Windows 7 System not booting

Scrytal · Sep 25, 2014

I've ran into a problem with my school laptop and don't know what to do:

Yesterday I turned on my latop and it told me it needed to do a disk check, while these normally only take about 30mins, this one went on for roughly 20hours. Now when I boot my laptop I only get a mouse cursor and a black screen after the windows logo. Since I was planning to do a full factory reset anyway (because of all the junk that piled up and slowed down my laptop significantly), I decided to do it now. When I loaded up my recovery disks that I created when I just bought the laptop, I selected full system reset, but the process crashed at 1% in (probabely while formatting the drive), and the device rebooted, advising me to run the reset again, because of a failure. Now though it doesn't do anything. When I boot it up normally it says operating system not found. When I insert my repair disks it freezes on loading in the files (i waited 15 minutes for it,still "loading" files). I even tried to boot up a linux xubuntu live cd to get to gparted to check the ssd, but that also crashes with a kernel panic. I know my system is not dead, because it still boots, but I'm not able to load up anything. It is probably my ssd even though it has been replaced about 5 months ago.

What do I do?, Can i still recover my laptop? I don't mind doing full resets because there's no data on it anyway neither did i lose data because I keep my important files on dropbox so I can use them on this pc too. I have a windows 8 pro disk, my windows 7 repair disks and an average computer knowledge.

Any advice would be useful. Thanks in advance!

C12Friedman · Sep 25, 2014

I think I would start by resetting the laptop: 1) Unplug laptop from wall, 2) remove battery, 3) with no power to the laptop, press and hold the power button for ~30 seconds. Afterwards, reinstall battery, plug in and attempt to power it up, see if you can't get something from the XUbuntu Live CD then (or better yet the HDD itself)

Scrytal · Sep 25, 2014

Ok i'll give it a go. I will let you know if that helped.

Scrytal · Sep 25, 2014

C12Friedman :

The above didn't help, still getting the same error

But just in case it helps, the error that comes up while trying to boot up the xubuntu live disk:

C12Friedman · Sep 25, 2014

Try memtest86 http://www.memtest86.com/ see if anything, it looks to be ram related

on a side note: I'm almost thinking this could be due to a bad CMOS battery but I don't want to go there yet - how old is the computer?

Scrytal · Sep 26, 2014

I bought this laptop early 2010, so it's 4 years and a half old now, i'll run memtest86 later, have to go to school now

Scrytal · Sep 26, 2014

C12Friedman :

Ran memtest86 twice, no errors. Still not getting anything.

C12Friedman · Sep 26, 2014

Scrytal :

That's good so far, means the unit isn't quite dead, I'll push SeaTools for DOS http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/seatools-dos-master/ (install instructions at bottom of page) as the next thing to check

Scrytal · Sep 26, 2014

Short test passed, running the long test now...

Thanks for the support btw

Scrytal · Sep 26, 2014

C12Friedman :

The SSD passed on both the short and the long test, got no errors.
The weird thing is that these small utility things do boot but that i can't boot from my windows 7 installation/repair disk. It just wouln't load.

Scrytal · Sep 28, 2014

Are there any other things i can do? I really need this laptop back asap and i don't want to have to wait 4 weeks when i bring it to the shop.

C12Friedman · Sep 28, 2014

What I'm finding fascinating here is that the DOS programs will run but you get nowhere with Xubuntu Live. How skittish are you of getting into the laptop (ie are you up for an adventure/learning experience)?

Scrytal · Sep 28, 2014

Well the only things i've fiddled with are the ram and the graphics card in my desktop, but opening up a laptop is quite different. As long as u have an idea what you are doing i am willing to risk it.

C12Friedman · Sep 28, 2014

Not all laptops are the same, I still run into a few that I find I have to take notes during disassembly and then some are ridiculously easy (I think it was a Toshiba I did that kept a three screw theme, three screws to remove the back cover, three for the hard drive, three to remove the motherboard etc., that was nice). What make and model are we looking at here, from that we'll be able to decide if it's worth getting into

Scrytal · Sep 28, 2014

Sony Vaio VPC-F11M1E
http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/VPCF11M1E

C12Friedman · Sep 28, 2014

Not too bad, Vaio's are good (IMO) for working in... this is the thing you are looking for (CMOS battery) http://www.genuine-cmos-battery.com/sony-vaio-vpcf11m1e_h-cmos-battery.html and it should be accessible without removing the motherboard from the case (if it's on the bottom, that would be bad but I don't think it is) There are videos on YouTube like this one (hope it's the right model type) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCAP9DpCYvQ but I will suggest using a guitar pick or something other than a precision screwdriver to pry the cover off (can't help but mar the edges with a screwdriver).
A word of caution... if at any time something doesn't come apart/go together right away, do not force it, always assume you have missed a screw or a connection or... well, just assume the mistake is yours and not the laptop being stubborn. Some parts are together tight and will require some effort but if you think you might break something, stop and re-evaluate. If you have questions about anything you come across, stop and ask

Scrytal · Sep 28, 2014

I'll have a look tomorrow, gotta go to bed now.

But what exactly do I do when i find that cmos battery?

C12Friedman · Sep 28, 2014

You'll need a new CMOS battery to replace the one in there, put it all back together. I will recommend cleaning the vents and possibly replacing the thermal compound while in there but that'll be up to you and your confidence level when you get to that point

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