Computer won't boot

Vega$$aint · 03-15-2012, 10:20 PM

When I turn on my toshiba laptop, the toshiba title screen comes on, then it goes black with the cursor in the top left corner. Then the cursor disappears and it doesn't do anything else. Anybody know why this is doing this and how to fix it?

Thanks

Vega$$aint · 03-15-2012, 10:31 PM

I think it has something to do with my hard drive.

Cosmic201 · 03-15-2012, 11:25 PM

Your hard drive is dead. Get a new one.
Not much of a chance to recover the files I'm afraid. Hope you backed up regularly.

Vega$$aint · 03-15-2012, 11:39 PM

if i buy any hard drive that fits, it will be loaded up with windows 7 and be ready to go after i install it?

nealkm · 03-15-2012, 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vega$$aint

if i buy any hard drive that fits, it will be loaded up with windows 7 and be ready to go after i install it?

Youll have to install the hd and then install windows onto the hd. Depending on how much space you need you might want to consider a ssd.

Vega$$aint · 03-16-2012, 12:08 AM

i really am pretty dumb with this. I am looking on new egg for a replacement hard drive and I know how to install it into my laptop. do I need a window's disc or will i be prompted when i restart the computer? I don't think a window's disc came with my laptop.

Thanks for the help guys.

nealkm · 03-16-2012, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vega$$aint

i really am pretty dumb with this. I am looking on new egg for a replacement hard drive and I know how to install it into my laptop. do I need a window's disc or will i be prompted when i restart the computer? I don't think a window's disc came with my laptop.

Thanks for the help guys.

You will just need to put the disc into your cd drive at boot up and it will boot from disc. If it doesnt you might have to enter your bios and change the boot priority but i really doubt youll have to so this.

Make sure you get a 2.5" form factor drive since youre on a laptop. As suggested before you could consider a solid state drive as they are much faster, but they are still pricey per gb. Most people will just use them to load the OS on and then keep music and movies on another mechanical hard drive. Mechanical hard drives are still priced high because of flooding in Thailand.

You should have a winows oem disc that came with your laptop. If you dont you might have to buy Windows or try an alternative OS. If you are up for a risk you could download winows 8 consumer preview and run it for a while until windows 8 comes out in the fall, but i probably wouldnt advise this as support might be limited for a preview release.

buzd · 03-16-2012, 07:57 AM

Another option would be to call you laptop manufacturer and purchase a recovery CD/DVD (probably $20-30).

Also, if you had anything super-important on that hard drive, there are some things you can do to try to recover them, but you will have to jump through some hoops (as well as have access to another computer, or your laptop once it's rebuilt).

zeetes · 03-16-2012, 09:13 AM

most likely it's the hard drive that's dead, but i've seen it happen (blinking cursor) on older operating systems too (windows xp) with a bad boot file (bootmgr etc, though usually this will produce an error). either way, the corrupted files are usually due to a failing hard drive or hd control board, so it's probably not worth troubleshooting in the long run.

Quote:

Originally Posted by buzd

Another option would be to call you laptop manufacturer and purchase a recovery CD/DVD (probably $20-30).

Also, if you had anything super-important on that hard drive, there are some things you can do to try to recover them, but you will have to jump through some hoops (as well as have access to another computer, or your laptop once it's rebuilt).

yep.

Vega$$aint · 03-16-2012, 09:21 AM

Thanks guys for the info, I didn't have anything important on my hard drive except for my music, but everything I had is on my ipod and I can just upload it from that. Everything else I have on my external hard drive.

eric

bernnjulie · 03-16-2012, 09:08 PM

when you boot the laptop, can you get to the bios? Press ESC or DEL or F2 to get to the bios--which key you press depends on the model, try 'em all if you're not sure. You should be able to see if the bios detects your hard drive. Also, i've seen PC's do this sometimes if you have an external USB drive plugged in when you boot.

Saint77 · 03-18-2012, 11:34 AM

You can test that drive by downloading the Ultimate Boot CD. Boot to it, and navigate to the hard disk test section, find your drive make, and run the test.

If you have to buy a drive, and you can afford spending some extra cash, now is a good time to upgrade it. A lot of laptops come with 5400 RPM drives to keep the heat down, get a 7200 RPM drive if you can and get one with the largest Cache size you can get.

Most makers offer a link to buy recovery media on that models download page on thier site. its much cheaper usually then buying a full new copy of windows. but that's your choice.

Vega$$aint · 03-18-2012, 11:55 AM

thanks the one i have is 7200 and 500 Gig, I ordered the same size and speed from new egg for 90 bucks.

Vega$$aint · 03-18-2012, 08:29 PM

Ok it looks like my computer didn't come with a disc for windows. Do I have to go buy windows 7 our is there another way of getting a recovery disc and register key.

Vega$$aint · 03-18-2012, 08:55 PM

Based on another post I called toshiba and they have free recovery disc but you pay 29.95 for s&h.