laptop wont boot

Community Forums/General Help/laptop wont boot

slenkar

(Posted 2009) [#1]

My laptop lost power in the middle of writing to the hard-drive. Ever since it encounters a blue-screen when trying to boot and restarts.
Safe-mode wont start either- with the same blue-screen.

What are the chances of getting my data back?

GfK	(Posted 2009) [#2]

No battery?

...anyway, best option might be to stick the hard drive in another PC and boot with it as a slave, recover anything important, then see if you can repair it, otherwise format the drive and reinstall.

slenkar

(Posted 2009) [#3]

thanks,
I cant open the laptop as I dont have the right screwdriver

is there any way to slave the hard=drive without taking it out?

GfK	(Posted 2009) [#4]

Nope.

I hate how they put stupid screws in laptops. You probably need a Torx one if a standard flat/philips one won't fit. I have loads of 'em for repairing mobile phones.

I appreciate this doesn't help your situation at all. :/

JKP	(Posted 2009) [#5]

What does the blue screen error say?

slenkar

(Posted 2009) [#6]

cant read it,

I managed to use an Ubuntu disc to look at the windows files and now I am uploading my files to Gmail hooray

Would there be anyway to fix the problem from here?

Find out which file got corrupted?

_Skully

(Posted 2009) [#7]

Have you tried "last known good boot?"

Do one of the following:
•
If your computer has a single operating system installed, press and hold the F8 key as your computer restarts. You need to press F8 before the Windows logo appears. If the Windows logo appears, you will need to try again by waiting until the Windows logon prompt appears, and then shutting down and restarting your computer.
•
If your computer has more than one operating system, use the arrow keys to highlight the operating system you want to start, and then press F8.

3.
On the Advanced Boot Options screen, use the arrow keys to highlight Last Known Good Configuration, and then press ENTER.
4.
If your computer has more than one operating system installed, use the arrow keys to highlight the operating system that you want to start by using Last Known Good Configuration, and then press ENTER. Windows will then resume starting normally.

D4NM4N

(Posted 2009) [#8]

Have you tried "last known good boot?"

It wont start in safe mode so he wont get anywhere there.

I think your installation is fried or the HDD is dying.

is there any way to slave the hard=drive without taking it out

Not without taking it apart anyway to get a connector on it :)
Also are you sure it is SATA? because if not you will need an IDE to miniIDE converter.

Here is what i would do:

Use a live/util CD either a linux or windowsPE (ubuntu, winternals, etc) then you can at least copy your stuff off to a USB drive or network location or CD/DVD (ubuntu live cd can burn out of the box with 1 CDD).

Note when using a ubuntu or other linux live CD, if the NTFS was not cleanly closed (probably the case) you might need to 'force' mount it (in terminal): (-on some distros use 'su' to get root once instead of sudo)

sudo mkdir /media/ntfs  
sudo fdisk -l 
sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /media/ntfs -o force 
(assuming sda1 is the id of your drive part. that fdisk gave you)

Then you -should- be able to use "places->computer" to copy the files as you would in windows. (assuming disk/data ok)

GaryV

(Posted 2009) [#9]

Have you run fix MBR?

D4NM4N

(Posted 2009) [#10]

Its worth trying fixmbr actually. You will need your original windows disk and choose recovery console (R)

Although mbr probs usually result in an error message like "invalid partition table" or "missing OS" rather than a bluescreen during loading. You may need to also run fixboot after running fixmbr, but only do that if it still fails.

(i usually like to back stuff up anyway as first thing i do where possible disk failure is involved and try "fixes" later :)

slenkar

(Posted 2009) [#11]

hmm i dont have the windows cp coz it was pre-installed.

I will have to ask hp for a recovery disc, i mnanaged to get my important files though :):):)

Hmm, in Ubuntu they have ntfsfix

So I just typed in ntfsfix /dev/sda1

and rebooted and now it is doing CHKDSK

slenkar

(Posted 2009) [#12]

AND NOW ITS FIXED, unbelievable!

D4NM4N

(Posted 2009) [#13]

Nice one :D

Did you get the files off with ubuntu as well?

slenkar

(Posted 2009) [#14]

yeah i just had to mount /dev/sda1 with:

'mount -t ntfs /dev/sda1 /home'

and then I can access the files with the graphical file manager

D4NM4N

(Posted 2009) [#15]

lol strange place to mount it (/home) but i am really happy for u it worked out :)