Laptop wont boot

I’ve got a HP Compaq 6715s laptop. It suddenly wont boot up. I get HP logo after I switch on, then get a message "We apologize for the inconvenience, but windows did not start successfully......." with options to start in Windows, Safe Mode, Last known good configuration, etc... I tried all those options but still wouldn't start up. When I leave it to Start Windows Normally, the Windows XP logo comes up, then a flash of blue screen for a second, but too quick to read the message and then the sequence starts all over again and again and again........

Help please!

 

The first thing you can do is to disable the automatic restart, when the Safe Mode menu comes up. The option is at the bottom of the screen.

Then, you can get the error code, and post it.

 

Thanks for your reply. An option to disable restart isn't displayed.

 

OK, sorry, I've found it now after pressing the f8 key. The message on the blue screen is as follows:

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.

If the problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware of software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press f8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode

Technical Information

*** STOP: 0x000000ED (0x857632D0, 0xC0000006, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

In response to the above message, I have not added any new software or hardware recently. I don't know how to disable BIOS memory options. I pressed F8 then selected Safe Mode but it went back to the usual boot failure as described in my first post.

 

Try this MS KB. Your hard drive may be history. Try and back up your stuff to something external while you can. At least you can hopefully save your stuff. It's not if your hard drive will die but when and/or anything else. Always back up your important stuff before crap happens!

 

Thank you for your reply. Fortunately, I have all my stuff backed up on an external hard drive. But I would like to try to save my laptop. I clicked the MS link, but the information provided on the website is WAY over my head!

 

OK, since you have everything backed upclap) then restore your machine to see if it behaves any better. I still think it's your hard drive at fault. I'm not sure how to replace that with your OS included.

 

OK. I'm afraid I have no idea how to restore my laptop (my user name should be "techno el thicko"!). Could you explain how I do this? Thanks

 

Hey. I've just noticed that the laptop battery is completely flat and won't charge up. It's a relatively new battery and power cable (HP specifically for this laptop - not copy crap). It's been fine until now: 2 -3 hours off the battery and charged up relativlely quickly. Now it's flat and the laptop only switches on with the power cablew plugged in. Is this indicative of the problem I'm experiencing with boot up maybe?

 

I'm not a laptop guy but I think tapping F2 while booting up should do it. Check your manual for specifics. This will wipe everything out.

 

Nothing came up when I pressed f2. When I press f8 there is an option "Directory Services Restore Mode (Windows domain controllers only)". Do I select this one?
Any thoughts on the recent battery problem I mentioned or is this a totally unrelated issue?

 

Do the F8 then, no idea on battery. Y?ou'll find out soon enough.

 

I think a chkdsk /r might be in order as it can sometimes fix the ED Umountable Boot Volume error. Do you have any XP installation discs?

If not you can download a recovery console ISO file and write it to CD as an image file using imgburn or similar burning software. Guide to burning with imgburn: http://www.calibancomputer.com/computer-tutorials.htm#burning

Then follow these steps using the recovery console CD you have burned.

 

Hello,
If you cannot get XP repaired using sach2's links, see if pressing F11 during bootup will get you to the recovery wizard.

 

Hi. Thanks for your reply. Yes I do have an XP installation disc. I clicked the link you sent but I do not know how to set the laptop to boot from the CD ROM drive.

 

Hi. I couldn't get XP repaired using Sach's link so I tried pressing F11. I got the recovery wizard but after using the wizard I got a message "NTLDR is missing, Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart". I did that but it didn't restart and I just got the same message again.

 

I assume you are able to boot from the install CD. Follow the video here. If you cannot boot from the CD, you have to change the Boot options in BIOS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyT4AmjvMeI

 

Thanks for the video, but having set the laptop to boot from the CD drive, it still didn't work....

 

Do you mean you followed the steps in the video and it did not work or you were not able to boot from the CD?

 

Both

 

Do you know if your computer is capable of booting from a USB flash drive? Is it listed under the boot menu in BIOS?

Edit: You could try another factory install using the F11 button. Maybe this will resolve the problem.

