MalusCalibur

Hi there (been making a lot of topics here lately...),

My old laptop, running Windows XP, seems to be on the very brink of death-but I thought I'd see if anything could still be done to save it.

Just recently, with absolutely no reason or provocation at all (as far as I could tell), the laptop refused to start up, claiming 'Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM'. It would go through two of it's usual startup screens (one for Toshiba, the manufacturer, which also contained the means to boot from CD, and one for Norton GoBack') before arriving at this message.

My attempts to fix this problem proceeded as follows. First, I booted from the original XP setup disk in an attempt to repair the problem. Windows Setup did not, however, recognise my existing install and thus could not initiate a repair from there.

My next step was to attempt to use the recovery console to run CHKDSK on the hard drive, with the '/r' suffix in order to fix any problems. This proceeded as expected for a short while, but once the progress percentage reached 53% (on what I can only assume was a second 'loop', since I was certain I had seen it reach 75% before dropping back to 50% and then incrementing slowly), the machine began to emit a series of very odd clunking and scraping noises-similar to normal hard drive operation sounds but very obviously not 'right'. Unsure what to do, I left it doing so for a little while, hoping it would subside, and was then presented with the following blue screen:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...r/DSC01855.jpg

Following this instruction, I rebooted the machine. Upon reboot, it went through the same two startup screens as before, but instead of the 'Windows could not start' message, this time I was presented with nothing but a black screen while the machine made usual 'starting up' sounds. After a few moments of this, it would restart this process by itself, continuing an endless loop until I powered it off once more.

It seems to me to be utterly dead, but as I said, I thought it was a worth finding out if there was anything that could be done.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

simpswr

The hard drive may have failed . . you can run diagnostics on the hard drive ( click here ) to confirm or rule that out

MalusCalibur

It would seem a very likely cause of the problem-however, being completely unable to get into Windows means I'm not at all sure how to run a diagnostic program on the hard drive. If you mean that I should extract the hard drive, put it into an enclosure, and then run a diagnostic from another machine (i.e. the one I'm currently using), I should point out that I've no idea how to go about doing that, nor any experience in doing so.

Look at thel link . . you make a bootable cd or floppy which will run without an operating system

rwc1969

Have you installed or updated anything just prior to this happening? It could be the HDD, driver or malware. The noises you described sound like a failing HDD.

Johnny Tremaine

The first paragraph with the 53% to 75% loop is classic for a failing HD. Start data recovery operations immediately. Use manufacturer's diagnostic utilities to test the HD.

There are some softwares that claim to be able to repair some HD's that fail manufacturer's testing. Just read about one last night...

Called "SpinRite". Going to try this software next time I get a dead HD and see what happens....

MalusCalibur

Apologies for the delay in my response.

Following your advice I attempted to run a boot CD for Hitachi drives, the manufacturer I believe the laptop in question has a hard drive for (short of opening the laptop up, which I am in no way confident of doing, I have no way to confirm this) but it did not succeed-after telling it to boot from CD, a few moments would pass before reverting to the aforementioned booting/black screen loop. The same thing happened when attempting to use a UBCD-both times, even though I told the laptop to boot from CD/DVD, it seemingly refused.

Is there anything else I can do at this point?

simpswr

Sounds like the cd drive is faulty . . does it have a floppy drive? Most of the drive diagnostics can be run from a floppy as well

MalusCalibur

That is indeed a possibility. Could it have developed in the small time between my original attempt at booting from the Windows XP disk and the following major error? As it booted fine from the Windows disk at the time, though admittedly I have not tried that same disk since the latest problem.

What can I do about the problem now, if anything? As no, the laptop does not have a floppy drive.

Johnny Tremaine

First, don't be afraid to crack the laptop to look at the HD. You need to know what the manufacturer is, and it's not difficult or scary to get in & out of the HD bay.

Second, while the Optical drive may be faulty, more likely you missed the window of opportunity to boot to optical rather than the HD, and it's going to the HD that you already suspect is bad or going bad. Chances of both the HD and the Optical being bad are pretty low.

Check the BIOS Boot Order, and make certain the Optical Drive (CD or DVD) is listed first. Also verify the bootable Utility disk will boot another computer.

Double check that you burned the disk correctly. Many people wrongly make a data disk of the .iso file, rather than use a utility (such as MagicISO) to convert the .iso to bootable disk. There is a big difference between an .iso as a data file, and an .iso that has been burned to/as bootable media.

