# [SOLVED] Boot / recovery problem



## jmckdufc (Apr 23, 2008)

My laptop will not boot up, when it gets to the Windows XP screen, it just sits there and then nothing.

When I boot up the laptop with a Windows disc and try and use the recovery console or perform a fresh install, I get an error message saying:-
*
Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer.

Make sure any hard disc drives are powered on etc etc*

I have checked the drive, and it has not came lose etc, so it looks like the disc is knackered.

What I would like to know, is there any tool out there that I can use to get the data off the disc? There are files on there that I really need to recover.

Any help would be great, cheers :smile:

Oh yeah, the lapto is an Acer 5220 and I had XP Pro SP2 installed on it.


----------



## vladimirb (Mar 31, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

If you want to make a fresh install of Windows XP on your laptop,you need to provide an installation with correct SATA driver so setup can see your HDD. [I guess it is newer laptop and it has SATA HDD]
You need to have either slipstreamed windows XP or you need to provide SATA driver from floppy disk drive. If you do not have internal Floppy, then I suggest you to get an external Floopy and make Floppy disc with correct SATA driver.
When setup starts, after 'press any key to start boot from CD', when blue screen appears, press F6 couple of times and wait 20-30 seconds. Then you provide setup with SATA driver and installation will continue normally.


----------



## jmckdufc (Apr 23, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

I'm not really wanting to install a fresh copy, I really want to recover the files off the disc, I only mentioned a fresh copy as I tried to do that just to see if the disc would be recognised when I tried that.


----------



## vladimirb (Mar 31, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

Oh ok, anyways maybe your boot partition is corrupted. So to repair boot partition [or to do complete system repair] you must provide your setup with SATA driver so you can do FIXMBR or CHKDSK /r in recovery console.
Do as I told you and go into recovery Console and run FIXMBR first. if this does not help, try CHKDSK /r...
Hope this would help you mate.


----------



## jmckdufc (Apr 23, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

Thanks mate. Thing is, I don't have a floppy drive, and don't really have any access to one without having to buy one. Is there anyway else of doing this? i.e. using a USB stick or a cd/dvd?


----------



## vladimirb (Mar 31, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

off course mate. You can make a slipstreamed CD. That means that you must import SATA drivers together with Windows XP files on CD.
To do that, simply follow instructions here
http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm

With this, you do not need to press F6 and provide SATA driver.


----------



## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

Try starting Windows in the Last Known Good Configuration.

How to: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307852/en-us


----------



## jmckdufc (Apr 23, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*



eneles said:


> Try starting Windows in the Last Known Good Configuration.
> 
> How to: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307852/en-us


Ay I've tried that mate, it doesn't make any difference. It boots to the Wondows XP screen and then just hangs there.


----------



## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

OK - try a repair installation. Please read the "warnings".

*How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install.*


----------



## jmckdufc (Apr 23, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*



eneles said:


> OK - try a repair installation. Please read the "warnings".
> 
> *How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install.*


Cant do that either mate. Like I said in my first post, if I chose 

*To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.*

from the 

*"Welcome To Setup" screen*

Then I get the error message:-

*Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer.

Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that and disk related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or set-up program.

Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3.*


----------



## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

Well, I don't get it:



> My laptop will not boot up, when it gets to the Windows XP screen, it just sits there and then nothing.


If Windows didn't find the HDD it wouldn't get that far - you'd get a boot failure error and you wouldn't be able load "Last known good config".

The Windows CD you've got - is it a recovery disc?
If so, is it possible to perform a non-destructive recovery?

http://www.techsupportforum.com/827492-post1.html

I'll move this thread to laptop support.


----------



## jmckdufc (Apr 23, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*



eneles said:


> Well, I don't get it:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've tried the Acer eRecovery a couple of times, but it just sits on a screen saying "please wait a moment" for ages, nothing else happens.

The Windows cd I have is a Windows XP Pro Corporate Edition. I'm not sure if it is a recovery disc or not, how would I know that?


----------



## jmckdufc (Apr 23, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

I just tried the Acer eRecovery again, it sat in the "please wait a moment screen" for a few minutes, then the screen went blank - the power key is still lit up, but the hard disc light isnt on.


----------



## jmckdufc (Apr 23, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

Just tried the acer eRecovery again and am now getting an error message box:-

"The application or DLL X:\minint\system32\SAMLIB.DLL is not a valid Windows image. PLease check this against your installation diskette."


----------



## Deleted090308 (Jan 25, 2007)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

I'll ask a fellow team member who knows a lot more about laptops to have a look.


----------



## TriggerFinger (Jan 30, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

hi,

please correct me if my understanding of the issue is wrong...

The Problem:
Laptop would not boot up.

