After doing some digging, I found that some broken files being executed during Windows startup were causing my brother's computer to hang (couldn't even get into Safe Mode). The system would not respond to even holding the power button (and it's a laptop, so pulling the plug was not an option). Anyway, I hunted down a take on Linux that would let me boot from USB device (he has one of those laptops that lack any form of disk drive /smh). Then, I used Midnight Commander to tend to the problematic files.
The system now boots and loads Windows just fine.
I'm sure this is nothing new to a lot of you, but--though I've brought back computers from far worse conditions--this is the first time I've gone about this particular task in this fashion.
And I'm pretty proud of my success.
That's my story. Thanks for reading.
You can go about your business. Move along.
The system now boots and loads Windows just fine.
I'm sure this is nothing new to a lot of you, but--though I've brought back computers from far worse conditions--this is the first time I've gone about this particular task in this fashion.
And I'm pretty proud of my success.

That's my story. Thanks for reading.
