computer won't start up after BlackBerry desktop manager installed

I was trying to retrieve pictures off my BlackBerry, so I installed the desktop manager off the BlackBerry User Tools CD. Once I did that it indicated that I needed to restart the computer. After that, all I get is the blue Vista Home Premium screen and nothing happens after that. At the very first restart a message came up about Run Time. Not sure what the whole message was, since it came up briefly. :confused How can I get this laptop up and running again? Thank you for your assistance.

 

Greetings, sierra.

Couple of quick questions:

Will the machine boot into Safe Mode? Are there Restore Points available?

Is the Blackberry disconnected? Are all non-critical USB devices unplugged?

 

Could you please remind me of how to boot into Safe Mode? Thanks!

 

F8 immediately and repeatedly at power on, should bring up a menu. Before trying safe mode try Last known good configuration. You only get one shot at that option.

 

F8 will not take me to a menu. It just freezes at the blue screen with Windows Vista Home Premium at the bottom of the screen. :confused

 

Just to be sure, you want to hit F8 before any Vista screen. It should be during the computer manufacturer logo screen.

If you still can't get to a menu, do you have any CDs from the manufacturer?

 

Tried again. It never shows anything but that blue and green screen with the Windows Vista Home Premium on the bottom of the screen. It never shows any other screen. Upon pressing the power button that immediately comes up. I do not have a CD since it came loaded on the laptop.

 

I think at this point you have to get some media that will boot. The Vista recovery disc should give you the option of using System Restore to check if there are any available restore points from before your blackberry desktop install. Probably the simplest option if a restore point exists.

Unfortunately, you have to use a torrent program to get the download for free. Nothing wrong with utorrent just an application that you have to install if you don't already use it. You would download utorrent and install it. Just go with the defaults since they will be fine for getting just this one file. Then click the Vista Recovery disc link for the appropriate x86(32bit) or x64(64bit) version. (Do know if you were using Vista 32 or 64 bit?--Your laptop model should tell us) Let the .torrent file open in utorrent and it will begin downloading the file. Might take 1/2 an hour to complete.

You will end up with an ISO file that you can write to a blank CD or DVD as an image file using imgburn or similar burning software. [You must write it as an image file to make it bootable]

Then you will boot to the CD and try to run system restore.

Really not as complicated as it sounds, but if you have any questions feel free to ask. I can't think of an easier way if you have no access to Safe Mode and no Vista CD.

 

I hope I did this correctly. I found Windows Vista 32-bit Repair disc. Is this the correct one for Vista Home Premium?
:confused

 

What model is your laptop--the manufacturer's site should tell us which version of Windows it came with?

Did you already write the disc or have you downloaded the file yet?

 

I did download it and put it on a CD. I am just not sure that is what I need. I'll go to the Toshiba site to check. I know I have Vista Home Premium, but the download didn't have home premium in the name.

 

Vista Home Premium SP1 32bit. I believe I have sp2 at this point. The download says Vista recovery disc. Would this work for the version?

 

The one disc is good for any 32bit version of Vista and the other is good for any 64bit version of Vista. Home Premium is just a version type that includes certain features. The 32bit or 64bit is the important part. The website should tell you which is installed.

I'm really not certain it makes that much difference since you are only attempting to use the System Restore function but since they put out both versions of the disc, I suppose there must be a difference.

 

Yes, that should be fine.

Take a look at this thread with screen shots to see how things should look when you boot from the disc. Let me know if there are no restore points to choose from. http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial142.html

 

When I put the CD with the Vista recovery disc burned on it, I still just got the same blue and green screen with the words Windows Vista Home Premium on the bottom. I could hear the laptop reading the CD, but nothing happened.

 

A couple of things. When you use a torrent program you download a tiny .torrent file from the link I gave above for the Vista Repair disc. Then the torrent program uses that to download the Vista recovery disc ISO file which is about 140mb. That 140mb ISO file is the one you write to CD.

Did you write the ISO file to CD as an Image file?

If you did write it as an image file then try F12 upon powering up your laptop and see if you get a boot menu where you can choose to boot from CD.

