Computer help please??
 

I'm having trouble with my laptop (Toshiba Satellite w/Win2000). It freezes up during any type of boot. I'm not sure if it is the hard drive or the sytem that is causing the problem. I have no idea where the recovery disks that came with it are. I have loads of photos that I have never archived on CD that I really don't want to lose :mad:

Is there a way to get it running with Windows (the easy, graphical version, not that command prompt crap) so that I can try to rescue my photos? An external HD or CD made up as a "Start Up Disk"???

Any other ideas?

Well, the problem is you have a Toshiba lappy. I've never had worse luck with any other laptop than with those friggin' Toshis. :rolleyes:

Anywho, it sounds like what your looking for Safe Mode. Just start punching F8 as soon the Toshiba screen disappears, and it'll let you pic safe mode. This may or may not work depending on how screwed your system is.

Honestly, you best bet would be to take it somewhere that has an external drive adapter, and can pull your files off. I've only ever had 1 hard drive become corrupt to the point that I couldn't do that. Plus, every time you try to fire up your laptop like this, you run the risk of further damaging your drive.

I guess I've been lucky... other than Viruses and Batteries, this is my first issue in about 3-4 years...

I can get the screen to select "safe mode" but then it will still freeze up before it finishes starting up.

I'd say your drive is done for, at least to the point of anything you could do with it. I would take it to a tech shop, the can pull the drive and probably recover all of your files.

From there, I'd call Toshi and get another set of restore disks, low-level format the drive, and reinstall the system.

If the problem does NOT lie with the hard disk itself, then you might be able to boot up and access your HD with a boot-up floppy from just about any operating system. Do you have any older start-up boot disks? WIN98? WINME? Errr... you might have to set your BIOS to boot from floppy first if corrupted files on the HD are your problem.

Hmm...just thought of something. The Toshiba Satellites have a known problem with wireless connections. Gues what, it freezes when wireless is on.

Bottom line, need more info before I can really help much. Too many possibilities.

If I come up with a floppy to boot with, what are the chances that I would have access to an external USB drive that I could move my files to??

This LT has the wireless capablity but not the hardware.

Depending on the operating system, you'd probably have to load drivers to access any/all peripherals. Frankly, if you really don't want to deal with a basic prompt style command interface, then I suggest you just take it in to a shop. I just realised now that you were asking about staying in a GUI environment. Usually a boot from floppy just gives you a c:> prompt to work with. Sorry... my mistake.

very slim. if you're booting from a floppy, and using dos like Bipa recommended, it won't support USB devices.

you're best bet, IMO, is to go to the nearest bestbuy's, compusa, whatever and buy an ide to micro-ide adapter for $5. then take the harddrive out of the laptop and attach it to a desktop with a working OS to copy the data over.

where does the laptop freeze up? does it get past the memory check or does it freeze up when windows is trying to load? either way, the easiest way to get the pics off is to do what i told you. after you pull it out and copy the data over, you can run disk management tools to see if the drive has bad sectors. if it does, then get yourself a new lappy or a new harddisk. they are cheap nowadays.

you can definitely use the same size drives. all you would need is windows to load back onto the drive. the drivers can be downloaded off toshiba's website, burned to a cd, and then used to complete the install.

good luck.

This is my reccomendation also.

Thanks all for the advice. I went to Staples tonight to look for that adapter and the didn't have any (big surprise :rolleyes: )

There's a specialty electronics store (like RatShack but with more pocket protectors) near my office, I'll pick one up tomorrow. Taking things apart and connecting wires, I'm comfortable with. :)
Typing that DOS crap annoys me more than a 2 pound mosquito.

I'll update as I learn more.

Thanks all for your advice. And Harry, here I thought all you did on this board was argue and slander :p

Hope you got your files.

I keep an IDE<->micro IDE adapter handy as well I bought an external USB hard drive case (drive not included). The empty case would be around $20-$30 but it's much more handy as you don't have to turn off the computer to plug it in.

Can this be done in reverse? Im actually running into a similar problem with my desktop where it starts the boot-up sequence and then just keeps booting up over and over, but won't actually start up and I want to make sure I have all the pics n stuff I want that are on it burned to disks....The I figure I'll wipe the drive and reinstall the OS (maybe play around with some version of Linux, who knows......)

Have you tried a complete reboot? Meaning you disconnect both the a/c power source and remove the internal battery pack. Often times with a Windows operating system this is all you will have to do to get the computer up and running again.

i know, i know. i shouldn't give advice. it could tarnish my hard earned reputation of being a massive hemorrhaging dick. :p

EW's right, if you don't mind dropping some coins, an external USB or firewire harddrive caddy/case is great to have around. i have quite a few of those and i love them. :)

i'm not sure i follow what you're asking rotorflyr.

since it's your desktop, you don't actually need an ide to micro-ide adapter. you can plug that bad boy right up to any other ide connector on another desktop (unless it's a sata drive and the other box/pc doesn't have sata connectivity). you may want to make sure that you have the jumper set to the proper position (master/slave) so that the motherboard bios will be able to detect the device.

i'd recommend EW's approach...buy a USB external harddisk box/case/caddy to transfer your info over....unless you have like 80gbs...USB's great and all, but when you have alot of data to move, it'll take some time.

of course another option is to move it via network by using a knoppix boot up disk, mounting the harddrive, setting up the network & client to access whatever operating system you want to connect to, and copy the data over the network.....or making knoppix burn dvd/cd's of the data you want out of it.....

there's many ways of doing the same thing. ;)

when you say it keeps running the booting sequence, what exactly is it doing? while loading windows? or before windows is loading?