[Angela71]

When I turned on my Toshiba laptop this evening it gave me the error message, "An unexpected I/O error has occurred". What the heck does that mean? When I got finished with it yesterday I didn't experience any issues and it shut down correctly. It's only 2 years old. Is it fixable?

Thanks in advance!

[Advertisements]

Have you tried rebooting and going to the advance boot menu where you need to choose. Last Known Good Configuration That Worked. That should do the trick but if not disconnect any external devices to your laptop and try to boot up.
If still no joy we may need to do a startup repair to get everything working again.

[rshaffer61]

Have you tried rebooting and going to the advance boot menu where you need to choose. Last Known Good Configuration That Worked. That should do the trick but if not disconnect any external devices to your laptop and try to boot up.
If still no joy we may need to do a startup repair to get everything working again.

[Angela71]

Thanks RShaffer for responding. I cannot get to anything on the laptop. The only screen that comes up is this error message screen. No matter whether I then press enter or escape it comes back to the same screen so yes I think we need to look into a startup repair unless you have some secret up your sleeve as to how I get past the error message screen.

[Angela71]

Also, everything connected to the laptop has been disconnected, still no luck.

[rshaffer61]

When you reboot start tapping F8. That will get you to the Advance boot menu. It should work since the error you are receiving normally points to a shutdown incorrectly.

[Angela71]

Ok, I'll try that when I get home tonight and let you know, thanks!

[Angela71]

I tried what you told me this morning with no luck. I continue to get the same error message about the I/O error.

[rshaffer61]

Are you getting to the advance boot menu at all?

[Angela71]

no, not at all

[rshaffer61]

As soon as you turn the system on start tapping F8.
If it gets past the post screen you missed it.
You can try using a Linix Live cd to see if you can get to the data on the hard drive. If you can then that would indicate a OS issue.

[rshaffer61]

UPDATED April 20, 2012

Use Puppy Linux Live CD to Recover Your Data:

===================
***Required Hardware***
CD Burner (CDRW) Drive,
Blank CD,
Extra Storage Device (USB Flash Drive, External Hard Drive)
===================

1. Save these files to your Desktop/Burn Your Live CD:

• Download Latest Puppy Linux ISO (i.e.: lupu-528.iso)
  Download BurnCDCC ISO Burning Software
  
  There are instructions on how to boot from flash drive with puppy here; http://www.pendrivel...e-from-windows/
  
  
• Open BurnCDCC with Windows Explorer
• Extract All files to a location you can remember
• Double Click BurnCDCC
• Click Browse and navigate to the Puppy Linux ISO file you just downloaded
• Open/Double Click that file
  IMPORTANT: Adjust the speed bar to CD: 4x DVD: 1x
• Click Start
• Your CD Burner Tray will open automatically
• Insert a blank CD and close the tray
• Click OK

Puppy Linux Live CD will now be created
2. Set your boot priority in the BIOS to CD-ROM first, Hard Drive Second

• Start the computer/press the power button
• Immediately start tapping the appropriate key to enter the BIOS, aka "Setup"
  (Usually shown during the "Dell" screen, or "Gateway" Screen)
• Once in the BIOS, under Advanced BIOS Options change boot priority to:
  CD-ROM 1st, Hard Drive 2nd
• Open your ROM drive and insert the disk
• Press F10 to save and exit
• Agree with "Y" to continue
• Your computer will restart and boot from the Puppy Linux Live CD
  
  

3. Recover Your Data

• Once Puppy Linux has loaded, it is actually running in your computer's Memory (RAM). You will see a fully functioning Graphical User Interface similar to what you normally call "your computer". Internet access may or may not be available depending on your machine, so it is recommended you print these instructions before beginning. Also, double clicking is not needed in Puppy. To expand, or open folders/icons, just click once. Puppy is very light on resources, so you will quickly notice it is much speedier than you are used to. This is normal. Ready? Let's get started.
  
  3a. Mount Drives
• Click the Mount Icon located at the top left of your desktop.
• A Window will open. By default, the "drive" tab will be forward/highlighted. Click on Mount for your hard drive.
• Assuming you only have one hard drive and/or partition, there may be only one selection to mount.
• USB Flash Drives usually automatically mount upon boot, but click the "usbdrv" tab and make sure it is mounted.
• If using an external hard drive for the data recovery, do this under the "drive" tab. Mount it now.

3b. Transfer Files.

• At the bottom left of your desktop a list of all hard drives/partitions, USB Drives, and Optical Drives are listed with a familiar looking hard drive icon.
• Open your old hard drive i.e. sda1
• Next, open your USB Flash Drive or External Drive. i.e. sdc or sdb1
• If you open the wrong drive, simply X out at the top right corner of the window that opens. (Just like in Windows)
• From your old hard drive, drag and drop whatever files/folders you wish to transfer to your USB Drive's Window.

For The Novice: The common path to your pictures, music, video, and documents folders is: Documents and Settings >> All Users (or each idividual name of each user. CHECK All Names!) >> Documents >> You will now see My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos.

Remember to only click once! No double clicking! Once you drag and drop your first folder, you will notice a small menu will appear giving you the option to move or copy. Choose COPY each time you drag and drop.

YOU ARE DONE!!! Simply click Menu >> Mouse Over Shutdown >> Reboot/Turn Off Computer. Be sure to plug your USB Drive into another working windows machine to verify all data is there and transferred without corruption. Congratulations!





If you're doing this to recover from a virus or malware infection, (or even if you're not), DO NOT copy executable files (.exe, .scr. etc...) if any of these files are infected you could be copying the corruption over to any new device/computer. just copy documents, pictures, music, or videos.

[Angela71]

Ok, I tried rapidly tapping the F8 as soon as I started the laptop again. The only thing I'm getting as I'm tapping is a screen that comes up saying "press F2 for setup utility" or "F12 for boot manager". If I continue tapping F8 I get a bar at the bottom of the screen that says "windows is loading files" after which I get the same thing, "An unexpected I/O error has occurred. In other words, pressing F8 does absolutely nothing. It's continuing to show the exact screens as before with the same end result.

Should I be pressing one of the other 2 choices (F2 or F12)? Would that make any difference at all?

I can't even get to the second part of your latest instructions....

[rshaffer61]

OK F2 will take you to the Installation Utility I believe and the other will let you choose which device to boot to first. You can try that and see if you choose the hd what will happen.

[Angela71]

I tried both and under the "boot" tab are the following settings:
1. HDD/SSD Toshiba MK3265GSXN (S1)
2. CD/DVD TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-L633J (PM)
3. FDD
4. LAN
5. USB

Do you think buying and installing a brand new hard drive is what we need to do?

[rshaffer61]

Nope its seeing and identifying the hd so it doesn't look to be that is the problem.

Go back to post 11 where Puppy Linux is and see if you can gain access to the hd that way. If so you can backup your data and then if you want we can try to do a repair installation or even a fresh install.