problems starting laptop

**riddellcomp** · April 2nd, 2006, 05:47 AM

Ive been looking at a mates laptop who seems to have all sorts of problems with it. It wouldnt boot up and instaed flashed a bsod to quick to even read and would go into an infinite boot loop.

I removed the drive, backed up his data from it and reformatted it. I re installed Xp and his av, spyware apps etc, MS office and new drivers. Then all of a sudden I rebooted and it just stays at the Xp splash screen. If I try to boot in safe mode it stops at a blacks creen with safe mode in the bottom corners but no cions etc and the mouse cursor moves but thats it.

Not sure what to do from here and would appreciate some suggestions.

he has always had problems with this laptopo and Im starting to think its faulty hardware.

Thanks in advance.

**street1** · April 2nd, 2006, 06:58 AM

Have you went to the hard
drive Manufacturers
web site and downloaded
software to test the hard drive?

**riddellcomp** · April 2nd, 2006, 07:57 AM

Okay will give that a try thanks.

**Ferrit** · April 2nd, 2006, 09:35 AM

I would also test the memory

**Mayet** · April 2nd, 2006, 12:30 PM

fdisk /mbr may help if you didnt already do that

**riddellcomp** · April 4th, 2006, 06:38 AM

Mayet,

I have used fdisk /mbr to fix this laptop once before. he has had problems with it every now and again where it just wont boot. This time around I told him we should wipe the hdd and start again. I was going well until now. I put the xp cdrom in so I could boot to it and run fdisk /mbr but it also stops at the "Setup is starting windows." I did a hdd fitness test and it said corrupt sectors were found but it fixed them.

Any other suggestions?

**xpuser357** · April 4th, 2006, 07:01 AM

Originally Posted by riddellcomp

Mayet,

I have used fdisk /mbr to fix this laptop once before. he has had problems with it every now and again where it just wont boot. This time around I told him we should wipe the hdd and start again. I was going well until now. I put the xp cdrom in so I could boot to it and run fdisk /mbr but it also stops at the "Setup is starting windows." I did a hdd fitness test and it said corrupt sectors were found but it fixed them.

Any other suggestions?

You may want to obtain a new drive.

**Damned Angel** · April 4th, 2006, 07:26 AM

Originally Posted by xpuser357

You may want to obtain a new drive.

I second that. Not much you are going to be able to do with a defective drive. Maybe make it into a nice clock or take the magnet out of it.

http://www.gtojon.com/harddriveclocks/

**riddellcomp** · April 4th, 2006, 08:03 AM

So why do we think the drive is stuffed? Is it because it found corrupt sectors? The drive utility gave me an option to fix them so I thought it had. Or is corrupt sectors a physical thing?

**Damned Angel** · April 4th, 2006, 10:28 AM

corrupt sector is damaged portions of the hard disk. When the utility "fixes" them, all it does is mark them as not being there. It does nothing to actually fix the drive. The problem will just get worse over time. Better to replace the drive now rather than later when it becomes another headache.

**3fingersalute** · April 4th, 2006, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by Damned Angel

I second that. Not much you are going to be able to do with a defective drive. Maybe make it into a nice clock or take the magnet out of it.

http://www.gtojon.com/harddriveclocks/

Nice link DA - I've never seen them before, looks like I have a new project to undertake!