GUID: FFFFFFFFF-FFF-FFFFF-FFFFF-DHCP......." And it just stays on this screen forever.

:(

My specs:
ACER
Aspire X1200
Windows Vista
Bios version R01-A3

I don't know what to do. The only things my computer will allow me to do now are choose a different boot method (hard drive, NVIDIA Boot Agent or Plug-In/some other term) or go into Setup, which has options for BIOS and other stuff. I didn't want to fiddle with anything here because I don't know what any of it means.

Any ideas? I don't even have the Vista CD to reinstall anything.

Should I include any more information? Please let me know.

Edit:

So I just tried to start up the computer again. I let it sit for about an hour before trying to start it up again. It asked what mode it should do (Safe, etc, Normal) So I tried safe mode. It starts to try safe mode by Loading Windows Files, but freezes at avgidesh.sys

I had to reboot. This time, before it could ask me how to load, it said "One of your disks needs to be checked for consistency" So I let it run a check. "CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)" and it's fine. Then, "CHKDSK is verifying indxes (stage 2 of 3)" and it freezes at 28 percent (261974 of 319480 index entries processed).
 
I don't know if I have any answers but it sounds like the hard drive is failing. That said, do you use AVG? The avgidesh.sys file is from AVG I believe.
 
Well, if my hard drive is failing, do you know of any way to back up my files without being able to access Windows? Do I have to take the hard drive out, and put it in another computer that can hold 2 hard drives, and then transfer files? Is there any way of me being able to do it on the computer as is?

Even as I ask, I know the likely answer is no. This sucks. I've only had the computer for 2 years. I don't know much about them, but 2 years doesn't sound like a long time to me. And of course, this had to happen right around the holidays. I had my Christmas shopping list on there. :(
 
If you have an external hard drive, you can backup files from the command prompt.

Hook up the drive, and then boot to a command prompt, from the Vista DVD or repair disc. If you don't have either, you can create a repair disc.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/141820-create-recovery-disc.html

Boot to the disc, and select "Repair my computer". Open a command prompt, and use the xcopy command to copy the files over.

To see how to use the xcopy command, enter xcopy /? into the command prompt.
 
Thank you both for your replies. I didn't have an external drive. I ended up having to take the hard drive from my computer and put it in my mom's computer that can hold two, and booted from her computer. Then I transfered my files over and made a copy of them onto a DVD.

Looks like the hard drive is corrupted. My mom is more of a computer person than myself. She's currently trying to reformat the drive but it's not going well. Why does that happen randomly?? Do hard drives usually malfuction after 2 years? I checked my warrantly and it literally ran out yesterday. What a joke.

Anyway, thanks again for your help.

Edit: The reason I know it's the hard drive is because the hard drive caused the same problems in my mom's computer (freezing and booting problems). So the rest of the computer was fine.
 
Good diagnostic work; sorry to hear about the warranty though.

Hard drives fail quite unpredictably.

I purchased a 1.5 TB Samsung hard drive at the beginning of this year, and it failed in October.

I purchased a replacement Hitachi laptop drive for someone who's hard drive had failed; the new drive failed about 51 weeks after I installed it.

I replaced the hard drive in my sister's laptop; 3 months later it had failed.

But then there are those stories of hard drives soldiering on for years, such as my laptop hard drive. Truly, hard drive can fail at any point from their installation up until the time the computer is replaced. You cannot prevent a hard drive from failing, but you can be prepared in case it does! Backup.

For $50, you can replace the drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...3&cm_re=500gb_sata_3.5-_-22-136-073-_-Product

Or you can triple the storage space for just $30:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7&cm_re=1.5tb_sata_3.5-_-22-148-337-_-Product
 
Same problem

Hi,
I've been having this exact same problem. So, I just bought a new hard drive. HOWEVER, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the old one out. I've searched for all kinds of manuals, but it's really buried in there. Help please!
 
Hi,
I've been having this exact same problem. So, I just bought a new hard drive. HOWEVER, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the old one out. I've searched for all kinds of manuals, but it's really buried in there. Help please!
Hello,

What is the model of your laptop?
 
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