Rippy Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Dropped my laptop and it froze. Ran the repair system option at startup. After it completed it restarted but would only load up the first dell page and then after remains a blank screen with the flickering dash. I can't search on my phone tbh, and no one I've asked seems to know what to do. Can anyone help please? Never been sp desperate. What's the next step? Where can I get it repaired? My warranty no longer covers my laptop because I took my laptop apart few months back to change the casing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swiftie Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Well if all you want is just files, then take the hard drive out and connect to another PC. Also what repair are you talking about? A full factory default or the Windows Start UP repair that you normally get in Windows 7? A laptop being dropped could break a number of things, could be the motherboard (component being broken, hard drive (if the needle is forced to move in a direction that it wasn't naturally suppose to be at then its pretty much "BYE BYE DATA", also perhaps the shock from the drops has shifted memory dimms out of place. If you're looking for a place to take it and get it repaired then there's many lil market places out there nowadays with some kind of "Laptop/Computer" repair shop or whatever you call it. Failing that PC World, friend of a friend who may know someone. Failing all that, I can assist, just let me know where I need to be or post it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dubby Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 most likely the hard drive is gone if its not loading up after the dell screen go into bios/setup (hold del or f8 or f12 or something at startup, it should tell you what key) and see if it can reckognize the hard drive edit: actually saying that, if it was able to run recovery it probably can access the hard drive 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rippy Posted July 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Yeah I can access bios/setup. Does that alone mean it recognises the harddrive? I've removed the harddrive from it, Now I need this IDE hd adapter?? I'll have to buy one then?? Im lucky enough to have backed up my stuff in may but I gave my harddrive to a friend so I deleted some of it off it. My music is safe though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medic Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 This just reminds me to back all my sh*t up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rippy Posted July 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 I'm sorry if this is a dumb question but if run the bios setup does that mean I'll be wiping my harddrive? I don't mind if I lose my data I guess. I just want my laptop to function again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dubby Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 BIOS doesn't wipe anything in BIOS there should be a place that lists connected drives (CD/Hard drives/etc) if it shows the hard drive model (e.g. "Samsung H989 HDD") that means your hard drive is being recognized if its recognized then go into recovery again and see if there's some sort of 'check disk' option, or if there's a 'command prompt'/DOS option select that and when the windows comes up type "chkdsk /r /f" or "chkdsk c: /r /f" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rippy Posted July 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Ah I actually meant if I run the diagnostics will I wipe my data. When I go to bios the following comes up System -system info -processor info -memory info Etc etc It only says under device info: primary hard drive 250gb hdd And I don't see any check disk option. I've inserted the windows vista cd but it won't even boot that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Coquelin Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 install ubuntu onto a flash drive and boot from it. if you can still access your hdd files from ubuntu just backup your files, and reinstall your os. if you've got enough space on the hdd your old files won't be deleted, they'll just be stored in the C:\Windows.old folder 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rippy Posted July 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Ok ive made progress. I will try the ubuntu app if this doesn't work. Ive managed to boot from the windows vista cd (I read to do this somewhere but the instructions following don't correspond to what appears on my screen). It loads up the installation page for windows vista and gives the option of repair system. So clicked that and then a system recovery window opens and says 'insert the installation media for the device and click ok to select the driver' No idea what I'm to select or wether this is of any benefit. Edit: im getting somewhere. Ill post back tomorrow if I need further help. Gonna go to servicing on Monday. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Coquelin Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 the ubunu method is recommended if you haven't got enough space on the drive to install the os and therefore have to format the whole drive before installing. if you do have enough space (which i assume you do) you can skip that. just reinstall and your old files will be in the C:\Windows.old folder (assuming you're using windows) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mp* Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Use this oppertunity to get rid of Vista. Your laptop will thank you. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dubby Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 for real, Windows 7 you life brah! but yeah, I dunno what to do at your current point, I would if I had it in front of me I would, but if you have no issue with having to reinstall windows and all your programs then you can just install it again at the installation screen (instead of recovering), my way will likely be quicker but if you can't figure out a way to get there then I dunno the screen you're looking for is this, then you click the command prompt and put in the phrase "chkdsk c: /r /f" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rippy Posted July 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 Yeah dubby I did that disk check last night After completion is everything meant to be alright? Because it still doesn't work. Is there anything else on that screenshot I can try? I'll go buy an adapter today and see if my harddrive is ok first. Gonna download ubuntu in a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Coquelin Posted July 31, 2011 Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 did you try to reinstall or repair? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. Edgar Posted July 31, 2011 Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 When Laptop takes a drop, and it stops working, the possible cause might be hardware related. Have you made sure the hard drive is connected properly in its bay? Loading up BIOS doesn't mean the hard drive is fine as it boots up from a ROM chip on the motherboard. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rippy Posted July 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 I put ubuntu onto a USB stick, tried booting from it but says 'invalid or damaged bootable partition'. Googled it, with some answers saying harddrive issue that has probably gone. Last time I checked I had about 1GB free on my hard drive. Ive done the startup repair twice but still no luck. And yeah checked the harddrive is connected fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rippy Posted July 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 Think I just got bumped. Is an IDE adapter what I need to connect my hard drive to a pc in order to transfer data? The guy said no and gave me something double the price; an hdd enclosure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rippy Posted July 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 Recovered all my files. So relieved. Will take it to a repair store tomorrow to see what's wrong with the laptop itself. Thanks for the help guysl! Can't stress how grateful I am. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Coquelin Posted July 31, 2011 Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 1gb is not enough format ur flash drive to fat32 and reinstall ubuntu delete some files to make room a new os / download windows 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dubby Posted July 31, 2011 Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 did you do chkdsk with both the /r and /f flags? if that didn't help then I dunno what other than a reinstall or possibly a new hard drive would do for you 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skola Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 44 will leave ur laptop BROKENNNNNN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rippy Posted August 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 Lol what? ITS FIXED!!! repair stores were useless. All I had to do was reinstall windows vista. And dubby I hadn't done chkdsk f, but did so before installation. Few files are still corrupted though. Is that why you suggested ubuntu Francis? I've got the windows.old folder but I can't access programs. Should I delete those and reinstall them? Is it fine to move files from that folder to the new one? My Internet can't detect a network either. Don't know what drivers to download. Tried one I thought was correct but it doesn't work. Can't seem to find appropriate solutions on google. Anyone know? I've tried inserting the drivers CD that came with the laptop but I don't what I'm doing tbh. Under Device Manager>Network Adapters, I only have Bluetooth Devices. edit ok connected to internet through ethernet cable. trying to configure new drivers now. hope this works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Coquelin Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 windows 7 would have automatically downloaded and installed your driver. go to windows updates and see if your drivers are available for download. i think your problem with programs is to do with the registry. don't know how to fix that, so you may want reinstall the ones that don't work if you can't find a solution on google. download windows 7 asap 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rippy Posted August 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 yess it's all good everything is working!! thanks all again! Just a few final questions Franc, what can I do about this windows.old folder? How much space do I need to download windows 7? I have now, 10GB free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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