Help, laptop has crashed!

Pythagorous

Hoping someone can help to bring my lappy back to life.I've been trying to switch it on all day, but it doesn't seem to want to load up. Iv'e been turning it back on and off quite a few times an have had various screens it has 'stuck' at, before I turned it off and on again.One screen did say OS not found!! Its currently sitting on the screen showing the % checked of the file system, but 0% showing.Any ideas appreciated

bionic_dad

were you doing anything to it before you had this problem?
What OS are you using?
have you tried to start it in Safe Mode
do you have any recovery discs that came with it? (I know Dell & HP have these?)
A bit more info and we can point you in the right direction

Pythagorous

Hi Bionic Dad.I was using free internet in a cafe beforehand.Its an Acer (not sure if that answers the OS Q)It doesn't appear to give me the option to start it in safe mode. Basically it shows a black screen for 2 mins then goes unto the screen showing the windows icon before ending up on a screen showing 3% of checking file system on c:I have a couple of discs which look blank but have acer written on them them the retailer provided. Sorry I can't be more specific.

Pythagorous

actually ive just got into the setup facility but not sure what to do from here..

C_Ronaldo

When Bionic dad asked what OS your using he means what operating system you use, eg xp, vista, linux, win 98

Pythagorous

C_Ronaldo wrote: »

When Bionic dad asked what OS your using he means what operating system you use, eg xp, vista, linux, win 98

Ahh of course its xp

Pythagorous

loaner wrote: »

is the disk ticking?is the disk light on constantly?

any data on there that you need?

no ticking, and the light is off. There is lots of info I need!!

Viper_7

Trust you have backups?

turn up the volume...does it beep? If so what is the sequence.

Have you left it a while to start up?
If it crashes badly and has impacted the file index it can take a while to sort itself out the first time it boots up. You say it's checking the file system, it could just need leaving for 30 mins depending on the HD size - usually you'll see the HD indicator flashing though.....

When it crashed what did you see?
Did it just freeze?
Did it blue screen?
Did it try and restart itself?
Is the same thing occurring when you try to start it each time? or is it different now from the first attempt?

vipes

Pythagorous

Viper_7 wrote: »

Trust you have backups?

turn up the volume...does it beep? If so what is the sequence.

Have you left it a while to start up?
If it crashes badly and has impacted the file index it can take a while to sort itself out the first time it boots up. You say it's checking the file system, it could just need leaving for 30 mins depending on the HD size - usually you'll see the HD indicator flashing though.....

When it crashed what did you see?
Did it just freeze?
Did it blue screen?
Did it try and restart itself?
Is the same thing occurring when you try to start it each time? or is it different now from the first attempt?

vipes

Hi Vipes,Thanksfully I have backups of everthing other than the 12 hours worth of work done today!No beeps. After an hour of sitting on 3% complete it went to a screen saying OS not found (at least I think this was the sequence).I had actually hibernated the lappy by simply closing it earlier then when I went to turn it back on I think i just got a black screen.yeap the same thing is now happeneing each time I try to restart.

Pythagorous

loaner wrote: »

same thing = black screen? if so, hold down the power button for 10 secs

Basically after I turn it off and on by holding down the power button it then shows a black screen for 2 mins then goes unto the screen showing the windows icon (with blue dots scrolling along the bottom of the icon) before ending up on a screen showing 3% of checking file system on c: before the 3% it says "Windows replaced bad clusters in file..."Its usually at this point i try off and on again, however i think when i left it for an hour earlier it went to a screen saying os not found.

Viper_7

First - well done on the Backup front. I fully expected you to say no then.

Could do with obtaining a bootable CD from which to boot the laptop from
to give you access to the disk, and then hopefully run a repair on the disk.
Doesn't sound to promising at the moment though.
Try a few more boot ups but leave it until it says OS not found...it may be fixing the index a bit at a time... but not looking good!
I'm thinking you may have interrupted the first time it was trying to repair itself and it's caused more data loss.

Do you have house insurance? flight of stairs.....? ;-)