Windows will not boot

jacknicholson · 01 Aug 2011

Hello,

Long story short: my computer won't start up (properly). I'm running Windows 7 Starter on an Asus EEE 1005PE netbook. I've made no hardware or BIOS changes since purchase. The only peripherals I've used is a USB mouse (currently unplugged).

The events so far: After a short period of inactivity, my computer appeared frozen on the desktop. No applications running; neither the mouse nor keyboard were responsive. After a short period of waiting, I did a hard shut down (held the power button).

The next parts are hazy, as I have manually powered off and on a few times over the past hours. (I have also removed the battery and attempted to flash the BIOS by holding the power button while the netbook is unplugged, as well as letting the computer rest without the battery and unplugged). Upon powering up, the computer will run into a couple of different scenarios. What causes each scenario to occur, I am unsure.

Typically, I will run into a grey ASUS EEE PC screen. I am given the options to "Press F2 to run Setup, Press TAB to display BIOS POST Message". Hitting either F2 and TAB provide no response. Either one or two events will transpire from here: 1) Nothing, at all. 2) After a few minutes of waiting, I will move on to a black screen which allows me to either Start Windows Normally or run Startup Repair. Both lead nowhere. I will either hang indefinitely on the "Microsoft Corporation" loading screen (with the green progress bar) or have the screen completely black, also indefinitely.

Other times, I run into a black American Megatrends screen, which seems to list a few of my system specs. I know the RAM is deemed "OK," and nothing "BAD." However, it does state "Boot booster doesn't work at this time" at the bottom. This screen leads nowhere. I was able to load the BIOS once; not sure how, though. (As you can tell, I'm quite the amateur). I did not change any settings.

I've attempted to load Safe Mode by hitting F8 after powering on, but no menu ever pops up. I should also add that I do not have a Windows disc, as this is a CD-ROM-less netbook with Windows 7 Starter pre-installed.

Apologies for the hazy and possibly confusing recap. Hopefully, though, we can come to a solution! Thank you.

usasma · 02 Aug 2011

Do you have an external CD/DVD drive for the netbook?
Are you able to make bootable USB keys and attempt to boot from them?
Is the system under warranty?

Try running these free diagnostics:

I suggest starting all troubleshooting with the following diagnostic tests. They'll save you a lot of time and heartache if there is a hardware failure, and you'll have the disks on hand in case you need them in the future:

H/W Diagnostics:
Please start by running these bootable hardware diagnostics:
Memory Diagnostics (read the details at the link)
HD Diagnostic (read the details at the link) - Test ALL of the hard drives.

Also, please run one of these free, independent online malware scans to ensure that your current protection hasn't been compromised: Free Online AntiMalware Resources (read the details at the link)
There are also bootable antivirus disks at this link: Free Online AntiMalware Resources

In General, with the EEE, you'll press Tab (in the grey screen) to access the black BIOS screen, then either Esc or F8 to access the boot selection menu (Esc is the most common - F8 is used on older systems). From my experiences with EEE's, getting to the grey screen to press Tab is the difficult part. Any other difficulties can be caused by problematic hardware (such as a dead/dying hard drive).

jacknicholson · 04 Aug 2011

Hi,

I have finally managed to get to the Advanced Boot Options screen. However, selecting Safe Mode causes the computer to freeze while loading classpnp.sys. Last Good Configuration has led to either the computer freezing on the Microsoft Corporation green progress bar screen, or an entirely black screen (no mouse cursor), or looping back to the Startup Repair/Launch Windows Normally screen. I have also attempted to select the Repair Your Computer option once, which seemed to trigger Startup Repair rather than give me a set of Repair options. Either way, the computer always freezes before Windows can successfully load.

It may or may not be relevant to note that, during the American Megatrends POST screen, it seems to say my RAM and HDD are "OK".

In response to usasma: I do not have a CD/DVD drive, nor a Windows 7 disc (Win7 was pre-installed on the netbook). I have read that I'd need access to a disc and CD/DVD drive to create a Windows 7 Installation USB drive, so I guess that's out?

Anyway, is there anything else I could try for now? Thanks so much.

usasma · 04 Aug 2011

FWIW - I suspect that your hard drive is dead/dying.
A test should let you know if there's any problem - but you'll either need an external CD/DVD or will have to figure out how to run the diagnostics from a flash drive.

FWIW - IMO it's best to have an external CD/DVD drive if you have a netbook or tablet PC. That way you won't have to mess with figuring out how to make disks bootable from a flash drive. I have one that I carry with my tablet PC and it's saved my bacon on many occasions. It cost around $60 (US) a couple of years ago.

If none of this is an option, then try replacing the hard drive with another hard drive to see if you can access the drive. This'll tell you if the hard drive is the problem (then you'll be faced with the problem of installing the OS on the hard drive without a CD/DVD drive). IME most netbooks aren't easy to disassemble, and getting the hard drive out is a painful procedure (Yes - painful! I cut myself doing this once!)

Beyond this, take it to a PC shop for an estimate. You may find that it's not worth fixing.
I'd guess that you'd pay (in the US - New England)
- diagnostics ($50)
- 2 hours of labor ($100 to $150) (to open the case and replace the hard drive)
- a new hard drive ($40)
- OS installation ($50 or more)
- backup (if possible) ($50 to $100)

jacknicholson · 04 Aug 2011

Thanks for your reply.

I understand that my options are severely limited without having an external CD/DVD drive. I'll look into borrowing one (money being tight right now), but that might take a while. I'll also look into options involving USB.

The thing is, my main priority is salvaging the contents of the hard drive. I'll admit now, it's not actually my netbook, but rather my girlfriend's. A writer, no less! You can imagine she's banging her head into the wall right now, wishing she made more recent backups.

On the American Megatrends POST (I think) screen, it seems to be able to detect the Pri Master ST9250315AS 0002SDM1 drive just fine. Could that be any indication that the HDD is okay? I know a diagnostic test is the definitive choice, but for now I'm trying to cling onto what I can.

Also, on the hope that the HDD is fine, is there any way I can grab at least a couple documents off of it without booting Windows? This might sound like a wacky question-- obviously, I don't really know what I'm talking about. But perhaps I could get DOS running and copy onto a USB stick? Or maybe booting into Linus, from a USB stick? I mean, I don't know the first thing about any of this stuff; just hoping there's a way. Though, at the same time, as far as physically removing the drive myself, I'm a little worried about causing more damage.

Alright, thank you for your time and patience.

usasma · 04 Aug 2011

You're going to have to figure out how to boot from USB - and how to use whatever OS you may pick (Linux, DOS, WinPE/RE, etc).

Then make sure that you have a large enough flash drive to save what you're trying to get.

Start with this Google search: boot from usb - Google Search

Good luck!