Laptop not booting after the battery died during sleep mode.

[blitz3]

Hello everyone.

A few hours ago my computer was in sleep mode and unplugged when the battery died. Upon plugging it back in, I was met with an empty black screen. I turned it off by holding the power button, but the laptop refuses to boot now.

Upon turning it on, I get the Toshiba start up screen for less than a second before it goes to the Windows Error Recovery Page. Both options (Launch Startup Repair (recommended) and start windows normally) results in a screen that says 'windows is loading files...' with a status bar, then moves on to another screen showing another status bar (this one green with the microsoft corp at the bottom but no graphic) and ultimately to a black screen with a white cursor. From there, nothing works. The same happens if I try to start it in safe mode (with or without networking).

I have a system repair disc for the laptop but I haven't been able to do anything with it.

Fortunately 99% of the info on the laptop is backed up. Unfortunately the 1% that isn't is the most important (class notes for the last 4-5 weeks).

I have the extended warranty on it from best buy that actually expires in 4 days, but I certainly don't want to ship off my computer for who knows how long with those files on there.

Any advice would be tremendously appreciated.

 

[Britton30]

Welcome to Seven Forums. you might try Launch Start up Repair 3 times to see if it will recover the boot sector.

 

[blitz3]

Welcome to Seven Forums. you might try Launch Start up Repair 3 times to see if it will recover the boot sector.

I've tried to launch start up repair about 10 times now with the same results (leads me to the black screen with white cursor).

 

[Britton30]

What does the repair disk do and is there a Recovery option in the Toshiba splash screen?

 

[blitz3]

What does the repair disk do and is there a Recovery option in the Toshiba splash screen?

With the repair disc and the BIOS set to boot from CD, i get a flashing cursor (or underline...whatever you call it)and then a message saying press any key to boot from cd/dvd appears. I press it and the 'Windows is loading files..." bar appears and loads slower than it does without the cd in. Once it gets across the screen, the screen flashes between solid black (like it is unlit) then black, then the secondary loading bar (green) appears and loads and then it goes back to the black screen with white pointer on it. I hope that made sense.

On the splash screen it only displays the options for pressing F2 and F12 (and associated messages about setup utility and boot manager).

 

[Britton30]

It sounds like the power loss borked the boot manager. If you run the Toshiba recovery with the F2 or F12 it will remove the data you have and reset it too Out Of Box Experience (OOBE). Other that that you can see if Best Buy has another trick, but those guys usually just do a new install and your data is still gone.

I'll ask for some more help.

 

[gregrocker]

Everything is here that can be done for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start
including the hardware tests which I would do, leading up to if necessary rescuiing your files to restore your Toshiba laptop to its factory fresh software condition using system recovery Factory Recovery or getting the superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

In the future in Power Options keep Hibernate set to kick in after a sleep period so that if it loses battery power it will write RAM to the HD and shut down (suspend) in an orderly fashion rather than just cutting power to the RAM>

And as always never run the corrupt OEM factory preinstall which throttles and interferes with Win7 so you never get to experience it's native perfect state. That's why tech enthusiasts all do the Clean Reinstall.

 

[Britton30]

Greg, the Toshiba link is dead for me.

 

[gregrocker]

Thanks Gary, those OEM links change pretty often. Here's another: How to restore your Toshiba laptop to its factory fresh software condition using system recovery

 

[blitz3]

Thanks Gary, those OEM links change pretty often. Here's another: How to restore your Toshiba laptop to its factory fresh software condition using system recovery

Thanks for your replies. Since I have a few files that I really don't want to lose, my best bet would be going to your link for Windows 7 troubleshooting failure to start right? And I suppose starting at option 3 is the right choice since safe mode gets me nowhere.

 

[blitz3]

It sounds like the power loss borked the boot manager. If you run the Toshiba recovery with the F2 or F12 it will remove the data you have and reset it too Out Of Box Experience (OOBE). Other that that you can see if Best Buy has another trick, but those guys usually just do a new install and your data is still gone.

I'll ask for some more help.

Thanks for helping redirect my anxiety into trying to fix this. I appreciate the help you offered.

 

[Britton30]

You're welcome. Greg's troubleshooting steps can find many issues and help, let us know how it goes.

 

[blitz3]

You're welcome. Greg's troubleshooting steps can find many issues and help, let us know how it goes.

Well per step 3 of Greg's link I created a disc and usb version of the Windows Defender Offline. When I attempt to get them to boot on my laptop, I am first greeted with a black screen with 4 aqua/blue squares (in a windows pattern) that stays for a while and then a circular status indicator that makes a revolution or two before the screen goes black (unlit) and then black (lit) with no pointer or anything. At no point did I see either of the screens that were supposed to show up per Greg's post (although to be fair it is 2 years old so I wouldn't be surprised if it's changed). Any ideas?

