Windows Not Starting (Possible Hard Drive Problem)

FrostyNoire

Solid State Member
Messages
9
Location
USA
Windows freezes on the starting screen and I don't know how to fix it. First I would like to say this has happened before, both times I took my laptop with me to school and when I got there it would not start up. I sent it in to someone, I believe they just backed up my files and just wiped it, I'm not exactly sure though. I have no real way to contact them to ask what they did.

For what I've tried to do this time:
At first I tried to do a system repair and it came up with no problems beside saying something was wrong with my hard drive I believe. I tried googling the problem and nothing really came up so I then tried a few more things,
I tried to get into safe mode and while it did load up it then froze and I was unable to do anything.
Next I tried to do a system restore, this part took a good 6+hours, I had two spots to restore to but the first tries for each failed, the third time seemed like it went through but it froze on the completed screen instead of restarting like it should have. I eventually manually turned the laptop off and now I'm stuck at square one again.

My laptop came with Windows 7 pre-installed so I can't even try to just re-install it from a cd.
My laptop is from Lenovo, ideapad Y580.
Intel core i7
Nvidia Geforce GTX 660M (I believe this is the graphic card?)

Is there anything I can do? Will I need to replace the hard drive? (Is that possible for a laptop?) And if so, would it just be cheaper to get a new one? Since I've had this problem before and it was fixed, if only temporarily, I would like to try and do that myself instead of paying another $120 just for it to fail again. I really need my laptop working again for my school work, I'm currently using my very old one, and while I'm managing for now it's not going to last.
 
Windows freezes on the starting screen and I don't know how to fix it. First I would like to say this has happened before, both times I took my laptop with me to school and when I got there it would not start up. I sent it in to someone, I believe they just backed up my files and just wiped it, I'm not exactly sure though. I have no real way to contact them to ask what they did.

For what I've tried to do this time:
At first I tried to do a system repair and it came up with no problems beside saying something was wrong with my hard drive I believe. I tried googling the problem and nothing really came up so I then tried a few more things,
I tried to get into safe mode and while it did load up it then froze and I was unable to do anything.
Next I tried to do a system restore, this part took a good 6+hours, I had two spots to restore to but the first tries for each failed, the third time seemed like it went through but it froze on the completed screen instead of restarting like it should have. I eventually manually turned the laptop off and now I'm stuck at square one again.

My laptop came with Windows 7 pre-installed so I can't even try to just re-install it from a cd.
My laptop is from Lenovo, ideapad Y580.
Intel core i7
Nvidia Geforce GTX 660M (I believe this is the graphic card?)

Is there anything I can do? Will I need to replace the hard drive? (Is that possible for a laptop?) And if so, would it just be cheaper to get a new one? Since I've had this problem before and it was fixed, if only temporarily, I would like to try and do that myself instead of paying another $120 just for it to fail again. I really need my laptop working again for my school work, I'm currently using my very old one, and while I'm managing for now it's not going to last.

I'd suggest running a Disk Check on the HDD.
Legal Download from DigitalRiver: Windows 7 SP1, 13 languages

Download the ISO for the version of Win7 you have for your laptop. Burn it to a DVD using something like IMGBurn, or if you're on Windows 7 on your current laptop, you can burn it using the built-in ISO burner.

Boot off of the DVD, and choose the "Repair my Computer" option. Select Command Prompt and type in:

chkdsk c: /f /r

Let it run. May take a while. If something is indeed wrong with the drive to the point it's about to fail... I'd get a Linux LiveCD (such as Ubuntu), boot off of the LiveCD on that system, and plug in an external HDD or USB drive (enough space to back up important documents and such), and back up your important files to the external drive, if you don't have them backed up already.

Then you can buy a new HDD (or SSD, up to you and what your budget is), install Windows with the Win7 DVD you burned that I mentioned at the beginning of my post, and use the key that's on the sticker on the bottom of your laptop (hence why I said to get the right version of Win7 for your laptop, i.e. Home or Pro - make sure you get the x64 (64-bit) disc as well).
 
Laptop HDD's are inexpensive and usually easy to replace if you find that to be the origin of your problem. I think you can get 500gb drives for 50-60 bucks.

However if you have the money I would definitely look in to putting in an SSD vs old school drives.
 
I'd suggest running a Disk Check on the HDD.
Legal Download from DigitalRiver: Windows 7 SP1, 13 languages

Download the ISO for the version of Win7 you have for your laptop. Burn it to a DVD using something like IMGBurn, or if you're on Windows 7 on your current laptop, you can burn it using the built-in ISO burner.

Boot off of the DVD, and choose the "Repair my Computer" option. Select Command Prompt and type in:

chkdsk c: /f /r

Let it run. May take a while. If something is indeed wrong with the drive to the point it's about to fail... I'd get a Linux LiveCD (such as Ubuntu), boot off of the LiveCD on that system, and plug in an external HDD or USB drive (enough space to back up important documents and such), and back up your important files to the external drive, if you don't have them backed up already.

