Can't boot Windows 7 after printer uninstallation

gregrocker · 14 Jul 2011

Test your HD using maker's diagnostics/repair CD extended scan which will autostart on its own: HD Diagnostic

You can write your Win7 DVD to USB flash stick using Ultra ISO trial version: on File tab select Open DVD, on Bootable select Write Disk Image, Format, Write. Boot under USB or HD. From Repair console on second screen run Startup Repair repeatedly.

You can retrieve your files if the flashstick boots: Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console. If not Paragon Rescue CD will autostart without having to boot it. Paragon rescue disk; change drive letter; recover data

You can then wipe the HD using free Partition Wizard bootable CD which will also autostart on its own.

Now the Win7 DVD will also autostart on its own to clean reinstall:
Reinstalling Windows 7

Britton30 · 14 Jul 2011

Thanks Greg, I forgot the Paragon atack.

TVeblen · 14 Jul 2011

Hi again. Just got back in from work. Glad to see you got more help.

From everything you've said it certainly seems like a hardware failure, and my feeling is it is on the motherboard - probably the SATA controller. That would explain the laptop not recognizing any drives, Hard drive or DVD.

There is hope however that the issue could be in the BIOS (the BIOS is the basic instruction set that makes a computer function and use all it's parts. The screens you see when you press F1 takes you into the BIOS setup. This is where you can change the settings for how the computer uses it's parts.)

Sometimes the BIOS settings get corrupted - and while rare, software can do it - and the computer will not start. A common fix is to restore the BIOS to original default settings. On a desktop this is accomplished by performing a CLR CMOS. A laptop is done differently.

Try this:

Turn off the laptop
Unplug the power supply
Remove the laptop battery
Press and hold the POWER button down for a good 20-30 seconds (to drain all power from the motherboard)
Then reconnect everything and try to startup again.

If the laptop will not recognize the Hard drive or any bootable CD/DVD after this then I must suspect the hardware problem.

Also: see if you have or can borrow any bootable CD/DVD - even a Windows XP CD and try it. You just want to know if a CD/DVD can be recognized.

kimouette · 15 Jul 2011

TVeblen, thanks for pointing out the motherboard. I think we can clearly see the problem now. I followed your suggestion and guess what? Ever since I drained out all the energy from the motherboard, the computer simply wont power up now!! It's either that or, the power adapter died while I was draining the power out of the mother board... that would just be the weirdess coincidence

Anyway, I had the time to test the usb method, I even went into the BIOS and change the boot order to make sure the USB drive was in first position, but of course the computer wouldn,t let me boot from the USB key.

Just in case someone has a Mac and wants to created a bootable windows 7 for a flash drive... find a free Windows7 image somewhere on the net (.iso) and follow that procedure :

1. Open a Terminal (under Utilities) 2. Run diskutil list and determine the device node assigned to your flash media (e.g. /dev/disk2)
3. Run diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN (replace N with the disk number from the last command; in the previous example, N would be 2)
4. Execute sudo dd if=/path/to/downloaded.iso of=/dev/diskN bs=1m (replace /path/to/downloaded.iso with the path where the image file is located; for example, ./windows7.iso)
5. Run diskutil eject /dev/diskN and remove your flash media when the command completes (this can take a few hours on slower drives)

Now that I cant even power up my computer, I guess I can just take the RAM and the HDD out of it (I changed them recently, they were pretty expensive) and find myself a new laptop.

Britton30 · 15 Jul 2011

Just a thought...did you replace the battery?
Hey, I've done silly stuff too.

Like trying to power up my PC after a hardware change, with no power cable or leaving something disconnected inside.

kimouette · 15 Jul 2011

LOL!!

Oh my god!! LOL. Is there a camera in my living room?
LOL! I cant stop laughing.

Britton, you were right! lol

I replaced the battery, but the god damn power adapter was'nt connected to the wall plug

If you saw my living room, you would understand how something that stupid can happend : cables, external hdd, USB adapters, printers, boxes, usb cables, cds and dvds, mouses and power adapters are hanging all over my living room, seriously you have to watch where to put your feet!

Ok so I'm back to square 1. The computer cannot boot the USB nor the DVD nor Windows 7.

Did I mention that you guys are great? Really, Thanks for all the suggestion, lots of solution have been pointed out. But I think all I can do now is bring my laptop to a technician and ask him to test my motherboard. If that part is the problem, I'll just buy a new computer, if he finds something else that I can replace for a good price, I'll buy it.

Thanks everyone!!

Britton30 · 15 Jul 2011

*Whistles innocently*

See?

Anyway, can you try Gregrocker's idea using Paragon? sound like a good approach.

kimouette · 15 Jul 2011

I downloaded the "rk_free_e.exe" from their website but since I'm using a Mac I'm not sure how to complete the procedure. I think I'm supposed to execute that file before burning it on a CD... Is that it? Or should I simply burn an image disc with the exe file ?

Britton30 · 15 Jul 2011

I don't know. Greg is the guru on that kind of stuff, hopefully he'll chime in again for you. I've not used it myself, but many here have.
I would think the MAC should burn the CD for you. His links may have more info in them. I would expect the file would install some software which would then guide you to the disk creation.

kimouette · 15 Jul 2011

Ok I did it
The file was burn correctly (using Virtual PC on my Mac). Then inserted the cd in my Lenovo, powered the pc, but I'm still stuck on the Lenovo welcome page and the cd stops spinning after couple of seconds and nothing happens.
Greg mentionned something about changing the drive letter. Can I do that from the BIOS page?