Reformat disc for Toshiba Portege R205?

[fenixfreak]

Hi all.

I need to reformat my Portege R205-S209 and I am trying to figure out if it originally came with a reformat/windows CD. I purchased the computer as a display model and I didn't get the disc if there was one. I know that sometimes the info is preinstalled and you just have to press a certain key on the boot up screen. Does anyone happen to know off hand if this computer has a CD or not. I've tried the Toshiba website and numerous searches and have had no luck.

In case anyone is wondering, the problem I'm having is that each time I open up any folder in My Documents, the entire folder freezes. I've run countless spyware and virus scans and nothing has been found, and I don't know enough about computers to get too heavily into troubleshooting so I'd just like to reformat.

If anyone can assist me in reformat disc info I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for your help!

Tina

 

[COCOCOOKIE]

Hi,Tina! First off, you wanna find out if there is a CD for your hard drive or you're interested in how to reformat? I don't know about the CD issue but I can help you with your reformat. What version of Windows are you running? I'm assuming that your PC came with Windows pre-installed and that's why you're asking for the CD...If it came with Windows preinstalled then it should've come with what is called a "REcovery CD". That CD would restore and format your system like brand new out of the box, but it will delete all your files. Do you have that CD? If not, you should contact the computer manufacturer and request a copy of that CD; a friend of mine had the same problem with a Sony VAIO and he called Sony and they mailed it to him (after verifying the authenticity of the computer) Post back with more info or any questions,ok? Good Luck!

 

[Jorsoft]

If there is a recovery partition on your hard drive there should be a message regarding it when you boot your computer up. Usually for a couple of seconds your computer will ask you to "Pres F2 for Recovery Console/System Restore" or something like that. Toshiba laptops have always come with restore CDs as long as I've worked with them, yours must have gotten lost as it was a display model. If I remember correctly Toshiba is good about mailing out discs, I think you'll have to pay $10 for it.

 

[COCOCOOKIE]

I was wondering if that freezing only happens with My Documents???? By the way, I don't think you have Recovery Console in your Advanced Boot Options, because you have to install it from the Windows CD onto your hard drive; if you didn't do that ever, then you don't have it. Have you tried in Safe Mode? Does this happen every single time or randomly? If you have your system files corrupted, I can give you an alternate solution for that problem without reformat the hard drive or get the Recovery CD from Toshiba, but answer those questions first to make sure that we're going in the right direction,ok?

 

[fenixfreak]

I was wondering if that freezing only happens with My Documents???? By the way, I don't think you have Recovery Console in your Advanced Boot Options, because you have to install it from the Windows CD onto your hard drive; if you didn't do that ever, then you don't have it. Have you tried in Safe Mode? Does this happen every single time or randomly? If you have your system files corrupted, I can give you an alternate solution for that problem without reformat the hard drive or get the Recovery CD from Toshiba, but answer those questions first to make sure that we're going in the right direction,ok?

Yes I assume my system files are corrupt, as this is a problem that occurs everytime. What is your solution? Thanks!

 

[COCOCOOKIE]

Hi. Okay, you can try doing a System File Checker from a Command Prompt. IF you have corrupt system files that utility included in Windows will scan all those files for problems and repair them. If that was the issue, then you shouldn't experience those lock ups anymore. Here is how you do it:
Go to Start>Run> type "CMD" and press Enter. Then, at the blinking cursor type:
SFC /SCANNOW
and press Enter. Leave a space between SFC and the slash. Once finished, reboot and try doing those tasks to see if you got rid of the problem. If it didn't solve the issue, it could be due to the dll cache directory (where a good copy of your system files is stored) is also corrupt, but there's another command to fix that and then try the scannow again with "good" files now. Let me know how it went so we can go further or close this post as solved and other people with similar issues can use it. Good Luck!

 

[fenixfreak]

Hi. Okay, you can try doing a System File Checker from a Command Prompt. IF you have corrupt system files that utility included in Windows will scan all those files for problems and repair them. If that was the issue, then you shouldn't experience those lock ups anymore. Here is how you do it:
Go to Start>Run> type "CMD" and press Enter. Then, at the blinking cursor type:
SFC /SCANNOW
and press Enter. Leave a space between SFC and the slash. Once finished, reboot and try doing those tasks to see if you got rid of the problem. If it didn't solve the issue, it could be due to the dll cache directory (where a good copy of your system files is stored) is also corrupt, but there's another command to fix that and then try the scannow again with "good" files now. Let me know how it went so we can go further or close this post as solved and other people with similar issues can use it. Good Luck!

Nope. No luck with that either.

 

[COCOCOOKIE]

Okay, well let's try the other option to rule out that it's a corrupted file system. Follow the same procedure but instead of typing SCANNOW, type:
SFC /PURGECACHE
Reboot, and then repeat the procedure in the previous post, with the SCANNOW only,ok? Post back with results,please.

 

[fenixfreak]

Still no change.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but when this happens the CPU Usage displayed on the ctrl-alt-dlt screen goes up to 100%, until i hit"end task" on the menu. I don't know if that info helps you in anyway, but just thought I would mention it.

 

[COCOCOOKIE]

Hi. Well, the fact that it didn't work doesn't mean that you don't have corrupt system files, it seems Windows wasn't able to repair them. Anyway, let me ask you this: How long has this been going on? Have you installed any application right before this issue started? Also, What anti-virus or Spyware have you run? We are down to a couple of options now, so once you answer these questions I'll be able to tell you the most suitable. Post back,ok?