Computer Freezes on Startup!

[noose]

hey everyone,hope someone can help me with this issue.

 

My laptop crashed earlier,it wouldnnt respond to anything,so i turned it off with the power switch on the lappy,it went to start up but gets stuck on the windows xp loading screen,ive left it and left for ages but it doenst budge. So i thought i would try starting up in safe mode,but that doesnt work either,same thing happens it gets stuck at the loading screen. Ive also put the xp recovery disk in at boot up it loads up fine,did try to do a repair but to no avail,comes up with a message that reads sumink like startup couldnt find any hardrives on this system,but ive had no problems before with this,so why now??

Please please help....

 

laptop im using is a fujitsu siemens amilo pi 1536

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Hi Noose

 

Sounds like the hard drive has died to me, if you can, remove the hard drive and reboot, you will of course get a Primary disk not found error but we will know that the main board is ok, then it's a simple case of installing a new hard drive.

[noose]

ahhhhh thats a nightmare,so what about all my stuff thts on the hard-drive? there isnt a great deal,just pictures that i want to save,and also purchased music of i-tunes? how much will a hard-drive cost,will i be able to fit it myslef and install windows back?

[Guest Wolfeymole]

You can encase the old 2.5" hdd in a caddy and hook it back up via usb.

 

It will then be regarded as a non primary boot drive and hopefully you can get your stuff back, hopefully it won't be too knackered.

 

Get a new drive and do a new install of windows to that.

 

Laptop HDD prices.

 

laptop hard drive prices - Google Product Search

[Tootech]

There may be another way...........

 

It may be worth starting up using the CD and entering the Recovery Console to run a disk check.

 

Have a look at this link

 

Recovery Console - How to Enter Windows XP Recovery Console

 

It shows you how to get into the Recovery Console.

 

Once there, type chkdsk /r (there is a space between the k and /r bit)

 

Leave it until finished, then type exit, press return.

 

That will run a full disk check and repair.

 

Can you now get into Safe Mode?

 

I've had a look at the spec of your laptop and the Repair option may need you to add the SATA drivers during bootup.

 

Just want to clarify a couple of things before we go further with that.

 

 

The CD you are using, is it the Fujitsu Recovery CD, or do you have an XP disk - it may make a difference to the install routine.

 

Also, does your laptop have a floppy drive - probably not but need to be sure. Lastly, were there any floppy disks that came with your lappy?

 

If all that fails, you are back to Wolfey's external drive case........

[TheSlee]

This same thing happened to my PC, but I may have been lucky as all I had to do was re-install Windows XP and it started working again.

[noose]

Right.......i took my lappy into my local repair shop,the guys took a look for me and said the hard-drive is fine,coz they put it into another laptop and it worked ok,then they tried to put a new hard-drive in mine to see what happens but my lappy wudnt take it,but it read it in the bios. They even tried formatting my hard-drive but it wudnt let them,just come up with a blue screen saying wat it did before bout not bein able to read a hard-drive on this system (that isnt the exact message). dont know if they tryed doin the recovery console thing like u said tootech,i imagine that it wudnt let u do it,im guna try in a bit...the guys at the shop said that they have had a similar problem before with a fujitsu siemens. they said to ring fujitsu tommorow and see if they can shed some light on the situation,coz it may be something only they can sort out if you get me? Don't really want to send it off to them coz it will cost quite a bit i imagine,and the annoying thing is that it's not that long since the warrenty ended :( The disk i have got tootech is a fujitsu siemens product recovery cd-rom (windows xp home edition sp2) and also i havnt got a floppy drive,but do have acces to another laptop if that helps. What do you suggest guys i do? is it worth trying the recovery route or not? One thing i did forget to mention is that about 2 months ago i attempted to re-format the hard-drive but it wudnt let me coz it came up with that silly message bout not bein able to find hard-drive on the system..

 

Nick

[noose]

i forgot to say,no floppys came with the laptop..

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Noose

 

Did the guy in the shop after fitting the new HDD try to do a new install of XP using your disk?

 

My lad brought me a Fujitsu lappy the other night which was loaded with crap and I took it back to factory with the Recovery DVD.

 

It will be a poor do if the reason that you can't install to a new HDD is because the parameters on the disk for the HDD do not match the new HDD.

 

There really should be no reason why you cannot install a new HDD and do a fresh install using your recovery disk.

[noose]

yes i think the guy did try and install windows onto new hdd,but not 100 percent sure,im sure he did mention that he did do that...

[Guest Wolfeymole]

then they tried to put a new hard-drive in mine to see what happens but my lappy wudnt take it,but it read it in the bios.

