Laptop won't start up - please help

Spiggle

HereToday wrote: »

What happened at the point in post #45 when the HDD was in the external USB caddy? Have you used the possible solution to "The disk check could not performed because windows cannot access the disk"..?

Hi HereToday, I can't get that far into the laptop to carry out those suggested solutions. Oh, now I'm very confused. Should I be doing those things when the drive is connected via usb to my desktop computer?

Thanks,
Spigs

HereToday

Spiggle wrote: »

Hi HereToday, I can't get that far into the laptop to carry out those suggested solutions. Oh, now I'm very confused. Should I be doing those things when the drive is connected via usb to my desktop computer?

Thanks,
Spigs

Yes, that was my question.

Spiggle

OK HereToday,

I have got the HDD in the caddy and linked to my desktop, very unsure as it seems to be working everything very slowly and the caddy light keeps flickering between red, amber and green. I've changed the drive letter from F to G but I would like to ascertain a couple of things before I get out of the computer management if possible please.

After taking an age to load, I have 5 volumes listed. Two are allocated to Disk 0 which I'm presuming is my desktop HD and consist of System Reserved noted as NTFS and Healthy (system, active, primary partition) and the (C:) drive which is noted as NTFS and is Healthy (boot, page file, crash dump, primary partition).

But allocated to Disk 1, presumably the one in the caddy, are an unnamed volume of 400mb with no file system listed but described as Healthy (Active, Recovery Partition); volume (G:) (that I just changed from F) of 232.42 GB noted as RAW Healthy (Primary Partition) and volume Data (E:) of 232.95 GB noted as NTFS and Healthy (Primary Partition).

Now when I got it wrong in post 42 it was because I initially ran the check disk on Data (E:) and got the result the disk was fine. Then when I went back to the W Explorer page I discovered Drive (F:) which had obviously taken a long time to load and be seen. I then presumed that Data (E:) belonged to my desktop computer, ran check disk on (F:) and got the result listed in post 44.

I'm also now getting a W Explorer window telling me 'You need to format drive G: before you can use it' and asking if I want to but I'm not hitting the yes button yet.

I'd be very grateful for your thoughts.

Thanks in anticipation,
Spigs

HereToday

If you don't mind losing the data on the drive, then you can format it.

I would have tried to rebuild the MBR if I cared about maintaining the recovery partition, but in essence, you don't need the RP to reinstall the OS and applications. It just makes it easier.

Spiggle

HereToday wrote: »

If you don't mind losing the data on the drive, then you can format it.

I would have tried to rebuild the MBR if I cared about maintaining the recovery partition, but in essence, you don't need the RP to reinstall the OS and applications. It just makes it easier.

Thanks HereToday, I wish I understood all of your reply! What is the MBR please?

I presume that if I format I'll only be formatting drive (G:) and so the data on (E:) and the unnamed volume will be preserved?

Where do I go from there then please if I format? How do I go about booting the laptop then? Presumably with the HDD in but what about the DVD? Logic seems to indicate I need that too but I'm not sure and don't want to make a mistake.

Thanks in advance,
Spigs

HereToday

Spiggle wrote: »

Thanks HereToday, I wish I understood all of your reply! What is the MBR please?

I presume that if I format I'll only be formatting drive (G:) and so the data on (E:) and the unnamed volume will be preserved?

Where do I go from there then please if I format? How do I go about booting the laptop then? Presumably with the HDD in but what about the DVD? Logic seems to indicate I need that too but I'm not sure and don't want to make a mistake.

Thanks in advance,
Spigs

Once you format, you can attempt to run chkdsk via Command Prompt on the now external drive.
Once done, you can try putting it back into the laptop, booting off the DVD and seeing if you can get to the install page.
Though if you do, don't go ahead for now.

You can purchase an alternative HDD. You can use it to eliminate the HDD as an issue. Perhaps £35 will cover it.

You can use it as external storage if you don't need it in the end.

Spiggle

Just an update for anyone interested. I formatted Drive (G:) and I still have Drive Data (E:) listed on the HDD. I presume if I went through the management stuff, I'd still also have the 400MB partition too. The check disk said that drive (G:) was fine for use after it had been formatted.

So the HDD is back in the laptop and I tried to do a boot holding zero but it couldn't find Windows. In for a penny in for a pound, I inserted the DVD and started holding key c as described here http://www.mytoshiba.com.au/support/items/faq/71#HDDrec As it couldn't find an installed Windows, I followed the windows offered and completed Fig.2 actions and then hit Install Now as on Fig.3 here http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/windows-7-recovery-environment-command-prompt/

The laptop is now (theoretically!!!) installing Windows onto drive (G:).

I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks again and all the best,
Spigs

Spiggle

Oops we cross posted HereToday, thanks for the further advice.
All the best,
Spigs

HereToday

Drivers here

PSC1LE

For the Wireless Driver, look here

You 'll need to unzip the contents to a Folder on the laptop and then go to the Device Manager, right click on the entry within Network Adaptors pertaining to the Wireless LAN and choose to Install/Update Driver. Follow the Wizard and choose to install the Driver by pointing it to the contents of your newly unzipped folder.

Spiggle

Hi HereToday,

Thanks for the Tosh drivers link. Just completing downloads now.

On the wireless link, do I just click the Wireless Drivers section please? This seems to offer a large table that refers to chipsets and I don't know which to click. Sorry if I'm being dumb.

Thanks again,
Spigs