Emergency Help! Stuck in Boot Loop!!

I:m typing on a work supplied computer now (forgive the punctuation etc. It:s a Japanese keyboard) but explains why I need mine fast.

Here:s my problem: My asus F3sv won:t boot up all the way. It starts, shows the Asus logo and makes its sound, and then shuts down only to restart again. It does this indefinitely. I don:t even have a chance to enter the bios.

I have no idea what this could be, I:m not a computer sage that can read my computers mind before I can get to windows to see whats wrong. So any guesses would be appreciated. Ive got my fingers crossed its just a bad stick of RAM or hard drive, but would really appreciate someone with a little more experience chiming in.

On a side note, about the circumstances. I had been trying to update my computer the day before, but the updates routinely fail. I was even considering reformatting for that reason. This morning the computer was working fine at my house. I put it in my bag, brought it to work, and when I got here, it was stuck in this problem.

Thanks in advance for any help. I:m really desperate here.

 

I don't think your hd is broken.
If that were the case you should've just got a command prompt screen telling you that there's no boot media or something like that.
I would try changing the RAM first. Put in just one stick and try if it boots up then swap it for your other stick and see if that maks a difference.
Also make sure that all your components like Optical Drive, RAM, HD... have a good connection inside your laptop and have not become loose.
I remember reading a different threat about a guy that had a similar problem and a loose component was the issue.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help and I'm really just guessing but I think it is best if you can rule out some things at the beginning.

Good Luck!

 

Had this problem before and I fixed it by using Startup Repair. Good luck

 

Ya i wound suggest chkdsk on you hard disk sound like messed up file system

is this vista or xp system

 

had a similar problem with an older pc i was fixing for a friend, previous experience led me to believe that it was a dodgy stick of RAM, if you have 2 sticks try removing 1 at a time and try to boot. Alternatively if you have a spare stick try that.

 

Update: So it seems the Bios were accessible, I just didnt press the right button, it was different on my other computers before this, but I managed to get into them last night. We were also able to get it booting with the System Restore DVD (Awesome).

Thats all the good news. The bad news is then, of course, the fact that there are some files on there that would be really nice to have. Of course, Im now the typical guy who didnt back every last thing on his hard drive up every 5 minutes. But this led us to another discovery which may or may not have meaning.

My friend and I were then trying to run Ubuntu from an image disk to see if we could use that to then dump all the files onto a USB harddrive. Ubuntu was having trouble using the image though for some reason. I dont know Ubuntu at all, but my friend was surprised. Hes getting the latest version now and were going to try again soon, but the computer was still acting a little strangely.

So, even though it appears as though things are better, Im still left wondering what might have caused this problem in the first place... it might still be a bad stick of RAM (stuck a 2 gig stick in myself but never had any issues until recently), so if after some of this reworking and restoring windows I still have issues, I guess Ill be going in with the screwdriver.

Another thing that occurred to me: The computer actually hit a blue screen of death (never saw it with Vista before that) about a week before this happened. But Windows` problem thingie blamed it on a network cable coming unplugged... that was definitely not the case, as the cable was secure, and ive never known a whole system to crash because I took that cable out... anyway more things for you pros to mull over. Thanks again for all the help.

 

If you have a spare PC (normal not laptop) which has the correct connections for your laptop drive then just put it in that, if its SATA it shouldnt need any adaptors to connect it, then you can browse the drive from Windows etc and get the files you need.

As for Ubuntu, yes you can use the live cd to save files from the laptop, it may be a dodgy cd burn or something, or may also indicate another problem with the laptop, such as bad ram etc.

I have had Vista BSOD on me a few times on my main pc, but luckily not on my laptop, it only recently did it when I was watching a HD video I had. Anyway, I digress, try another ubuntu cd or what i suggested above.

Always backup your data! I think I have triple redundancy for my important files/pictures etc, the price of storage these days really means a decent backup solution is quite reasonably priced

 

So everything is fixed. Seems like there was no hardware issue (for now) as I'm typing this on my computer now. We used Ubuntu to do some moving around and then used the System Restore to reformat. Fingers crossed that whatever caused the problem initially doesn't crop up again.

Thanks again for all your help.

 

Sounds like you have worked through this problem. I can tell you that I had the same problem weeks ago and it turned out to be, IMO, caused by MICROSOFT and their automatic updates. You can google , as I did , "vista reboot loop problem" and find others with the same problem and many relating it to auto updates . MSFT admitted to a "bad" update but says "only a few computers were effected" Very comforting to those of us that it happened to . I've turned off Automatic updates.

Hopefully you are all set at this point.

Laxpacman