Failure to boot laptop 3

[PCVirgin]

I have a Dell Inspiron 5150 using WIN XP SP2. I was using it yesterday when suddenly the whole machine froze. I could not use any of the QWERTY keys. I did a forced re-boot and all I see now is a black screen with the cursor flashing. I do not get as far as the Dell screen, nor do I have the use of any keys.

The laptop did manage to successfully re-boot once since then but again the machine froze.

I dont believe it is a software issue, but does anyone have any ideas ?

 

[PRPhx]

Yep, sounds like maybe your hard drive took a dump. Can you get into the BIOS? Does it see the hard drive???? I would first try replacing the drive, reload the OS, if you can.

Is the drive making any kind of noise, esp. a clicking type noise? If it is, it's definetly a dead drive.

 

[PCVirgin]

There is some sort of whirring sound, but no beeps and I cannot get into the BIOS.

Since this problem started I did manage to boot once or twice, was this a fluke or is there another possible answer ?

 

[NoCalAdmin]

try to boot up from a bootable CD and attempt to access the C: drive. If you can get in, be prepared to copy any data you can grab. It's Windows, of course it was a fluke. Or maybe it was just saying goodbye

 

[wolluf]

Try removing the hard drive and seeing if it boots and allows you into bios. If it doesn't, suggests a problem with the motherboard. If it does, suggests a problem with hard drive.

If hard drive is IDE, can buy an inexpensive adapter to connect it to PC (so you can try recovering data). If its SATA, connectors same as PC SATA - so if you have PC with SATA connectors, can try connecting it to check it out).

 

[PCVirgin]

Dear wolluf,

I'll take on boad your suggestion. If by any chance it is a motherboard can I simply replace it ?

 

[wolluf]

unfortunately not on a laptop - you'll need to get a specialist laptop repairer (unless you have full technical manual for it, and are happy finding correct board, dismantling and reassembling it) - which will probably be expensive.

 

[PCVirgin]

Dear wolluf,

I tried your solution and unfortunately the laptop did not go to the BIOS. However I did ask someone else who has pointed me to

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportfo...os&message.id=38867&c=uk&l=en&cs=ukdhs1&s=dhs

Here is says this a COMMON fault with the Inspiron 5150, so much so that there has been a court case in the US. Now Dell has given extended warranty to 'all' 5150 owner until 2September 2007.

I'll contact Dell and see what I can do.

 

[PCVirgin]

After several discussions with Dell, I now have a new motherboard and my laptop is fully functional again.


RESULT !

 

[wolluf]

good to hear - have a star for the useful info.

 

[sparky1234]

After installing IE7 and Defender on my laptop I began receiveing messages (white on blue screen)that referred to problems with Defender and not being installed properly. Defender could not be reinstalled nor could I delete it. A few days later there was a message to the effect there was no driver installed for VGA. After that the screen went black. When I turn on the laptop I see the red Toshiba screen, then the Welcome to Windows screen and then the black screen. I can hear my programs opening but I can't see anything. It will start in safe (or different) modes but always returns to the black screen. I tried the Toshiba Satellite P30 Product Recovery DVD-Rom which did not run automatically and I can't see any way to get it to run. Any help would be much appreciated. Eleanor

 

[wolluf]

Eleanor - you should really start a new thread for your problem. And I'd suggest it might be better in forum779 (XP) that here in hard drive issues (as its not obvious its a hard drive or indeed a hardware issue, and its your operating system that's not working).

Can you clarify some of your post as well please:-

It will start in safe (or different) modes but always returns to the black screen

.

What does this mean - or different, does that mean VGA mode and last known good? When you say its starts - how far does it get before you get the black screen?

You say problems started after installing ie7 and defender. Immediately after - or after several hours, days, weeks?

Did you install anything else on your laptop during this period?

The Defender issue may not be pertinent to the display issue - which sounds like something has corrupted the display drivers (if you're getting display before windows starts properly, I'd suspect the actual graphics adapter is working ok. But there may be a general 'corruption' of filestore issue - that's affected defender and display drivers. Do you have up to date anti-virus software installed?

I would have expected the laptop to boot from the recovery DVD - but what actually did happen? (the bios may be set to boot from hard drive before CD/DVD drive - in which case the recovery DVD will not boot till you change the boot sequence. You can do this by entering the bios settings - should be a prompt onscreen for which key to press - I think its usually F2 for Toshiba, but may be another key(s). Alternatively, many laptops also display a key to enter the boot sequence - usually F12 - if this is displayed, try that. If you have a recovery CD, do you also have an XP install CD? If so, you could try recovery console - then run chkdsk c: /p.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654

Normally VGA mode (from the safe mode menu) will give you a display in windows when the display driver is casuing problems. If its not, suggests the default windows vga driver is corrupted too.

 

[sparky1234]

Thank you Wolluf. The first thing I tried worked - that is using F2. I managed to reset the boot to start in the DVD drive first, then the C: drive. When I rebooted it opened the Toshiba DVD Recovery and I now am back to the original factory settings. Unfortunately, I now have to reinstall everything
Eleanor