Laptop not booting

The_MoneySavingKid

Hi,

My sister has a laptop. A Toshiba Sattelite L10-281. It will not boot into Windows XP. I have tried booting safe mode and it won't boot either. In both instances it just boots into a blank screen. I'm not sure if there is a recovery disc or not, so any help would be great.

closed

does last known good config or safe mode with command prompt work?

do you need any data, or can it be wiped?

This, (if it works), will wipe all data

http://en.kioskea.net/faq/4811-toshiba-laptop-reset-to-factory-settings

dispossessed

Firstly have you tried connecting to an external monitor ? Just in case it is booting but the monitor has failed.

Next use a (free) tool, such as the Ultimate Boot CD, to ascertain whether or not the Hard Disk Drive is actually "bootable".

As it comes as an ISO file you will need software capable of burning this type of file to disk. If you need it - Burn CDCC is good (& free).

Trevor

dispossessed

You might also find this helpful.

Trevor

The_MoneySavingKid

closed wrote: »

does last known good config or safe mode with command prompt work?

do you need any data, or can it be wiped?

This, (if it works), will wipe all data

http://en.kioskea.net/faq/4811-toshiba-laptop-reset-to-factory-settings

Neither of those. Same problem. just a blank screen (you can tell the screen is on, it's just black). Tried that, didn't seem to do anything.
Will I not be able to just recover the data, if my sister wants any by running linux from a usb stick? I'm pretty sure you can get to stuff if you need to.

dispossessed wrote: »

Firstly have you tried connecting to an external monitor ? Just in case it is booting but the monitor has failed.

Next use a (free) tool, such as the Ultimate Boot CD, to ascertain whether or not the Hard Disk Drive is actually "bootable".

As it comes as an ISO file you will need software capable of burning this type of file to disk. If you need it - Burn CDCC is good (& free).

Trevor

Tried the external monitor. From what I can tell nothing there.

I'll try the Boot CD diagnosis tool later on.

Thanks. Would like to say thanks for the speedy responses.

The_MoneySavingKid

Apparently, she had a warning from AVG informing her of javascript being blocked. This led her to close all Firefox windows and when she clickd Firefox to open it again from the start menu the computer shut down.....

closed

You should be able to get at the data using linux/pe cd's or usb keys, the reinstall to factory settings is the quick way of getting it working after you have recovered data or if it isn't important.

The_MoneySavingKid

closed wrote: »

You should be able to get at the data using linux/pe cd's or usb keys, the reinstall to factory settings is the quick way of getting it working after you have recovered data or if it isn't important.

Any idea how?

closed

when you say it boots to a black screen, does the bios screen flash up, and does F8 give you a menu

http://lifehacker.com/192982/geek-to-live--rescue-files-with-a-boot-cd

The_MoneySavingKid

closed wrote: »

when you say it boots to a black screen, does the bios screen flash up, and does F8 give you a menu

http://lifehacker.com/192982/geek-to-live--rescue-files-with-a-boot-cd

No, sorry.:o

I meant how to recover XP. I don't have a disc andthere seems to be no recovery partition.

closed

What's the answer to the question? If you don't get any menu's/bios screen, hold down the off button for 10 seconds and switch on again

If you don't have a recovery partition (you've tried it?), or a disc, then you'll have to borrow/buy/obtain one to reinstall windows.