Can I Save My Laptop?

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
Ubuntu LINUX will boot anything!

I had a Toshiba Satellite crash (hard) on me, I mean really hard, and I was able to get it up enough to strip off the data onto a portable HDD. I can't remember the Ubuntu file name, but I'm sure you can search on it; there's lots of people who've tried it and made amazing saves. Mine was completely fried and I was able to recover the data.

I was shocked actually. I didn't care about the laptop, I just wanted the data.

My system is a dual boot Win7/ Ubuntu machine. When Windows acts up, I use Ubuntu Linux to fix the issues.

a reply to: madmac5150

I think Ubuntu would boot a computer which was just a pile of smoldering charred carbon and melted plastic goo!

Freaking amazing!

I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't actually see/do it myself.

Computer booted up faster than I'd ever seen it, I actually had to do a double take to verify what I was seeing was even real!

First . is the BSOD too fast to read either the message or the first stop code ? (the hex number right before the parentheses) All I need are the last 2 characters of the stop code ( 7b , a0 , c0 , etc.)

a reply to: madmac5150
I always liked Suse and Slack over Ubuntu especially after 8, I think, when they went from brown to purple.

If I can't salvage this Windows installation then I'll probably put Slack or UE on it. Providing I can evet get back into the BIOS which still hasn't happened.

I did catch that error again and it looked like it is an unmountable boot volume. Could be fixable, could be a dying drive...

a reply to: Gothmog
It's like the BSOD appears with no error just to say there's a problem. It's there for a second then the error code appears like it's printing across the screen as soon as its done it reboots. The error is only visible for a split second. I did consider recording it. As someone suggested, but now that I know what the problem is there's no point.

What's weird now is that all attempts to get into the BIOS fail. If I hold down a key then nothing happens. If I press a key repeatedly then it is ignored. Unknowing why I am blaming Fast Boot.

Next step. I've removed the hdd and restarted so I could get into the BIOS and set the boot speed and order back to normal. Now even with the error and boot loop BIOS access is restored.

originally posted by: Noncents
a reply to: Gothmog
It's like the BSOD appears with no error just to say there's a problem. It's there for a second then the error code appears like it's printing across the screen as soon as its done it reboots. The error is only visible for a split second. I did consider recording it. As someone suggested, but now that I know what the problem is there's no point.

What's weird now is that all attempts to get into the BIOS fail. If I hold down a key then nothing happens. If I press a key repeatedly then it is ignored. Unknowing why I am blaming Fast Boot.

It is. You are doing the "boot from UEFI file"(fast boot) . You cannot boot from USB or enter the UEFI without a special program.

a reply to: Gothmog
I got that worked out. The boot record appears shot. I have an old version of Hiren's from around when Windows 7 launched but no idea how to fix the mbr. I'm looking into that now and about to fire up Knoppix to see if I can even access any files from the drive.

Slowly...

During the boot do the f8 keypress thing.

When the menu appears, select the disabled automatic restart on system failure.

You should be able to see the blue-screen error now. Google the error code or post it here.

It's likely going to be one of the following in order

Corrupted data on hard drive, most likely the hibernation file that gets created when it goes into deep sleep. This is more of a thing since windows 8 that's a feature for the fast boot up and is not like the old hibernation mode of xp and 7. Or you might picked up some malware thats screwed the operating system.

Bad driver update, try the roll back to last known working state.

Could be the hard drive itself crapped out has lappy been dropped or knocked while running?

One of the memory modules could be fritzed or not seated firmly. Pull them and reseatl

Cpu fan might be blocked with lint causing an overheat shutdown. See next item.

Lastly it may be the dreaded overheated chipset issue on the motherboard, have you used it on a bed or soft furnishings? This blocks the air vents and is a real laptop killer.

Good luck

originally posted by: Noncents
a reply to: TheBulk
The screen's brutal. It doesn't show the error code until a split-second before it goes away. I've watched it a few times now and can't make it all out. The word BOOT is in it though. It is a SSD. The boot order is the HDD, USB, Disk Drive and then Network.

That's why I said to hit the f8 key so you can get advanced boot options and choose the option to not restart after blue screen.

originally posted by: Noncents
a reply to: Gothmog
I got that worked out. The boot record appears shot. I have an old version of Hiren's from around when Windows 7 launched but no idea how to fix the mbr. I'm looking into that now and about to fire up Knoppix to see if I can even access any files from the drive.

Slowly...

I gave you instructions on this earlier in the thread.

i say get a new hd, swap it out, sideline the old one until you have the time and desire to mess with it....fresh install on the new HD....maybe dual boot windows/linux mint or the like.....then run some hardware diagnostics on the old drive as a storage device over USB.....make sure theres no physical damage/sectors etc....then at some point later buy or acquire some slick forensic recovery software to get your old data off it.

or, if youre really lazy and poor just throw a usb stick with a live boot linux on it and plug it in and go.....leave the old HD in there for later.

On another machine download a Linux live iso and burn it to a stick and boot from that and then google your particular build and drive management which will show you the S.M.A.R.T. data and install that to the stick and see what sort of results you are returned with.

