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General discussion

Windows Vista crashed, disk drive not working

Mar 17, 2011 1:18PM PDT

Windows Vista had updates, so I let it update. My system crashed and won't boot. I put the factory boot disk in to system restore, but the disk drive won't read the disk. Help?

Discussion is locked

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Is that because
Mar 17, 2011 11:06PM PDT

the BIOS is not set to read the CD/DVD drive first?

The BIOS has an 'order' in which is listed what drives to attempt to read first. Often this 'should' be the optical drive, (CD/DVD drive), and if it finds no disk there it then goes onto find the hard drive. But sometimes the BIOS is set to read direct from the hard drive first. In which case it will never see the disk in the optical drive during boot up.

If that is the case here you will have to enter the BIOS to change the order of the bootup so that the CD/DVD drive is listed first.

If the BIOS is already set to do that, (and it should be on modern systems), then either the optical drive has failed, or that "Boot Disk" is not a boot disk, or the boot disk has failed.

CD/DVD disks do fail and when that happens we can try to 'copy' the disk to another and try again. That sometimes works.

If the optical drive has failed then you need to replace it.

If the boot disk is not a boot disk, then the BIOS will not boot from it, but that should give an error message similar to, "Please insert system disk".

As to Vista, at what stage does it fail to load? Can you access Vista's "Safe Mode" options?

Mark

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Cannot get to BIOS...
Mar 18, 2011 12:47AM PDT

When I push the power button it takes me to the screen that says Windows wasn't shut down properly and asks how I want to load. I have tried every option and every time it flashes a blue screen that changes before I can read it. Then it takes me back to the page asking how I want to load Windows. The boot disk I have I pulled right out of the factory package, seals and everything. It is genuine.

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Re: BIOS
Mar 18, 2011 1:08AM PDT

There's a certain time window between you pushing the power button and Windows saying it wasn't shut down properly. Let's say that that's 15 seconds. Then if you keep toggling the key that activates the BIOS setup (could delete or escape or f2 or f10, should be in the manual of the PC or motherboard which key or even key combination it is, or it's shown on the screen, something like "Press del to enter setup") you come into the BIOS. Can't miss.
Then navigate to the page that defines the boot order and set that to CD first. Then boot from the Vista CVD or the recovery DVD and start your repair.

Kees

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What PC is this?
Mar 18, 2011 1:09AM PDT

I read your posts twice and missed what PC this is. Maybe there's a key to press or maybe not?
Bob

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Computer is..
Mar 18, 2011 2:46AM PDT

HP Pavilion 9500v. I cannot get it to go to BIOS.

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Link, comment.
Mar 18, 2011 3:04AM PDT
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My apologies
Mar 18, 2011 3:33AM PDT

Sometimes my smart phone is not so smart.. its an HP Pavilion dv9500. It has Vista Home Premium on it.

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Still no BIOS?
Mar 18, 2011 7:01AM PDT

What happens when you press F10 soon after turning the system on? Any error messages? Anything?

We can't see what you see so those small details are important.

Mark

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Details..
Mar 18, 2011 10:41AM PDT

I was finally able to get into the BIOS. I changed the boot order for it to read the cd/dvd drive first, but it still is not reading the disk. It just takes me back into the screen asking how I want to boot. There are no error messages other than what I've already stated about telling me Windows was not shut down properly. Is there anything specific I should look for that would help?

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DO you have an external CD/DVD drive to try?
Mar 18, 2011 12:09PM PDT

While I do try to clean the laptop's CD/DVD lens and try to boot from a duplicate of my bootable CD/DVD the age of the dv9500 (not to mention the other issues) is why I try the items noted as well as an external USB DVDRW drive.
Bob

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external drive
Mar 20, 2011 9:53AM PDT

I don't have an external cd/dvd drive, but I'm willing to go get one if that will salvage my computer. Please let me know your thoughts on that. Thanks!

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I can't tell yet.
Mar 22, 2011 8:54PM PDT

The external USB DVDRW is something your good tech should have in their bag.

It can be used to boot a CD when the owner's machine can no long boot from CD and the owner won't replace the failed drive.

If the BIOS screen is not showing then it won't help.
Bob

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bios is working
Mar 23, 2011 4:13AM PDT

Is there a specific drive you would recommend? I don't know that I trust myself enough to replace an internal drive by myself, but if I can get an external drive to work for now, I have someone that will be able to fix it for me in a couple weeks.

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So far.
Mar 27, 2011 5:45AM PDT

I've bought some dozen plus USB DVDRW drives in the past year and all work. Since these seem to be one is like the next one, why not go with the model you like?
Bob

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Vista crashed
Mar 20, 2011 4:11AM PDT
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Already tried...
Mar 20, 2011 9:51AM PDT

The computer will not boot at all, not even in safe mode. Thanks, though.

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What exactly does "not boot at all" mean?
Mar 22, 2011 9:07PM PDT

Apparently the boot goes well enough to get into the BIOS setup and even get in Windows. But Windows comes in some BSOD and quits, even when you try Safe Mode with command prompt.

Yep, then trying a repair or a reinstall from the Vista disk seems the only option. But then indeed you must boot from it. Not all BIOS'es support booting from an external CD-drive. In that case, replacing the internal drive seems the only option.

Kees