Computer won't boot--HELP

[Jats]

YAKS!!!
My hard drive on my main computer had been making this loud noise lately like an aircraft about to take off.:uglyconf:

Today....it kept freezing up and now it won't boot.

Finally Rebooted and hit F8 and able to boot in SAFE Mode, but it won't let me Restore to last good operation.

What should I do now???
Cannot open the back of the CPU cos its riverted shut--- I used to be able to ADD memory strips, 2nd hard drive etc...or just vacuum the inside---clean out the dust etc.... now... only can push buttons.....:confused:

Running Windows XP home edition.

Very bless to have an additional notebook to ask questions and for help......:p

HELP anyone??

[jlilest]

Copy and data off that drive that you can and be prepared to replace it. :astonished:

If the data is really, really, important, turn off the computer and get a recovery company to see what they can get.

[Jats]

OMG!!!

That is the last thing I wanted to hear.......:uglyconf:
I was hoping for a cocktail---of healing remedies that is---for the computer....

Remind me next time NEVER to buy another DELL..... the last one I built from scratch was way better than this DELL.

Thanks James......:)

Can anyone recommend a reliable computer??

Considering another laptop---lightweight one, easy for travelling than a desktop. Desktops take up too much space and are non portable.

Recommendations anyone???
Good and bad about the unit is very much appreciated.

Apple thin air book??? Another use that one? Pros and Cons??

[suki]

Sorry to hear about your computer Jats, that's not good at all, once the HD goes, you've had it really :(

I've had a few laptops over the years and I've found the best to be Toshiba with Sony running a close second.

I've had my Toshiba for nearly three years and although it's really too big and heavy to carry about easily, there are smaller ones on the market (Mine has a 17inch screen!) But it's very solidly built, is fast and cosidering it's on all the time when I'm home, it's very quiet, with the fan only coming on now and again for a second or two. I type on it a lot, but the lettering on the keys is still perfect and the screen is literally crystal clear. It's never let me down once. The only downside really is probably the price as they tend to be a bit dearer, but for me they're worth the extra money.

The Sony I had was excellent, but not quite as solidly built as the Toshiba. I've never had an Apple so I don't know what they're like my self, but my friend has an Airbook and she loves it.

[jlilest]

I've been reasonably happy with my Dell.

My boss used to get them all the time because of the service she could get.

You should be able to replace the hard drive and the computer continue to work fine though. That is probably the cheapest solution. :astonished:

[Jats]

It is trying to reboot.seems like it's has a major lack of memory . Or a serious case of the swine flu. Big headache---computer kind. Thanks though

[cuore]

Some years ago my laptop had a hd failure and it couldn't load the operating system. Sometimes it was able to load the operating system but I couldn;t transfer to my external hd any of my data because the system seemed to be in an idle mode - no response to mouse, keayboard hits, and you could listen a loud and continuous noise coming from the fans.

What I did is that I booted using the Hiren's Boot cd (extremely useful to have it, no need for any other diagnostic, recovery, testing etc tool) and I used the diagnostic and testing utilities. After many attempts I finally took an image from my hds with Norton Ghost (Hiren's Boot cd has many options to take images from your discs) and after this I ordered a new hard disc, I did a format and the laptop became better that it was before.

Before you start seeking for a new laptop find the Hiren's Boot cd (google search...), boot your system using this cd and try to use some of the diagnostic, recovery and testing tools for the RAM and hd. If you are lucky enough you may take an image of your hds. after this you can figure out if your laptop needs to be replaced or it needs a low cost upgrade/repair.

I think the best laptops are HP, DELL and Toshiba. Now I have an HP and a DELL and I haven;t experience any serious problem so far. I should say though that I take image from my disc every 3 months, save the most important documents every week and do format every 3 months as well.

cuore

[Jats]

Thanks everyone.
I can boot it in safemode but it will not let me restore.

The computer does not have a floppy drive. How do I make a boot disk or load one to boot?
It did come with a cd to reinstall win xp.
Will this cd also function as boot disk?

[jlilest]

What cuore was suggesting is getting a CD with utilities on it that let you get an image of the hard drive and save that so you can restore your computer just like it was before the hard drive failed.

The XP disk likely gives you an option to repair the windows install or do a complete factory fresh restore.

Assuming your problem is the hard drive is failing, that won't really help.

If you have your computer on a network that lets you connect two computers together, you might be able to save the image over the network.

An alternative would be if you have a CD/DVD burner that is compatible with Ghost, it could burn CD's or DVD's with the image.

