Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊

Register Log in

PC hard drive recovery advice...?



Bry Nylon

Bry Nylon

Test your smoke alarm
Helpful Moderator
Jul 21, 2003
19,844
Playing snooker
I need to re-install the factory settings on a laptop as it won't boot up anymore.

I have managed to stumble into the BIOS setup utility environment, and have the options MAIN - SECURITY - SYSTEM CONFIGURATION - DIAGNOSTICS - EXIT

What clues as to what should I do next? I appreciate it is probably dead, but its worth giving it a go.

I do not have 6 year old here to do it for me, and I have tried switching it off and on again. Lots of times.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.
 






Everest

Everest

Me
Jul 5, 2003
20,741
Southwick
Have you tried starting it in SAFE MODE?
 








beorhthelm

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,300
why do you need to restore factory settings? what has led you to this point? its a pretty drastic course of action and if you need to recover the OS you need the boot CD, which i'd try first.
 


B

Billy the Fish

Technocrat
Oct 18, 2005
17,496
Haywards Heath
Probably loads of ways you could attack this. Personally the first thing I'd do is make a Linux boot disk and see if you can get your files off. If you can't at least you know the drive is f**ked without messing about trying to recover windows. If the drive isn't f**ked you can then spend hours trying to recover windows :lolol:

Knoppix is proper user friendly, really good tool to have in the locker

http://http://knoppix.net/
 


Bry Nylon

Bry Nylon

Test your smoke alarm
Helpful Moderator
Jul 21, 2003
19,844
Playing snooker
beorhthelm said:
why do you need to restore factory settings? what has led you to this point? its a pretty drastic course of action and if you need to recover the OS you need the boot CD, which i'd try first.
Click to expand...

It won't load up anymore, so based on the advice I have had so far the concensus is to simply restore it to its oiriginal state. But thanks for your advice and taking the time to reply.
 








beorhthelm

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,300
Bry Nylon said:
A disk read error occured
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart
Click to expand...

ouch. you need some form of bootable OS, either on CD or USB (as Billy suggests). mucking about with the BIOS will likley compound problems unless it allows to boot to a reserved/recovery/rescue area, which only some manufactuers do. find if there's an online manual for the BIOS to go further down this path, otherwise i'd stay off it.

or... as you seem to have another machine try connecting the bad drive into the good system. should be at least able to find out how terminal it is, and if anything is accessible then can recover. you can get a connector to match laptop drives to desktop type connections.
 




B

Billy the Fish

Technocrat
Oct 18, 2005
17,496
Haywards Heath
Physical disk problem then, it's not even getting as far as trying to boot windows. When you go into the BIOS can you see the the disk anywhere in there?

I'd make sure the disk is connected first, if it is it could just be knackered. Boot disk is still your friend here if you can be arsed.
 


Bry Nylon

Bry Nylon

Test your smoke alarm
Helpful Moderator
Jul 21, 2003
19,844
Playing snooker
beorhthelm said:
ouch. you need some form of bootable OS, either on CD or USB (as Billy suggests). mucking about with the BIOS will likley compound problems unless it allows to boot to a reserved/recovery/rescue area, which only some manufactuers do. find if there's an online manual for the BIOS to go further down this path, otherwise i'd stay off it.

or... as you seem to have another machine try connecting the bad drive into the good system. should be at least able to find out how terminal it is, and if anything is accessible then can recover. you can get a connector to match laptop drives to desktop type connections.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that.
Based on your advice I'll leave it be and take it to a shop to see what they say. Yes, I have another laptop for work use, but as it belongs to my employers I won't be using it to diagnose / fix my own laptop.

Thanks again for all contributions.
 


happypig

happypig

Staring at the rude boys
May 23, 2009
7,959
Eastbourne
If your not in a rush, get a "USB to ide" adaptor off eBay. You can then remove the hdd and plug it in to another pc to get files off etc.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Albion and Premier League latest from Sky Sports


Top
Link Here