Laptop trying to load Windows but just get blank screen

top_dog

Hi, I am having an issue on my laptop when booting up I am getting as far as 'Windows is loading files' but then I just get a blank screen.

I'm not sure if this is a hardware issue or a problem with windows. Is it possible to get support from the hardware manufacturer or from Microsoft???

It is a Samsung laptop that was bought in Harvey Norman. I'll have to double check if it is still under warranty.

Also just wondering if there is no problem with the harddrive what is the best way to recover the data???
Thanks

yoyo

Could be hard disk failure, does it emit any clicking sounds?

Nick

top_dog

Hi Nick, no it's pretty silent on boot up... would I get even as far as 'Windows is loading files' if the hard disk is failed? Is it possible to see a failed disk from the 'Setup' utility in the BIOS?

mp22

top_dog wrote: »

Hi Nick, no it's pretty silent on boot up... would I get even as far as 'Windows is loading files' if the hard disk is failed? Is it possible to see a failed disk from the 'Setup' utility in the BIOS?

If you see windows is loading files this is not part of a normal start up.Windows is trying to do a start up repair.Try starting in safe mode (hold down F8 on startup)

riclad

You can use a lived cd,eg mint linux version 10, to copy data to usb drive.Get ISO 32bit file ,burn image to cdr using imgburn.
try f8 safe mode first.usekeyboard, arrows ,up,down, enter key to choose menu ,load
safe mode,directory service restore , that fixes your boot up files,works 90 per cent of the time,to give you a normal fixed windows operating system,eg it ,ll look as it did 2 weeks,ago, before you had a bootup problem.

RodgersLFC

If you're running a version of Windows like XP, Vista or 7, you could try using the recovery console to repair the Windows installation. If you have a Windows CD, boot into the CD (you may need to go into your computer BIOS setup to set CD as the first boot device) and select Repair Windows. It'll do its thing, and all being well, it should fix your problem.

Other than that, using a Linux distribution like Mint or Tails would be a good suggestion. Tails is great, you load it onto a CD/USB and boot from the selected device. Its a mini operating system that lets you browse the internet and manage files on your hard drive without using Windows at all.

top_dog

RodgersLFC wrote: »

If you're running a version of Windows like XP, Vista or 7, you could try using the recovery console to repair the Windows installation. If you have a Windows CD, boot into the CD

Thanks for the tips... Just in order to run the 'recovery console' does the windows CD have to be the same as the OS running on the laptop. The laptop was running Win 7 so would it work to use a Vista CD?

Why is it that you don't get a copy of Windows when purchasing the laptop?
Cheers!

RodgersLFC

top_dog wrote: »

RodgersLFC wrote: »

If you're running a version of Windows like XP, Vista or 7, you could try using the recovery console to repair the Windows installation. If you have a Windows CD, boot into the CD

Thanks for the tips... Just in order to run the 'recovery console' does the windows CD have to be the same as the OS running on the laptop. The laptop was running Win 7 so would it work to use a Vista CD?

Why is it that you don't get a copy of Windows when purchasing the laptop?
Cheers!

Thats a good question - I would imagine that the Vista recovery console would work on a Windows 7 machine, but I'm really not sure of that. I'd advise you to check Google for an answer to that one.

yoyo

top_dog wrote: »

RodgersLFC wrote: »

If you're running a version of Windows like XP, Vista or 7, you could try using the recovery console to repair the Windows installation. If you have a Windows CD, boot into the CD

Thanks for the tips... Just in order to run the 'recovery console' does the windows CD have to be the same as the OS running on the laptop. The laptop was running Win 7 so would it work to use a Vista CD?

Why is it that you don't get a copy of Windows when purchasing the laptop?
Cheers!

Once the version matches (32/64bit) it shouldnt matter. I have used the recovery console dos prompt in a Windows 7 disc to run a chkdsk on a Windows XP install, fixed it up no problems. You will obviously need the exact version to do a repair install, or a re-install that came with your laptop (home premium, professional, basic etc.). The serial number under your laptop should activate both 32 and 64bit versions though

Nick

RodgersLFC

yoyo wrote: »

top_dog wrote: »

Once the version matches (32/64bit) it shouldnt matter. I have used the recovery console dos prompt in a Windows 7 disc to run a chkdsk on a Windows XP install, fixed it up no problems. You will obviously need the exact version to do a repair install, or a re-install that came with your laptop (home premium, professional, basic etc.). The serial number under your laptop should activate both 32 and 64bit versions though

Nick

Good to know Nick, cheers for that.

Jordan537

i had this problem , turned out to be a faulty graphics card. Try booting it up if the motherboard has a VGA port ( if your using an aftermarket video card that is)

If you are using the motherboard VGA port you could maybe borrow a video card off somebody and test it.

top_dog

RodgersLFC wrote: »

Other than that, using a Linux distribution like Mint or Tails would be a good suggestion. Tails is great, you load it onto a CD/USB and boot from the selected device. Its a mini operating system that lets you browse the internet and manage files on your hard drive without using Windows at all.

I have created bootable USB OS with MINT OS. I can see the internal harddrive of the laptop when I goto 'Computer'... But how can I access drive in order to copy data? Do I need to mount harddrive using linux mint commands? Thanks for the help!

yoyo

top_dog wrote: »

I have created bootable USB OS with MINT OS. I can see the internal harddrive of the laptop when I goto 'Computer'... But how can I access drive in order to copy data? Do I need to mount harddrive using linux mint commands? Thanks for the help!