[cuore]

1) Turn on your laptop
2) Press the key button that insert you to the BIOS environment (eg F2, F8, or Del depends on your computer) before start loading the operating system (if you don't know which button is, just press all the f buttons and the Del :p). You need to strike the button immediately, when you start seeing some information of your system configuration, (RAM, motherboard etc).
3) Now you see the BIOS screen.
4) Change the boot order (now first device should be the hard drive and then cd/dvd, change this order so that the first device be the cd/dvd and then the hard drive)
5) Save the changes and before you exit insert the cd you want to boot from. I recommended u before the Hiren's boot cd because it has everything, but if you want only to take an image, use the Norton Ghost or any other software that you can take images with and it's bootable.
6) Exit from the BIOS.
7) Now ur computer will start reading from the cd/dvd unit and will not start reading from ur hard disc (it will not load the operating system)
8) Now if you read carefully what Norton Ghost show on your screen and the options available for taking an image (save to ur hard disc, save in network, save in external usb device etc) you'll manage to take the image.

cuore

[Jats]

I just got the HIREN CD Boot disk made.
Will attempt to reset the drives priority and make this work.

Will update youguys on the prognosis.....:D
Thanks again for all the great advise. Really helpful.....:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Off to heal my computer.......

[jlilest]

May the Gates be with you. :D

[Jats]

1)
3) Now you see the BIOS screen.
4) Change the boot order (now first device should be the hard drive and then cd/dvd, change this order so that the first device be the cd/dvd and then the hard drive)
5) Save the changes and before you exit insert the cd you want to boot from. I recommended u before the Hiren's boot cd because it has everything, but if you want only to take an image, use the Norton Ghost or any other software that you can take images with and it's bootable.
6) Exit from the BIOS.
7) Now ur computer will start reading from the cd/dvd unit and will not start reading from ur hard disc (it will not load the operating system)
8) Now if you read carefully what Norton Ghost show on your screen and the options available for taking an image (save to ur hard disc, save in network, save in external usb device etc) you'll manage to take the image.

cuore

I did these---however...when I try to reboot, the error message is this:

No utility found, go to F1 to retry or F2 to setup.
Setup is the page to reset the boot sequence.

Here's the sequence: (I had to use space bar to change the sequence, but it would not let me put CD as 1 and hd as 2) So this is the best I could do:

Onboard or USB floppy (not present)
Onboard SATA hard drive
Onboard IDE Hard drive (not present)
1. Onboard or USB CD rom drive
USB device

It won't let me move HD to #2

So what do I do now??? :eek:

EDIT: OK...finally moved it to #2
But still won't boot...... computer is still blank, black screen....

What will appear if its correctly booted?

EDIT #2:
OK...now it rebooted after several tries..... it read some data from the CD and then XP kicked in and loaded up. But could not finish loading, got busy and then stalled......

Can I use the HIREN to do diagnosis? How?

[Jats]

May the Gates be with you. :D

No.... the GATES were definitely not with me.....
someone let them off the hinges and forgot to rehinged them..... so NO GATES.....:D

But I thought I smell some nice sweet apples around.....:uglyconf:

[jlilest]

I had planned to get an Apple last time, but my laptop died and I needed Windows for my school work.

I still plan to get an apple desktop the next time I have income. :D

[cuore]

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I did these---however...when I try to reboot, the error message is this:

No utility found, go to F1 to retry or F2 to setup.
Setup is the page to reset the boot sequence.

Here's the sequence: (I had to use space bar to change the sequence, but it would not let me put CD as 1 and hd as 2) So this is the best I could do:

Onboard or USB floppy (not present)
Onboard SATA hard drive
Onboard IDE Hard drive (not present)
1. Onboard or USB CD rom drive
USB device

It won't let me move HD to #2

So what do I do now??? :eek:

EDIT: OK...finally moved it to #2
But still won't boot...... computer is still blank, black screen....

What will appear if its correctly booted?

EDIT #2:
OK...now it rebooted after several tries..... it read some data from the CD and then XP kicked in and loaded up. But could not finish loading, got busy and then stalled......

Can I use the HIREN to do diagnosis? How?

[cuore]

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[Tennison]

Cannot open the back of the CPU cos its riverted shut--- I used to be able to ADD memory strips, 2nd hard drive etc...or just vacuum the inside---clean out the dust etc.... now... only can push buttons.....:confused:
Does your DELL have a plastic slide release at the top rear of the CPU..?
If it does, push it back, and it will unlock the righthand side panel to allow access inside.


:cool:

[Jats]

I had planned to get an Apple last time, but my laptop died and I needed Windows for my school work.

I still plan to get an apple desktop the next time I have income. :D

Yes.... I also need the PC cos so many of the applications for work are for PC...... But I will probably end up getting an Apple as well. :) An apple a day......

[ATTACH]1129

Unfortunately for some very strange reasons..... none of these screens appeared after the booting. It kicked into the hard drive Win XP.

I wonder if I need to boot in Dos prompt and then read the CDdrive from there.

Does your DELL have a plastic slide release at the top rear of the CPU..?
If it does, push it back, and it will unlock the righthand side panel to allow access inside.
:cool:

No... its got the metal that goes around the entire CPU, riverted from the back. I tried to look for the slide releases---found none. The front can be slided out but only AFTER you release it from the back and slide the "N " shaped casing back.

