Log in issues and issues once logged in

[Critch67]

When logging in on windows 10, sometimes it logs in properly and sometimes it doesn’t. The times it doesn’t it stays on the login screen with the circle going round. Other times it just goes to a black screen. When I manage to log in I cannot use the taskbar at the bottom (get the circle icon likes it’s loading/working on something). I can access folders on my desktop but once I try to browse into them and open a file the system freezes and I get the circle again. I can’t task manager via Ctrl+alt+del or any other method. I cannot boot into safe mode and try to do a restore from a previous point and I’m struggling with what else to try. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Andrew

 

[Garyw]

What version of Windows 10? Run Winver. What are your system specs? Mfgr. model, memory etc.

 

[Critch67]

See attached

 

[Garyw]

The times it doesn’t it stays on the login screen with the circle going round. Other times it just goes to a black screen.

This sounds like a typical cpu from a few years ago, but

When I manage to log in I cannot use the taskbar at the bottom (get the circle icon likes it’s loading/working on something). I can access folders on my desktop but once I try to browse into them and open a file the system freezes and I get the circle again. I can’t task manager via Ctrl+alt+del or any other method. I cannot boot into safe mode and try to do a restore from a previous point and I’m struggling with what else to try

but this sounds like busted windows. Are you able to open a command prompt: (Right click on start, Left click on Command Prompt (Admin). If so, type in :
sfc /scannow. If it comes back with no errors, run it twice more.

 

[Trouble]

It sounds a bit like to me that the computer is attempting an upgrade / update.
With a 1.8 Ghz processor and only 4 gigs of memory this could potentially leave the computer without sufficient resources to do much of anything else.

It is also possible that this process is failing and then retrying over and over again, either because you are interrupting the process or because of a corrupt download of that update / upgrade.
OR
Because of other physical problems with the computer, specifically a faulty or failing hard disk.

My first suggestion would be to make an effort to backup all your critical data to an external resource, even if that meant physically removing the hard drive and attaching it to another computer to back it up.
Once you have your files secure you can explore other options, like....
Running chkdsk on all existing partitions of that drive to check for bad sectors.
AND perhaps consider a clean install of the Operating System.

At some point you're going to have to decide how long an unusable computer is worth further time and effort.

 

[ram1220]

My bet is on a failing hard drive or malware/virus.