Jump to content

Welcome to Geeks to Go - Register now for FREE

Need help with your computer or device? Want to learn new tech skills? You're in the right place!
Geeks to Go is a friendly community of tech experts who can solve any problem you have. Just create a free account and post your question. Our volunteers will reply quickly and guide you through the steps. Don't let tech troubles stop you. Join Geeks to Go now and get the support you need!

How it Works Create Account
Photo

laptop won't boot, keeps retarting itself


  • Please log in to reply

#1
elkatbal

elkatbal

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 21 posts
I have a Toshiba Qosmio laptop and all of a sudden it won't boot and a black screen keeps appearing with a bunch of prompts (start in safe mode, boot to last working startup...) but none of these work.

when trying to boot "Normally", another screen comes up and says one of my system32 files are corrupted and I need to insert my startup discs and then press 'r' but I do not have any start up discs.

what can I do? can I use my PC to download startup discs for the laptop?

please help!!

ellen
  • 0

Advertisements


#2
elkatbal

elkatbal

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 21 posts
little update as I actually found the recovery disks!!


now I can't get back to the screen where I need to press 'r' to repair. no matter which option I choose:
--Last good config
--Start windows normally
--Safe mode w/ networking/command prompt
the computer just keeps restarting.

the windows logo appears then goes to a black screen, sometimes a bunch of text scrolls but it always just restarts. over and over and over just keeps restarting. A bright blue screen comes up with some info I can't read because as soon as it appears, the laptop just restarts again.

how do I get to the screen where I press the 'r' for repair??
  • 0

#3
MichWasHere

MichWasHere

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 424 posts
Boot the computer from your recovery disks, on the screen where it says "Welcome to Setup" press enter to install windows, after you accept the license agreement windows will search for existing windows installations and list them for you. Select the installation you want to repair press "r" to start the repair.
  • 0

#4
elkatbal

elkatbal

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 21 posts
I don't know how to get it to boot to the restore disk. every time I start the laptop it just goes to the options screen and boot to disk is not one of them. no matter what I select, it just restarts.

how do I get it to boot to disk?
  • 0

#5
MichWasHere

MichWasHere

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 424 posts
Hi ellen,

With the disk in the drive reboot, hold down the 'c' button when you're booting.
  • 0

#6
elkatbal

elkatbal

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 21 posts
I'm getting a prompt that my drive is going to be restored and I'll lose everything I've put on the laptop so I pressed cancel and A:> came up... what should I put in for that?

chkdsk r and chkdsk /r are all bad commands
run is bad...

what next?
  • 0

#7
Ztruker

Ztruker

    Member 5k

  • Technician
  • 7,091 posts
Download an iso image of the XP Recovery Console from here: http://www.thecomput...om/files/rc.iso
You don't burn the iso file itself to CD., you create a CD from the iso file using your CD burning software. There is a good freeware burner called DeepBurner which will do this if needed.

Boot the CD (BIOS must be setup so the CD is the first boot device) and at the first opportunity, enter R to start the Recovery Console.
Next, choose which XP installation you want to login to. Normally this will be 1.
Lastly you will be asked for the Administrator password. Just press the Enter key as the Administrator does not have a password (unless you gave it one, then you would enter it).

From the command prompt, enter: chkdsk c: /r
  • 0

#8
elkatbal

elkatbal

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 21 posts
I am pretty non-computer literate so please elaborate on what the difference is between burning the iso file to CD and creating a CD from the iso file.

I clicked on the link above and it opened to Nero (already had it on my computer) and I burned the CD. I put the CD in and held down the 'c' button while the laptop was booting up and I could hear the drive reading the CD and the light was blinking but then it just opened to the black screen like before (Safe Mode/Prompts/Commands, Last know Config, Normal) when no CD was in the drive.

I used the ESC key to change my boot options to CD first but the computer isn't reading the CD and still goes straight to the black screen. is that not BIOS? how do I get there? I can get it to open to the Recovery screen, with the restore (erase everything off your computer and put it back to factory settings) option with the toshiba CD but not this burnt one. should I do something different or did I not burn it right?


OH... and I should let you know I finally got to read the blue screen of death. here's what was printed:
STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
the Registry Cannot Read the hive (file):
\SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate
It is corrupt, abscent or not writeable.

Beginning dump of physical memory.
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assitance.


thanks!

Edited by elkatbal, 27 February 2008 - 05:58 AM.

  • 0

#9
Ztruker

Ztruker

    Member 5k

  • Technician
  • 7,091 posts
You said you have a Qosmio laptop, what is the model number? I want to look at the manual but need the model number to do so.

As for burning the CD, I don't use Nero so am not familiar with how it works. Did you download the file, then double click on it, and that is when Nero started? If so, that is probably right.

When I burned it, the Cd now looks like this:
Directory of H:\

12/08/2003  12:03 PM	<DIR>		  I386
11/07/1988  09:11 AM				10 WIN51
11/07/1988  09:11 AM				10 WIN51IC

  • 0

#10
elkatbal

elkatbal

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 21 posts
I have a toshiba qosmio G15.

when I put the CD in my PC drive (compaq) a 1386 folder appears, I click on that and it goes to a SYSTEM32 folder (with a bunch of files) and two exe files, AUTOCHK and NTDETECT but I can't open or look at any of them because the application cannot be run in Win32 mode.

I clicked on the file link and it said: Open With (Nero) or Save to Disk, I chose open with and all files downloaded and then I clicked on the link and they auto opened in nero with a prompt to burn to CD. that's all I did. but I could never see any of the information, just burned a data CD. was that right?


ellen
  • 0

Advertisements


#11
Ztruker

Ztruker

    Member 5k

  • Technician
  • 7,091 posts
No, that does not sound right. You need to download the rc.iso file to your hard drive. The start Nero and see if you can find an option to create a CD from a disc image file, or some similar wording.

An easy alternative is to install DeepBurner. When you start it, one of the choices is Burn ISO Image. Another is ISO Recorder. After you install this one, you simply right clickon a iso file and select Burn to CD.
  • 0

#12
elkatbal

elkatbal

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 21 posts
downloaded DB and am burning the iso file now. then will try it again in my laptop...

CD worked!! yea!!

ok, so now it's running, I typed chkdsk /r and it's at 30%...


was that right?

Edited by elkatbal, 27 February 2008 - 07:38 PM.

  • 0

#13
elkatbal

elkatbal

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 21 posts
now the % has stopped and reads:
The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems.

and now the C:\> prompt is back.
  • 0

#14
Ztruker

Ztruker

    Member 5k

  • Technician
  • 7,091 posts
Sounds like there is a hard drive problem. You will need to remove the hard drive so you can see what the make and model is, then go to the HD manufacturers web site and download the diagnostic utility. This is available as a diskette or (another) bootable CD iso image.

Once you have the CD, boot it like you did the Recovery Console. It will allow you to test the hard drive.

If that says it's defective then you don't have much choice but to buy a new one and reinstall (or restore XP). You could try mounting the old drive in an external enclosure to see if you can get any of your data off of it.
  • 0

#15
elkatbal

elkatbal

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 21 posts
if I tried my restore disk now (with factory settings) would like fix anything or would the hard drive still be bad?

how do I take the drive out?
  • 0






Similar Topics

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users

As Featured On:

Microsoft Yahoo BBC MSN PC Magazine Washington Post HP