Having problems with computer recognizing a drive.

[lildeppie]

Alright let me set this up for you guys first. I have a notebook here that wont make it past the Windows splash screen. I figure, hey Windows is probably corrupt, I will hook the drive up to my other computer as a secondary drive (data drive? not sure of terminology here) and salvage the data off of it and simply re-install my windows. Thing is, my computer will also hang up at the same spot when starting the computer with the corrupt drive hooked up. I have made sure that it is not listed as a boot device. Any ideas on where to start with this problem? I don't really know where to go from here. Is the drive toast and not allowing my computer to boot because of that?

 

[RealBeast]

If you are using Windows 7, do a repair install and fix the issue. And then of course backup your data so it is safe. Another viable alternative is to boot from a Linux based optical disk and backup your data. It is possible that the drive has a problem, but if it gets into the Windows bootup before BSOD it sounds more likely a Windows issue.

 

[lildeppie]

I am using Windows 7 and if you're referring to "start-up repair", I've tried that and it also lags out at some point before it gets anywhere.

 

[lildeppie]

I will give more specifics on exactly how far it makes it before it just seems to endlessly sit on a black screen in a bit, I can't at the moment, sorry I know I'm being a bit vague.

The thing that really confuses me, is that if it truly a Windows issue, why wouldn't my working desktop be able to boot with the notebook HD hooked up as a "data drive"?

 

[RealBeast]

Not a start up repair, but a full repair install. Here is a very good guide: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

 

[lildeppie]

I've tried booting via a bootable USB I have set up that I confirmed works on another computer. All that happens is I get a blinking underscore on the top left of the screen.

 

[RealBeast]

Yet you see the beginning of the Windows splash screen? Or did you mean that you never make it past the bios post screen? If that is the case, the drive or another component on the notebook could well be dead, which would explain its issue when attached as a secondary drive. Can you boot the notebook off the USB when the drive is detached? Will the notebook boot off an optical drive with any kind of disk, like free memtest86+ burned to a CD ( http://www.memtest.org/ ), which might be worth running anyway to check the other components.