help...win 7 corrupt!

[ranchmom5]

I use my personal T60 for work and last night I closed the lid with it still on and took it home. Thought I would open it up again in less than 30 minutes, but things happened that prevented me from doing so. I forgot it was still on and this morning when I went to boot up, it will not. I have run system repair multiple times with no luck, done a system restore which said it was successful but still no boot up, tried booting in safe mode. It starts to boot up then a blue screen flashes quickly and then it goes to a black screen that gives me options for system repair or start normally. Choosing either just cycles me back to through the same.

I have never had this happen before. Any ideas of how to repair?

Sharie

[theterminator93]

Couple things I can think of trying.

Try going into BIOS setup and changing the hard disk controller mode. If it's AHCI, change it to IDE (Legacy). If it's IDE (Legacy), change it to AHCI.

What kind of resources and tools do you have access to? A Windows 7 install DVD has a few tools that can be accessed if you boot from it and go into the repair/recovery tools which may help as well. E.G. chkdsk and MBR repair.

[brchan]

I recommend backing up your files before touching windows again. Boot off of a linux live usb (or DVD) http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/ ... on-windows. If your boot media is small, I suggest slitaz, which is only 35mb in size. You would need a spare computer to do this and after booting into the system, you should be able to move any files that you have on the corrupted drive, onto the usb stick.

[ranchmom5]

Can you provide a little more detail on steps to take. I have done the first step and got it to boot of usb, but don't understand "if boot media is small, I suggest slitaz..."

[ranchmom5]

I tried again, ubuntu loaded without installing and found my all my files on the HDD. I love learning new things!

I started to install Ubuntu and chose "install alongside windows" but then it took me to a partition screen that said changing partitions would take a long time and could not be reversed. I wouldn't mind having this installed...is it okay to proceed?

Also, any help on what to do next to repair Windows? I am guessing that once my files are saved I will need to do a reinstall??

Thanks
Sharie

[brchan]

What I meant, was that if your usb stick is too small to fit Ubuntu, you can burn Slitaz, a much smaller linux distro, onto the usb drive. After burning the linux distro to the usb stick (or DVD/CD) boot off of it by restarting the computer, immediately hitting the F12 button multiple times, then selecting your usb stick to boot. From there, you can select the 'live' mode and you will be running linux from the usb stick. Next, you can open the file manager and you should be able to see your corrupt Windows installation and all of its files. Move any important files to the usb stick.

[brchan]

It should give you a choice of installing ubuntu alongside windows. That would keep all files intact, vs reformatting and destroying all the data on the drive. Anyways, if you already moved any files you needed to another drive, then installing over windows is fine, and you can just copy over your old files once the installation is done.

[ranchmom5]

Thank you for the help!! I greatly appreciate it!! It's been awhile since I had to do anything like this - last time I think it was a new fan install - this forum has always been wonderful about getting me through these crises!!

I had a 4G stick so that worked fine. Then realized I had a external hdd enclosure and a choice of several spare hdd so basically was able to copy the entire hdd.

Thanks again!!
Sharie

[ranchmom5]

So I installed Ubuntu so up and running. Still haven't had time to reinstall Win7, but had something I wanted to run by you all...every time I start up the computer it sends me into BIOS to set the date. It is reverted back to 1/1/1970. Does this indicate a particular problem and is there a way to resolve it?

Thanks
Sharie

[RealBlackStuff]

Yes, your CMOS battery is dead (yellow round battery under the palmrest/keyboard).
Replacement is cheap and easy.

[ranchmom5]

Could this have caused the crash?

Best place to purchase?

Thanks
Sharie

[RealBlackStuff]

It can certainly interfere sometimes with booting, but not necessarily causing crashing.
Get it changed, then try again after you have set date/time.
Here you go: http://www.ebay.com/itm/140683079906