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Win 7 Laptop Will Not Boot. Period.

Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 2:24 pm
by unfaithfulsfan
This is a Toshiba Satellite A665-S6094, however the usual recovery rules don't apply because mfr. OS not installed. Unit has Windows 7 installed by previous local repair facility after HDD crash. User has copy of installation disc.

User ran a virus scan (I forget which AV. One that user bought that I've never heard of) after which he was prompted to reboot. Laptop has not booted since. User said he spent 3.5 hours on phone with AV support but unable to resolve. That's how it wound up on my bench.

Option to "Boot Windows Normally" or "Repair Windows" results in low-res black screen with active cursor. That's it. No HDD activity, nothing. Dead in the water.

Initially, in trying to boot to SAFE mode it would hang at ...\CLASSPNP.sys. After several minutes it just restarts and goes to the improper shutdown options screen. Tried booting from Win 7 DVD for repair. Get prompt to boot from DVD, after press a key, progress bar shows "Loading Windows Files" & DVD spools up, then"Starting Windows" splash screen, then same low-res black screen with cursor.

Tried dl'ing a Win 7 classpnp.sys file, booted with Ubuntu Desktop, REN'd original to .old & copied new one in to directory. Upon reboot to SAFE mode, it makes it thru all the startup files but then goes to same black screen. WTF?!? The only thing that comes to my mind is that all or part of the Registry is toast. But I cannot get to even a command prompt. All roads seem to lead to a black screen with an active cursor.

Is there an option possibly I could use via FreeDOS? Just thought about that.

If no solution in next few hours, I'm just going to back up user files thru Ubuntu, DEL Windows dir and reinstall the OS. I don't know what else to do. I will check brand of AV and look for solution that way. Maybe I'll get lucky. Thus far, I haven't been able to find anyone anywhere that this specific issue has happened to. Lots of similar but nothing with these particular symptoms--where there's apparently no way to boot.

Lucky friggin' me! Just finished one that I thought for sure was the antiChrist. Just goes to show, no matter how bad it is it can ALWAYS get worse! #-o

Thanks

Re: Win 7 Laptop Will Not Boot. Period.

Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 6:51 pm
by DJ Tucker
I had the exact same problem when I installed windows 7 first time round on my new system. seemed to load ok but black screen with cursor and nothing else. tried everything to get it to load and same result. so I had to re-install after I backed up everything :(

Re: Win 7 Laptop Will Not Boot. Period.

Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 7:54 pm
by unfaithfulsfan
That sounds about right! ](*,) I'm backing up data via Ubuntu as I write this.

It obviously doesn't happen very often because I posted this same question on several different boards within a few minutes of posting it here and, until you responded, nobody has ever seen anything like it. I mean I've heard nothing but crickets. I sent my customer congratulations on creating a hitherto unheard of issue.

Oh well. Thanks for letting me know that someone else has at least seen this before. I figured it was going to be a clean install fix but I was hanging on just in case. Thanks again! =D>

Have a good one!

Re: Win 7 Laptop Will Not Boot. Period.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 2:08 am
by DJ Tucker
if you haven't gone about re-installing already have you tried using the OS disk and doing a start-up repair or using the command prompt built within?

Re: Win 7 Laptop Will Not Boot. Period.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 9:04 am
by unfaithfulsfan
That's the worst part! It won't boot from the Windows DVD! It acts like it's going to then it winds up at the same black screen with a cursor. But I can boot to Ubuntu Desktop from DVD. I've never seen that before.

Re: Win 7 Laptop Will Not Boot. Period.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 9:06 am
by unfaithfulsfan
Oh forgot to mention, the DVD is good. I've booted 3 other computers with it.

Re: Win 7 Laptop Will Not Boot. Period.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 10:48 am
by DJ Tucker
now that strange. clearly the hdd has corrupt data/install on it that won't allow you to even access a tiny remote part. bad sector possibly?

Re: Win 7 Laptop Will Not Boot. Period.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 2:38 pm
by unfaithfulsfan
Don't know. I got everything backed up thanks to Ubuntu. Had doc appt today along with a few errands which took forever so just got home. Soon as I catch my breath I'm going to jump back on it. It was about a 18 mos ago he had the new drive put in. I was swamped at the time so he took it someplace else. I'll run diagnostics on it before I start the OS install just to be safe.

He said the last thing he did was run a scan with his AV. It's TrendMicro. I thought he had said another brand but that's what's there. Don't know why he insists on buying AV suites. He spent something like $60 for that one. He doesn't really do anything on his laptop besides email, facebook, etc.. He plays a couple of games and that's about it. AVG Free would suit him perfectly but he won't listen.

Re: Win 7 Laptop Will Not Boot. Period.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 5:00 pm
by kenc51
it's possible the install disk is slightly damaged and the dvd drive on your pc is better than the laptop, not all drives are equal. Some read disks better than others.

Re: Win 7 Laptop Will Not Boot. Period.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 7:35 pm
by unfaithfulsfan
Well, actually I didn't think of that. But now the point is moot because it looks like the drive is toast.

Strange how I can read and manipulate files on it thru Ubuntu. But in trying to run diagnostics from a boot disc, the drive isn't there. So, since I already had all his files, I removed the drive and connected it to my desktop to see what would happen. Naturally, I got the "drive must be initialized" popup. But when I tried to initialize it I get "Device not ready," even though I can feel the drive turning.

Guess I'm at the end of the road for this drive. Oh well. Bummer. Thanks for trying to help!