If none of these work...... probably have three choices left:

1) reformat the hard drive and see if it works.

2) Take it to the computer doctor for a major operation and see if it can be repaired......

3) Buy a new one....but if I do decide for this new one....I would want to wait another month for the new WIN 7.

OK...... guys...thanks for the help..... :D

[Jats]

Looks like the computer is refusing to boot from CD drvie cos it cannot read or detect that drive.

I have changed the boot sequence in BIOS, its showing up in device manager that CDdrive is there but its refusing to read or boot from it.

How do I get it to read from CD drive?

If it cannot read from that drive, even if I format the C drive, I won't be able to reload any of the software......:confused:

Ahhhhh....this computer problem is so frustrating.......:mad:

Help anyone?

[cuore]

You can remove the hard disc of your laptop, put it in an usb external hard disc enclosure (now external hd cases are cheap), connect to your pc, then format it, copy the content of the install CD (eg XP)
on the formated disc and then place the hd back to your laptop.

With this way Windows will detect your laptop's hardware (that's why I didn;t tell you to install Windows on you PC before you place it back to the laptop)

Or
you can use an external cd drive

cuore



Looks like the computer is refusing to boot from CD drvie cos it cannot read or detect that drive.

I have changed the boot sequence in BIOS, its showing up in device manager that CDdrive is there but its refusing to read or boot from it.

How do I get it to read from CD drive?

If it cannot read from that drive, even if I format the C drive, I won't be able to reload any of the software......:confused:

Ahhhhh....this computer problem is so frustrating.......:mad:

Help anyone?

[Jats]

You can remove the hard disc of your laptop, put it in an usb external hard disc enclosure (now external hd cases are cheap), connect to your pc, then format it, copy the content of the install CD (eg XP)
on the formated disc and then place the hd back to your laptop.

With this way Windows will detect your laptop's hardware (that's why I didn;t tell you to install Windows on you PC before you place it back to the laptop)

Or
you can use an external cd drive

cuore
Those were my thoughts initially as well.
However I cannot get into the CPU casing.....it's diverted shut.
I already have an external drives. The operating system and a few programs are on the c drive, the rest are on the external.

Now it read the windows disk that came with the computer but unable to re install----fatal error in one of the files.
Trust dell to come up with a quality product????

[cuore]

usually the manuals that come with laptops have some instructions of how to remove/replace/upgrade parts of the laptop such as RAM slots, hd etc.
Check dell's site. There's should be a way to extract the hd.

cuore

Those were my thoughts initially as well.
However I cannot get into the CPU casing.....it's diverted shut.
I already have an external drives. The operating system and a few programs are on the c drive, the rest are on the external.

Now it read the windows disk that came with the computer but unable to re install----fatal error in one of the files.
Trust dell to come up with a quality product????

[Jats]

This problematic computer is a desktop.
Main CPU unit cannnot be opened.
Manual says send back to factory---India/china
I am reluntant to do that and have identity stolen.......

Can I disable the c drive from bios?
And just use an external?
Do you think this might work?

[jlilest]

If you really want to secure the hard drive, you should probably face reality that the warranty isn't going to work for you.

You may just need to consider that a cost of doing business as it were.

You may want to try a local technician if you don't feel you can open the computer and safely work on it.

[cuore]

I am not sure if you can disable C from bios, but try to set as first boot device the
external disc and do the process we discussed before (install windows there). You
have nothing to lose by trying this, because you will not change anything at C disc.
I think it will work, if it let you boot from the external disc.

cuore


This problematic computer is a desktop.
Main CPU unit cannnot be opened.
Manual says send back to factory---India/china
I am reluntant to do that and have identity stolen.......

Can I disable the c drive from bios?
And just use an external?
Do you think this might work?

[Jats]

Thank you all very much for the suggestions and help.....I really appreciated that......:)

I finally got it to work.....

It did not want to read the HIREN boot disk. The only disk it read after multiple tries was the WIN XP re-installation disk that came with the computer. It won't let me REPAIR....so my only choice was to Format it.

Did that, re-install the operating system. Then found out that none of the drivers that came with the computer worked!!!!

So could not get online to get the updated drivers. So nothing works right now.....;)

But managed to call the manufacturer DELL that is.....and after a while on the phone with this guy with very heavy Indian ascent.... found out that they sent me the wrong pack of CDs when they shipped the computer.......

Ha ha ha...... DELL.... a venue for great product and customer service......:eek:

Anyways, they are going to resend (NO CHARGE) the correct pack of CDs... should have it in two days or so..... WHEW!!!!!

With those drivers, I should be able to drive this desktop again...... but will still look at some new laptops---always good to have a spare lying around......

Thanks again you guys.....:D