All is well.

Something went screwey with the filesystem. In my attempts to fix that I messed up the MBR, yay. Loading up the already-on-the-drive restore wasn't happening.

I downloaded the restoration disk image from MS on another computer and burned it off. Turning off UEFI et cetra I was able to boot from that disk. Now, everything I tried failed and it was reading that the backup partition was locked... yay again.

So it's chkdsk /F to the rescue. That ran for many hours and gave that there were 4 unreadable file record segments. All right, progress. That was followed with bcdboot and sfc /scannow just to be safe.

I switched UEFI back on gave it a try. It cycled through the Preparing Automatic Repair again but this time it actually fixed whatever remnant problems there were and progressed enough to boot properly.

It's working fine now. I'm backing everything up just to be safe.

Thanks for the advice through all this everyone. On the potentially positive side I picked up a cheap Win 10 laptop while chkdsk was running... just in case. I figure maybe the wife can use it or something if it ends up being unnecessary.

a reply to: Noncents

I'm currently recovering 4TB of data from my Seagate Central NAS Box . Controller went to heaven after a firmware update .
While looking for some Linux tips for the hooky as h3ll filesystem I came across Hiren 16 that some kind Chap has updated .
Alledged Win8 support might help (not tried it yet.)
But as other posters have mentioned , it sounds like your HDD has taken a turn for the worse .

topkickass.com...

New features sine 15.2 ...

* Added Mini Windows 8.1 Support
*Added NTFS Support for USB Booting
* Fixed Kaspersky not booting from USB and Updated the definations
* Deleted some Obsolete Apps
* Added and Updated tools
* Antivirus/Spyware
* AdwCleaner
* Advanced Spyware Remover
* Avast Antivirus (updatable)
* Avira AntiVir Personal (Free Antivirus)
* ClamWin Free Antivirus
* ComboFix (Malware Removal)
* Comodo Cleaning Essentials
* D7
* Dr.Web CureIt! Antivirus (Downloadable)
* GMER (Rootkit Detector)
* HitmanPro (Remove ransomware)
* Junkware Removal Tool
* Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
* Remove Fake Antivirus
* RKill (Spyware Process Killer)
* RootkitRevealer
* Spybot Search && Destroy
* SuperAntispyware
* TDSSKiller (Rootkit Remover)
* Win Patrol
* Updated WinNTSetup

a reply to: Noncents

I have a Toshi, this happened to me, whilst rebooting, i used the F8 or F12 key to bring up the Whatsie, and opened it in safe made. Then i shut it down properly.

It booted fine after this.

have you tried a recovery or back up program?

So.. not overheating as someone suggested. OS is damaged (most likely scenario.. less likely is hardware failure, but that's also possible), you'll probably need a same-version Windows 8 CD (or USB) to boot to repair options. For Toshiba laptops, as soon as you power it on, start tapping F2. If that does not bring up BIOS, turn on and immediately hold down the escape key. Usually that that brings up an error where you can choose continue to boot or F1 to enter setup.

Also make sure you don't have another USB device plugged in when trying to boot, in case UEFI and secure boot are enabled. If they are, that alone can cause your OS to not boot. Newer BIOS warns you that you have something plugged in. Older models probably won't.

Best method is as someone suggested - get a cheap USB 3.0 to SATA 3 adapter cable. Get a new SSD (you'll need a copy of Windows for this), put it in.. install Windows, attach old HDD, try to get your data back. If it makes clicking sounds are are doomed until you take it for 800 to 1.2 for recovery (if it's mechanical.. SSD won't click unless it is possessed).

As far as someone suggested Windows 8 or 10 is junk, it's not. I mean.. I didn't like Windows 8, and I don't care too much for Windows 10 either (especially how hard M$ pushed the upgrade), but as long as maintained decently, it -rarely- crashes and runs well. I've 0 crashes on Windows 10 since it came out at work, and only 1 crash on my home desktop in many years. Linux is fine for what it does, but for many, Linux isn't a good solution. The only Linux I like playing around in is Kali (along with Metasploit). I do use Ubuntu to recover Windows passwords sometimes, but that's about it.

I don't mind people bashing MS. Or even Windows. But it's just not honest to suggest their last couple of releases are unstable or crash all the time. Just not true - if that is happening, it's probably something you installed, your lack of updates, your 3 antivirus conflicting with each other, your 99% full HDD, your overclocking to a ridiculous %, etc.

If you do not have a backup disk then you need a tool to restore your deleted files. Disk drill can help in such case. I had the same situation. After reinstalling the system I forgot to create a backup disk so I used this guide www.cleverfiles.com... . It should help you to retrieve data on your laptop.

Do be wary of using data recovery tools as it can get messy, if the drive itself is faulty the effort of trying to recover the data could cause the data to be destroyed, its why IT people mutter the word 'backup' and while most people seem to ignore it if you need to get those photo's of your childs first steps off a machine it's a lot less hassle than just nipping down and getting a new drive and restoring the data and depending on the effort it could be a rather expensive event.