Computer not responding, please help!

Hello gigglepot,

First a suggestion, try tapping the F8 key when you restart the computer to see if you can get into Safe Mode only (no networking).

Second, can you tell us as much information about the computer as you can, this includes is it a notebook or desktop, is it a custom build or brand name such as Dell or HP, if a brand name, provide the model name or series number (not serial) if a custom build just say custom.

Third, can you tell us how much free storage space there was/is on the hard drive and has the hard drive been making any odd noises at all. 

Oh! Now I have a black screen with the following in the bottom right corner:

Windows 7
Build 7601
This copy of Windows is not genuine.

But this isn't possible. It's been a genuine copy all these years, it came preloaded on the computer when we bought it! Sigh…

Was this after a re start or a continuation of the previous Welcome with the spinning circle. 

Unfortunately you have no option other than to leave the computer to see if Windows finishes loading and becomes usable (possibly as long as all day or overnight) then look at troubleshooting, what you describe sounds like Windows updating  and possibly installing a bad update, if you were for example to hard shut down the computer it could potentially make matters worse. 

Tip

If using a computer and not a mobile phone, please avoid adding multiple posts while waiting for us to reply to your last, edit your last post to include anything that you wish to add, this will ensure nothing gets overlooked which can sometimes happen if a thread has more than one page.  

Hopefully good news then 

If the computer is running stable I would suggest that you create a new system restore point asap, once done do the following;

Check to see what if any updates downloaded and either did or did not install while this problem was occurring.

Download then run Speccy (free) and post the resultant url for us, details here,  this will provide us with information about your computer hardware + any software that you have installed that may explain the present issue/s. 

I've created a new restore point.

I don't know how to check for downloaded updates that did or didn't install correctly, there are hundreds of them!  I even see some for Windows 10 and I don't even have Windows 10!

Here is the Speccy URL:

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/u4vpceDDhoTm7AvGqjtplb8

If you have any data on the HDD that you need to back up do so asap and please do not shut down the computer until you have done so, the HDD info in Speccy suggests that it may not boot back up again.

Will come back to the updates if needs be but for now something more pressing, you have no active anti virus protecting your computer, bad idea, download MSE (free) from here allow it to fully update and carry out a full scan of your computer, this may take a while, in the meanwhile we will look at the rest of the Speccy report.  

Edit to add: At some point you have had Avast running on this computer but for some reason it is not anymore, use avastclear to get rid of any orphan files that may be left, please do this before installing MSE.

C5

But I do have Avast running, I've been using it for years, when I click on Avast, it says "Avast is running, you are protected".  And the little orange icon keeps animating anytime I do something on the computer.

Oh, sorry, I forgot to also say, the error message of "the hard drive is failing" has been ongoing for a month now so I'm not sure what's going on with that.  But I did back everything up.  And about the updates, there are pages and pages of Windows updates that show up on "Installed Updates", so I'm pretty confused.

Polite reminder;

If using a computer and not a mobile phone, please avoid adding multiple posts while waiting for us to reply to your last, edit your last post to include anything that you wish to add, this will ensure nothing gets overlooked which can sometimes happen if a thread has more than one page.