laptop won't boot anymore

[El_Nombre]

I'm out of ideas on this one.

 

Given a Vista Dell laptop to fix, which bluescreens every time you start normal mode or safe mode. Repair option just restarts it. Bluescreen stop error is 0x0000c1f5.

 

I boot from a Linux recovery CD, ntfs-3g /dev/sda3 /mnt/windows -o force (sda3 is the C: drive judging from ls /mnt/windows.) Went to cd /mnt/windows/\$Extend and then cd \$RmMetadata with ls to display the contents and then deleted the $TxfLog file from C: which is causing the problem. Closed that and restarted. For this process, as I'm new to Linux command line stuff, I was following the instructions here. Rebooted into the Vista DVD and repair, restart, and instead of loading perfectly it scrolls a bit, then tosses up a BLACK screen of death with:

 

!!0x0000034!! 248/91553 (_0000000000000000.cdf-ms)

 

Clutching at straws, ran a chkdsk /r which didn't fix anything, from the DVD.

 

Any ideas anyone? Smelly laptop, smelly Vista.

[plexer]

Have you run any other diagnostics such as memtest?

 

Ben

[Michael]

This article describes the problem. Realistically, extracting the hard drive, backing up data and formatting the drive appears to be the only workable fix!

[HodgeHi]

I had a similar issue where i was handed a Vista laptop that kept blue-screening on start-up. My solution was to check to see if it had Xp drivers available and then install XP. Solved all problems. User hated Vista, speed increased. An all-round winner

[El_Nombre]

Have you run any other diagnostics such as memtest?

 

Ben

 

Oh yes, sorry I did that almost first off. I ran one memory test from a Ubuntu CD and one from a Hiren's Boot CD. Came up ok on both.

 

This article describes the problem. Realistically, extracting the hard drive, backing up data and formatting the drive appears to be the only workable fix!

 

Toilet. Thanks for the pointer there though!

 

I'm off for a quick cry.

[ICT_GUY]

I had a similar prob last week, turned out the HD had come a little loose so the connection to the mobo was not at 100% it would still boot sort of, then have the same probs you described. even when I tried to install linux. I took the HD out, cleaned the connectors, reseated it and it worked first time.

 

Also check your memory.

[AngryTechnician]

Have you tried System Restore? One of the things I love about Vista is the ability to invoke System Restore from the installation DVD when dealing with machines that don't even boot into Safe Mode. I've rescued quite a few machines with this method.

[El_Nombre]

Have you tried System Restore? One of the things I love about Vista is the ability to invoke System Restore from the installation DVD when dealing with machines that don't even boot into Safe Mode. I've rescued quite a few machines with this method.

 

Yeah I gave that a stab. No joy sadly.

 

I backed up all the files as soon as I got the thing, so they're all safe incase I do have to reinstall. I mean when I have to reinstall.

[guinness_1864]

Hey guys ive had a similar issue

 

i have a Dell Inspiron 1721 about a year old now.

 

i left it on doing some scans for a hour or so and came back to a blue screen, not good but not uncommon or anything but it said

 

IQNL_IS_LESS_OR_NOT_EQUAL

 

ive never seen this befor but it has being described as a hardware problem so i rebooted the system and it then rebooted into startup repair, it did its thing and i sent the error report, and went for a restart. it looked to boot fine and then went to the vista loading screen and then back into startup, i went through again and then realised that all the system restore points have gone.

 

we have tried diferent OS systems that boot from a CD to locate the Harddrive and get some realy important files off the HD, we have tried vista,linux,xp and mac os and we cannot find either of the Hardrives to mount or search

 

in the end i could only get some realy small files off using the system registry in the startup repair

 

we have come to the conclusion that all the boot files have being lost therfor is going into statup repair.

i have two 160gb hd drives that are RAID'ed so i cannot get into them too put them into another computer, oh and their both sata drives.

 

if anyone can help it would be much apreciated.

[kmount]

Forgetting the start up repair, have you tried a repair installation or an installation into a different directory?

 

Which RAID are you using? (I'm guessing RAID0 for striping but you have no back up?) or are you using RAID1 with it mirrored in which case, removing one disk and reading it should be fine.

[synaesthesia]

Got exactly the same issue on a Vista Toshiba laptop, and oddly enough took exactly the same steps having to use Ubuntu to boot, force a mount and recover the files. It would start windows briefly enough to run malwarebytes - to find Conficker coupled with zlob trojans infecting it, so I wasn't going to be putting it near the network any time soon. Either way I've got the files backed up the client needed so just doing a recovery installation from the recovery DVD on Monday.