CF-29 MKI problems

My dependable CF-29 MKI suddenly came up with issues last week. While sitting on the floor with nothing on it, it was plugged into the AC adapter and the lid was closed. I had not used it for an hour but had it turned on and Chrome was open sitting at Google. Suddenly I heard a Windows error sound (bonk). I didn't think much of it and left it alone until the next morning. When I opened the case, there were two Error messages (NOT BSOD) with "Click OK to stop the program or Cancel to Debug" or something like that....The 1st message allowed me to click OK...then the laptop locked up...mouse and KB would not do anything. Ctl_Atl_Del did not bring up Task Mgr so I had to use the power switch to shut down..(HATE doing that). When power was reapplied, Windows kept restarting with a BSOD saying pci.sys was missing or corrupt...I tried putting the Windows Setup disk in the CD ROM....and it never read the CD...I tried another setup CD and still nothing...SO I took the HD out of the caddy, put it on a IDE/USB adapter...put it on my desktop with XP PRO and it saw the drive ok...ran Chkdsk /r and it found some issues and repaired them. ran it again and no more fixes or issues found. Put the drive back in the caddy and now it wont boot right...it gets to the Windows splash but then goes to the Advanced/Safe Mode select...tried ALL selections and it gives me a BSOD (too fast for me to see what the issue is)..I have tried AGAIN to run Chkdsk using the desktop and adapter...nothing......SO I thought I would try using the setup via the adapter...Setup sees the drive but cannot access it so I cannot use the Setup disk to fix it that way either..Is there a way I can test the CD Drive to make sure the laser is ok? The BIOS in the CF29 sees the HD and CD (Yes its a CDRW/DVD ROM...both HD and CD are OEM that came with the CF29)...Is there anyway to get an external CD drive to work (No I dont have USB boot because this is a MKI model)? I would like to get it working again and doubt this was a virus...Is there anyway I can get FIXBOOT or FIXMBR or any other diag program to look at the HD via the USB adapter??? or do I need to look for another laptop? Thanks for any help..
Chris

 

Sorry to hear about your problems and hope it is not any hardware issues. I'd like to hear what others have to say on this problem. Do you have an original Panasonic Restore Disk that you can use to reload the factory image?. How about an image of your working system (ie. Acronis?). Probably not as you are asking for help. One thing you can do is wipe the hard drive and install Mint 13 Mate 32 bit found here:
Main Page - Linux Mint
This should work and sort out any hardware issues you might be having.
Another valuable site is:
UNetbootin - Homepage and Downloads
Others on this site have used Mint Linux on their CF-29's:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/728966-mint-15-xfce-cf-29-any-mark-1-5-a.html
Best regards, Cleve

 

My first guess is that the hard drive is going bad.
Has it ever booted from the dvd drive?.....My guess with that is that someone replaced the drive itself with one that is not set to master.

 

Agree it sounds like the hard drive may be failing.
A few ideas:
- Did you check in the BIOS to make sure the boot order has the CD before the hard drive?
- I have some OEM CD drives (TEAC 228 I think) without caddies, if you're in the US I can send one for the cost of shipping.

 

Do you know the make / brand of the cdrw/dvd that is in the media bay case...