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One day my computer was working fine and the next it won't boot properly.

System Specs:

  • Toshiba Satellite T235D-S1345RD (Laptop)
  • Windows 7 x64
  • BIOS 1.7
  • 4GB RAM

I have gotten the computer booted one time. I am unsure why it did that time but did not do it another time. Since that one time I put the computer in hibernate and when I tried to bring it out it told me it failed when coming out of hibernate so it went to reboot and now it won't boot.

Here are the few steps I have done to try and get it working. When it boots up it gives me an error message (says that power failed or for some reason it did not boot)

  1. I have run "Repair Computer" and it does not do anything.
    • I try and start Windows normally and it goes no where.

  2. So I then tried F8 and got into the Advanced Boot Menu. First one I tried was Start Windows From Last Known Good Configuration.

    • When it does that the computer will start to boot up go to the "Windows Loading" screen and then it flashes a blue screen and it goes back to the boot screen and acts like it is restarting and continues in that loop.
    • The blue screen says UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME. Not sure what else I should do after I get that error message.
    • It also says that if it's the first time I've seen the error screen, to restart the computer. Then it tells me if it appears again, to check and make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed.

    If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

  3. Entered F8 again, and tried the Repair Computer option.

    • It loads to a black screen with a Cursor but nothing ever happens. I have given it over 30 min and nothing happens.
  4. I tried to boot up in Safe Mode
    • Again, when it loads it flashes a blue screen and then nothing.
  5. I read somewhere to try and use a recovery disk to try and recover windows.
    • I did not have one so I downloaded one from the net and it is an ISO format.
    • I told the BIOS to boot from the USB first and it just sits and does nothing.
  6. I come to you guys here on this site.

I am a bit perplexed and lost at what to do. I wonder if this is a virus but I cannot get the computer to respond to try to get into it to check. Ideas? Advice? What should I try? I can get into the F8 menu but not sure what else I should try. I will try anything to get this computer up and running!

Chindraba
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L84
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  • Sounds like a hard drive problem. Is there a way you can put that drive into something else (or boot with a live linux CD) to verifiy that the HD is ok? – soandos Jul 25 '11 at 01:21
  • Must be USB since the laptop has no CD Drive. I could try to download Linux to a USB (is that possible?) The computer I am on here is a Windows XP so I cannot try to boot using the USB. Any thoughts? – L84 Jul 25 '11 at 01:26
  • Sure its possible, look at [this](http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/), and it does not matter that the laptop is XP. When you boot to the USB, it bypasses the OS and uses the OS on the USB. – soandos Jul 25 '11 at 01:29
  • K I will try that, one note I do get when trying to use the USB Stick is this error "Pen Drive does not contain Operating System. Remove Pen Drive and Reboot." I have the ISO file for a system recovery what else should I do to try the system recover? – L84 Jul 25 '11 at 01:32
  • You have to put the OS on it first... – soandos Jul 25 '11 at 01:32
  • I don't have a copy of the OS. I thought that the ISO was to boot the computer then you can help recover the messed up files and fix the issue. – L84 Jul 25 '11 at 01:37
  • Get the ISO from selecting the distribution in UNetBootin – soandos Jul 25 '11 at 01:38
  • The computer can't boot from an ISO file! You have to extract the files form the iso to the usb stick and load the boot information on the iso to the MBR of it. (You may have to re-format if it doesn't have a partition map.) Then you can use the system to check what's wrong with your hard disk and file system. If the system shows "UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME", it means the partition map or file system is damaged. The problem could also be caused by faulty hardware, most probably memory. – billc.cn Jul 25 '11 at 02:23
  • using UNetBootin, you select the distribution, then it "burns" it to the USB drive selected. its that simple. It almost never means a memory issue – soandos Jul 25 '11 at 03:58
  • I am a bit confused. I followed the UNetbootin and used my own ISO image. When the computer boots it shows the UNetbootin screen and has "default" but it wont do anything from that. It says Automatic boot in 10 seconds and that just cycles. Any ideas? – L84 Jul 26 '11 at 04:03
  • Going to use one of the UNetbootin Options, which one should I choose? – L84 Jul 26 '11 at 04:30

