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Stuck on startup repair.

Last response: in Windows 7
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Earlier today I tripped over a headphone cord and it flung my computer off my desk. I have an HP omni PC. It's the kind that had the computer and the monitor built together. I picked it back up off the floor. The power cord came out on impact. I set everything back up and was relived to hear it turn on. I selected start windows normally (win 7 64 bit) and it sat at starting windows forever. I eventually manually shutdown the computer. I powered back on and I got an option to start windows normally or use startup repair. I thought it would be a good idea to go into startup repair. It just sat at the light blue screen with the large white mouse sitting there. Nothing happened. Nothing appeared on screen. I turned off the computer again and am just leaving it there for now. I am worried that the hard drive may have been disconnected from the fall and that's why windows won't start. Or maybe the hard drive was damaged. Any thoughts on how to fix this? Is the hard drive the issue? I will open the computer up tomorrow to check out components but I just don't know right now. Please help. I tried doing a safe mode boot but it redirected me to startup repair. Any help I am grateful for.

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Yea, you will lose the stuff that you put in after you first got the computer unless you made backups(lol... don't worry, alot of people don't make backups)
Consult your user manual on how to reinstall.
It's usually a F-Key button that you push when you first power on the computer. Unless you have a DVD.
If you don't have your user manual, here is a link to HP's site. That should get you up and running again.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01...
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1)download ubuntu
2)make live cd/usb, copy your stuff to external media.

2.1)another option is to take out the laptop's hard disk and put it into a desktop computer as secondary disk
3)if it's recognized you can just copy your stuff, if not, then use something called test disk(just google it).

you should be able to get most of your stuff back but don't count on it, you never know where the read/write heads were when your PC landed on the floor.

basically everything you need to do its google-able

oh yeah, you should probably purchase a new hard drive. might try out a ssd. then you can throw your computer everywhere you want and your files will be still safe.

last, but not least: if you've managed to salvage your data then the easiest thing to do to your hard disk is to smash it into smithereens with a hammer and AFTER that throw it away.

if you don't want the fun of destroying a disk then you could try out some software that overwrites your disk many times, it might not work, depends on the overall damage to the disk. if this option doesn't work, you'll still have the hammer option.

I have also read on other forums that if I use a windows 7 DVD and use the chkdsk command or something similar, I don't know the exact command that this could help. What exactly is the effect of using the chkdsk method? Basically at this point I am I'm need of a way to fix the broken or missing files for a windows startup without loosing my hard drive data. As far as copying to external media that's not going to happen. I don't have a 2tb external hard drive. And yes my hard drive is about 65% full.

1)you could try a restore point if you've set up one.


2)
-bootrec /scanOS
if no operating system is shown then get a new hard drive for your new os and recover your data from old one to external media
-bootrec /fixboot
if scanos shows your windows installation
-bootrec /fixMBR
fixes the partition table

still telling you that you shold get a new hard drive, the old one is pretty much garbage after you've got your stuff back from it.



its safer to buy a new hard disk, you'll need to spend some money but it saves you from your hair falling out when you're trying to boot off an broken hard disk, or do anything sensible with it.

Caddellca said:
Also going through the diagnostics in my computer menus it shows that the hard drive is in fact connect. I don't see how it is garbage and can't be used/repaired.



well you might be right, but also might not. S.M.A.R.T isn't a full surface test, its an self monitoring feature that try's to warn you when the hard drive might fail. It uses data logging and S.M.A.R.T might not log an event of a serious fall.

Caddellca said:
In what way is it broken?



the read/write heads might be damaged, the platter might have a dent in a specific location(the distance between read/write heads and the platter is just a few nanometers). your windows installation, for example, it doesn't load, therefore the part (the beginning of a disk) might be damaged. and if the beginning of a disk is broken then the fastest part of a disk is broken. you might be off with just leaving the broken space unallocated but:
1) you'll lose the fastest part of your disk
2) there's no guarantee that the read/write heads are still fully functional

furthermore when a hard disk try's to use that broken place. your computer might stop responding, crash or even worse corrupt your data.
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