Recovery disk question

Can I use a Toshiba recovery disk for A210 series if I have an A505 series? They are both Windows Vista

Thank you

 

I don't really know but it looks from the few threads I read like Toshiba discs check for specific model numbers.

From here and from the Toshiba/drivers/support page it looks like the A210 came with Vista 32bit and the A505 came with Win764bit.

So I would think the A210 discs would not work. Does your A505 have a Microsoft Vista license sticker on it?

 

Re: Recovery disk

If these are the laptops
http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/toshiba-satellite-pro-a210/4507-3121_7-32701083.html
http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/toshiba-satellite-a505-s6980 /4507-3121_7-33776110.html
or http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/toshiba-satellite-a505-s6025/4507-3121_7-33971092.html
or http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/toshiba-satellite-a505-s6005/4507-3121_7-33954049.html
There are lots of A505 models but all seem to be some flavor of Intel while the A210 is AMD.
I'd say NO. The hardware is different. Probably the motherboards are different because of the different CPUs.

The first one, at least in the US came with XP and the 2nd came with Win 7.
A210 has an AMD processor the A505 has an Intel
A210 display 1280 x 800 ( WXGA ) while A505 display 1366 x 768 ( WXGA )
the video is a chip so the wrong video driver would load.

 

Im not sure, I am at work and the computer is at home, but I believe it does.

 

I tried restarting it while holding the 0 and after the beeps it looked like it was loading and then said could not boot system and asked to put a disk in. When I took it to Best Buy they said their computer was having troubles "recognizing" my hard drive when they hooked it up, one minute it saw it the next it didnt. They said they believe the hard drive was bad.

 

As far as the discs I don't think they are interchangeable. Plodr's links in the other thread seem to make it very unlikely since it is a different platform all together. And this was the thread I was thinking of where it seems the recovery discs check model numbers http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=182778. Wrong machine error would indicate it is looking for suitable model numbers.

Go back to exactly where your trouble started prompting you to attempt recovery. It was working normally and then one day what happened?

 

Yes it worked fine one day, then the power cord came unplugged from the power "box", not the wall. Ran on battery then died. I did not realize this happened, when I plugged it back in it started asking what language I wanted and then went to a DOS screen asking if I wanted to do a system recovery or reboot normally. Either option I choose just keeps looping back to that DOS screen with those questions, wont go any further. I never put the other disk but it was just a thought. The guy at Best Buy thinks when it came unplugged it sent a power surge that hurt the hard drive.

 

Something at the beginning of the drive probably got corrupted. Let me think about it for a little bit. I'll read your manual and see if I find anything of value. I'd hold off on playing with the recovery discs for now.

I'm hoping we might be able to force it to try to boot Windows rather than that recovery screen. Or run a chkdsk on the Windows drive.

 

Awesome, thank you. Yes I am not going to put that other disc in at all.

 

I won't have a chance to look at things for a while but I was thinking if you have access to a blank CD you could write a copy of this Partition Wizard bootable CD to a blank CD. That would give you the ability to see what partitions are on your HD and which is set to Active which would be useful.

Imgburn can write an ISO file to CD using its "Write Image File to Disc" option. Guide: http://www.calibancomputer.com/computer-tutorials.htm#burning

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Also, check the license sticker to see if it tells you whether you are running Vista 32bit or 64bit.

I will try to think this through later today.

 

Thank you, I will check that out when I get home tonight. I will post what it says if I can get it to work.

 

downloading partition wizzard now, will let you know

 

I can't seem to find recovery instructions in your manual. So I can't match up your Start Normally or System Recovery message.

My basic thinking is that you have some filesystem corruption that is keeping both your Start options from working. If you give a list of partitions and sizes that should tell us which partition is probably giving the error message. You can then right-click on each partition and select Modify to see a list of options, we are looking for which one has the option to "Set Inactive" as available (not greyed out). So let me know which one has the Set Inactive option available.

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With no disc and repeatedly tapping F8 as you power on the Notebook do you get the list of Windows Safe Mode options or does it go directly to the two choices Start Normally or Recover?

 

Well, it downloaded fine, put it in the Toshiba and it brought up some partition wizzard screen, I will look for the partitions now, and try tapping F8 and see what that does.

 

The one that has it as available is HDDRECOVERY

 

EDIT: I still need the list of partitions. Give the type of partition too. So something like Toshiba_util (NTFS) 1.46gb, C: (NTFS) 200gb

On the modify you are just looking for something like this with Set Inactive in black type. Just want to see which one has that option because that means it is currently active.

And download that text file from a few posts back.

 

Tapping F8 gives me a few safe mode options, a couple enable modes, a last known configuration, directory service, debugging, a couple disable, and a start windows normally

 

Then you may not need the RE disc. First try Last Known Good Configuration.

 

Last known configuration just sends it to a blank screen with the "arrow" from the mouse. I can move it but it does nothing

 

Try Last known a second time. Does the list of options include a Repair your Computer option?

 

Now tapping F* doesnt even work, it just keeps going to a screen saying

PXE-E61 media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Existing PXE ROM
No bootable device--insert boot disk and press any key

 

That means it is not finding your HD. Try F8 again. And then try booting without F8 and see if you get the PXE error both times.

Then see if when you boot from PW CD you still see the HDD Recovery partition with the option to set as Inactive.