3 Answers3

5
  1. When you run Netbootin, it will ask for the distribution that you want to put on the USB, or the ISO itself.
  2. In the distribution list, select Ubuntu (either 32 or 64 bit, no, it does not have to be ubuntu, but its just my preference), and download it. Make sure the right drive is selected (the USB that you want to write the data to
  3. after the data has been written, shut down your computer, insert the USB, and when you restart, I believe you hit F12 to get to the boot order.
  4. Select the USB
  5. Follow the ubuntu setup, its pretty straightforward, dont parition anything, just run it as a Live CD (it might be called a live USB, not sure)
  6. When you are done with the 'install' See if you can see any of the files on the hard drive, or if Gparted can see the hard drive. If the answer is yes, your HD is probably fine. If not, its probably busted.
  7. Please comment back here if there are any issues.
soandos
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  • Thanks, downloading now will try and see what happens. => – L84 Jul 26 '11 at 04:42
  • Okay, I tried Ubuntu and it worked and I could see the files on my hard drive (YAY! My hard drive works => ) so I assume that means windows is corrupted. What should I do now to restore windows to an uncorrupted state? (I do not have any disk or a recovery CD) – L84 Jul 26 '11 at 05:14
  • we now make a recovery disc. See my answer [here](http://superuser.com/questions/314265/restore-windows-boot-from-ubuntu/314270#314270) for how. – soandos Jul 26 '11 at 05:17
  • Here is where I get a bit confused. I get the ISO file from your source above, then what? I boot the computer with the file and ??? Sorry to be so ignorant. – L84 Jul 26 '11 at 05:23
  • Its fine. You write the ISO to the USB drive. Then you boot the same way you booted into Ubuntu. – soandos Jul 26 '11 at 05:27
  • Not sure what I am doing wrong. I wrote the files to the USB drive using UNetbootin and I get the bootin screen and it shows "Default" yet nothing will move from there. So then i tried writing the ISO file without UNet and when it boots it says ERROR: No configuration found. No Default or UI configuration found! boot: Is there a command prompt I should try typing? Am I missing a step? – L84 Jul 26 '11 at 05:40
  • What files, it should just be extracting an ISO to the USB. If you cant get it to work otherwise, use daemon tools to extract the ISO to the USB (free edition) – soandos Jul 26 '11 at 05:44
  • The content of the ISO file boot.wim is one file there are a few others. I have also put just the ISO file itself there and done nothing else and I get the same message. I have tried two different ISO files (one from the source you gave me soandos and another I found. Both for windows 7 64bit. – L84 Jul 26 '11 at 05:48
  • @UBhapE2 let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/923/discussion-between-soandos-and-ubhape2) – soandos Jul 26 '11 at 05:50
  • Toshiba's do not use .wim files for recovery, except to store Windows Recovery environment. Toshiba has its own image format at requires Toshiba Recovery Wizard to restore the computer to factory default. – ThatGuyInIT Jul 26 '11 at 06:15
  • But the goal was too create a standard windows recovery disk, that would then do a repair, not reset the whole thing. Ideas on why that is not working? – soandos Jul 26 '11 at 12:06
  • Toshibas usually have three partitions a 1GB boot partition with the WinRE .wim, your OS partition and the third partition is the recovery partition, which strangely enough has a WinRE environment as well. – ThatGuyInIT Jul 27 '11 at 15:33
  • @Sean: In Ubuntu I can see the contents of my hard drive (all of it from what I can tell) I found a few folders called system restore, windowsimagebackup etc. Is it possible from those folders to copy the required files onto a Flash Drive and try to recover from the USB vs startup repair. Not sure if it works that way but I thought I would ask. – L84 Jul 29 '11 at 04:31
4

The unit has a recovery partition, pretty much all laptops sold now have a recovery partition. Hold down the 0 key on the Toshiba BIOS screen, it should boot into the Toshiba Recovery Wizard. Once you have gotten the system back up and running, I would recommend burning the recovery media, so that if the hard drive does fail, you have a copy.

https://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/bulletinDetail.jsp?soid=2737864&pf=true

Please note that UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME does not automatically mean a bad hard drive, it could be a corrupt file system, bad memory, etc.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-system/unmountablebootvolume-windows-7-laptop-will-not/5751bfc9-bfc9-4751-b5d9-d5818905a8f5

Once you get everything backup and running make sure you burn recovery media:

https://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/bulletinDetail.jsp?soid=2753749&pf=true

ThatGuyInIT
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  • HD is good, see comment on my answer. – soandos Jul 26 '11 at 06:07
  • Thanks for this information. I tried this and I get a Black Screen with a Cursor. Nothing happens after that. Any ideas? – L84 Jul 26 '11 at 17:52
  • So far I have let it sit at the black screen for around 1 hour, no luck = – L84 Jul 26 '11 at 19:17
  • Try testing the memory, http://www.memtest.org/, if it doesn't boot, try one stick at a time. – ThatGuyInIT Jul 26 '11 at 21:18
  • I tried the memtest and it passed with 0 errors. Any ideas what to try now? – L84 Jul 28 '11 at 10:58
  • Sounds like the hard drive is failing if the RAM is passing, time to take it into a Toshiba authorized repair center if its under warranty: http://warranty.toshiba.com/ or just replace the hard drive, you may need to contact Toshiba and order recovery media to restore Windows if you did not burn recovery media shortly after you purchased the computer. – ThatGuyInIT Jul 28 '11 at 14:24
  • What boggles my mind is the fact that when I boot using Ubuntu I have no problem accessing the hard drive. So I do not get how only part of the drive fails (the part that has windows) But yeah I will be following that advice and doing without my computer while Toshiba fixes it. Thanks for the help => – L84 Jul 28 '11 at 19:35
  • @Sean: In Ubuntu I can see the contents of my hard drive (all of it from what I can tell) I found a few folders called system restore, windowsimagebackup etc. Is it possible from those folders to copy the required files onto a Flash Drive and try to recover from the USB vs startup repair. Not sure if it works that way but I thought I would ask – L84 Jul 30 '11 at 21:31
0

I am posting here to help clarify for others who come here looking for a solution.

I gave soandos the correct answer because I believe overall that for most windows users that is the best way to go and it is overall not difficult.

For users with a Toshiba then follow Sean's way first then try soandos.

L84
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