rootbear75 Posted December 20, 2008 Report Posted December 20, 2008 Well, im out doing xmas shopping, come home to find my computer had rebooted (often does this because of updates).Says something about "Boot disk not found", i reboot it once, says that it cant find a bootable device, and lists the boot order of the devices on my computer. I restart again, comes up withe "Safe Mode, Safe mode w/ networking, safe mode w/ command prompt, start windows normally"i try to start it normally, it boots up to the login screen, and i log in.It then sits at "Welcome" for infinity, and there is no hard drive access going on (HD LED light not on)i boot into safe mode w/ networking, and it works fine. Im tempted to get my HD replaced, and load XP on to this machine. but i need to save money as much as i can right now and i cant afford unnecessary expenses. Any ideas?
Hakaku Posted December 20, 2008 Report Posted December 20, 2008 I had a similar problem at one point, but I can't remember if it was before I upgraded to Vista or after. Either way though, I managed to fix part of it by using the install CD and repairing the drive.
rootbear75 Posted December 20, 2008 Author Report Posted December 20, 2008 I had a similar problem at one point, but I can't remember if it was before I upgraded to Vista or after. Either way though, I managed to fix part of it by using the install CD and repairing the drive.well thats just great. I dont have an original CD.... stupid school offer never came with it. although... hmm. it does have an onboard restore feature. I'm going to try that. Also, it happened again. I was able to log in but then it gave me a BSOD with the program being "srv.svc" or something like that ERRORS: the first error: I hit esc, then it brings me to:
FMBI Posted December 20, 2008 Report Posted December 20, 2008 (edited) I doubt this is any help, but once in a while my 6 year old XP will go screwy and won't boot up until we open it up, clean it out, and make sure all the wires are plugged in tightly. I also had another computer that kind of did that a long time ago. Beyond that, I'm totally clueless as far as tech stuff goes. edit - I went to great pains to make it obvious I was acknowledging people already said that, and you edited my post anyway? What the heck? Edited December 30, 2008 by Finland My BorgInvasion We've had this discussion before. Provide real help or don't help at all.
PoLiX Posted December 20, 2008 Report Posted December 20, 2008 Well, I think it is obvious from the screen shot, but your HD is erroring out. Does it work properly in the bios? Is there a HD test option in the Bios? If either of those are a yes, or both, check them out. Have the Bios do a HD test, and see what it says about it. If all is fine, then your vista install is shot, and I hope you we're smart enough to install your PC with 2 partitions, 1 for windows and 1 for programs/important data. If not, you might be screwed getting any of your stuff back. Might try finding a local PC store that specializes in PC data retrieval, and then if possible, re-install vista. If HD is shot, well, then your kind of at a loss there either way, and I'm sure you know what to do there. Note: these aren't definate answers, just answers from many past experiences working on pcs with this same sort of error.
rootbear75 Posted December 21, 2008 Author Report Posted December 21, 2008 (edited) My laptop came preinstalled with business. ill do that bios thing tonight. going to printout your post for lack of a computer to use it on :/ EDIT: What if i get a new laptop, take the HD out of it, and plug it into an external device that allows me to hook up an internal HD to it? wont I be able to get my programs off of there then? (if it's not shot) Edited December 21, 2008 by rootbear75
candygirl Posted December 21, 2008 Report Posted December 21, 2008 I had a similar problem like yours root. I had to get a new H/D for my laptop
candygirl Posted December 21, 2008 Report Posted December 21, 2008 I for got... I reformated my H/D it was ok for a month but it started up doing the same thing. Then i got my new H/D
rootbear75 Posted December 24, 2008 Author Report Posted December 24, 2008 well, im pretty much fucked right now. dont have time to go to the service center 20 miles away (im not kidding, thats how packed my days are)dont have the money to get a new one. sigh i wish i could get a new laptop. Definitely not getting a Lenovo, thats for sure.
Cancer+ Posted December 24, 2008 Report Posted December 24, 2008 try booting into safe made and do a chkdsk on it. start -> run -> type in cmd -> then on the command prompt type chkdsk /f You can also run a DFT on the HD too. You will have to dl it from another computer and burn it to a disk. It will boot off of that disk into DFT. The link is:http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/technolo/dft/dftnew.htm
rootbear75 Posted December 25, 2008 Author Report Posted December 25, 2008 try booting into safe made and do a chkdsk on it. start -> run -> type in cmd -> then on the command prompt type chkdsk /f You can also run a DFT on the HD too. You will have to dl it from another computer and burn it to a disk. It will boot off of that disk into DFT. The link is:http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/technolo/dft/dftnew.htmisnt that the same thing as the built-in BIOS HD test?
Cancer+ Posted December 25, 2008 Report Posted December 25, 2008 well chkdsk will fix it. The dft is the same thing. Wouldn't hurt it.
rootbear75 Posted January 10, 2009 Author Report Posted January 10, 2009 update: i figured since i wasnt able to boot that only the windows part of the HD was broken.My mom gave me a bootable Knoppix (linux) distribution CD. Booted it off of that to attempt to move all of my files to my external HD before taking it in to get serviced (under warranty till 2011)Well, good news. I was able to view most, if not all of the files (didnt even bother to look into the Windows folder)... YAY i can see my files. WELL.... wouldn't you know it, when I attempted to move my files to the external HD, i didnt have write permission... or at least the Knoppix distro didnt have write permissions. Question: Should i take my HD out, get a new one and put XP or something else onto that one, and then get that device that allows you to use internal HDs externally? Or should i get a boot floppy made (something like those old Win98 floppies) that can move the files over?
