Blinking underscore on Boot-up

[blast]

Hi everyone,

I have an HP laptop that upon boot-up would show the HP logo and then go to a constant blinking underscore on the upper left hand corner.

During the HP logo screen, I pressed f2 to enter "HP Startup" where I scan the hard drive and it passed all the test.

Also I can go into the BIOS by pressing f10. From my research, I changed the order of boot-up and put local hard drive at the very top. I also unplugged the battery. And laptop is still not working.

I also read that perhaps putting in a System Repair Disk might help(?) But I just discover that my cd-rom drive is not working...

Can someone explain to me what would be the best way/ or my options in going about to recovering my data?

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Ztruker]

Most likely you have a corrupted file system and need to run chkdsk /r from the Recovery Console. Since you optical drive is not working, you can create a bootable flash drive for Windows 7, see here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html?ltr=U

How to run chkdsk from the Recovery Console

• Boot your Windows 7 installation DVD
• When you see "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD", press Enter
• At the "Language" screen hold the "Shift" key and press the F10 key to open a Command Window
• For chkdsk, type chkdsk /r and press Enter.

Let this run to completion undisturbed..

Windows 7 only:
If you don't have a install DVD, you can download a legal copy here: Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River

Make sure you get the same version you have installed: 32 or 64 bit; Home Premium, Pro or Ultimate.

 

[blast]

Hi Ztrucker, thanks for your reply.

I do not have an install DVD so I need to download the ISO file from the link you provided - however, I do not know which 64 bit version of Home, Pro, or Ultimate version Windows 7 I have. How should I proceed from here?

 

[gregrocker]

Look on the COA sticker on bottom of laptop for licensed version. If you have more than 4gb RAM I'd use 64 bit.

Work through these steps for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot.