Satellite A215 Won't Start

Hello All,

New to the site here. My wife let her Satellite A215 slide off her lap this weekend and now it won't start up. It will come on it just gets to one place and won't go any further. I am no computer geek so I don't know what to do. Could it have damaged the hard drive? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
ZZ4591

 

It would be helpful if you could elaborate what the place it stops is. Is it the Toshiba splash screen? Is it the Windows booting screen (the black screen with the bar moving at the bottom), or another screen?

I don't think it's likely the hard drive got damaged from a drop of just a foot or two. I've handled hard drives much rougher that still work today. However it's a possibility.

Depending on where it is freezing I would check to make sure the hard drive & RAM modules are properly seated. (They are both accessible from the bottom of the laptop).

So make sure they are seated well (remove them and reinsert them) then post back with the exact frozen screen. I'll try to help if I can

 

Thanks Gregory

I have re-seated the memory modules and the hard drive. The screen that comes up says Toshiba and at the bottom says Press F2... Press F12... , if I don't do either one of those it goes to a black screen that says bootmgr missing, press control, alt, delete to restart. Thanks for your assistance.

Tony

 

EDIT: I'm assuming you're using Vista! Please tell me if I'm wrong before downloading anything I mention. It is different for Windows XP!

Ok... It sounds like you were correct about your hard drive being the issue then. 'bootmgr' is the main record which tells your computer to start Windows. If that has been corrupted, then your computer doesn't know what to do.

There are two things that may be the case here:

1: The hard drive was physically damaged resulting in corrupt sectors throughout the hard drive, one of which being the boot sector

2: There may have been a software error which was the true cause of this & it just coincidentally occurred around the time of the accidental drop. It could be caused by an improper power-down

In either case, the first step is to repair the boot sector. This will be the only way of getting into your current Windows installation. Because you said 'bootmgr' I'm assuming you're using Vista.

To repair the boot manager you will need to login to the Windows Recovery Console. This can be difficult with laptops, as Toshiba likely only gave you a 'Toshiba Recovery Disc' rather than a full retail Windows disc.

If you have access to a retail Windows Installation CD here are the steps:

-Go to this site: http://lifehacker.com/software/troubleshooting/vista-tip--repair-bootmgr-is-missing-error-251733.php

They offer a decent explanation of the Vista recovery console. You will want to select the first choice, "Startup Repair". Follow any onscreen instructions.

If you don't have a retail copy of Windows, first try inserting the Toshiba DVD provided to you. They may or may not have been nice enough to include the recovery console.

CAUTION: Don't get clicky while using the Toshiba recovery disk. If you click the option to fully repair the system, it may overwrite your current Windows and delete all your files.

If the appropriate option isn't present, you may be out of luck. It may be necessary to do a 'Repair Installation' or a 'Full Installation' of Windows. The 'Repair installation' is preferable, as it doesn't delete your files, but again may not be available with the Toshiba disc.

There is a utility I came accross a few months ago. It seems to be a promising alternative to the Windows Recovery Console. However, I haven't used it, so I cannot vouch for it or provide instructions, other than to download the ISO file & create a bootable DVD.

Download from here: http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

If you have a 32-bit copy of Windows, download the x86 file. If 64-bit, the x64 file.

I beleive that site requires you to download via a torrent file. If you don't use torrents, download BitTorrent first.

 

Greg

I do not have a Windows Vista disc. I tried using the Toshiba repair disc, it went to a certain point and gave me an error message: ox80070037. I have not googled this to see what it is you may know.

Tony

 

I don't recognize the error message.

Try using the Vista Recovery disc I linked to. See if that also returns an error.

It would be wise to also run a hard drive diagnostic utility. This can help determine if your hard disk is dead. You can generally download the utility from the manufacturer of the hard drive. After downloading, burn it to a bootable CD and boot the afflicted computer from it.

If you aren't sure of the hard drive manufacturer, there are many utilities included in the 'Ultimate Boot CD' ( http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/).

 

Hi Gregory,
I'm having a similar problem as zz4591. What happen is that my laptop same model, fell with my g/f from just about 4ft. and the "symptoms" are very similar, the only difference is that, after turn it on i get the toshiba screen with the f1 / f12 instructions then it goes to a black screen with a blinking cursor. i tried removing and placing back both HHD & RAM and same prob. I then removed HHD and hooked it up externally via USB. It tries to boot, i see up to the boot screen, then it restarts. when i insert the HHD and try to reload OS (VISTA) it sticks as i choose boot device.

Any suggestions?
Muzicmaniakz