[ewiz06]

I have an HP Pavillion m9340f desktop PC. Periodically my system would come out of sleep mode, but my monitor would not recognize my system (screen would stay blank). I would have to do a hard (power button off) restart and then things would work fine.

Today, my system froze while reading e-mail. CTRL-ATL-DELETE would not work so I had to do a hard (power button off) restart. The system started to boot up as usual, it gave me the Windows icon and said Windows is Starting. It then gave me a message that said that there was an error with windows and that I could repair it or Start Windows Normally. If I chose to repair it, then I would get the Microsoft icon and the Windows is Starting message, but then the screen would go black and all I would have is the mouse cursor (which I could move). If I chose "Start Windows Normally" it would give me the same Windows is Starting message and then take me back to the original screen asking me to Repair or Start Windows Normally.

I have done hard resets and hit F8 to bring up the Advanced Options to start in Safe Mode and I've tried all 3 safe mode options and just end up with the black screen and mouse cursor.

Frustrated I tried to run my HP recovery disk to just wipe the hard drive clean. It started to boot up and said "Windows is loading files", but then it just reverted to the black screen and mouse cursor. I put in the Windows 7 install disk and it did bring up the Windows background. It gave me the option to repair the computer, but when I did that it the Windows 7 background stayed up, but the rest of the screen was blank. I did a hard restart again and was able to get back to the Windows 7 install screen (after selecting language, country, etc). I then hit install now and it went to Setup is Starting, but it just hung at that screen with the rotating circular cursor.

I'm at a total loss right now. I don't know if I have a bad hard drive, bad windows install or what. Any help would be appreciated to solve my problem, as I really do not want to pay for a high dollar repair or have to buy a new system.

Thanks in advance.

Edited by ewiz06, 27 September 2011 - 11:09 AM.

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At the "repair your computer" window you must choose the operating system that you would like to repair. For most users there will only be one option listed. Select the operating system you wish to repair and click Next.

NOTE: If no operating system is available at this step, there is an issue with your Vista(or Win 7) installation that cannot be repaired by running chkdsk.
Most likely the hard drive has died and needs replacing.

SRX660

[SRX660]

At the "repair your computer" window you must choose the operating system that you would like to repair. For most users there will only be one option listed. Select the operating system you wish to repair and click Next.

NOTE: If no operating system is available at this step, there is an issue with your Vista(or Win 7) installation that cannot be repaired by running chkdsk.
Most likely the hard drive has died and needs replacing.

SRX660

[ewiz06]

Thanks for your reply. No, there was not a operating system to select when I got to that point. I was able to get into the system BIOS by hitting F10 at start-up and did a SMART test of the hard drive and it failed--said the read element failed. I did put in the Windows 7 disc and did a reboot. I got to the part where I can choose to install Windows 7. I did that and it went to the "Setup is Starting" screen with the rotating cursor. Unfortunately it has remained at this same screen for over 7 hours.

I am on my way to get a new hard drive now and hope a friend of mine will be able to at least save some of my old documents from my failing drive.

If you or anyone else has anything else to share on my problem I'm all ears.