Solved Laptop turned off during SP update now blinking cursor on boot.

[ryant601]

Hi guys,

I have a Thinkpad r61i running windows 7 64-bit, and all was merry until it decided to run some updates while it was running on battery. Short story, the battery died during the installation and now when I boot it just goes to the black screen with the blinking cursor.

I removed all peripherals, tried to boot from DVD all with no such luck. I really don't care about the files on the dive at this point and am more than happy to reformat and start anew. If the hdd is bad I have a known good one from an old Mac mini.

Barring any suggestions that I haven't tried, how can I go about installing a new copy of windows successfully on either of the drives. I have a Mac mini, the laptop in question and an older dell dimension ( i think dimension 2350desktop running XP.

I'm thinking if somehow I can connect one of these drives to my dell desktop and format/install windows that way...am I totally off there? If that is a workable solution, how do you connect a laptop hdd to a desktop? When I tried using it as an external, it said I couldn't install windows via USB or FireWire. Is a sata to IDE cable what I need to accomplish this?

Again, unable to boot from disks in the current state.

Thanks in advance for all the help.

 

[VistaKing]

You may plug any laptop Sata hard drive to a desktop . If you have a SATA DVD player just unplug that and plug in the laptop hard drive using the cables off the DVD .

 

[ryant601]

Not entirely sure, but I doubt the optical drives in that machine are sata, thing is ancient.

 

[VistaKing]

Does the laptop turn on at least where you could see the screen ?

 

[Jacee]

Can you boot into the BIOS to see if 'boot from disk' is listed first?

 

[ryant601]

Yea it turns on fine, I can get into bios fine. Checked and changed the boot order. Tried HDD first, tried DVD first. Tried to boot from DVD, no dice. Bios does recognize the hard drive. Also odd that I can't boot into safe mode or anything. I've even tried to put that formatted good hard drive into the laptop to see if it would ask to install OS but no. I'm just confused as to why I can't boot from the DVD, I know the disks are good (can boot from them on the desktop)

 

[VistaKing]

Take a look at these links

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219533-troubleshooting-windows-7-failure-boot.html

Then if you want to do a clean install

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

 

[ryant601]

Alot of those steps seem to require me to be able to boot from disks, right?

 

[gregrocker]

If the HD is not detected in BIOS setup then make sure it's seated firmly, try running maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan (Seatools if necessary) which will boot itself to determine the true HD condition. If not detected in either PC when plugged in alone, then replace it.

If you can't boot a disk the cause is 90% user failure, but if you're sure you tried correctly to Boot A Computer from CD or DVD - YouTube then reset the BIOS to defaults taking note of any SATA controller setting in BIOS setup first. It should be at AHCI for an optimal install but may be set otherwise. Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

Try booting the disk with HD both plugged and unplugged. Bad HD boot code can block DVD boot.

The solution to unbootable failed Updates is try run System Restore or Startup Repairs from System Recovery Options. If you can't access Recovery Options via F8 menu or disk then you can boot self-booting Paragon Rescue Kit Free Edition 11.0 Free CD to rescue any files, then boot self-booting Partition Wizard CD to attempt the repairs using it in Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start or just use it to wipe the HD Partition Wizard Wipe Disk Video Help.

This will in turn force the installer to auto-start to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 . Take note of the preparatory steps as you may need to rescue some Program data using the boot disk suggested above.

 

[ryant601]

Ill try some of these steps when I get home. So you think the method I mentioned in the op I'd useless (install windows on the good hdd) and put it into the laptop.)?

 

[gregrocker]

You may need to do this if you confirm the HD is bad: e.g. won't be detected in BIOS setup even after reseating firmly and checking any cabling, won't be detected by HD Diagnostic when booted in either PC with all other HD's unplugged. An alternative diagnostics is Partition Wizard bootable HD surface test .

If you have another HD it should work in the problem PC so try the steps to reset BIOS and make sure you're correctly booting DVD. Remember you can wipe the HD first to force the installer to auto-start install.

Only as a last resort do I install in another PC since it normally takes adapting the install to boot on different hardware. This can be done with SysPrep to move HD to another computer or Paragon Adaptive REstore CD freeware which I can provide a link for if needed.

 

[ryant601]

tried paragon, burned the dvd but it won't boot. Set bios to only boot from optical and took out the HDD and it just says "unable to boot from any device" "no valid OS"

 

[gregrocker]

Did you reset the BIOS to defaults? Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

Is the HD still not detected anywhere in BIOS setup?

 

[ryant601]

Reset bios to default, yep. The hard drive has always been recognized by the bios. I took the hard drive out and plugged it into an external enclosure to see if the Dell desktop could see it and it did. Ran paragon on that computer and all was well, but I think it only sees IDE and sata drives not USB so I couldn't really do anything. Is there a program similar that can see sub drives and maybe fix the mbr? I almost feel like that's what it could be.

 

[ryant601]

what's also odd, you mentioned that it would force you to install an OS if you have a blank hard drive in there. When I throw the good hard drive that has been formatted in the thinkpad, i get the same result..blinking cursor.

 

[gregrocker]

Try removing the formatting from the blank formatted HDD with Diskpart Clean Command to see how the problem laptop reacts when you try to boot the installer.

See if you can boot a flash stick formatted with the Win7 installer for your version from Steps 1 and 2 in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Reset the BIOS to defaults again, set HDD to boot first, use the HP ESC or F9 key to trigger stick. Try also booting a disk this way.

You should be able to copy out files via explorer from the HD mounted in external enclosure, run the maker's HD Diagnostic Windows full scan, check the file System using Disk Check or Partition Wizard Check File System .

 

[ryant601]

All fixed. Was able to boot from an external dvd drive, so I booted up with a windows 7 disk in there and clean installed.

Thanks for all the help guys, made things easy.