Drake7707 Posted January 10, 2009 Report Posted January 10, 2009 Knoppix comes with some disk diagnostics tools too, let it scan and let it try to flag the bad sectors as unusuable. Afterwards try finding a vista dvd (download one duh) and let it do a "sfc /scannow". That'll fix the corrupt vista files Also knoppix always mounts drives as read only (hey it's shitty linux at its best), so it's logical that you can't write files. Right click on hda1 (or whatever you want to write to) and remount it as writable I don't know if there is a SMART utility on knoppix, but if there is, use it. It'll read the fitness of you disk
rootbear75 Posted January 11, 2009 Author Report Posted January 11, 2009 i'll try to mount it. actually it think it was listed as hdb1 and it appears that my original HD was partitioned... knoppix showed hda1, and hda2, hda1 only containing system files.
rootbear75 Posted January 13, 2009 Author Report Posted January 13, 2009 Update: finally able to mount it as read/write (can i say i hate linux?) and get some stuff off, only to find that I have 29 GB of space free on my External HD....... sigh next step is to see if the vista DVD will work. If not, format the windows partition (I HAVE ONE!) and insallt XP or even home premium.
kid Posted January 13, 2009 Report Posted January 13, 2009 The issue that arises with installing xp is that drivers may not exist for your display, speakers, keyboard, etc etc, which would prevent you from doing anything useful on the laptop, anyway.
Gannon8 Posted January 20, 2009 Report Posted January 20, 2009 The issue that arises with installing xp is that drivers may not exist for your display, speakers, keyboard, etc etc, which would prevent you from doing anything useful on the laptop, anyway.I am pretty sure if knoppix works, then Win XP would. Anyway, don't most hardware have a standard way of using it (eg the 640x480 res) so you can install the drivers and get it working?
rootbear75 Posted January 22, 2009 Author Report Posted January 22, 2009 safe mode ya.. Standard safe mode works, Safe mode w/ networking doesnt.... and it's vista business, not xp
JoWie Posted January 22, 2009 Report Posted January 22, 2009 (edited) Have you checked the event log? Start->run eventvwr.msc Also the following .reg file might show you what vista is hanging on during logon: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System] "verbosestatus"=dword:00000001 "DisableStatusMessages"=- Edited January 22, 2009 by JoWie
rootbear75 Posted January 22, 2009 Author Report Posted January 22, 2009 i'll take a look later... i do remember taking a look through it at one point, and not being able to figure out what the problem is. Im thinking the HD very well could have a bad sector that wasnt marked off.
»Lynx Posted January 26, 2009 Report Posted January 26, 2009 I've only skim-read this topic, so sorry if I'm repeating anybody. First things first, you should look for a Vista repair CD, if you don't have one then download one. If you can't download one, ask somebody if you can borrow theirs. If you can't do that, contact your vendor and request one, at most they'll charge you $5. Now as I know you're a tight-fisted fucker, check on the HDD in Knop for a recovery partition, or some recovery files. If that's not an option, for whatever reason then boot up in Knop, and use an array of DVDs and a backup utility to save all of your important information (as you appear to be limited to HDD space). ... Back to the tight-fisted-ness, if that's also not an option try and find a redundant computer, take apart your external HDD and load the HDD from the redundant computer into the external HDD. The worst case scenario is that you'll have an incompatible HDD to External HDD jack (SATA vs IDE) and your external HDD won't be as fresh as it once were. Hopefully that will provide you with a little more disk space for your files. Once you've done that, get Linux, and get used to it. Shit like this doesn't happen. If you want an even better option, buy a Mac and never need to worry about this kind of shit happening... Ever. Then, try to grab any drivers or anything as such from the HDD (I think I read you were doing this from a Laptop) - this will save you some time. Usually there is a partition on the HDD with a backup/restore/drivers etc. Grab that, if you're lucky enough t have it. I saw some comments outlining chkdisk etc, read them, they're useful. If you're lucky enough, that *could* fix the issue, but with the experience I've had of HDDs failing (yes it's happened to me a few times), it probably won't go down well. Looking on the positive side, it's just a corruption, not a complete hard drive failure. -L
rootbear75 Posted January 29, 2009 Author Report Posted January 29, 2009 ya, like i said, I was able to access all files except the root (win) folder. im just about to say fuck it, get a new HD put it in, and install XP.
rootbear75 Posted February 9, 2009 Author Report Posted February 9, 2009 Final Update, then go ahead and close: Got a New HD. put it in, Diagnostics run clean 100%Talked to geek squad, told them the problems,they said that it was most likely caused by both a corrupted OS, and a failing HD.was also told that I could get a replacement CD for 20-40$ but i'm saying fuck it, and going to spring for an XP SP2 CD. so please
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