Toshiba Laptop - Operating System Not Found :(

meerustar

My son has brought his laptop down and said for the last few days he gets this message and the laptop won't boot up.

I've got the original Toschiba product recovery disc that came with the laptop and was hoping that when I put it in, it might 'repair' the problem.

However, I get 2 options.

1. Recover entire hard disk (all data will be lost)

2. Expert recovery mode (for PC experts only)

I don't want to lose all the data as I have a lots of family and holiday phots on there (I know, I know, I always meant to get round to backing them up but you know how it is, lol)

So before I click anything, is there anyway I can get my files off before I recover the hard disk. I haven't the first clue where to start and I have googled, although to be honest, I can't understand what advice they give out, lol.

Can anyone advise what to do .. or have I lost my files for good?

Thanks

Browntoa

most new Toshiba's have a cover underneath that gives access to the hard drive, make sure its properly seated onto the connectors

otherwise

hirens boot cd

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

Filename: Hirens.BootCD.14.0.zip
Filesize: 495.14 MB (519189647 bytes)
ISO MD5: 69F36D88FD971CF6A7EDA9286D5E19F0
ZIP MD5: 38CF0B054E5846489D2B8AC60B6783CF

and then boot the Laptop from the CD

has a mini xp mode , you can locate the stuff on the hard drive and use the burning tool to get off to Cd

meerustar

I checked the hard drive and it WAS loose from it's connectors, so I shoved it backed in, screwed the back on and got ready for the laptop to work.



Now the bloody thing won't switch on!! There is power going to it from the cable, the light is on, then I switch the laptop on and it does nothing - but the charging light on the laptop goes off and won't come back on unless I take the battery pack out of the back and then put it back on. I have no idea what to do from here.

What I have touched/broke? lol .. can anyone help further? Thanks

Hammyman

Take it to a shop if you don't want to lose that apparently precious data. Pay someone to first back it up and then sort it out..

meerustar

Hammyman wrote: »

Take it to a shop if you don't want to lose that apparently precious data. Pay someone to first back it up and then sort it out..

Apparently precious? It has photos on it I haven't yet backed up so they are precious to me.

And I'd rather not pay someone to back it up and sort it, if there is a forum full of useful knowledgeable people who can help me sort it for free .. it is a money saving site after all, but thanks for your input.

cafe-bisou

Check the hard drive connectors VERY carefully, when you re-seated it one of the metal pins may have been bent out of position. I had the same problem with my old laptop, I had to look extremely closely to find the problem but just bent the pin back into place with a small screwdriver and it worked fine.

SteveJH200

Before playing about even more the first job is to get access to your photos and documents. You will need to buy a caddy - you insert your hard disc in it and plug the other end into a USB socket on another computer. You will then see all your files and you can transfer them to a temporary folder anywhere on the computer - I tend to create one on the desktop. Then fit the disc back into the laptop and use the expert recovery mode - you can always ask if you're not sure but it should be quite logical. Once it's up and running you can check your photos etc and if need be recover them from the other computer using a memory stick or a DVD disc.

It would also be worth asking your lad what he's been up to on the laptop as kids and computers mix as well as oil and water!! Although this advice is free, the caddies cost between £15 to £20.

macman

meerustar wrote: »

Apparently precious? It has photos on it I haven't yet backed up so they are precious to me.

And I'd rather not pay someone to back it up and sort it, if there is a forum full of useful knowledgeable people who can help me sort it for free .. it is a money saving site after all, but thanks for your input.

But if they were precious, surely you would have a back up? All hard drives fail eventually, it's not if but when.
Use a USB caddy and another computer to recover them as detailed above if it's just a corrupted OS.
If it's physical drive failure, you'll be looking at a forensic data recovery service, starting at about £300.
Hopefully the former, so try the caddy first, as somewhat cheaper.

fenlander_uk

First I'd suggest you take another look at the hard disk and ease it gently on to its connector, having checked that none of the pins is bent. I'm sure you didn't really mean you "shoved it back on", but if that is what you did I would suggest a gentler touch.

Next, boot into the BIOS screen - that's usually F2 on a Toshiba - i.e. press F2 several times as the PC starts up. In the BIOS screen you should see a line beginning "Hard disk drive" followed by the make and type of disk fitted. Press Escape, then select "Exit discarding changes" and let the machine continue to (try to) boot.

If no disk make/type information was shown in the BIOS screen then the chances are high that your hard disk has failed. You will need to fit a new disk and do a full reinstall of the operating system and software. Data MAY be recoverable from the old disk by using a caddy, but I wouldn't be too optimistic. If a disk was shown in the BIOS, then you might be able to use the repair option in Expert recovery mode. This should leave your data intact.

If you do get the machine to work on its existing hard disk, don't miss the opportunity to back up all that precious data immediately. Your disk might still be on its way out and the reprieve might be brief.

I had exactly this scenario with a Sony Vaio two weeks ago. The disk was fried and had to be replaced. Fortunately, I had a week-old disk image on a USB disk and once a new disk was fitted the whole thing was restored in under an hour. When you're up and running again, explore Macrium Reflect free edition for creating a disk image and Microsoft SyncToy for keeping daily backups of crucial data.

Visiondvd

You may have damaged the board in this case via static.
Try this
take the battery out, hold the on/off buttion down for approx 30 seconds, what this does in most laptops is drain all power from nvram, board etc.
Put the battery back in try powering on, let me know what happens.

lovebooks_2

If you did the 1st option, and formatted, and reinstalled your OS, you still may be able to recover data from your hard disk.

I did years ago, when using Win me, using convar software. Not sure whats about similar now though. What I used was excellent.