HELP Laptop won't boot

zeb

zeb

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My daughter has a Toshiba laptop about 2 years old the other day after a windows update she rebooted the thing and she now just gets a blank black screen as if it’s still loading and that’s it.
Now she is unable to boot the thing at all even in safe mode to find an earlier restore point.
I have her recovery discs but even with them after setting the language to English and hit the next button that’s it no matter how much time it’s given to load the next screen shot.
Any idea’s greatly accepted
 
If you go into the bios is the hard drive listed? thinking hard drive failure if it's not there.
 
Have heard of this before, its to do with the last update. when you do get in you need to delete the last update. If I can remeber rightly, you need to create a boot disk on another PC and then boot from this on your system. Try asking Google for a solution.
 
Good point
 
as rob above has stated....

or hit the delete key on boot, and go for safe mode'

from there try system restore'

please let us know your outcome
 
I have heard of Windows Updates causing systems not to boot (rare but does happen).

If you have tried the suggestion about (about last known good config) and the restore disks wont work, you may need to obtain a copy of the OS CD (Windows XP, Vista or 7 depeneding on what you have got) and boot into that. Once booted, there is an option to repair the operating system without doing a full restore.

If this fails, the other option would be to format the drive and then try the restore CD's
 
A quick Google of the original OPs error message, indicates a driver error.
 
id expect it to blue screen for a driver issue. although that doesnt always happen..

this sounds more like something gone afoot with windows boot files and/or a disk issue.

if the OP can try the last known good config option and let us know how it goes..
 
I've had this happen before, I can't remember exactly how I fixed it (a clever combination of inserting CDs and mashing a few buttons on the keyboard!) but it should be fixable.

It the worst comes to the worst, you should be able to recover any important files by removing the hard drive and using a caddy to connect to a PC or other laptop. This would be followed by a clean install of Windows!
 
Thanks for all the suggestions folk’s,
Just had a look and the hard drive light is on and staying constant it sounds like its working with the odd click.

Had a look in the setup and the hard drive is showing.

She is running vista but what version I don’t know.

As stated I have tried to get into safe mode and find another restore point but have tried all the F key’s and got nowhere the only key to work is F2 to access the setup menu.

I have a Toshiba myself and have reinstalled windows ect with no problem so have the general idea on what to do but not getting anywhere.
 
I have the exact same problem if I ever put my laptop to sleep. I have to take one of the sticks of ram out, then boot it up, at which point it tells me it is recovering from a graphics failure, then I shut it down properly and put the ram back in. Windows...!!!
 
I had a similar issues with my desktop and a laptop.

I figured out that I always had my portable hard drive plugged in when I updated. If i plugged in portable HD and turned the machine on it worked fine. Seems that windows update was putting files on the portable and when they weren't there it wouldn't boot.
 
I'm still thinking failed hard drive. The recovery disc working then failing at the next step may mean it wants to write something to the hard drive.

With nothing in the CD drive do you see anything that would have been read from the hard drive when booting? starting windows or something...
 
Well after leaving it trying to boot for a few hours it finally came up with the screen telling me windows wasn’t shut down properly and asking me to reboot in safe mode then the next screen was this:

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:

1 Insert recovery disc..ect
2 Choose language..ect
3 Choose option to repair.

Info windows failed to start because the system registry file is missing, or corrupt.

File \windows\system32\config\system
Status; 0xc00000e9

So I guess it’s the recovery disc and just waiting hours for it to do its thing.
 
zeb said:
Well after leaving it trying to boot for a few hours it finally came up with the screen telling me windows wasn’t shut down properly and asking me to reboot in safe mode then the next screen was this:

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:

1 Insert recovery disc..ect
2 Choose language..ect
3 Choose option to repair.

Info windows failed to start because the system registry file is missing, or corrupt.

File \windows\system32\config\system
Status; 0xc00000e9

So I guess it’s the recovery disc and just waiting hours for it to do its thing.
Click to expand...

this help?

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...e/thread/b2ff1f41-b7b1-4a28-b1a9-19117022c1e9
 
Had what sounds like an identical problem with a Vaio after an M$ update, could not use the hardware restore points so only result was to format the HD and start from scratch I'm afraid...

Only plus point for me is that the Vaio has the recovery kit built into so didn't take long to rebuild and I do backup all my bits and bobs...
 
I was convinced would turn out to be drive failure tbh :)
Mainly due to my sons Toshiba wrecking 3 drives now..
Gotta love that "click"! :D
 
Cheers for all your help, like an idiot :bang: I forgot that the girlfriends son in law‘s family own a PC / IT company.
Problem was that the boot sector on the hard drive had gone so fitted a new hard drive.
 
Had that before on a pc hard drive, I assume the index got corrupted somehow as it was failing.
 
Try connecting another regular monitor to the lap top and if that works you may need an inverter. cost about $40. It could also be the screen.

Can you still hear the nose when booting?


zeb said:
My daughter has a Toshiba laptop about 2 years old the other day after a windows update she rebooted the thing and she now just gets a blank black screen as if it’s still loading and that’s it.
Now she is unable to boot the thing at all even in safe mode to find an earlier restore point.
I have her recovery discs but even with them after setting the language to English and hit the next button that’s it no matter how much time it’s given to load the next screen shot.
Any idea’s greatly accepted____________________________
Everyone needs wall decals.
Click to expand...
 
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