What do you mean it wouldn't take it Noose?

 

Did they actually install it properly?

 

 

They even tried formatting my hard-drive but it wudnt let them,just come up with a blue screen saying wat it did before

Did they try to format this via another pc?

[noose]

well they said that they put a brandnew hdd in my machine and that it did read it but it still woudlnt start up as like before....ive got a bad memory,so cant remember all they said to be honest. They tried formating on my laptop i believe....has that helped?

[Tootech]

Have to say, it's a bit of weird one.

 

You have a recovery CD so that clears up the needing a floppy drive or not - you don't!

 

There is another tweak with Fujitsu's I have come across, it involves entering the BIOS and changing a setting - are you comfortable doing that?

 

Try going into the BIOS, going into Advanced, Drive Configuration, you are looking for a drive setting - AHCI or IDE - it will probably be set to AHCI. Change it to IDE, save the BIOS and exit.

 

Sorry I don't have any piccies, there are non of this BIOS I can lay my hands on.

 

The setting I refer to makes the difference between needing a special SATA driver and not needing it. It may be that your Recovery CD was built to not need it. That being the case if AHCI is enabled, you won't be able to see your drive.

 

May seem confusing, but it does make some sense.

 

Will it boot to Safe Mode now?

[Guest Wolfeymole]

There are two scenarios here Noose

 

1: You bring the laptop in with your recovery disk and they change the boot order in the bios to boot from that disk to take it back to factory condition, this would mean all your stuff is history.

 

2: You bring the laptop in with your recovery disk which should in theory be a Fujitsu OEM disk for installation to a Fujitsu Siemans PC only to a brand new hard drive.

 

If the 1st scenario did not work then the old hard drive could be goosed.

 

The second should work.

[noose]

Ok im guna go try tootech idea,im comfertable in bios,have done stuff there before,so not a problem....so after i done that shall i try booting from the disk again then doin a recovery like i did before?

[noose]

ive gone into bios----advanced-----just reads setup warning,setting items on this menu to incorret values may cause your system to malfunction!

 

execute disable bit: (disabled)

 

I cant see drive configuration

[noose]

hey wolfeymole...

 

think i found the problem,i went onto a fujitsu seimens forum,some peeps kinda had same problem,apparantly win sp2 does not have drivers for sata drivers,have to add drivers according to chipset.

 

Also said Try to add your SATA drivers to your Windows instalation CD using nLite.......

 

sounds confusing if u ask me,how would i go about doing that? not guna attempt it tnite tho,way to tired,will attempt it moz after work...am also guna fone fujitsu to see if they can do something over the phone..

 

And about changing settings in my bios like tootech suggested, some options are hidden in BIOS apparently....so cant turn off AHCI

 

just wanna say thanks for your help so far guys,hopefully have this sorted soon,i miss my laptop,lol

[Tootech]

Lets put this in some sort of order.

 

Your laptop crashed for some unknown reason.

 

You couldn't reboot for some reason.

 

Recovery CD doesn't work, although it has done before.

 

Hard disk is OK, been checked in another machine.

 

Cant see hard disk when booting from recovery CD.

 

 

Some other considerations......

 

Regarding SATA drivers and slipstreamed CD's - that relates to an installation using a Windows XP CD, and some SATA boards.

 

You have a recovery CD, which is different and has all of the required drivers to reinstall Windows to factory standard.

 

If the Recovery CD doesn't work, then there is a fault somewhere else.

 

Another thought - if the shop have tried to install a SATA2 drive, and your old one was SATA1, there may be a compatibility issue. Also, if they used a standard Windows CD to test it, then they would need extra drivers. With your Recovery CD they wouldn't.

 

To build a slipstreamed CD you would need the SATA drivers ( I think they are Intel), and a standard XP installation CD - not recovery CD.

I wouldn't bother - when there is a problem, you are introducing another unknown ie slipstreamed CD's, you are asking for many more headaches.

 

You are best off sticking to the original equipment and working with what is known.

 

Did you attempt to access the Recovery Console and run a chkdsk?

 

After some consideration, we think that there may be a fault with your laptop board. The only real way to check that would be to arrange a diagnosis by a Fujitsu approved engineer.

 

If there is data on the drive that you need to save, get yourself a USB caddy and copy all your data to another machine before doing any more work on it.

[noose]

Hey guys....

 

i did forget to mention that when my brother had this laptop he tried to wipe the hard-drive and reinstall windows and he had the same problem....

