[dabaron1052]

Hi ,I just bought a windows7 installation disk , after some difficultis getting it to go past "setup is starting" , I eventually was able to load windows7 .. I downloaded avg free edition 2013 , did full computer scan , zero threats.Installed about 150 windows updates, upgraded to ie9 , set up Weather.com as home page , and went to bed ... This morning I booted up , it went to weather.com and all seemed fine . I was making a coffee when I heard the hard drive fire up , and the computer was rebooting , but could not . I got a screen saying Windows could not start , click to repair , or start windows normally . I tried both without success . Anyone have any idea what I must do ?? Thanks for any help , Dabaron :uhoh:
At this point in time I have the installation disk in the cd-rom , and I get as far as clicking on "install" , and the screen now hangs on " setup is starting " and does not go beyond ,it has been 4 hours hanging ..

 

[Old Rich]

and welcome to the Forum

You can run diagnostics on the hard drive by downloading Seatools and making a bootable disc. Do the short and long test.

If either test fails, the drive needs to be replaced.

See this for how to make a bootable cd:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f149/how-to-burn-a-bootable-iso-file-341778.html

 

[dabaron1052]

Thanks Rich , I got the file , burned it to a cd , then read the notepad explaining a lot of what could happen , and the fact that this was to run in DOS .. The laptop was already set to boot from the cd rom , so I inserted the cd and what I got was a message saying " Starting BCDW " , and then hung there .. I just reran the cd , getting the same message , but now I will see if it eventually does something ,anything .. If this means anything to you please let me know .. If you feel this is a failing HD , fine . This all started when the grandkids came down , and I believe the computer was compromised by a serious virus.. So far I have spent $100.00 on the Windows 7 installation disc , and would be prepared to try a refurbished HD . But I also am wondering if there is any indication it might be a motherboard issue . Do you have any thoughts ??? Thanks again , Ron
p.s. I inserted the cd in my other laptop and it started at the agreement and acception page ,so I believe the file worked ... The computer with the problem is a year old Acer Aspire 5250 , just so you know ..

 

[Old Rich]

That could be a drive failure, but only the diagnostics would confirm . . have you tried the diagnostics a second time? Do you get a message to "Press any key to boot from CD"?

I take it you have a Seagate drive?

 

[dabaron1052]

Hi again Rich , sorry I checked and the Hdd is a Western Digital Model WD3200BPVT .. I did try the Seagate program 3 times always the same message .. Perhaps because it is not a Seagate .. I did get the "Press any key to boot from CD"
I saw on Newegg I could get a 2.5" Hdd Refurbished for $32.00 ,think that would be a good gamble ?? I appreciate your efforts believe me ...

 

[Old Rich]

I don't care for refurbished drives . . too much chance of buying someoneelses headache.

I would try the WD diagnostic . . Seagate usually runs on other drives, but it's woth a try

 

[dabaron1052]

Actually what I did do , is remove the hard drive on my Dell inspiron 1525 .. It is a WD drive the same as what is in the Acer.. I then removes the drive from the Acer and put mine in .. Exactly the same thing happened .. Nothing . So I just put everything nback as it was and now am assuming it must be something in the motherboard ,like the Bios , is that possible , and if so how can I access the bios and make sure the setting are correct there ?? Thanks , don't give up on me , but I am at the stage of thinking it may cost more to fix this than what it is worth ...

 

[dabaron1052]

Not sure how to close a thread , but I am getting no more input , so should not ake up anyone time. If some one reads this pls close thread , thanks Ron

 

[Old Rich]

I am at the stage of thinking it may cost more to fix this than what it is worth ...

I think you might be right . . You could use the free verson of KillDisk to zero out the drive and start over.

How to erase hard drive by [email protected] KillDisk? Low Level Format.

 

[dabaron1052]

Hi Rich , sounds like a great idea ([email protected]) .. Not sure how I do it ?? Do I download the software , then copy it to a cd , then set laptop to boot from the cd ?? If so , will it start up automatically on the boot ?? Thanks for any further help ,Ron

 

[Old Rich]

Download the dos version iso and burn it as an image to a cd . . if you don't have software to do that you can use imgbun : The Official ImgBurn Website

That will result in a bootable cd . . put that disc in the pc you want to kill and boot from it and run the program.

Screenshots here: [email protected] KillDisk. Hard Drive Eraser screenshots

 

[dabaron1052]

Thanks again. I have burnt the iso file to the cd , and although I do not see it on the drive , it is now shown on my computer as a E:bootdisk , hope that is correct ?? I have to go shoot pool in a tournament this afternoon,will try it out tonight .. Thanks again , & again ,Ron

 

[dabaron1052]

Ok I ran the kill program , everything looked great , was to take 21 1/2 hours .. Disk is a 320 Gig.. For some reason it stopped at 84 % , 20 minutes to run ??? Left it on all night ,is still there . Should I rerun it , or try to load windows 7 from my disk ? Thanks , Ron

 

[Old Rich]

You can try rerunning, but it looks like something is bad in that notebook

 

[dabaron1052]

Ok , I ran program again , and it showed me the hard drive , net 298 Gig etc etc .. So I removed the disk , inserted my Windows 7 insall disk and ran it from the cd. It has now installed windows7 and to date I have downloaded an anti virus protection , upgraded to ie9 , set home page at weather.com and am downloading 94 updates. So far so good , but remember I did get this far once , and the fact that the computer shut down on it's own , and then would nt boot again set me back to square one . I believe that the [email protected] disk did wipe eveything out , so maybe ?? Will keep you posted . I know there is another 60 or 70 updates to download after the first big one . After that the suspense begins .. I do want to thank you for your continued support in this respect . I know I would never have gotten this far without your help ,Ron

 

[Old Rich]

Let us know how it goes . .

 

[dabaron1052]

Came home to see error message "windows has recovered from unexpected problem " Clicked on details and there was a bunch of numbers , as well as the words Blue Screen .. But I checked and am now installing the 94 updates. Still another 50-60 , and then who knows what ..?? Has to do with booting as it was in a restart mode when I got here .. ?????

 

[Old Rich]

Look in Event Viewer to see ifr any hints are there

 

[dabaron1052]

Dumb question , where do I find even viewer ??

 

[Old Rich]

Click on the start button and type Evernt Viewer . .