[Aaron C]

Hi all,

I'm hoping one of the residents geeks here can help me with my computer problem:

Recently, my wife's HP laptop model dv7-3065dx began having a problem that has not changed in over two weeks...when powering it on, it shows the initial boot screen, but then says that Windows did not start, and goes into startup repair mode, displaying a blue screen with white lettering, and an old school "working" bar that seems to indicate continual activity, however I have left it in "startup repair" mode for three days straight, with no apparent change and the noise the hard drive makes throughout is a short, cyclical one, wuth the drive indicator light following the same cyclical pattern.

I took it to Best Buy's service techs, and the guy there booted it, pressed a few buttons, found the responses not to his liking, and then pronounced that it was a hardware issue, and "almost certainly" the motherboard. Since motherboards are kinda pricey, plus I'd have to either do it myself or fork over a fair amount for the service itself, I'm looking at almost being better off buying a new laptop unless I'm a)sure it's the laptop and b)can do it myself.

Other thing is that, although buying a new laptop would normally not be completely out of the question (except for the nasty cost, of course), my wife also has a few different software apps on the laptop that are cost-prohibitive to replace, foremost being Adobe Photoshop. Sooo....I'd REALLY like to figure out what's wrong with the computer, and fix it with the lowest possible cost involved. Any takers?

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Hi Aaron C

I took it to Best Buy's service techs, and the guy there booted it, pressed a few buttons, found the responses not to his liking, and then pronounced that it was a hardware issue, and "almost certainly" the motherboard.

Not being witness to what the tech guy saw it would not be right to disagree with his assessment, that said I will say he could have been more helpful.
The priority is to retrieve the data from a HDD that may have already or is about to completely fail, I would suggest that if you can, loan an external USB SATA HDD enclosure like this one http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817182138 remove the laptops HDD pop it into it and copy the data to another systems HDD for safe keeping.
Another possibility is that the OS had become corrupt or damaged, do you have the OS or recovery disk/s that may have been supplied with the laptop when new and/or have you checked for a recovery partition on the HDD?

[phillpower2]

Hi Aaron C

I took it to Best Buy's service techs, and the guy there booted it, pressed a few buttons, found the responses not to his liking, and then pronounced that it was a hardware issue, and "almost certainly" the motherboard.

Not being witness to what the tech guy saw it would not be right to disagree with his assessment, that said I will say he could have been more helpful.
The priority is to retrieve the data from a HDD that may have already or is about to completely fail, I would suggest that if you can, loan an external USB SATA HDD enclosure like this one http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817182138 remove the laptops HDD pop it into it and copy the data to another systems HDD for safe keeping.
Another possibility is that the OS had become corrupt or damaged, do you have the OS or recovery disk/s that may have been supplied with the laptop when new and/or have you checked for a recovery partition on the HDD?

[Aaron C]

Thanks for the reply, phill...I can definitely remove the hard drive and copy its contents...and that is a concern, although I suppose based on the fact that the laptop still attempts to boot it hadn't occurred to me to be particularly concerned about erasure of its contents. My main concern is the laptop's function, as that is where the majority of the cost / inconvenience lies...what happens when I turn it on is that it attempts to boot, giving the initial boot screen that gives a couple of F-key options, then says "Windows failed to start" and then gives me options to load "Startup Repair (Recommended)" or "Start Windows Normally"....if I choose the recommended option or do not make a choice within 30 seconds, Startup Repair begins and exhibits the behavior I previously described. If I choose "Start Windows Normally", I get the "Starting Windows" display, but nothing ever loads and I am forced to shut down the PC by holding down the power button, thus beginning the process all over again. Are there some steps you might suggest in order to perhaps reproduce the steps the Best Buy tech might have employed in order to better ascertain the state of my OS / hardware? Thanks for your help!

Oh, if print screens would be helpful, I could try taking some pics of the screen with my phone n uploading 'em here so you can see what exactly is being displayed, or I can try to reproduce the verbiage verbatim.

[Aaron C]

Hi Aaron C
Another possibility is that the OS had become corrupt or damaged, do you have the OS or recovery disk/s that may have been supplied with the laptop when new and/or have you checked for a recovery partition on the HDD?

Silly me, I forgot to answer your question...I did try the supposed recovery disk/s that were supplied with the laptop when purchased, however there are 4 of them on DVD-R discs which seemed odd to me that a system recovery disk to require 4 multi-gig discs (I thought perhaps they were less a recovery set and more of an OS re-install set)...maybe I'm remembering back when recovery disk data was able to fit on a 3.5" floppy.

Anyway, I put disk 1 in, the DVD drive gave a brief acknowledgement of the disc, and apparently proceeded to ignore it as the computer behaved precisely the same with the disc in as absent.

I believe there is a recovery partition on the HDD, and I will attempt to access it during the initial boot process, although I suspect that the Best Buy tech did that already which may be part of what contributed to his consternation. More to come later today....thanks again, phill.

[phillpower2]

Ok if you are able to remove the HDD and copy the contents I would do that as a priority.
Apart from the possibility of the data being erased the HDD could completely fail and that would be a total disaster so better to be safe than sorry.
The fact that the system is attempting to boot but stopping at the same point suggests either the HDD has a bad sector or a certain boot file is missing or has become corrupt.

do you have the OS or recovery disk/s that may have been supplied with the laptop when new

What is the answer to this please?
Once your data has been safely copied you can then try and boot into Safe Mode, try last Known Good Configuration, do a repair install with your OS or boot disk and finally run the diagnostic tools provided by the manufacturer of the HDD which can be found @ http://www.tacktech....ttid=287#maxtor

EDIT: OOps missed your last post
Have you changed the boot sequence in the BIOS to CD/DVD drive 1st and the HDD 2nd?
To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS
Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the DEL or possibly the F2 or F8 button (it can be different on brands, laptops and desktops etc)>
This will enter you into the BIOS/CMOS area>
Find the Advanced area and click Enter>
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter>
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to CD/DVD drive>
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive>
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit>
You will be prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings and read the data off the CD/DVD 1st as opposed to the HDD.

Edited by phillpower2, 29 April 2011 - 12:59 AM.

[Aaron C]

Thanks so much for your prompt reply, phill! I will do as you've suggested asap, my day has been super-full today so I haven't had a chance to address the suggestions you've made, but I should be able to get to it later tonight and report back. Thanks again!

Aaron

[phillpower2]

No worries Aaron, when you are ready.