Windows 7 Suddenly Won't Boot

[tsuki2000]

My friend's laptop (ASUS G72GX) won't boot into Windows 7. Specs:

Windows 7 x64 Home Premium
Intel Core 2 Duo P8700
6 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M


He said it worked fine in his room and then he brought it downstairs (I'm assuming he did a hard power off by pressing the power button) and that's when it stopped working. Here are some things it does:


-After pressing the power button, the ASUS logo will appear (this happens during POST) and then the screen goes and stays blank.
-Sometimes, it gets to a screen that gives the option of starting Windows normally or running Startup Repair.
-Startup Repair hangs at random places (progress bar fills fast and then completely stops).
-If the option to start Windows normally is chosen, it either hangs at the 'Starting Windows' screen (Windows 7 logo does not animate) or flashes a blue screen that is much too quick to read (just a fraction of a second) and then the laptop restarts.

I can get into the BIOS options and everything seems normal, including temps (though I'm not sure how high they were when the problem started). However, upon exiting the options, the problems above proceed as normal.

I also tried hitting both F8 and F12 during boot, but can't get to the screen that would let me start in Safe Mode since it hangs at the Starting Windows screen.


I'm kind of at a loss here. My friend's not exactly careful with his laptop, but this is the first time I've seen a computer refuse to boot like this. Any suggestions?


EDIT: I tried unplugging it and booting up on battery power. It made it to the login screen just fine. Then I plugged the AC adapter back in and it still boots fine. My friend's AC adapter had some water damage a little while ago but has been working fine since. Could this possible have something to do with the AC adapter?

 

[pjmelect]

Probably the hard disk is damaged, when hard disks are switched off in a laptop they can stand quite a bit of knocking but if the hard drive is still spinning then they are very sensitive to knocks. A faulty hard drive that has been damaged in this way can exhibit strange and generally unreliable behaviour. Try downloading and running the manufacturers hard disk diagnostic utility from their web site. The moral of this story is don't move a laptop when it is on.

 

[jsphdickens]

I think it is a hard drive problem too. I would access the hard drive on the bottom of the laptop and see if it is even running. Then I would put in the hard drive from another hard drive and see if it get's past POST.

 

[Kycrossroads]

My friend's laptop (ASUS G72GX) won't boot into Windows 7. Specs:

Windows 7 x64 Home Premium
Intel Core 2 Duo P8700
6 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M


He said it worked fine in his room and then he brought it downstairs (I'm assuming he did a hard power off by pressing the power button) and that's when it stopped working. Here are some things it does:


-After pressing the power button, the ASUS logo will appear (this happens during POST) and then the screen goes and stays blank.
-Sometimes, it gets to a screen that gives the option of starting Windows normally or running Startup Repair.
-Startup Repair hangs at random places (progress bar fills fast and then completely stops).
-If the option to start Windows normally is chosen, it either hangs at the 'Starting Windows' screen (Windows 7 logo does not animate) or flashes a blue screen that is much too quick to read (just a fraction of a second) and then the laptop restarts.

I can get into the BIOS options and everything seems normal, including temps (though I'm not sure how high they were when the problem started). However, upon exiting the options, the problems above proceed as normal.

I also tried hitting both F8 and F12 during boot, but can't get to the screen that would let me start in Safe Mode since it hangs at the Starting Windows screen.


I'm kind of at a loss here. My friend's not exactly careful with his laptop, but this is the first time I've seen a computer refuse to boot like this. Any suggestions?


EDIT: I tried unplugging it and booting up on battery power. It made it to the login screen just fine. Then I plugged the AC adapter back in and it still boots fine. My friend's AC adapter had some water damage a little while ago but has been working fine since. Could this possible have something to do with the AC adapter?

I have a Toshiba laptop and mine just very SUDDENLY started doing the same EXACT thing!! Was fine last night when I correctly shut it down, then this morning when I turned it on it just lagged and lagged...After about 5 minutes it brought me to the log in screen, and after I entered my pass it was another 10 minutes just thinking & thinking at the welcome page. FINALLY it changed to a solid black screen with only a cursor visible and took another 20 minutes before my desktop started loading. Starting up of the desktop items took FOREVER....and I am a super freak about misconfig and not letting unnecessary things run at startup.

Another thing I noticed was that in addition to the boot up problems this morning, the Audio Service is now not working....and it continues to run repeated virus scans over and over.....this action is off task from the scheduled scans and once it completes and says it is done, it just starts its self all over again. I am completely BAFFLED.