 

Thanks all for your input, but it's all getting too complicated so I'm going to tie an anchor to my loptop and drop in the ocean!

 

Thanks all for your input, but it's all getting too complicated so I'm going to tie an anchor to my loptop and drop in the ocean!

 

Under Boot Options:

BOOT ORDER:
Optical Disk Drive
USB CD-ROM
USB Floppy
USB Superdisk
Notebook Hard Drive
USB Hard Disk
Network Controller

Do any of those show that it will boot from the USB Flash Drive?

 

I tried another F11 recovery operation. When I get to the option of which recovery point to select I don't know which source folder to choose - My Computer or My Network Places? In any case, which ever one I click on, the Next button doesn't come up so I can't proceed with the recovery.

 

I think you did not use the factory restore option, only the option to do a system restore. If you are absolutely sure you have backed up all of your data, and you want to take it back to the day you bought it, we can try the factory restore. Or, we can try to repair with a bootable USB. This will keep your programs already installed. This may or may not work. It is up to you.

For a Factory Restore:

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bi...Document.jsp?objectID=c01443342&printver=true

You want to try and do a system recovery.

 

Can we try to repair usuing a a bootable USB to start with?

 

We can try the USB boot. I think the easiest way would be to do the following.

Hirens boot CD uses this utility listed here. I could not get this utility to boot from a USB by itself so I am using Hirens Boot CD.

I would like to try one more time to see if you can boot from a CD. Can you use Imgburn to burn the iso file to a CD. Download the file and unzip the iso file to the desktop in an admin account. Do not copy the iso file by itself to the CD because that will not work. After the burn (use a low speed like 4X) is done you should have about 8 separate files on the disk, not one iso file. Set Optical CD as first boot device in BIOS and see if it will boot. If not then use the following instructions.

The flash drive must be formatted as FAT32. If it is not (you can check by clicking the drive in my computer and looking at the details in the left pane)You can format the drive with this utility. Just make sure you select the USB flash drive and not your hard drive when you use it.

Download Hirens Boot CD and place it on the Desktop of an admin account. It is a zipped file. Do not unzip it after you download it. It is quite large though, about 500MB.

Then Download Yumi to your desktop. Launch the application. In the upper left is a drop down box to select your USB drive. In step 2 scroll down in the box that shows all of the linux distros until you see Hirens Boot CD. In step 3 it will ask where the zip file is: select it with the browse button. Click Create. It will extract and build the bootable USB. Select USB hard drive as the first selection in BIOS, reboot the computer with the flash drive connected and see if it recognizes the USB flash drive. If it does, a menu will come up showing Other Operating Systems and Tools. Highlight that option using your arrow keys and press Enter. Highlight Hirens Boot CD and press Enter. Then after Hirens boots up it will have an option called "Fix Ntldr Missing" near the bottom of the screen. Use the arrow key to highlight that option and press Enter. There will be 10 different options. Use the first option then reboot and see if it fixes the problem. If not reboot to the USB again and do the same thing only use the 2nd option until one works.

If the above does not work, there is one more way to try booting the USB using your XP install disk, but lets see if you can get this to work.

 

Thank you for the instructions. Took me all night but unfortunately, still not working. What should I try next?

 

A couple of questions.

Are you able to boot the USB key and get to Hirens?

When booting do you still get the "NTLDR missing error"?

 

I still get "NTLDR missing error"?

 

Boot up the Hirens USB key and highlight "Mini Windows XP". You will get a small version of an XP desktop. Double Click MY Computer and in the root directory of C: do you see two files. One being Ntldr and the other NTDETECT.COM ?

Edit: You may have to go to Tool>Folder Options and click the View Tab. Make sure show hidden files and folders is checked

 

Hi guys,

I'm not sure if you have been able to get either CD or USB to boot yet but do you get a one-time boot menu (where you select the boot device) when hitting F9 during the Compaq logo screen?

 

Yes. The options that come up are:

Optical Disk Drive
Notebook Hard Drive
Network Controller

 

With the XP CD in the drive: Reboot, Hit F9 and select Optical Disk Drive. You should see "hit any key to boot from CD/DVD" so hit space bar and see if it boots the CD.