 

And also i phoned fujitsu tday and they said that the recovery cd i have isnt compatible with my hd set up,coz my hd is sata and the cd doesnt support sata...the reeason they know this is because i read out the serial number of the cd rom and it didnt match with the correct cd....my serial number reads

FSP:RCDWXPHENG010 and it shud read FSP:RCDWXPHENG050 which is the latest cd...basically the cd they supplied with my laptop is compatible with older hard-drives,windows didnt start making the newer cds until later after the laptops were made,do u get me? so basically fujitsu want to charge me £58.00 for a new cd,which i think is out of order seeing as its not my fault that its the wrong cd...i refuse to pay..so im guna try and get hold of a cdrom off the internet somewhere if i can to download,theres bound to be loads of people with the same problem as me.

[noose]

Ive just got off the phone to fujitsu after bout 20 minutes of arguing...They said that them sending the wrong cdrom with the laptop isnt there fault and that it is on the system that they did send the right cd,so obviously there is human error along the line somewhere,somebody has packed the wrong cd with the laptop before it got shipped out..They also said beacause its out of the 28 day warrenty for missing or wrong software they can't do anything,which i think is out of order,how was i meant to know that it was the wrong cd? Ive had no reason to use the cdrom until now,so only now ive found out that the cd is wrong...So i told them i will be on the phone to trading standards tommorow to make a complaint and that they will be in touch with fujitsu at some point. The phonecalls i have been making to fujitsu have been costing me 60pence a minute,which is a **** take. Dont buy fujitsu siemens if u want my advice.....

 

Thanks for all your help anyway,and ill keep u posted with whats going on with regards to a new cd being sent hopefully free of charge.

[Tootech]

Noose, all of what you have explained makes a great deal of sense, and explains why you cannot see the hard drive.

 

Thanks for coming back and letting us know.

 

Attempting to download a CD is not the right way to go, and please be aware that Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help will not help you reinstall Windows with a downloaded XP CD or Recovery CD.

 

Let us know how you get on with Fujitsu. If you manage to get a CD out of them, have a look back at the suggestion to run a chkdsk from the Recovery Console.

 

Failing that, you could use a USB adapter and plug your drive into another machine and chkdsk it from there - it does sometimes work.

 

Often, that is all that is needed to get a system to boot again.

[noose]

Don't worry im not going down the download route! I did find a company tht specialises in selling fujitsu recovery disks...heres the link Fujitsu Siemens Scales and Scenic PC European and Eire XP Repair, Recovery and Restore CDs from Genner Sales Europe and Ireland.

 

Wat do you think? if I don't get any luck with getting a cd from fujitsu maybe I can get one from the company above,damn site cheaper..

 

Will I be able to put my hard-drive into my mums dell laptop? then chkdsk? Is that easy? And u mentioned about using a usb adaptor? I don't really get what u mean by that? i know wat a usb adaptor is...

[Tootech]

I've used Genner Sales before, they do have a .co.uk website...

 

XP and Vista Recovery CDs, Repair CDs and Restore CDs to reinstall Windows onto the hard disk drive of major brand computers.

 

My experience with them has been good. Normally you receive an XP or Recovery CD - not an MS original, a driver CD and instructions.

 

USB to SATA adapters, have a look here...

 

SATA IDE to USB Converter Universal Drive Adapter Cable on eBay, also, IDE, Cables Connectors, Computing (end time 15-Dec-08 00:52:29 GMT)

 

There are lots of around, you would probably be able to buy one locally. Basically there is a cable with a USB connector on one end, and a SATA connector on the other. Also, there is a mains power adapter that will plug into the drive. That means you can power it, and plug it into the USB port of another machine. It's really a caddy without the case

 

Then you can pull all your data off the drive, put it back in your laptop and wipe it. It's probably the easiest thing to do .

[RandyL]

I hope you get the right one this time. If you order the wrong one you might be out money needlessly. Personally I would spend the extra 25 pounds and buy from fujitsu. At least then you are assured of getting the right one this time.

 

Also note that you will still need your license key that hopefully is still attached to your computer.

[noose]

Just had some light shed on this situation from my brother whom had the laptop before me from new,before he gave me the laptop he went to do a clean install and he had same problem,basically cudnt find the sata drive...The reason for this is that the laptop has been made for vista but my bro wanted xp home instaed coz he prefered it,so it wnt let u reinstall coz its downgrading..He actualy came onto this web site and asked for advice and got told a solution,and its somewhere on this help forum,im havin trouble finding it....aparently a few others have had the same problem,but have sorted it thanx to peoples advice on this site..

 

Don't supppose anyone knows the link or the solution??