Laptop won't start up.

Discussion in 'Software' started by Yoozil, Oct 3, 2012.

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  1. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    Okay, my laptop (Toshiba Satellite P745-S4360, Windows 7) started acting all funky when I was transferring stuff from one external to another.

    I restarted it and now it fails to launch properly.

    My only options were to launch windows normally, have it fail again, then come back or launch startup repair.

    Problem was that startup repair would be nothing but a black screen that I can move my cursor around.

    Now it won't even give me an option for anything and loads straight to the black screen.

    I've got options to go to by holding 0 and hitting F8, but they all lead to the same black screen where I can do nothing but move my cursor around.

    Safe Mode is the same black screen, but with some white text around the edges of the screen (the text that's always there in Safe Mode).

    Now, I've turned on my laptop after leaving it off for a day, now it says:

    Intel UNDI, PXE-2.1 (build 083)
    Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Intel Corporation

    This Product is covered by one or more of the following patents:
    US5,307,459, US5,434,872, US5,732,094, US6,570,884, US6,115,776 and US6,327,625

    Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller Series v1.24 (10/07/10)
    PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable

    PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM

    Reboot and Select proper Boot device
    or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key


    Anyone know how to fix?
     
  2. Caliban

    Caliban I don't need no steenkin' title!

    Greetings, Yoozil...

    Your machine may be attempting to boot from / to a network. Try accessing your machine's BIOS (press the <F2> function key upon startup, before Windows attempts to load) and making sure your Boot Order is set for hard drive first. Ok out and reboot, see if your symptoms change.
     
  3. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    It's already set to the hard drive first.
     
  4. Caliban

    Caliban I don't need no steenkin' title!

    Try this: upon startup press <F12> - are you presented with a Toshiba System Recovery screen?

    Also, did you create a set of Recovery Disks?
     
  5. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    The Boot Menu comes up when I press F12 at the startup screen.
     
  6. Caliban

    Caliban I don't need no steenkin' title!

    Did the machine come shipped with a Recovery Disk set, or did you create a Recovery Disk set? In either case, have you attempted to boot to the Recovery Disk?
     
  7. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    As far as I can tell, it did not.

    And I have not created a Recovery Disk set either.
     
  8. plodr

    plodr Major Geek Super Extraordinaire

  9. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    If you hit F12 to get the boot menu and select HD then what exactly do you see on screen? Do you still get the PXE message?
     
  10. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

  11. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    Says that Windows is loading files, goes to the Starting Windows animation, then just the black screen.

    Can't do anything but move the cursor around.
     
  12. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    I think a chkdsk might help with the black screen. When startup repair doesn't work do you get any options that lead to a command prompt?

    If not you will need a repair disc. I think that machine runs win7 64bit. Do you have another machine that also runs win7 64bit (this would allow you to burn a repair disc).
     
  13. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    I can't even find startup repair, and I think this laptop runs win7 64bit, not entirely sure.
     
  14. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    I'm fairly sure the Toshiba runs 64bit. If you mean the laptop you are posting from now might run 64bit, you can check by right-clicking Computer and selecting Properties. Under System it should say type of OS either 32 or 64bit.
     
  15. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    Yeah, it's Windows 7 64-bit.
     
  16. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    If you have a blank CD you can go to Start and type in repair and in the list of results will be Create a Repair Disc, so choose that. It will open a wizard to burn the CD.

    Then boot the Toshiba from the CD and it should look for startup problems and then when it doesn't find any it should give you either a Next button or some other way to get to a list of choices including Command Prompt. Choose Command Prompt and try to following two commands:

    chkdsk c: /r
    chkdsk d: /r


    Then try to boot without the CD to see if it still hangs. If it still hangs you can boot from the CD again and try System Restore to see if there is a recent restore point available.
     
  17. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    Don't have any CD's, though.
     
  18. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    Do you have an empty USB flash drive? If so you can use that but it is a bit more complicated. You can download the ISO file for the disc then use the trial version of PowerISO to put the file on the USB. You need to use poweriso to get it to boot properly(just the free trial version since the ISO file is below the 300gb limit). Step 1 in these instructions.

    Get the attached text file.
     

    Attached Files:

    • 64re.txt
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  19. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    How big does the USB have to be?
     
  20. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    I think the recovery files are only 150mb so even a 512mb should be big enough.
     
  21. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    Okay, I've got all the stuff downloaded and installed.

    Now what do I do?
     
  22. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    Sorry, I did not give the link to the instructions. Here it is. You are doing step 1.

    So you right-click the poweriso icon and choose Run as Administrator. Then in the main window under Tools choose Create bootable USB. The Source file will be the ISO you downloaded. The destination drive will be your USB flash drive. (It will be formatted so make sure it is empty or you have a copy of all files on it elsewhere.)