MalusCalibur

Ah, that might be the problem. Although I am fairly certain I've been telling it to boot from CD correctly, I did just burn the .iso to the CD-and so would probably need to make it bootable using software. I will attempt to do this tommorow (I am unfortunately away from the laptop until then)

spike2me

If you turn the Laptop over there is usually just one screw that holds the Hard Drive bay in. You can remove the HDD and find the exact manufacturer and then put it right back in. Then download the Hard Drive utility for that manufacturer and burn the ISO not as a Data Disc but Burn Image. Then it should boot off of that CD. You can also take that drive out of that computer and put it on another computer using a USB External Enclosure, and you can copy any files off of it. Buy yourself a new HDD and install Windows. Then send the Old Hard Drive back to the manufacturer for a replacement.

MalusCalibur

Right, apologies for the delay, as I have been away for quite some time.

My attempts to discover the hard drive manufacturer have gone completely in vain. I did attempt to open up the laptop by removing all the screws, and 'loose' (if that makes sense) casing parts from the underside, and found what I understood to be the hard drive-which had no label as to it's manufacturer whatsoever. I was unable to remove the entire casing as it seemed firmly attached, and I was not prepared to excercise too much force in case I damaged it any further.

With that done (and a substantial finger injury sustained from my attempts to get the casing off), I thus decided to attempt using the UBCD again, this time making the .iso bootable by using the MagicISO program. It's entirely possible that I didn't do it correctly, but I followed what seemed to be perfectly logical steps to create the bootable image file, burned it to the CD, and tried it in the laptop again-with no success. I even changed the boot order so that CD/DVD was listed first and the same thing happened as before-the laptop seemed to read from the CD and then proceeded with it's normal, failing, boot process.

Without any kind of 'Help' function in MagicISO, and with my patience (and temper, I must admit) running rather thin, I'm not really sure what to do now.

Any ideas?

Johnny Tremaine

Insert a blank CD in the optical drive.

In Magic ISO

Tools > "Burn CD/DVD with ISO"

Under "CD/DVD Image File, browse to where you have the .ISO file (make certain it is an .ISO file, and not a compressed (like a .ZIP or .RAR) ISO file.)

Select a CD/DVD Writing Speed (fastest).

Click "Burn it".

If this doesn't work, you have the wrong .ISO file.

kookcoo

I had this same problem. Thank you for answers.

Johnny Tremaine

It should not have been that difficult to remove and inspect the HD.

"All" the screws sounds rather odd. Most laptops have a plastic cover with one or two screws, with another two to fasten the HD to the chassis of the laptop.

There is also usually a metal shroud and a carrier piece that you need to remove in order to look at the actual HD, held by 4 very small screws.

I've never seen or heard of a HD that did not have a manufacturer's label with a detailed description of what it is, size, model, serial # etc... This is how the HD manufacturers regulate warranties, so I'm wondering where in the laptop you were, and what you were looking at.

simpswr

One side should look like this



And one side like this:



The drive may be housed in a cradle and will have to be removed from that

MalusCalibur

Here is what the HDD looks like:



I've thus far been unable to get it out from the laptop casing. This is a combination of there not being an immediately obvious way, and my reluctance to apply force lest I damage it any further.

I would imagine that the manufacturer label is under the metal cage.

Note that the four circular metal elements around the edge of the cage are not screws.

Any advice?

simpswr

Try pulling it to the left while "wiggling? sideways . . if all the mounting screws are out, it should work it's way out

Johnny Tremaine

It will slide away from where it plugs in about 1/4", then come out, if you have all the screws fastening it removed. The shroud comes off after it's removed. Usually there's a plastic tag that you grab onto in order to pull the HD way from it's mount.

MalusCalibur

Ok, I have now finally made some progress with this. I was able to get the hard drive out, and established that the manufacturer is Hitachi-and so downloaded the DFT program ISO and successfully burnt it to the CD, which in turn successfully, at last, started up on the laptop.

However, after selecting what I assumed to be the correct menu options, the program would run through some intitialisation text before telling me 'Not ready reading from drive A', with the options Abort, Retry, Ignore, and Fail. Because the laptop does not have an A drive (which I have only ever encountered as a floppy drive on other computers-and as stated, this laptop does not have one), I attempted the Ignore option-which did nothing, just halting the process. I then tried the Retry option (after rebooting) which just presented the same error a second time. This time, I tried Fail, which presented me with a prompt as follows: A:\DFT-to which I had no idea how to respond, so I rebooted and tried Abort, which told me 'Stub error (2003): can't find dpmi16bi.ovl', and then the same prompt on the next line.

Any ideas?