[ATinTeardrop]

Feel free to move the topic to the other forum!

 

 

Essentially, I have next to no options remaining that I can think of. I tried resetting CMOS this morning; interestingly now my Windows repair disc actually boots, but it still can't see the hard drive/Windows installation. I tried running in safe mode again (which happened to be while the disc was still in), and it went straight to System Recovery Options (with the same results above), just with 'Safe Mode' appearing in each corner of the screen as well. I have yet to test a couple more combinations of those kind of things after the CMOS reset (like your rescue usb, and safe mode without a repair disc in), not that it's likely to be revolutionary. When in System Recovery, I also tried the Memory Diagnostic ("Windows cannot check for memory problems; An error is preventing Windows from checking for memory problems during startup") and moving through the system image dialog, at one point received the error "This service cannot be started in Safe Mode (0x8007043C)", an error which appears to be associated with Windows Update, for some reason. Again, nothing revolutionary.

I agree that the Toshiba recovery tools may very well not work, in which case I imagine I would try to wipe the drive using Ubuntu, test it with Ubuntu or SeaTools for DOS, and then install Windows again, assuming it works?

 

Guides to non-booting computers, as well as several of the error messages I've seen, also mention fixing loose HDD cables/reseating connections as an option... working on the interior of a laptop is not something I've done before (and I imagine is more fiddly than a tower), but unplugging and plugging things in can't be that bad as a last option prior to trying to factory reset/wipe... can it? I'll hold off for now.

 

That said, if anything else doesn't work, I will need to try the reset/wipe soon, because I am currently staying with my family where I have access to another clean computer- tomorrow I'll be going home where I won't have easy access to another computer, and this will all become more difficult.

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Guides to non-booting computers, as well as several of the error messages I've seen, also mention fixing loose HDD cables/reseating connections as an option... working on the interior of a laptop is not something I've done before (and I imagine is more fiddly than a tower), but unplugging and plugging things in can't be that bad as a last option prior to trying to factory reset/wipe... can it? I'll hold off for now.

That thought had crossed my mind. It's not hard to remove a hard drive from a laptop at all. I have done it many times and inserted HDD's into external enclosures. I call that go through the back door method You just plug the external enclosure into a good computer and navigate to the hard drive from there. I'll go ahead and move the topic back.

I wish you the best of luck ATinTeardrop.

Donna

[DonnaB]

Guides to non-booting computers, as well as several of the error messages I've seen, also mention fixing loose HDD cables/reseating connections as an option... working on the interior of a laptop is not something I've done before (and I imagine is more fiddly than a tower), but unplugging and plugging things in can't be that bad as a last option prior to trying to factory reset/wipe... can it? I'll hold off for now.

That thought had crossed my mind. It's not hard to remove a hard drive from a laptop at all. I have done it many times and inserted HDD's into external enclosures. I call that go through the back door method You just plug the external enclosure into a good computer and navigate to the hard drive from there. I'll go ahead and move the topic back.

I wish you the best of luck ATinTeardrop.

Donna

[ATinTeardrop]

Thanks Donna!

 

 

There was some change today- after the CMOS reset and running the BitDefender antivirus mostly successfully (it didn't find anything), for some reason the next time I tried the rescue usb, it booted, and though it couldn't find the OS, when I ran Startup Repair, it actually worked briefly, and said that it had found something or rather (forgot to write it down!) that it could fix, and that I should reboot. Upon reboot an error screen appeared: "Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the problem... Insert your Windows installation disc... click 'Repair your computer'... File: \Boot\BCD    Status: 0xc0000098     Info: The Windows Boot Configuration Data file does not contain a valid OS entry." It then began to show up with this message immediately upon trying to boot to the rescue usb, or repair disc, or HDD... and then it more or less back to the way it was, getting stuck after the loading screens. 

 

It's things like this, the inconsistency/changes, that make me sure that this system is recoverable. But at this point I'm pretty much guaranteed to be getting a new SSD and starting from scratch anyway, even if I can repair this HDD, for sanity's sake, though it will leave me without a computer for a while.

[phillpower2]

Hello folks,

 

ATinTeardrop;

 

Now that you have your data securely backed up I would next suggest that you resolve the overheating problem, heat is the bane of all things electrical and mechanical and if used over time at high temps a HDD is no different, 50 °C is the temp that a HDD will start to have problems and in the case of notebook computers such temps are quickly reached, an example cleaning guide here 

 

Couple of observations that point towards hardware as opposed to software issues, one possibility is that heat could be causing the electrical contact between the HDD and MB socket to be lost, contraction when cold and expansion when hot etc;

 

- In BIOS, the HDD is still recognised... the majority of the time.

 

 

 I am using an Ubuntu live cd, which is showing the HDD in the filesystem most of the time 

 

 

Unfortunately there are no HDD tests that can be run outside of a working OS that do not subject the drive to stress, Seatools for DOS is very good but as Donna has previously mentioned testing a flaky HDD can send it over the edge.

 

Once cleaned out and the temps have dropped I would try the recovery media again, if still no success, try the Recovery partition by holding down the 0 (zero) key when you power up the notebook, if this works and you are able to boot into Windows before going to the trouble of installing all of the missing Windows 7 updates, make sure that your AV is running and up to date then check out the HDD with CrystalDisk Info which will not stress your HDD;

 

 Test the HDD with CrystalDiskInfo 7.0.0 Standard Edition which you can download from here once done grab a screenshot (possibly two) of the results and attach to your next reply for us.

 

To capture and post a screenshot;

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start...all programs...accessories...paint....left click in the white area ...press CTRL + V...click on file...click on save...save it to your desktop...name it something related to the screen your capturing... BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG ...otherwise it may be to big to upload... Click on the More Reply Options tab then after typing in any response you have... click on Choose File...desktop...find the screenshot..select it and click on Attach This File...on the lower left...after it says upload successful...click on add reply like you normally would.

 

Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.

 

 

 

[phillpower2]

Not heard back from you ATinTeardrop, do you still require assistance or is the issue now resolved, an update would be appreciated.