Dell 1525 wont start up

brianvi

Reputable
Feb 22, 2014
8
0
4,510
(Im not computer savvy so please explain how to fix my problems as if you were teaching a toddler to ride a bike). Greetings, I am experiencing problems with my Dell 1525. Today at around 8 AM, I turned it on and started surfing the web. After a bit, I noticed my desk was a bit untidy, so I decided to clean it. In the process, I accidentally dropped a large textbook onto the part of my laptop above where my hard drive disk is located. I was a bit worried that the drop damaged my laptop, but it was working as it did before I dropped a textbook on it. I continued to surf the web, nothing happened. After around 2 hours, my entire screen froze and it turned white because it wasnt responding. My laptop then turned off, so I tried to turn it back on it. Everything seemed normal, until it took me to Startup Repair. I waited 10 minutes for Startup Repair to do its thing. When it finished, it said it couldnt repair my laptop auromatically. I pressed Finish and restarted my computer. I tried to run Startup Repair again, and it didnt work this time either. I then saw something that said "view advanced repair options" or something along those lines. I clicked it, hoping to restore my laptop to factory settings. When that option wasnt available, I thought "this is strange, because it should be here." I restarted my laptop, and pressed F8 before the Dell logo popped up on my screen. It took me to Advancded Boot Options, where I select the Repair My Compiter option. The screen went black for 5 mintues, and then it took me to a screen with the Windows backround and my cursor. Nothing happened at all; I was able to move my cursor around, but that's all. I restarted once again, and selected Start Windows Normally. I only got to a blank blsck screen. When I tried to use Startup Repair, it took me to te screen with the cursor and Windows backround. These 2 screens were the farthest I could get to, so now im here writing this wirh my tablet. I would thank anyone dearly for helping me fix my laptop, because it's extremely important for school. I use this to research, write essays, and much more. I dont think my parents woild want to buy me a new laptop, so please help me.
 
Solution
You don't repair hard drives. The symptoms you've described point directly to the hard drive as the source. What most likely happened is that the head briefly contacted the spinning platter when the book was dropped on the laptop. The only thing to do now is back up your files, replace the hard drive, reinstall Windows and your software, then restore your data. The longer you try to use a damaged drive the less chance there is of recovering your data.

breakfastdude

Honorable
Dec 18, 2013
90
0
10,660
One of the most vulnerable parts of a computer to shock would be the HDD (if you still haven't upgraded to an SSD). Unfortunately, that shock might have damaged your HDD, and that's why even the recovery options aren't working (the hidden recovery partitions are usually in the same HDD, too). On the bright side, HDD's are much cheaper than new laptops. My suggestion would be to buy/borrow another HDD and try installing your OS there, and see if it works (or have it done by someone who knows how to do it).

If you do not want to go to this route directly, you can try to re-seat all removable components in your laptop (RAM, HDD), as the connections might just have been loosened.
 
You don't repair hard drives. The symptoms you've described point directly to the hard drive as the source. What most likely happened is that the head briefly contacted the spinning platter when the book was dropped on the laptop. The only thing to do now is back up your files, replace the hard drive, reinstall Windows and your software, then restore your data. The longer you try to use a damaged drive the less chance there is of recovering your data.
 
Solution