jmckdufc

My laptop will not boot up, when it gets to the Windows XP screen, it just sits there and then nothing.

When I boot up the laptop with a Windows disc and try and use the recovery console or perform a fresh install, I get an error message saying:-

Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer.

Make sure any hard disc drives are powered on etc etc

I have checked the drive, and it has not came lose etc, so it looks like the disc is knackered.

What I would like to know, is there any tool out there that I can use to get the data off the disc? There are files on there that I really need to recover.

Any help would be great, cheers

Oh yeah, the lapto is an Acer 5220 and I had XP Pro SP2 installed on it.

vladimirb

If you want to make a fresh install of Windows XP on your laptop,you need to provide an installation with correct SATA driver so setup can see your HDD. [I guess it is newer laptop and it has SATA HDD]
You need to have either slipstreamed windows XP or you need to provide SATA driver from floppy disk drive. If you do not have internal Floppy, then I suggest you to get an external Floopy and make Floppy disc with correct SATA driver.
When setup starts, after 'press any key to start boot from CD', when blue screen appears, press F6 couple of times and wait 20-30 seconds. Then you provide setup with SATA driver and installation will continue normally.

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Vladimir
Ain't Found A Way To Kill Me Yet...

jmckdufc

I'm not really wanting to install a fresh copy, I really want to recover the files off the disc, I only mentioned a fresh copy as I tried to do that just to see if the disc would be recognised when I tried that.

vladimirb

Oh ok, anyways maybe your boot partition is corrupted. So to repair boot partition [or to do complete system repair] you must provide your setup with SATA driver so you can do FIXMBR or CHKDSK /r in recovery console.
Do as I told you and go into recovery Console and run FIXMBR first. if this does not help, try CHKDSK /r...
Hope this would help you mate.

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Vladimir
Ain't Found A Way To Kill Me Yet...

jmckdufc

Thanks mate. Thing is, I don't have a floppy drive, and don't really have any access to one without having to buy one. Is there anyway else of doing this? i.e. using a USB stick or a cd/dvd?

vladimirb

off course mate. You can make a slipstreamed CD. That means that you must import SATA drivers together with Windows XP files on CD.
To do that, simply follow instructions here
http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm

With this, you do not need to press F6 and provide SATA driver.

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Vladimir
Ain't Found A Way To Kill Me Yet...

eneles

Try starting Windows in the Last Known Good Configuration.

How to: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307852/en-us

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jmckdufc

Ay I've tried that mate, it doesn't make any difference. It boots to the Wondows XP screen and then just hangs there.

eneles

OK - try a repair installation. Please read the "warnings".

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install.

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jmckdufc

Cant do that either mate. Like I said in my first post, if I chose

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

from the

"Welcome To Setup" screen

Then I get the error message:-

Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer.

Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that and disk related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or set-up program.

Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3.

eneles

Well, I don't get it:

If Windows didn't find the HDD it wouldn't get that far - you'd get a boot failure error and you wouldn't be able load "Last known good config".

The Windows CD you've got - is it a recovery disc?
If so, is it possible to perform a non-destructive recovery?

Laptop Recovery Instructions

I'll move this thread to laptop support.

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jmckdufc

I've tried the Acer eRecovery a couple of times, but it just sits on a screen saying "please wait a moment" for ages, nothing else happens.

The Windows cd I have is a Windows XP Pro Corporate Edition. I'm not sure if it is a recovery disc or not, how would I know that?

jmckdufc

I just tried the Acer eRecovery again, it sat in the "please wait a moment screen" for a few minutes, then the screen went blank - the power key is still lit up, but the hard disc light isnt on.

jmckdufc

Just tried the acer eRecovery again and am now getting an error message box:-

"The application or DLL X:\minint\system32\SAMLIB.DLL is not a valid Windows image. PLease check this against your installation diskette."

eneles

I'll ask a fellow team member who knows a lot more about laptops to have a look.

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TriggerFinger

hi,

please correct me if my understanding of the issue is wrong...

The Problem:
Laptop would not boot up.

Things done to correct the problem:

1. Reinstall of XP via eRecovery but has error pointing to SAMLIB.DLL
2. Reinstall of XP via install CD but says it cannot find the hard drive

Please give some details on the XP CD used. Are these ACER recovery CDs?
Also have you tried to check RAM using Memtest86+? By any chance you checked the status/health of the drive using an HDD diagnostic tool?

Please do post back with any information you can provide.

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DBAN - Memtest86+ - BartPE - Linux LiveCD list - ImgBurn - HDD Diagnostic Tools - Everest

jmckdufc

The laptop boots to the screen where the Windows XP logo is displayed if that makes sense? But it just hangs there.

The Windows cd I have did not come from Acer, it was just a disc I had, so I tried to boot the laptop up with that. When I boot it up with the disc and I get to the set up screen, it doesn't matter if I hit enter to install a fresch copy of Windows or hit r to enter the recovery console - doing either just gives me the error message I described before.

I have tried getting into Acers own eRecovery console, which you can do by holding control and F10 when the laptop starts, but when I get into that, I get the error message I described in my last post.

I haven't tried either the RAM check using Memtest86+ or and checking it with a HDD diagnostic tool. Can you tell me how I would carry out both of these?

Cheers.