 

in the torrent 2.2 window it inidcates that I downloaded Vista_Recovery_Disc.iso. It is 120 MB. I then copied it to a CD as is. Do I need to write it to a CD in a different way?

 

That is the file you want to write. You must write it as an image file.

Download imgburn which is easy for this type of file. Choose "Write Image File to Disc" as in picture above. Browse to your 120mb ISO file and select it. Then click on the large icon at the bottom of the window to burn it.

That will give you a bootable CD.

If you wrote it as a data file using Windows or other burning software then that would be the reason you can't boot from it. It must be burned as an Image or ISO file.

If you don't know what folder the 120mb file is in. Then in the utorrent window you can right-click the line for the Vista Repair Disc and select Open file location and it will take you to the folder.

 

I tried it again on a new CD as you directed. I powered up and then put the CD in. Same blue screen. I turned it off and restarted with CD in the laptop and the same blue and green screen with Windows Vista Home Premium at the bottom. How do I access this CD when this other screen comes up instantly?

 

Which model of laptop are you using? Post the model number please.

With the CD in the tray, power up and hit f12 to see if you get a boot menu where you can select to boot from CD.

On virtually all notebooks you should see a manufacturer's screen for a few seconds before any vista screen. I t is during that manufacturer's screen that F8 or F12 should be recognized. Does F2 immediately at power on give you any options to enter BIOS/Setup?

 

No access to bios. I never see the manufacturer's screen. :confused

 

Post the model number form the tag on the bottom of the notebook. I'll try to find out how to set boot order.

This is just a matter of getting it to boot from CD. It should be much easier than it is proving to be.

 

model no. PSAG8U-04001W

 

I'm having trouble finding what the problem is. I was another thread where none of the F1, F2, F8 or F12 keys was working but there was no solution.

We really have to figure out a way to get into BIOS to set the boot order. I know you have already tried but hitting F12 repeatedly at startup does not give you anything but the Vista screen? Your manual says sometimes you must hit it several times. I don't think it will make a difference just hoping.

 

Tried it again several times hitting F12 repeatedly many times. I am assuming 50 times is enough to see if it would kick into the bios.

 

Absolutely. I just don't know where to go from here.

Vista is not working. You can't boot from CD. You can't get a boot menu.

You can't change anything about the way Vista starts without some bootable media. I guess we could see if it would boot to a USB flash drive. Or possibly remove the HD to eliminate the Vista screen and see what it does or attempts to boot from.

*****
Just to be sure you currently have no USB devices plugged in. Nothing in the memory card reader.

You could try unplugging AC, removing battery and holding the power button for 1 minute to see if it resets CMOS. That would give you a Toshiba screen if effective but I can't find any verification for that model.

 

No usb connected. So, how do I try to boot to a flash drive?

 

Try booting to the Recovery CD with the machine you're using now to verify that the disk is viable.

 

It is a Windows XP Pro computer.

 

Doesn't matter. I'm not asking you to do or install anything from the disk - just trying to verify the disk's integrity.

Did you try to boot to the disk? If so, what happened?

 

When I open the CD on my XP there are 2 folders and then another icon
1 folder says boot, another folder says sources and the other icon says bootmgr.

 

Sorry for the confusion.

I'm not asking you to open the disk with XP - I'm asking you to boot to the disk. In order to do that, you must change the boot order of the machine you are using now to 'CD First', and if the disk is actually bootable you should see Windows Vista Recovery Console prompts.

However, the fact that you did open the disk and found the bootmgr and the data folders indicates that the disk very likely was created correctly.

I (and others) will try to find a good tutorial for creating a bootable flash drive.

 

Hi,

I have links to a bootable flash drive but I don't think it is going to do anything without the boot menu.

I have been searching everywhere for BIOS settings. Rereading the manual again and reading through the lines, I think this laptop has some sort of Toshiba Hardware setup that is managed through Windows. I don't think there is a standard Bios situation.

I know I sound like a broken record on F12 but from the manual:

Try once more pressing F12 immediately after pressing power on button. Even try pressing F12 while powering on to see if we can get the boot menu.

