Helpppp.. BSOD now laptop won't boot!

[sach2]

The funny thing is that I have never seen a PC freeze during POST because of a faulty device. So it is possible that that HD might be recognized in a PC. It should be a standard SATA drive and PC SATA data and power cables should connect to it. Then it is a matter of seeing if the PC BIOS recognizes the drive and if it is recognized whether the OS can access the files.

You may want to verify that the HD is bad by putting it back in the laptop and seeing that it freezes again before going forward.

[dyamond]

I just put it back in and its stuck again. So that means the drive is bad? This is probably a stupid question but what causes it to just go "bad"? I mean, I haven't dropped it (the laptop), shaken it, or abused it in anyway. Heck, I was just sitting on the bed when it crashed!

So if it is bad, what are my options? I really don't mind losing 90% of the stuff on there but the other 10% I really want because its stuff that can't be replaced.

[sach2]

They just go bad. Usually, you get a little warning from BIOS that the SMART status has tripped on the drive and failure is imminent but you didn't get that.

One thing you can try is to leave it out of the laptop overnight and try it again tomorrow. On rare occasions cooling a drive down will let it work a few more times depending on how it fails. (This is the premise of the "freezer trick" where people double wrap the drive in plastic and put it in the freezer for a half hour and then sometimes have luck with it being recognized.)

More practically, the drive has to be replaced for your laptop to work properly.

As for the data on the drive, there is a chance that a different computer might get further as to recognizing the drive. It depends on how it has failed. Do you have a SATA PC that you could connect the drive to in order to see if it is recognized by that machine's BIOS?

Another option would be to buy a SATA USB adapter that would allow you to attach the drive to another computer by USB. Something like this. You want to make sure you get one that includes an AC cord for extra power, if needed.

If the drive is completely dead, no option will get it working. Connecting to a PC would let you know if a different BIOS can recognize the drive. The cables are good but for a one time use, you may not want to spend the money.

I suppose a last possibility would be to try your HD in another laptop to see if it is recognized. But even if it is recognized you would have to then run a Live Linux CD to boot the laptop to try to retrieve data. I only mention it if you only have all laptops and wanted to try something and didn't mind the work/time.

[satrow]

Don't go the freezer route until all other possibilities are exhausted, test it in a friend's or co-worker's PC first, pay attention to any noises and vibrations from it if you can (this should be easier if it's connected via a USB adapter).

It might be that there's a problem with the laptop hardware or BIOS.

[dyamond]

I have an old laptop that I no longer use because of a crack in the LCD screen but it still works. I pulled it out and hooked it up to an external monitor and it works great. I decided I would try to hook up the hard drive to the broken LCD laptop and see if it recognizes it. It didn't. It loaded up the dell screen and then said "internal hard disk not found, no bootable devices" there are more words but that's all I can read due to the crack. I don't know if this is relevant but that laptop is a different model dell with vista and the non loading on is windows 7 (not sure if there would be a capability issue?).

This is where it gets interesting. I popped the hard drive from the cracked LCD laptop to the won't start one and it loaded the dell screen and then froze for a second at the same place the previous hard previous did. I thought, what on earth? But it loaded all the way, I saw a faint shadow of the windows logo but then it bsod'd fast. So fast that not even all the words were on the screen. Then a screen came up and said "windows failed to start". Then it asked me if I was to try to repair any corrupted files, I said yes, it asked about system restore and I said yes to that too. The startup repair started, said it was finished and if it worked windows would start, if not I would be brought back to the repair option again. It rebooted, loaded, bsod'd and startup repair was brought up again but this time when it finished, it says "windows can not repair this computer automatically". I have two options "send information about this problem" or "don't send". Under problem signature it says:

Problem event name: startuprepairV2
Problem signature 01: autofallover
Problem signature 02: 6.0.6001.18000.6.0.6001.18000
Problem signature 03: 3
Problem signature 04: 131074
Problem signature 05: norootcause
Problem signature 06: notrootcause
Problem signature 07: 0
Problem signature 08: 1
Problem signature 09: system restore
Problem signature 10: 0
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

I'm not sure if any of this is helpful or relevant but it can't be the hard drive right? I mean, it works like brand new the the cracked LCD laptop.

As for noises, the old drive in the won't load laptop made start up noises but wouldn't load. The drive from the cracked LCD laptop made the same noises. The old drive in the cracked LCD laptop made no noises, neither does the hard drive from the cracked LCD laptop when it boots up in the cracked LCD laptop. Thank you for (everyone's) help so far and thank you for read this exceedingly long post. I have no idea if any of this means anything or even I've made any sense but maybe with this problem, there is more than meets the eye?

[satrow]

It's now looking like the drive is ok and the laptop has a problem with the BIOS or motherboard.

A quick look on the Dell site reveals that there is a BIOS update, under Fixes and Enhancements is "Fix Lojack malfunction issue", LoJack is built into the BIOS ... could this be the issue here?

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/...eId=2731117857

If it is, how do we go about resetting the laptop so that it's stable enough to risk flashing the BIOS?

Is there any warranty left on it Dy?

[dyamond]

Originally Posted by satrow

It's now looking like the drive is ok and the laptop has a problem with the BIOS or motherboard.

A quick look on the Dell site reveals that there is a BIOS update, under Fixes and Enhancements is "Fix Lojack malfunction issue", LoJack is built into the BIOS ... could this be the issue here?

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/...eId=2731117857

If it is, how do we go about resetting the laptop so that it's stable enough to risk flashing the BIOS?

