how do I stop the BSOD window from disappearing long enough to read it?

  • Thread starter Thread starter niteowl
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niteowl

I was given a laptop from a friend of mine, it's in an endless loop of
rebooting, windows (XP) splash screen, then the command window offering
different boot options. none of which work, it then puts up a blue screen
but it disappears almost immediately, so I can't read it.

I've tried booting up from the XP CD, but it says it can't find a hard
drive. I've pulled the hard drive and been able to backup her files just
fine. I've put in a brand new hard drive, still the system cannot see it.

I've gone into the BIOS and ran the HDD Diagnostic, which says everything
passes. The SATA option is enabled, and this system was working just fine
for the last year... the user said she pulled the power cord during a storm
to avoid a possible power surge, but her wireless was still working and the
the battery was powering the unit. Since then, she's had this problem.

I've tried Hiren's Boot Disk and run a few diagnostics, though I am not all
that familiar with that level of "techiness"... on one of the tests it could
not find either an IDE or a SCSI drive, there appeared to be no option for
the SATA drive that is installed. This was Hiren's Boot CD v6.8.

Since the XP CD can't find the HD, what can I do??

thanks,
niteowl
 
niteowl said:
I was given a laptop from a friend of mine, it's in an endless loop of
rebooting, windows (XP) splash screen, then the command window offering
different boot options. none of which work, it then puts up a blue screen
but it disappears almost immediately, so I can't read it.

I've tried booting up from the XP CD, but it says it can't find a hard
drive. I've pulled the hard drive and been able to backup her files just
fine. I've put in a brand new hard drive, still the system cannot see it.

I've gone into the BIOS and ran the HDD Diagnostic, which says everything
passes. The SATA option is enabled, and this system was working just fine
for the last year... the user said she pulled the power cord during a
storm to avoid a possible power surge, but her wireless was still working
and the the battery was powering the unit. Since then, she's had this
problem.

I've tried Hiren's Boot Disk and run a few diagnostics, though I am not
all that familiar with that level of "techiness"... on one of the tests it
could not find either an IDE or a SCSI drive, there appeared to be no
option for the SATA drive that is installed. This was Hiren's Boot CD
v6.8.

Since the XP CD can't find the HD, what can I do??

thanks,
niteowl
Click to expand...
If the XP CD is not SP3, it won't see a SATA drive.

After your BIOS screen goes away, start tapping F8 until the Windows boot
menu comes up. Towards the bottom of the screen is an option to not restart
on error. Arrow down to highlight it and press Enter. Then if the BSOD
appears, it will (should) stay there until you power off the notebook.
 
SC Tom said:
If the XP CD is not SP3, it won't see a SATA drive.
Click to expand...

my XP CD SP2 found it just fine when I installed it a year ago.
After your BIOS screen goes away, start tapping F8 until the Windows boot
menu comes up. Towards the bottom of the screen is an option to not
restart on error. Arrow down to highlight it and press Enter. Then if the
BSOD appears, it will (should) stay there until you power off the
notebook.
Click to expand...
Thanks Tom,

that worked, :)

It says to run a chkdsk /f but I can't even get that far...

the error is:
stop: 0x0000007b (0xf889c524, 0xc0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

google search didn't find my exact error, so not sure what this is telling
me... I tried a newer version of Hiren's Boot Disk (9.5), but it and now
even the BIOS is not seeing the hard drive, so I'm thinking it's something
with the motherboard... I pulled the HD again and it reads fine on a
portable housing. ??

I guess it's going back to HP. :)

if anyone could explain the error message I would appreciate it just as a
matter of curiosity.

Thanks,
niteowl
 
niteowl said:
my XP CD SP2 found it just fine when I installed it a year ago.

Thanks Tom,

that worked, :)

It says to run a chkdsk /f but I can't even get that far...

the error is:
stop: 0x0000007b (0xf889c524, 0xc0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

google search didn't find my exact error, so not sure what this is telling
me... I tried a newer version of Hiren's Boot Disk (9.5), but it and now
even the BIOS is not seeing the hard drive, so I'm thinking it's something
with the motherboard... I pulled the HD again and it reads fine on a
portable housing. ??

I guess it's going back to HP. :)

if anyone could explain the error message I would appreciate it just as a
matter of curiosity.

Thanks,
niteowl
Click to expand...
You don't say what notebook you have, but most have (had) a method of
restoring the BIOS settings to default. The older Compaq's had to be
unplugged, have the battery removed, then use a paper clip to press a
recessed button on the bottom for a few seconds. I haven't had to try it
with my Gateway or the HP I had, so I'm not certain if it's an option any
more. If it is, you might try that, then boot to BIOS and see if the drive
is recognized. How old is this notebook?

Did you run chkdsk on the drive after putting it in the portable enclosure?
You could also try the manufacturer's disk diagnostics program to see if
there may be something physically wrong with it.

Thanks for the correction- I thought the SATA drivers weren't included until
SP3. My bust!
 
SC Tom said:
You don't say what notebook you have, but most have (had) a method of
restoring the BIOS settings to default. The older Compaq's had to be
unplugged, have the battery removed, then use a paper clip to press a
recessed button on the bottom for a few seconds. I haven't had to try it
with my Gateway or the HP I had, so I'm not certain if it's an option any
more. If it is, you might try that, then boot to BIOS and see if the drive
is recognized. How old is this notebook?
Click to expand...

this is an HP Pavillion dv6000, and I didn't open up the case, but did reset
to defaults the BIOS settings... then altered the couple I wanted.

After googling the error message, I ran across a note that suggested turning
off the SATA option and see if the legacy drivers would work, so, just for
yucks I disabled the SATA option, and wonder of wonders, it booted up!!! I
don't remember having to do that when first installing XP, but it's been a
while and my memory isn't too good anymore. So, it's working anyway, I've
spent the last 3 hrs. cleaning out the malware, and installing new AV and
defragging. I will run the chkdsk before returning it just to check the
drive, but I think it is probaby fine. Couldn't hurt to run it anyway just
so I know.
SC Tom
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help Tom.

niteowl
 
niteowl said:
this is an HP Pavillion dv6000, and I didn't open up the case, but did
reset to defaults the BIOS settings... then altered the couple I wanted.

After googling the error message, I ran across a note that suggested
turning off the SATA option and see if the legacy drivers would work, so,
just for yucks I disabled the SATA option, and wonder of wonders, it
booted up!!! I don't remember having to do that when first installing XP,
but it's been a while and my memory isn't too good anymore. So, it's
working anyway, I've spent the last 3 hrs. cleaning out the malware, and
installing new AV and defragging. I will run the chkdsk before returning
it just to check the drive, but I think it is probaby fine. Couldn't hurt
to run it anyway just so I know.


Thanks for the help Tom.

niteowl
Click to expand...
You're welcome. Glad it's working for you now!
 
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