Computer will not startup past blank screen? Help!

I have a Toshiba satellite with Vista installed on it. The computer will not startup after the Microsoft corporation bar has loaded, then there is just a blank screen. I tried startup repair on Vista installation cd, system restore, and tried to do a fresh install but none of these work or take to long. When I did system restore it said I had corruption error on c: drive.

I did chkdsk from command prompt and it says no problem was found. I did chkdsk /f and chkdsk /r but it said it was write protected. I also cannot startup in safe mode.

Should I run startup repair again and wait forever or what can I do with the command prompt to get computer to boot up again?

 

Welcome to Major Geeks.

CHKDSK will not catch all hard drive problems. My guess is that the hard drive is failing.

Check to see what type of drive is in the PC (you can do this on Toshiba's support site). If it is a SATA drive, you can get a replacement for around $50.

If you go this route, you will either have to order an OEM restore DVD from Toshiba or purchase a new copy/license for Windows 7 (about $100).

Hope this helps.

 

Will concur with gman on this one.

The average life expectancy from a platter/mechanical hard drive is about five years with regular use as a boot drive. As a storage/slave drive they will last much longer.

You may also consider going SSD. There are many benefits including lower power consumption, less heat, and even longer battery life in most cases.

What is your particular model number?

BTW, "Welcome to MajorGeeks!"

 

You need to run chkdsk /r from an "elevated" command prompt - that is, "run as administrator".

Also note if you run chkdsk /? you will see that /r "implies" (includes) /f. So you never need to run /f, only /r.

 

Hi Degerati, sorry to intrude but OP may need this info as well. If you have a non-bootable system and are running chkdsk from a repair boot CD, is it necessary or even possible to run chkdsk in "elevated" mode?

 

Intrude? This is a forum. Forums are places for "open" discussions where EVERYONE can participate, share; "contribute" what you know, maybe learn something new. Contributing is NOT intruding.

Never thought about it because is there such of thing as non-elevated (non-admin) when booting from a repair disk? I don't think so because you are not booting up a "full" OS with different user modes when you boot from a bootable CD/DVD.

 

I wish everyone in this forum shared your view on this matter.

And I never thought about that. Seems rather obvious.... in retrospect. Thanks for the enlightenment.

 

Me too. Sadly, many think forum discussions are private conversations between just 2 people. Then others feel their opinions are the only opinions that count. And some feel if you post a different opinion, you are arguing. Oh well.