I have not checked email in MONTHS and basically the only thing I have used the laptop for in well over a week was to play a card game offline that I downloaded from WildTangent. I am using Avast, everything is up to date. I quick scan daily and full scan once a week. Additionally I run a defrag monthly and the last one was on the 16th. IF this is hardware related...then it comes at a HORRIBLE time...My warranty expired Jan. 1st LOL JUST MY LUCK!

One more thing, I CAN get in very quickly in safe mode....and after a quick Google of the subject...it appears to be happening to A LOT of people...

Thanks in advance for any enlightenment

 

[olelundan]

Hi tsuki2000
Got exactly the same problem - did you find any solution?

I have a Toshiba laptop and mine just very SUDDENLY started doing the same EXACT thing!! Was fine last night when I correctly shut it down, then this morning when I turned it on it just lagged and lagged...After about 5 minutes it brought me to the log in screen, and after I entered my pass it was another 10 minutes just thinking & thinking at the welcome page. FINALLY it changed to a solid black screen with only a cursor visible and took another 20 minutes before my desktop started loading. Starting up of the desktop items took FOREVER....and I am a super freak about misconfig and not letting unnecessary things run at startup.

Another thing I noticed was that in addition to the boot up problems this morning, the Audio Service is now not working....and it continues to run repeated virus scans over and over.....this action is off task from the scheduled scans and once it completes and says it is done, it just starts its self all over again. I am completely BAFFLED.

I have not checked email in MONTHS and basically the only thing I have used the laptop for in well over a week was to play a card game offline that I downloaded from WildTangent. I am using Avast, everything is up to date. I quick scan daily and full scan once a week. Additionally I run a defrag monthly and the last one was on the 16th. IF this is hardware related...then it comes at a HORRIBLE time...My warranty expired Jan. 1st LOL JUST MY LUCK!

One more thing, I CAN get in very quickly in safe mode....and after a quick Google of the subject...it appears to be happening to A LOT of people...

Thanks in advance for any enlightenment

 

[tsuki2000]

Hi tsuki2000
Got exactly the same problem - did you find any solution?

I'm sorry to say it's been a bit too long now for me to remember what happened at that point. His laptop eventually started smoking and completely died, but I don't remember how long after the problem that happened.

At this point, I'd tend to agree with the second post in this thread -- that it's a potential hard drive problem. If you're still having trouble, you might want to try booting Windows from a disc. If you don't have one, you can download Windows 7 from Microsoft here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/shop/download-windows-7 and burn it to a DVD.

You should be able to access repair/system recovery options there (you can look at this for reference: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/what-are-the-system-recovery-options-in-windows-7 -- Scroll down and click the "To open the System Recovery Options menu using the Windows 7 installation disc or a USB flash drive, or a system repair disc" option).

If that doesn't work, that last thing you could try would be to use the disc to reinstall Windows, though be aware that, by doing so, you'll lose everything on your hard drive.

If you can't install Windows from the disc, then it's very likely that your hard drive has failed.



I wish I could offer more help, but my friend's laptop was a pretty strange case. It started working after I posted and kept doing so until it smoked. I just wish I could remember how long it took to die so I could guess as to whether or not the problems were related.

 

[dodger46]

Hi tsuki2000
Got exactly the same problem - did you find any solution?

Have you tried resetting your laptop to factory? Back up all your data/settings first. If it fails it would indicate a probable HDD problem, in which case you'll need a new drive and an installation disk as suggested above
Toshiba reset to Factory
1.Press and hold the 0 (zero) key and at the same time, tap the power button once to switch on your laptop.
2. When the machine starts beeping release the 0 key.
3. When prompted select ‘Yes’ to continue with system recovery.
4. Select ‘Recovery of Factory Default Software’ click ‘Next’.
5. Select Recover to out-of-box state. Click Next again.
7. Click Next to Start recovery

 

[olelundan]

Hi dodger46 & tsuki2000

It turned out that my laptop worked fine from failsafe, so don't think it was HDD related. From failsafe I tried: Run - msconfig - Diagnostic start - then I tried to exclude the services and drivers that worked.
When I finished working through the list and none of the services/drivers had been causing any problems???, I turned back on to Normal start and the laptop booted normally and has been behaving normally since - a bit weird.
But thanks a lot for your answers it could come in handy later.

Kind regards
olelundan

 

[Proximon]

Best answer selected by Proximon.

 

[Proximon]

This topic has been closed by Proximon