 

[blitz3]

Everything is here that can be done for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start
including the hardware tests which I would do, leading up to if necessary rescuiing your files to restore your Toshiba laptop to its factory fresh software condition using system recovery Factory Recovery or getting the superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

In the future in Power Options keep Hibernate set to kick in after a sleep period so that if it loses battery power it will write RAM to the HD and shut down (suspend) in an orderly fashion rather than just cutting power to the RAM>

And as always never run the corrupt OEM factory preinstall which throttles and interferes with Win7 so you never get to experience it's native perfect state. That's why tech enthusiasts all do the Clean Reinstall.

So I followed your troubleshooting link and downloaded Windows Defender Offline. I tried it on a CD and flash drive and both times, I get the initial loading screen of WDO (it's a bit different now than the pics you posted in that guide) but then it flashes to a black screen with nothing at all. Any ideas where I can go from here?

 

[gregrocker]

Use one of the other bootable AV's in the tutorial. FREE Bootable AntiVirus Rescue CDs Download List

 

[blitz3]

Use one of the other bootable AV's in the tutorial. FREE Bootable AntiVirus Rescue CDs Download List

That's what I get for not reading the next line. My apologies.

So bitdefender rescue cd ended up working but it found nothing. I shut down the computer, set the HD to be first in the boot lineup in BIOS and restarted my computer to get this message:

Intel UNDI, PXE-2.1 (build 082)
Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Intel Corporation

This Product is covered by one or more of the following patents: (lists a bunch of them that I'm going to skip unless relevant)

Realtek PCI Express Fast Ethernet Controller SEries v1.15 (090224)
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE0-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM.
No bootable device-insert boot disc and press any key.

Google seems to suggest that those with this problem have a bad hard drive. Thoughts?

 

[gregrocker]

Yes, it sounds like it. If you enter BIOS setup is the HD detected under storage devices?

If not then you can try reinstalling it if you want to see if its a bad connection. Google should provide a video for the model, if not the series, showing how.

Of course if you're still within a year of purchase you should call tech support to have them RMA the drive after confirming the failure.

You can confirm it yourself if it's detected by running the HD tests given in the beginning of the Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start tutorial.

 

[blitz3]

Yes, it sounds like it. If you enter BIOS setup is the HD detected under storage devices?

If not then you can try reinstalling it if you want to see if its a bad connection. Google should provide a video for the model, if not the series, showing how.

Of course if you're still within a year of purchase you should call tech support to have them RMA the drive after confirming the failure.

You can confirm it yourself if it's detected by running the HD tests given in the beginning of the Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start tutorial.

The HD is showing. After a fleeting moment of hope that a strand of hair near the connections of the HD was causing the issue, nothing has changed after reinstalling it. The laptop is a solid 3 years old so that is a no go. I'll go ahead and run the HD test but assuming it is trashed, is there anything I can do to recover those files or is it pretty much done for?

 

[blitz3]

Yes, it sounds like it. If you enter BIOS setup is the HD detected under storage devices?

If not then you can try reinstalling it if you want to see if its a bad connection. Google should provide a video for the model, if not the series, showing how.

Of course if you're still within a year of purchase you should call tech support to have them RMA the drive after confirming the failure.

You can confirm it yourself if it's detected by running the HD tests given in the beginning of the Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start tutorial.

Apparently the test for the HD (Hitachi) doesn't support the intel chipset so I can't get it to work properly. It asks for the SN of the drive and has a spot for me to enter up to 10 numbers but the SN of my drive is 21 numbers so that is a no go.

 

[DavidE]

Everything is here that can be done for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start
including the hardware tests which I would do, leading up to if necessary rescuiing your files to restore your Toshiba laptop to its factory fresh software condition using system recovery Factory Recovery or getting the superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

In the future in Power Options keep Hibernate set to kick in after a sleep period so that if it loses battery power it will write RAM to the HD and shut down (suspend) in an orderly fashion rather than just cutting power to the RAM>

And as always never run the corrupt OEM factory preinstall which throttles and interferes with Win7 so you never get to experience it's native perfect state. That's why tech enthusiasts all do the Clean Reinstall.

It is best to use Hybrid sleep to insure a power loss during sleep does not lose the current Windows session.
With Hybrid sleep the session is saved to RAM and to the Hard Drive (hiberfil.sys file) whenever the computer goes to sleep.

i.e.
If a PC is set to sleep after 30 minutes and set to Hibernate after 60 minutes:
If it does NOT use Hybrid sleep, the session will be lost if the computer is sleeping and the power goes out.
If the power goes out it will not be able to save the session to the Hard Drive (Hibernate) - it's too late.