Startup Repair

[Macola10]

I came in this AM to the power going down overnight. 4 pcs (mix of W7, W8, 32 and 64 bit) booted up immediately to a STartup Repair screen--your computer was unable to start with another Startup repair over top do you want to restore your computer using system restore.

Two people had gotten in, they don't know if they restored or canceled til they got out. I am wondering if this is a virus or a true issue....I have never seen a PC boot up, even after power outage like this. Usually goes to black screen asking whether to go into safe mode.

Anyone have thoughts on this??

Thanks

Donna

 

[goombawaho]

Power outages will cause that sort of message whether Windows 7 or Windows 8. I wouldn't be concerned about it being a virus. I would be MORE concerned as to why you don't A) shut the computers down at night or B) have a UPS connected to each computer via USB with shutdown software running so as to allow a graceful shutdown of the computer when the power goes out.

If you have no money - Choose A
If you have some money - Choose B

If you're paranoid about malware, run the ESET Online Scanner and that should sniff anything out.
Link

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[Macola10]

Thank you....I had come to the same conclusion and all but two machines I now have working. These two want to boot up to a black screen (Windows Boot Manager). I can click on Windows7 and get in ok...will just be a nuisance for them.

Thanks again.

 

[zelgar]

I don't blame the OP. Our IT department doesn't want the users to shutdown their machines at night, because that's the time they'll do updates to the PC's (or so they say). Haven't had too many times that I've arrived at my desk in the morning after a thunderstorm and have my PC turned off. Personally, I think it's a waste of a lot of energy and a potential liability for keeping the PC's on all of the time, but you have to follow the directives of the mighty IT Department

 

[goombawaho]

You could certainly schedule Windows updates for QUITTING time (5:00 p.m.) and then they would get applied as the computer was shutting down. A UPS is generally "required equipment" as far as I'm concerned if you care about your computers.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[zelgar]

One thing the I think is a little funny is the IT department wants us to turn off our monitors, but not the PC's. I know shutting down the monitors save a little money compared to when they go to standby mode, but if they were really interested in saving energy/money, they would have us shut down the PC's. Alternately, if they are planning to schedule updates, have the script remotely shut down the PC's after they're installed. Finally, I don't think our IT Department does remote updates too often. For the amount of money they waste, I bet it would be cheaper for them to have everyone turn off their PC's at night and have an IT flunky go around and turn on the PC's if they ever did have to do an update. Most users will turn off their PC (and keep them turned on if necessary), and isn't Wake on LAN an option for a lot of PC's anymore?

 

[goombawaho]

Totally agreed with what you said. Monitor OFF savings = very minimal compared to the PCs themselves. Not to mention wear and tear on hard drives and power supplies that run 24/7.

You can set Windows to update at 7:00 p.m. or whatever time is AFTER working hours and then you can set up a Windows scheduled task that would shut the machine down at 7:30

IT flunky - you need at least one.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[cdogg]

In larger organizations, such as the one I work for, it is very difficult to roll out application updates, Windows updates, etc., in a timely fashion when the PCs are off at night. In smaller organizations, that's more manageable of course. No one wants to see their PC prompting for a reboot during the day, which is why we plan for software update pushes to roll out at night. The other factor is that we have quite a few critical departments that require uninterrupted service during peak hours. No way could we get away with updating those during the day.

I'm throwing this out there in response to the blanket statement that PCs are better off at night, as obviously it depends on the environment. Increased productivity from updating during off-peak hours is the trade-off to wear/tear and wasting power. Admittedly, IT is moving more and more into the realm of virtualized computing platforms (e.g. VMware), so the task of keeping the operating system and applications up-to-date is becoming easier to manage for the workstations that are nothing more than thin client dumb terminals connecting to a virtual session.



-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

[tab][navy]For this site's posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[goombawaho]

No way could we get away with updating those during the day.

Yeah, I would never suggest "during business hours". I think we know we're talking about small PC deployments and probably without a WSUS server.

In terms of a blanket statement, I think it's 100% true that PCs are better off during off hours for energy savings, wear and tear savings, and protection from power problems if not protected by a UPS. The cost and manner of applying updates would change this equation.

I live in an "under 20 computers" world so updates aren't too daunting.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.