Windows fails to start

DPtheGod

DPtheGod

New Member
Hey,

My girlfriend and I were playing a game together, and all of a sudden my laptop she was using was hit with a blue screen of death. When it restarted, it failed to start and came up with the menu that says Windows failed to start, which may be because of a recent hardware or software change.

It recommends to start Windows repair, but when I do, it just sits at a black screen. Now, the mouse is visible on the screen. But, it doesn't do anything. I'm not sure if it's loading and taking forever or what, but I am really antsy about this. :(

Anyone have any ideas on what could have caused it, or more importantly, how to fix it? Thanks in advance!
 
Let it cool off.

Do you regularly blow out underneath with a can of compressed air? You have to in order to keep your fans running freely. I would even take
a panel or two off and try to blow out the heatsinks.

This is just one possibility.
 
I let it sit for about 30 min and tried again, and it's giving the same errors. I tried to start in safe mode, and it gave nothing. It just flashed a blue screen and restarted. I couldn't get to the log on screen. I tried to insert my OS disc, then boot from disc, and it wont do anything at all. I am thinking (and hoping its not true) that the hard-drive may have failed.

I don't use any aircans, but I blow through it every now and then. I know it's no where near enough, but I didn't expect anything so harmful to come from it.
 
try booting with a linux live cd. that might check to see if your hdd is failed. if you still cant boot, you might have fried something else.
 
I've got the Live disc downloading, and it definitely looks like it will take a while.

If I can get it to load, and I can see my files, should I back them up and reformat? Or should I try to wait out the neverending loading of the startup repair?
 
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DPtheGod said:
...If I can get it to load, and I can see my files, should I back them up and reformat? Or should I try to wait out the neverending loading of the startup repair?
Click to expand...

Try the install repair first. If you don't have luck with that, then copy the data off and re-install.
 
I've never used a Linux Live CD before, so I'm about to ask a dumb question lol.

Does the Linux Live CD act as a GUI that lets you access your files on the computer, and also have some features that let you try to repair the computer (such as the install repair you brought up)?
 
DPtheGod said:
Does the Linux Live CD act as a GUI that lets you access your files on the computer, and also have some features that let you try to repair the computer (such as the install repair you brought up)?
Click to expand...

Yes, a Live CD is usually a full OS that you can boot into off of a CD. You can use these for many different reasons, such as file recovery and virus removal. You can use a Linux Live CD to do some repair to your Windows partition, but to repair the actual Windows OS install, you will need the Windows Installation disc.
 
Ahh, I see. Thanks for the info!

I was able to get into Ubuntu, and I've messed around with it a bit. I was able to hop online, and all that jazz. But, when I try to open my hard drives, it says "Unable to mount the image." When I click details, it says that the drive is already in use? I don't know how :( I'm trying to see if I can install NTFS-3g, which is something I found online. But, nothing has worked yet.

Any ideas on what could cause that? or what I can do to bypass it? Thanks in advance!
 
DPtheGod said:
If I can get it to load, and I can see my files, should I back them up and reformat? Or should I try to wait out the neverending loading of the startup repair?
Click to expand...

I don't think you'll be able to see your files, unless the new versions of
Ubuntu recognize the NTFS format.
 
That's just it, I don't know if there is one.

Which version did you download? 8.10? That's the version I have.

Lemme boot it real quick and see if I can see my stuff. Brb
 
Ok, I'm posting from Ubuntu Live Disc.

I can browse to all my partitions, and see all my Folders,
but I can't see my Pictures, Music, Videos, JPEGS.

I can, however, see .txt files, .png's, .exe's and .bin's.

I don't know if copying the whole folder will take the files
with them, but I'm thinking not, since it doesn't recognize them.

Do you have a Windows install disc? Looks like you can't use
Ubuntu to back up your files.
 
:'( I have the OS disc that came with the laptop.

Did you ever make any changes to ubuntu or anything to allow it to see your NTFS partitions? I found this article with instructions for enabling the mount, but it's given errors left and right when I try to do it.

I will try to boot from CD-ROM with the OS disc in. Should I reinstall the OS or try to repair?

Edit - When I plug the OS disc in, and boot from CD, it comes up with the message saying Windows failed to start, and asks me to load the Startup Repair, or to boot Windows normally. Does that mean the hard drive is toast? :(

Edit 2: ....... NOW all of a sudden it's booting from the CD. I guess I wasn't pressing it fast enough. heh

Edit 3: Alright, so after the screen that said "Windows is loading files," it moved to the standard Windows loading screen. Now it's sitting on a blank, black screen. :( I can see and move my mouse cursor, though. Any ideas? Or, is it supposed to take a few years to load up?
 
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It should take you to the Install screen where you will have the option to repair
the install.

This is different from the Black screen that asks you if you want to Boot normally.

I can see the NTFS partitions, and I can see Folders on said partitions,
but I cannot see the file types I stated. Weird how I can see .txt and
.pdf

Sorry I wasn't more help to you.
 
You were a great help :) I appreciate your effort!

The computer finally moved to a Vista-looking background, but I have yet to see anything on screen. Should I just reboot and retry?
 
Just so you guys are aware, Ubuntu 8.10 does have support for NTFS built in and enabled by default. If you have the Live disk of that version, you should see the Laptop's hard drive listed under attached drives without doing anything special. If you don't, you may have bigger issues with your drive.

I recommend running the repair install once more. If you are still having trouble booting into Vista normally after that, try booting into Safe Mode.
 
Zatharus said:
Just so you guys are aware, Ubuntu 8.10 does have support for NTFS built in and enabled by default. If you have the Live disk of that version, you should see the Laptop's hard drive listed under attached drives without doing anything special. If you don't, you may have bigger issues with your drive.
Click to expand...
Did you read my above posts?
 
Bodaggit23 said:
Did you read my above posts?
Click to expand...

Yes I did. You witnessed this functionality first hand. I wanted to clarify that it was in fact a default setting and ability of the current Ubuntu version, and that if the OP was not seeing his drive at all, there may have been more serious issues to contend with. Just affirming your observations.
 
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