I think my laptop is fried

[carnageX]

I backed it up awhile back. Mainly just pics from the camera and phone. I would like to be able to get on again to do a quick backup if I could. Not sure what to do about it though.

If you burn a Linux LiveCD (such as Ubuntu), you can boot off of that and browse the contents of the HDD and back up anything you think may have missed.

You can either burn it to a CD or make a bootable flash drive using something like UNetBootin.

 

[Omoplata]

If you burn a Linux LiveCD (such as Ubuntu), you can boot off of that and browse the contents of the HDD and back up anything you think may have missed.

You can either burn it to a CD or make a bootable flash drive using something like UNetBootin.

I don't understand why I can't get it to boot off the Windows boot disc. It gets to a part where it says loading Windows files right after that screen I posted, gets to 25% and goes right back to that screen no matter what I do. I took the HDD out and turned it on and it comes up in preload mode, but I can't really do anything from there.

 

[carnageX]

Are you sure you're booting off of the disc and it's not trying to boot off of the HDD still?

 

[Omoplata]

Are you sure you're booting off of the disc and it's not trying to boot off of the HDD still?

It's definitely booting off the hdd. I can't make it go through the disc.

 

[carnageX]

Change the boot order or go to the Temp Boot Menu (usually F12) and select your disc drive. Then you should get a prompt "Press any key to boot off of DVD..." for a few seconds to boot off of it.

 

[Omoplata]

Change the boot order or go to the Temp Boot Menu (usually F12) and select your disc drive. Then you should get a prompt "Press any key to boot off of DVD..." for a few seconds to boot off of it.

I can't get to that menu for some reason. All I seem to be able to do is get to the safe mode menu which just brings me back to the same screen regardless of which option I pick.

 

[carnageX]

You have to press the appropriate button on the HP splash screen, not after the splash screen.

 

[Omoplata]

You have to press the appropriate button on the HP splash screen, not after the splash screen.

I got to it now. Was F2. Trying to find the installation disc. All I have are the recovery discs.

 

[carnageX]

The recovery disc may not have the Startup Repair / Command Prompt option. If it doesn't...let me know and I can link you to an actual install disc.

 

[Omoplata]

The recovery disc may not have the Startup Repair / Command Prompt option. If it doesn't...let me know and I can link you to an actual install disc.

I'm pretty sure it doesn't. The only options I get are ones to recover the hdd or do partitions.