hello again.
i tried the suggestion in post #2. i downloaded and ran the program. a little yellow triangle popped up with an exclamation mark inside telling me that the fixit program was corrupt. i tried the other suggestions as well, and my computer keeps telling me the repair programs will not work. i tried restoring my laptop to its previous state, and that failed as well. i know that my laptop crashed a few days ago, but this is becoming very discouraging for me. are there any more suggestions that you could possibly post for me that i have not tried yet? i would greatly appreciate it. my computer knowledge leaves a lot to be desired. and i am willing to try anything you recommend to me. thank you so much for your time