Is there any warranty left on it Dy?

I had no idea that LoJack was even in there. I don't recall it even being mention in the description when I bought it or getting any paperwork for it. Either way, I don't think I have any warranty left, especially now with the way I'd been taking this sucker apart.

[sach2]

I'm reading this differently.

The questionable HD isn't recognized by either BIOS, meaning it has failed in a significant way. In the newer Dell the BIOS freezes when it can't identify the HD. In the LCD notebook the BIOS still can't identify the HD but because it is written differently it moves on and eventually displays the message "no HD found". This means to me that the HD is bad.

Now, with the LCD HD in the new laptop, Windows starts but it is trying to load hardware drivers that don't match because it is in a different machine. The hardware is too different for it to make adjustments so it crashes. (You could possibly try hitting F8 during the Dell screen and see if it will start in Safe Mode but I doubt it will.)

Do you have recovery disc for the new laptop? I'm thinking it may be time to consider using the LCD HD in the new laptop and doing a fresh install of Win7. (You could probably use a Linux CD to save personal files from the LCD HD before formatting it. However, I doubt you will be able to get anything off the other "bad" HD since neither machine recognizes it.

If I have things wrong, please correct me.

[satrow]

Originally Posted by sach2

I'm reading this differently.

If I have things wrong, please correct me.

No, you're correct, I misread it

[dyamond]

Ok, latest update. I obtained a brand new, never been used, hard drive and put it in the non-loading laptop. It loaded up the splash screen and then presented me with this message.

WARNING:
0251: System CMOS checksum bad - Default configuration used.

F1 to resume, F2 to Setup. What does this mean? Should I continue?

[sach2]

When you held the power button for 30 seconds that would have cleared CMOS, so that message would be about normal. I would have thought you would have seen it before this when you booted without the HD. As long as it loads defaults you are OK. Just hit F1.

Or you can hit F2 and enter BIOS and then hit Esc to exit and Choose to Save Changes and Exit which should get rid of that message.

You are going to need recovery discs to get an OS on that HD.

Edit: Go ahead and do the F2 thing to Save Changes so we know that message is just related to clearing CMOS and not a problem.

[dyamond]

Originally Posted by sach2

Edit: Go ahead and do the F2 thing to Save Changes so we know that message is just related to clearing CMOS and not a problem.

Ok, Will do. I do have the Windows 7 DVD that came with this laptop originally.

[sach2]

I'm glad you have the DVD. You should be fine with an install on the new HD.

You can always save the "bad" HD and occasionally put it in the LCD laptop and hope that you might get lucky. It wouldn't boot in that laptop but if BIOS recognized it you would have a chance of data retrieval using a Linux disc. I've had HD that weren't recognized for a few days that would suddenly work a time or two before failing again. Just a last ditch effort to try to get your data.

[dyamond]

So everything installed good and the laptop is up and running. I didn't get that checksum error message when windows re-booted.

One more question, do you think I'd have any more "success" (I use term loosely as I know there is no real guarantee of success) if I bought one of those USB hard drive enclosures as opposed to occasionally trying it in the LCD laptop? Also, What do you think of this? Spinrite have you used this before? I'm reading a lot of success stories about it recovering data from completely dead hard drives. So I guess that's actually two questions.

Thanks so much for you help & time!!!

[sach2]

I'm really not sure. My own experience is limited to having HD die in PCs where they are not recognized by BIOS. Almost every time, I was able to get them recognized a few more times. Either by restarting the computer 20 times in a row, or by unplugging the machine and letting it sit overnight and then trying to boot a couple more times.
Seems like they are opposite things one is heating up the drive and the other is cooling it down but I have had both work. Usually, letting it sit worked best.

As far as USB enclosure, I've never had the need for one. It seems like it would be an extra connection which would cause problems but i have been reading and some people do have success getting it seen in Windows thus bypassing BIOS. It could be worth a try.

I'm really not sure what to tell you.

As far as SpinRite, I can't see how it could work if the HD is nor recognized by BIOS. The program would get its information about the drive from BIOS so if BIOS can't see it I can't see how the program could?

I suppose you could get the HD manufacturer's diagnostic program and burn it to CD as an image file to make it bootable. And then boot the LCD laptop from it with the bad HD attached and see if that program sees the HD. If it can't then I don't think SpinRite would either.

[dyamond]

Hmmm, I see what you are saying. You gave me a few ideas and I think I will give the hard drive enclosure a try, they don't seem to be that expensive or perhaps, I'll ask our IT guy at work if maybe he has one I could borrow.

There are just a few things that I desperately want so I'm willing to try anything. I have 2 16GB flash drives and if I could just get it to load for even 10 minutes, I think I could easily copy what I want over to the drives. Well, wish me luck and thanks again, I really appreciate it!

[sach2]

You are welcome and Good Luck!

Be aware the HD won't boot in that LCD laptop because that Windows is setup for the newer laptop. You will need a Linux CD which, you will run off the CD not install. Or you could put the Linux on a USB flash.

Something like Puppy Linux would work. When you boot up from the CD, your HD (assuming it is recognized in BIOS) and your USB flash drives will show up as icons on the bottom left of the Desktop. Just click on them to open and then drag and drop from HD to USB flash. The Windows partition would be sda1 or sda2 in Linux. The flash drive will have a different third letter so sdc1 or sdd1 etc.

It is really not difficult. The desktop looks and behaves much like Windows. But see if you can borrow an enclosure as that is easiest and might have a different way of seeing the drive.