Then you can buy a new HDD (or SSD, up to you and what your budget is), install Windows with the Win7 DVD you burned that I mentioned at the beginning of my post, and use the key that's on the sticker on the bottom of your laptop (hence why I said to get the right version of Win7 for your laptop, i.e. Home or Pro - make sure you get the x64 (64-bit) disc as well).


I don't think the hard drive maybe the problem here. :/
Can he boot windows 7 startup repair and check the system restore options.
Its sound like windows update may have downloaded and updated some hardware or software that doesn't work.
Or it could be hardware related, if the hard drive were to show signs of dying.
Windows and his system bios would have notified him of that.
 
I don't think the hard drive maybe the problem here. :/
Can he boot windows 7 startup repair and check the system restore options.
Its sound like windows update may have downloaded and updated some hardware or software that doesn't work.
Or it could be hardware related, if the hard drive were to show signs of dying.
Windows and his system bios would have notified him of that.

Not if it's just bad sectors, or if SMART reporting is turned off for some reason.

First thing to do is checking the HDD from chkdsk, as I suggested. Especially if it's taking 6+ hours to do a simple System Restore - I'd be looking at the HDD first. Even if it is just scanning for bad sectors w/ chkdsk.
 
I'd suggest running a Disk Check on the HDD.
Legal Download from DigitalRiver: Windows 7 SP1, 13 languages

Download the ISO for the version of Win7 you have for your laptop. Burn it to a DVD using something like IMGBurn, or if you're on Windows 7 on your current laptop, you can burn it using the built-in ISO burner.

Boot off of the DVD, and choose the "Repair my Computer" option. Select Command Prompt and type in:

chkdsk c: /f /r

Let it run. May take a while. If something is indeed wrong with the drive to the point it's about to fail... I'd get a Linux LiveCD (such as Ubuntu), boot off of the LiveCD on that system, and plug in an external HDD or USB drive (enough space to back up important documents and such), and back up your important files to the external drive, if you don't have them backed up already.

Then you can buy a new HDD (or SSD, up to you and what your budget is), install Windows with the Win7 DVD you burned that I mentioned at the beginning of my post, and use the key that's on the sticker on the bottom of your laptop (hence why I said to get the right version of Win7 for your laptop, i.e. Home or Pro - make sure you get the x64 (64-bit) disc as well).

My laptop has the x64 Home Premium, so I downloaded and burned that version onto a dvd but when I got to the "Repair my Computer" option it said it wasn't compatible. I then tried the x86 version but my laptop didn't read it for some reason.
I tried the chkdsk c: /f /r from the command prompt in system recovery options but it says "Windows had checked the file system and found no problems."

Is there anything else I can do now besides going out and buying a new hdd?
 
My laptop has the x64 Home Premium, so I downloaded and burned that version onto a dvd but when I got to the "Repair my Computer" option it said it wasn't compatible. I then tried the x86 version but my laptop didn't read it for some reason.
I tried the chkdsk c: /f /r from the command prompt in system recovery options but it says "Windows had checked the file system and found no problems."

Is there anything else I can do now besides going out and buying a new hdd?

Try these links instead
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...download/709dcc12-d120-435d-91cd-52e1dd0f4c24
http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-58997.iso

Next download

Microsoft Store

USB 4gb or 8gb flash drive is recommended, although dvd drive is better if your laptop doesn't boot off flash drives.
Just a future note if you ever start out with reinstalling windows 7 or windows 8 use the original version first.
Then you let windows update install what you want.
Been doing that for 10 years straight with most windows os.
Never had a direct issue not unless the iso or disk was damaged.
 
My laptop has the x64 Home Premium, so I downloaded and burned that version onto a dvd but when I got to the "Repair my Computer" option it said it wasn't compatible. I then tried the x86 version but my laptop didn't read it for some reason.
I tried the chkdsk c: /f /r from the command prompt in system recovery options but it says "Windows had checked the file system and found no problems."

Is there anything else I can do now besides going out and buying a new hdd?

From the command prompt again, run: sfc /scannow

This will check your system files and verify they are not corrupt.
 
Try these links instead
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit ISO Download? - Microsoft Community
http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-58997.iso

Next download

Microsoft Store

USB 4gb or 8gb flash drive is recommended, although dvd drive is better if your laptop doesn't boot off flash drives.
Just a future note if you ever start out with reinstalling windows 7 or windows 8 use the original version first.
Then you let windows update install what you want.
Been doing that for 10 years straight with most windows os.
Never had a direct issue not unless the iso or disk was damaged.

I still ran into the problem of it saying it wasn't compatible. So I've gone out and bought a new hdd. Do you know where I could download the original windows 7?
 
I still ran into the problem of it saying it wasn't compatible. So I've gone out and bought a new hdd. Do you know where I could download the original windows 7?

I don't know many legit sites that may have windows 7 original download.
However I can offer you this:
Windows 7 Home Premium Download

Read through this carefully and follow exactly what they say.
If you're still wanting the original contact microsft directly:
1 (800) 642-7676 (Consumer)
Microsoft Corporation, Customer service
 
Back
Top Bottom