No, the linux live cd should auto mount the Windows drive, usually called "File System" under the places menu

Nick

top_dog

Ok the disk was mounted I can only see these files...

mint@mint ~/Desktop $ ls /media/mint/3E58F91358F8CB23/MONICAS-PC/
Backup Set 2011-10-31 110104 Backup Set 2012-02-12 190010 MediaID.bin
Backup Set 2012-01-15 191637 Desktop.ini

I am getting this error here.

The disk contains an unclean filesystem (0,0)
The file system wasn't safely closed on Windows. Fixing.
Failed to read NTFS Bitmap: Input/Output error
NTFS is either inconsistent ot there is a hardware fault or it's a SoftRAID/FakeRAID hardware. In the first case run chkdsk /f on Windows then reboot into windows twice. The usage of /f is very important. If the device is a SoftRAD/FakeRAID then first activate it and mount a different device under the /dev/mapper/ directory. (e.g. /dev/mapper/nvidia_eahaabcc1). Please see the dmraid documentation for more details.

How can I run chkdsk if I can't boot into windows? If I try to boot from CD I only have the option to install or run some recovery tool.

top_dog

Anyone know if it is possible to use chkdsk utility if the Windows DVD can not be used. I seen there was a way of using Ultimate Boot CD and downloading and appending chkdsk utility to the UBCD but there is no instructions really on how to append the utility to UBCD.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/index.html

yoyo

top_dog wrote: »

Anyone know if it is possible to use chkdsk utility if the Windows DVD can not be used. I seen there was a way of using Ultimate Boot CD and downloading and appending chkdsk utility to the UBCD but there is no instructions really on how to append the utility to UBCD.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/index.html

Have you tried downloading a Windows 7 disc? This will work for all OS versions like Vista, XP etc. to run chkdsk. Just get the 32/64bit version to match you system. Just boot off the disc, choose "Repair My Computer">Pick the other option (from memory may not be called that)>Command prompt. Find out which drive your hard disk is via the "dir" command. First type C: and hit enter. Then type dir>Hit enter. See your C: drive? Great, run chkdsk /r otherwise try etc...

Nick

top_dog

No I didn't try to download Windows 7 but I did find the Win 7 DVD and booted of this. There were 2 options 'Repair My Computer' OR 'Install'. I didn't like to choose the 'Install' option.
When I selected 'Repair' option I got an error saying that 'DVD was not compatible to the version of OS that was running' or something along those lines even though this was a Win 7 DVD and Laptop was running Win7. From googling I seen that this was a common error encountered.

yoyo

That error I have found happens when you try to use a 64bit disc with a 32bit install or vice versa. Are you sure the disc your using matches the version of the os?

Nick

riclad

Maybe the dvd is win7 pro,pc is win7 home,ie different version.
you could install mint to the hardrive, if theres 5gig free space,
There maybe programs, on EBCD ,or ultimate boot disk that may help.
mint can see any files,folders unless file system is corrupted.
see emergency boot disk.
you can use Gparted live cd ,to examine partition,it may help you to fix it.
if there,s free space 5gig ,mint install should not effect any user files on drive c.it makes a partition, formats it, it comes with webbrowser and music player,.
http://gparted.org/display-doc.php?name=help-manual&lang=C#gparted-attempt-data-rescue
pc may have hidden partition, to enable os reinstall ,recovery, this will delete
all your data,docs on drive c/;
usually something like boot pc,hold alt ,f10, press start recovery.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

can be used to Fix partition table, recover deleted partition
Recover FAT32 boot sector from its backup
Rebuild FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 boot sector
Fix FAT tables
Rebuild NTFS boot sector
Recover NTFS boot sector

top_dog

The Windows DVD was def the one that came with the laptop. Not sure though if perhaps there was some discrepancy between the version on the DVD and the version installed on the laptop.
Installing mint on the harddrive... would that not do the same thing really as booting from the USB? When I booted from the USB I could see that harddrive mounted but I was getting this error.

The disk contains an unclean filesystem (0,0)
The file system wasn't safely closed on Windows. Fixing.
Failed to read NTFS Bitmap: Input/Output error

I'm going to drop the laptop into a professional anyway to see if they can recover data as I have read that chkdsk can cause more problems than it solves.
Thanks for all the help!!

yoyo

top_dog wrote: »

The Windows DVD was def the one that came with the laptop. Not sure though if perhaps there was some discrepancy between the version on the DVD and the version installed on the laptop.
Installing mint on the harddrive... would that not do the same thing really as booting from the USB? When I booted from the USB I could see that harddrive mounted but I was getting this error.

The disk contains an unclean filesystem (0,0)
The file system wasn't safely closed on Windows. Fixing.
Failed to read NTFS Bitmap: Input/Output error

I'm going to drop the laptop into a professional anyway to see if they can recover data as I have read that chkdsk can cause more problems than it solves.
Thanks for all the help!!

You should not install mint to the drive, rather run the live disc. Installing it may cause more data loss with the data being overwritten. Weird the disc you tried didn't work, but I reckon it was due to the option chosen, chkdsk shouldn't cause more corruption, but if the hard disk is dying it may cause it to get even worse, so at this point taking it to a repair shop probably isn't a bad choice

Nick