 

Okay this is strange, I just put that disc back in and now all of the "set to inactive" are greyed out. Let me get the names

 

Only thing it says under names is:

Disk 1

*:Toshiba system volume 1.46GB 158.87MB(used) 1.31GB(unused) NTFS

*:Tl100380VOE 454.02GB 152.55GB(used) 301.47GB(unused)NTFS

*:HDDRECOVERY 10.27GB 9.73GB(used) 560.52MB(unused) NTFS

 

Let;s see if setting Toshiba System Volume active gives the same black screen with cursor. You should have the option under Modify to set that as active. You may have to hit Apply in the main PW window. Then reboot with no disc.

Download this text file and save it for later.

 

Tapping F8 does not seem to be working at all, keeps going to the screen that has

PXE-E61 media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Existing PXE ROM
No bootable device--insert boot disk and press any key


Would it be easier to just buy a new hard drive?

 

I'm not certain it is HD related. PW sees the HD fine. Because you got the balck screen with arrow cursor using Last Known that indicates that Vista started but stalled. So there is most likely corruption in the Vista files.

Now for some reason there seems to be no active partition that is why it is going to the last boot device on the list which is a network boot device(PXE) which you don't have. You can go ahead and set the HDD Recovery partition active and see if that takes you back to where we began. (You may have to set Toshiba System partition inactive first.) Be sure to hit Apply to make the changes.

I think it is worth using the Vista RE disc to run a chkdsk on the Vista partition(Tl100380VOE) and then run a Startup repair from that disc and see if it boots Vista and if it still stalls.

If you just replace the HD you will need to order recovery discs because your current Vista files appear to be corrupted and copying them to the new HD won't really solve the problem.

 

After I set the volume as active it keeps saying

BOOTMGR is missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

 

Skip my last post for a minute.

You set Toshiba System to active and get bootmgr is missing. So try setting Tl100380VOE to active and see if you get the same error. You may have to set Toshiba System to Inactive before setting Tl100380VOE to active. Then hit Apply to save the changes.

I thought bootmgr would be on Toshiba System but it may be on Tl100380VOE.

 

But it wont even boot up with the disc either now

 

Hit f12 when starting and it should give you a choice of boot devices, choose CD/DVD.

 

Okay I set Tl100380VOE to active and it gave me the message

start up repair(reccomended)
start up normally

then as I was typing it went to a blank screen with cursor

 

after I took the disc out and restarted of course

 

Now after letting it sit it brought up a system recovery box asking me to select a keyboard layout

 

Well it seems that you have your basic boot files that point to the Vista partition working but you have a corrupted installation. I'll have to look around for the next step it has been a while since I've seen the arrow cursor problem. Does the cursor move or is it frozen?

My guess is chkdsk or system restore would be the two possibilities to attempt a fix. I would at least download the Vista RE file since I think that may be necessary.

You have no ability to choose between startup repair and start normally--they both go to the black screen?

I really don't think it is a HD problem. I think the Best Buy person probably saw the PXE error and figured the HD was not being seen.

I'll check into things tomorrow. Maybe someone will add some thoughts.

 

Okay, thank you so much for all your help

 

Oh yea, and the cursor does move

 

Go ahead and select the default English keyboard. That is starting the Windows recovery options. It will try to fix things automatically. If it doesn't find any problems you will be able to hit the Next button. Which will give you a list of 5 options. Then see if it will run a System Restore.

 

And yes, whichever I choose they both go to a blank screen

 

I selected the default English keyboard and it just went back to a blank screen with a cursor, which does move

 

well, now it is trying to load system recovery options, just seeing the box and the "hour glass"

 

It didnt load any operating systems, so it told me to hit "load drivers" and then it asks for a disc, which I dont have

 

These are the basic screens you would see if it loads properly. http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/system-restore-from-windows-vista-recovery-environment/

If it doesn't load all the way we can try again tomorrow. At least we know that the command prompt for chkdsk may be available.

Edit: you don't need to load drivers--you want to hit the next button. See if you can cancel out of the drivers window and then hit next.

 

It wont let me do a system restore since I couldnt pick an operating system, startup repair is also on there and so is TOSHIBA recovery wizard

 

Im on the system recovery options screen right now, it wont let me pick system restore though since the previous page never gave me the option of choosing an operating system

 

Do the Startup Repair. I don't think there are any startup problems but sometimes that allows it to see the Vista installation as in Figure 4 in that link. It has to list at least one installation there.

 

Its running right now, it says "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete." I dont expect you to wait, but thanks again for your help, looks like we are getting somewhere.

 

Great! That should be chkdsk running which can take a while. Looks like we have all the options the RE disc provides so you shouldn't need that.

It looks like Toshiba Recovery Wizard would be equivalent to a Factory Restore. It would wipe all your personal data/files--EVERYTHING. Same as recovery discs. It may be a last ditch option but I would try to get your current Vista working before resorting to it.

http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/HTD1303440001R01.htm

I'll check back tomorrow. Even if chkdsk doesn't solve things by itself it may make Windows System Restore functional again. That would be your best choice since you wouldn't lose any personal files.

 

Awesome I will check back with you sometime tomorrow.

 

Okay, here is what happened. Ran the startup repair once and it said there were still more problems so it ran it again. Said it couldnt fix errors the second time so it said to shut computer down. I did that then turned it back on and it booted up just fine, just like there was never a problem at all. Well after about 5 minutes it froze up and then went to a blank screen again with a cursor that would NOT move this time. Thought it was all good then back to the problems.....any ideas?