    Then when it is done, insert the USB in the Toshiba and hit F12 to choose to boot from flash drive. You should see screens like option 2 here. You want to get to the Command prompt to run the two chkdsk commands:

    chkdsk c: /r
    chkdsk d: /r

    Then boot without the USB and see if you are still hanging on the black screen. If you are then I would boot from USB again and see if there is a System Restore point from within the last month to try.
     
  23. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    The screens are more like option one, and now the cursor is stuck in its loading animation at the system recovery options pop-up.
     
  24. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    I'm not certain you are booting from the USB. Did you hit F12 during the Toshiba screen and choose the entry for USB?
     
  25. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    Yes.

    F12 at the Toshiba start-up screen, then I choose the USB at the Boot Menu.
     
  26. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    So which System Recovery option box are you stuck at? The second one in Option 1 asking to choose the user name?
     
  27. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    [​IMG]

    This one.
     
  28. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    And now it doesn't even go there anymore, it just leads to the black screen again when I try to boot from the USB.
     
  29. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    Will it let you hit Next to get to the command prompt? (It is having trouble identifying your OS which means the chkdsk commands should help.)

    Edit: give it a couple minutes to load. Booting the RE from USB can be slow sometimes. I've had it sit for 5 minutes on some computers.
     
  30. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    No, it won't let me click anything since the cursor is stuck in the loading animation.
     
  31. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    How long should I wait? The first few times took less than a minute to load up to the pop-up box asking for the language and keyboard input method.
     
  32. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    It usually hangs before the keyboard message, so I would wait a full 5 minutes to see if that screen appears. If not just restart from USB and try again. (Just a thought that you may have to hit a key when it asks to boot from DVD, I can't remember for sure, but if you did that the first couple of times make sure you did it this time.)
     
  33. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    Well, nothing's showed up and it's been more than 5 minutes.

    When does it ask for me to boot from DVD?
     
  34. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    The very first black screen. It may not do it from USB but I thought it did and I thought you had to hit anyway even though you were booting from USB in order to tell it to go ahead and load the recovery environment rather than let it default to booting from HD.
     
  35. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    Yeah, I'm not getting any of that.

    So I guess this just won't work?
     
  36. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    Okay, now it's back to the blue Windows 7 background thing.

    Still stuck with the cursor in the loading animation on the pop-up pictured above.
     
  37. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    I just tried it and it doesn't ask about CD/DVD. Mine went directly to Windows is loading files. Then to a Microsoft screen with an animation then to the keyboard screen then to the screen where it searches for your installation.

    I still think chkdsk is your best bet. If it loaded up before it should load again. I'm not sure what else to try.

    Edit: let it sit for a few minutes. It says "Searching for Windows installations"?

    http://pureinfotech.com/wp-content/...tions_searching-for-windows-installations.png
     
  38. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    How do I do this "chkdsk" thing?

    I don't see any way to get to the Command Prompt.
     
  39. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    No, it's stuck on this.

    [​IMG]

    It's just that with the cursor in the loading animation, and the bottom option is pre-selected, not sure if that's important or not.
     
  40. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    I'll take another look at it later, I have a few errands to run. It is the top option that you want, the recovery tools. I've never had mine hang like that.

    The RE should run independent of your OS so I just don't know what is going on.
     
  41. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    Okay, I'll more than likely be here when you get back.
     
  42. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    Maybe you could try recreating the USB, just to rule out a fluke in the way the files were written.
     
  43. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    Recreate as in re-do the whole PowerISO thing?

    Already have. Same results.
     
  44. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    I just tried RE with no HD installed. It gave me the recovery screen with the second "recover from image" item ticked. It did however still scan for installations.

    What I am thinking is that the RE can't identify your HD. You did have the PXE error at least once which means that your HD wasn't identified in BIOS at least once. Now, BIOS obviously sees your HD and Windows begins to boot so the HD can't be totally bad.

    I'm not sure what to suggest. It is surprisingly hard to find a way to run chkdsk from a bootable device. You could remove the HD and boot from the RE USB to see if it goes further then the hang. That would at least tell you the HD is causing the problem.
     
  45. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    One question when you hit F8 does it give you the option to Repair your Computer or any Advanced option? That should lead to the same screen of 5 options including command prompt.
     
  46. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    Safe Mode with Command Prompt?

    Leads to black screen.
     
  47. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

  48. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    That's not an option for me.
     
  49. Yoozil

    Yoozil Private E-2

    That one says Microsoft Windows Vista.

    Mine says Windows Setup.

    Is that relevant?
     
  50. gvstn

    gvstn Private E-2

    It is available on some Win7 systems too. I thought Toshiba had it available.

    I spent some time earlier trying to find something that would run chkdsk from USB and didn't find anything. I'm not even sure chkdsk will fix the problem. The win7 RE would have given two possible things to try the chkdsk and system restore. It still might be worth letting it sit on the hang spot overnight just to see if it eventually loads.

    I don't know what to tell you. I'll see if I come up with anything overnight.
     
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