Things done to correct the problem:

Reinstall of XP via eRecovery but has error pointing to SAMLIB.DLL
Reinstall of XP via install CD but says it cannot find the hard drive

Please give some details on the XP CD used. Are these ACER recovery CDs?
Also have you tried to check RAM using Memtest86+? By any chance you checked the status/health of the drive using an HDD diagnostic tool?

Please do post back with any information you can provide.


----------



## jmckdufc (Apr 23, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*



TriggerFinger said:


> hi,
> 
> please correct me if my understanding of the issue is wrong...
> 
> ...


The laptop boots to the screen where the Windows XP logo is displayed if that makes sense? But it just hangs there.

The Windows cd I have did not come from Acer, it was just a disc I had, so I tried to boot the laptop up with that. When I boot it up with the disc and I get to the set up screen, it doesn't matter if I hit enter to install a fresch copy of Windows or hit r to enter the recovery console - doing either just gives me the error message I described before.

I have tried getting into Acers own eRecovery console, which you can do by holding control and F10 when the laptop starts, but when I get into that, I get the error message I described in my last post.

I haven't tried either the RAM check using Memtest86+ or and checking it with a HDD diagnostic tool. Can you tell me how I would carry out both of these? 

Cheers.


----------



## TriggerFinger (Jan 30, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

hi,

if you know the brand of the hard drive being used, d/load the diagnostic utility for that brand using the HDD Diagnostic Tools link on my sig. if you cannot find your brand there, get the Hitach Drive Fitness Test utility. Preferably get the ISO version so you can burn the image into a blank CD. this makes the CD bootable too. so you can pop it in your CD/DVD drive and boot from there. you may need to change boot order in BIOS to be able to boot from the CD drive.

the same process for Memtest. d/load from the link on my sig and burn the ISO image into a blank CD. again this makes it also a bootable CD. boot from this CD and the test will run automatically. if you have two RAM sticks installed, run the test only with ONE stick installed (remove the other one). run the test for 2 passes (around 2 hours). if any or all of the sticks has errors, it would show while the test is running.

one more question... are you using a SATA drive?


----------



## jmckdufc (Apr 23, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*



TriggerFinger said:


> hi,
> 
> if you know the brand of the hard drive being used, d/load the diagnostic utility for that brand using the HDD Diagnostic Tools link on my sig. if you cannot find your brand there, get the Hitach Drive Fitness Test utility. Preferably get the ISO version so you can burn the image into a blank CD. this makes the CD bootable too. so you can pop it in your CD/DVD drive and boot from there. you may need to change boot order in BIOS to be able to boot from the CD drive.
> 
> ...


OK I have downloaded the iso from the HDD Diagnostic Tools link. It's a Hitachi make, and I have burned it to a disc, changed the boot order so the dvd drive is the first boot device, but when I boot up the laptop, it just goes straight to the screen where it informs me that Windows didn't start properly the last time etc etc

Any idea why it wont boot with the cd?


----------



## TriggerFinger (Jan 30, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*



jmckdufc said:


> OK I have downloaded the iso from the HDD Diagnostic Tools link. It's a Hitachi make, and I have burned it to a disc, changed the boot order so the dvd drive is the first boot device, but when I boot up the laptop, it just goes straight to the screen where it informs me that Windows didn't start properly the last time etc etc
> 
> Any idea why it wont boot with the cd?


did you copy it directly? you should use a cd burner program like ImgBurn (see my sig for link) to burn the image into a CD.


----------



## jmckdufc (Apr 23, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

OK I've managed to boot it with the HDD Diagnostic tool, and have run the test. Its saying that there are one or more corrupted sectors found and gives me two choices;

1. Erase disk
2. Sector repair

Now ideally, I want to recover most of the files on the disc, so I guess I pick option 2 right?


----------



## TriggerFinger (Jan 30, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

you must consider that doing the repair may lead to loss of data. i hope you made a good backup prior.

yup option 2 is the most logical choice but i cannot say that it would not lead to loss of data.


----------



## jmckdufc (Apr 23, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

Thanks so much mate, I have got the laptop booting up now.

I will investigate tomorrow whether or not any files have been lost and if I can recover them if they have.

Thanks again, this forum is top!


----------



## TriggerFinger (Jan 30, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

ok! finally a light at the end of the tunnel... 

do not forget to test your RAM too.. just to be thorough.

do post back what happens. take care now.


----------



## jmckdufc (Apr 23, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

Tested the memory - everything fine. And all the files appear to be there too! Thanks again! :grin:


----------



## TriggerFinger (Jan 30, 2008)

*Re: Boot / recovery problem*

You're very welcome.... :grin:


----------