Also if that doesn't work press ESC as you are powering on to see if you get any response.

 

Still nothing. I called Toshiba and they think that the Blackberry software was corrupted. Not sure how since I had downloaded on the computer I am using now. They said that I will not be able to retrieve my files. Is this true? I have some very important files I need off the computer. :confused
They indicated that I will have to reinstall Windows Vista Home Premium and that will wipe out all files.

 

Sundays are not my best day for time online. Right now it looks like the only way to re-install would be to use the recovery partition (if it works) that would wipe out all files.

Does Toshiba have an answer on why you can't use F12 for the boot menu? Or why you can't get into BIOS to change the boot order? That is what you really need to do and that is not BlackBerry's program's fault. I would call them and say you are trying to use recovery CDs and you can't get to the F12 boot menu. Tell them the recovery partition isn't working and you need to boot from CD. (This is really the crux of the problem.)

***
Now, you don't actually want to use the recovery partition without backing up your data. There really are very few options since that computer won't boot to CD. All I can come up with off the top of my head is to remove the HD and install it in a working computer as a secondary drive to copy the files you need. Does your XP computer have SATA connections available?

 

Ok, here is where we are at. The Toshiba guy tells me that there is no recovery partition on this laptop and that I will need to take it to a local repair shop to recover files. After that I can purchase a recovery disc that will install everything like it was brand new out of the box.

I hate to spend money on this retrieval process, but I need those files.

I only see IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Is that where I would see SATA in the device manager?

Toshiba continues to say that there was corruption of some sort or Windows Vista Home Premium was not properly installed, which is not the case at my end.

 

I guess you could also get a USB adapter like this one. Then remove the HD from the Toshiba and connect it to another computer by USB. Copy your files and then put it back into the laptop and try the factory recovery option.

Basically, the same idea but you wouldn't have to open your desktop case to install the drive as a secondary.

******
I know it seems ridiculous that a simple program install could cause so much damage but without the ability to boot the laptop to attempt to recover the Vista installation there are not many options. The inability to choose a boot device is a major obstacle.

 

That sounds like your Desktop has Sata controllers. So you should be able to hook up the SATA laptop drive to the desktop without an adapter.

Toshiba is just wrong about the process. What do they expect you to do with recovery discs when you can't boot to CD?

I'm going to think about this for a few minutes more. Your manual says holding "0" during startup should give you a recovery screen. You could try it to see if anything comes up but you want to cancel out of any repair. Just see if the option is there. You MUST save your files before running any recovery.

 

I may be wrong about that PC having a SATA connection. Sorry, I am multitasking. If you give the manufacturer and model number I can double check.

The adapter or having someone copy the drive may be your only options.

 

model no. PSAG8U-04001W
Laptop Toshiba A305-S6905

I tried the "0" with the same result with the blue green Windows Vista Home Premium screen.

 

Sorry, I meant the XP PC model number.

Unless, you take it to a shop to recover data you will have to remove the laptop HD whether using an adapter or not. It may be the time to try removing the HD to see if you get a different message on bootup. I would hope a message where you might be able to enter BIOS. (I'm just thinking ahead. Once you backup your files, you are still in the same boat of not being able to boot a CD. I don't see how you run a recovery CD if the laptop won't let you select it as a boot device.)

Removing the HD should just be taking the cover off in Step 6 and pulling it out in Step 8 from this guide.

***
If I am missing some other route here I hope someone will jump in with suggestions.

 

Sorry about this, but I see a service tag no., but not a specific model no. indicated. Lots of numbers on the microsoft sticker/label.

 

Sounds like a DELL. The service tag number is fine or the model number is usually printed in the circle around the power button.

 

Service Tag HJ0BR11
Dimension 4500

 

That looks like it is all IDE interface. So you won't be able to directly connect to the laptop HD without an adapter.

I apologize but I have to go offline for several hours. I hope someone else can help answer any questions.

 

Thanks so much for all your assistance. I will get back to you and let you know the outcome. I appreciate all your time in helping me with the troubleshooting.