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Forum
-> Computers, Phones and Devices
alwaysamother
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 Tue, Mar 05 2013, 12:50 pm
I have a laptop - runs vista - its about 6 years old. I hadn't downloaded any microsoft updates in a very long time, and while it was trying to update, it died. I get to the screen with options of starting regular, safe start etc, but no matter what I choose, it gets stuck and can't progress further.
I tried booting from my re-install disk and it doesn't recognize it. I tried booting from a ubuntu disk and I get the same start-up screen. I can access the bios, but it doesn't help to start automatically from a disk. I've run the diagnostics and it seems all is clear.
Is there anything left for me to do to save my computer?
If not, is there any way for me to save my hard drive?
TIA
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naturalmom5
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Tue, Mar 05 2013, 1:11 pm
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Either boot from a flash drive or remove the hard drive and go to a data recovery place
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alwaysamother
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Tue, Mar 05 2013, 1:25 pm
Is booting from a flash drive different from booting from a dvd?
Is there anything I can do on my own to recover the hard drive?
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shoeboxgirly
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Tue, Mar 05 2013, 2:14 pm
If you are getting the same start up screen you are not actually loading the ubuntu disk. Whether it be from a disk or flash drive you will probably need to go into the bios and change the boot preference order to tell it not to default to the hard drive(s) [I'm assuming there's some partitions for booting and recovery, data, etc]. If you can do that you should be able to easily access your data once you are in ubuntu. If not, your hard disk itself should still be dockable so if you get a difference machine and the right cables you can get the data off that way. The problem is it isn't clear what is wrong to stop it booting. If there's a lot of damage in all the partitions then maybe everything is sadly gone but I wouldn't think it is.
You could also try getting a win 7 upgrade disk and upgrading the machine which could also potentially fix the issue if it just the operating system which is causing the problem.
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alwaysamother
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Tue, Mar 05 2013, 2:42 pm
I changed the bios, and it is now set to boot from the dvd, but it still doesn't work.
Why?
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shoeboxgirly
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Tue, Mar 05 2013, 3:31 pm
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I don't know, maybe there's something wrong with the disk, or the drive. Have you checked the disk worked on another machine?
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alwaysamother
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Tue, Mar 05 2013, 3:36 pm
That's an interesting idea. I don't know. I'll try it on a different computer.
Thanks!
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shoeboxgirly
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Tue, Mar 05 2013, 3:48 pm
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If you have another computer, find out how to remove your laptop's harddrive, get the cables to dock it and transfer your data. Do this anyway without the rest, a 6 yr old laptop with vista is not happy tech anyway.
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naturalmom5
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Tue, Mar 05 2013, 4:39 pm
What brand of hard drive is it
My husb said to try www.tomshardware.com and see the database of questions there
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alwaysamother
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Wed, Mar 06 2013, 9:46 am
Thanks so much! I was able to boot it from a flash drive - my dvd driver isn't working...
Now at least I have access to my hard drive.
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