Toshiba Equium L20 197 wont boot

[Linny40]

Why do i do it :)

Ive been given a Toshiba laptop to look at. Apparently it was ok, got a virus and the guy ran Virmin. They couldnt do anything and now this laptop will not even boot.

Have tried it in safe mode but it goes thro afew lines and then goes off and tried to restart with the black screen asking if you want to boot in safe mode or windows normally. I have even tried to use the boot form last good configeration, but same thing goes off and tried to restart in boot up mode. Have tried booting using various F keys but no joy. Ive googled and no info but do know from google that its running XP

so have no idea what virmin have done to it. He had no back up for it but needs urgent docs from it. his av he has was erm Norton!! ( told him it was pants) is there a way we can get into it or does it need dumping. oh by the way his screen is damaged somehow got lots of lines down it

 

[Linny40]

<!-- google_ad_section_start -->taken a few piccies to try and help<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

photos added in wrong order what you see is photo 3 2 1 then 4 sorry its the way they seem to add on phone.Sorry photos are really bad was sitting on the floor whilst it was attached to my monitor. Will try again tomorrow and take better clearer photos :(

the last photo photo 4 is as far as it gets before it goes off again. It goes so quick its hard to get a photo. I have tried every choice on the list but same thing happens just tried to reboot and goes back to start windows normally or in safe mode. Will not even start from last good config.
You can also see what the screen is like if you press on it in the middle ( top by frame) it will change slightly so you can see more which is what i had done)
so not sure if we can go anywhere with it or if its just a case of me reinstalling xp for him. BUT would that make a difference to the screen - could that be a driver issue or the monitor on the laptop as it works on, if you plug into another screen you get a prefer picture.

 

[sinno]

Linny that looks to me to be more like a harddrive failure,could well be wrong,is the windows you have to reinstall a xp with the repair xp on it and the same version as on it,you could put that in and try it if windows wont boot at all,if you had a external dock i would say take it out and try it on your own computer after scanning with your own antivirus,see if you can get anything off it,reformat with easus and run the disc test to see if its fecked

 

[Linny40]

Xp disc ive got i was given long time ago gt no idea what edition or if it has repair. think laptop is home will look tomorrow. Got no dock to put hard drive in. It does click when it tries to boot. He was trying the share his itunes from that to a note book and it packed up so thought it was a virus n rang virmin who tried to remotley look at it they gave up and it went wrong - typical vm!!!!!
Is it the sort of thing a shop would be able to do at a cheap price or would they auto just say reinstall? Ive never taken a laptop apart so got no idea if HD is easy to take out, put in a case etc, as its not mine im a bit scared imcase i damage it - but then it doesnt work now so cant do much more damage could i ??

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[sinno]

Its quite easy to remove harddrive,also if your going to be repairing these laptops get yourself a dock,what version of xp is running on the laptop and i will find a repair disc for you,i had to use 1 in the past so i should be able to find it again

 

[Linny40]

Sticker on front of laptop just says xp & microsoft key gives no indication but looking on google on toshiba site it says

Equium L20-197
Part Number : PSL2ZE-001002CY
Key Features
- Intel® Celeron® M processor 360
- Windows® XP Home Edition
- 40 GB Hard Disk Drive
- 256 MB DDR2 RAM
- 15" TFT colour display
- DVD Super Multi (Double Layer) drive


Take it i can get a dock from the likes of ebay or some where - its just a case to put the harddrive in.

I started skating and offered to look at one of the coaches laptops and now seem to be part of the family :) helping with what i can, i do get help with my skates and maybe 1:1 lessons.

This laptop belongs to an ex Olympic medalist pairs skater - not quite Torville & Dean - bit before them .

 

[sinno]

This would be a good DOCK,older laptops which im sure that one is will have a ide connection as opposed to a sata connection.Will see what i can do with the disc but im not sure if home version came with the repair element,i will look thou,256mb of ram is also criminaly low,just a thought also,make sure the fan is not clogged,will get back to you on the disc

 

[Linny40]

Thanks sinno will look at that. Here is a photo with all the bits i could take off but have no idea whats what. Looked st fan and doesnt look clogged but cant see without pulling it all apart

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[Linny40]

After leaving for 24 hrs tried again pressing f5 got as far ad second pic the it quickly goes to the blue windows screen but disappears before u can see what its trying to do. Got a vid of it but blink and you miss it

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[Linny40]

[video=youtube;JxaIBZpPNv8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxaIBZpPNv8[/video]
not sure if link is correct from iphone

Sent from my iPhone

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editted on pc to work.

 

[axxxo]

See the option in one of your pictures that says

Disable automatic restart on system failure

Select that and you will be able to view the blue screen error that appears.

Regardless of what it says youll have to follow sinnos advice of either the repair disc or removing the hard drive and connecting it to another computer.

 

[Linny40]

axxxo did try that before but same just tried to restart with the black/white screen. Maybe now its been left will leave it until tomorrow and retry to see what that screen says. IF there is no repair disc for xp home will have to get a dock and remove hard drive to see if it is that or not. At least if HD is ok he can get stuff off it then wipe it and sell it for spares as screen is damaged.
I will pop to Maplins and see what they have or a small pc shop i know to see if i can get a dock tomorrow

 

[sinno]

Hi Linny sorry im late back to you on this pm'd links for only xp home i could find original,so burn to disc and use original key if necessary also a handy GUIDE

 

[Linny40]

cheers Sinno! Got the image now!

went into a local repair shop to ask for a dock the said bring in laptop and they will check FOC if the Hard drive works or no, so saves me money for now - at least that we we can find out if the hard drive is accessable if not then at least we can try and repair the laptop with the disk. IF hard drive is accessible then i can purchase that dock you suggested to get his info off. IF the harddrive is damaged which probably means laptop is no good then shop will buy off you - if thats what my friend wants to do

 

[Linny40]

Took both him and laptop to shop and they managed to get hard drive to work so bought a case and the guy put the drive in case for us. Its a dual case socan use it for IDE or SATA. Once hes taken everything off it we sorry i can put it back on laptop and do the repair disk, that way if anything gets lost it doesnt matter. I now have a happy fella - free 1:1 lessons for me now :) will update once we have put laptop back together

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[sinno]

good to see it wasnt a failed harddrive
Also look HERE and put win 7 on

 

[Linny40]

oh didnt realise it was upgradeable to do that! will put xp back on it and if the screen is ok then maybe he can upgrade - im sure i can put the extra memory in - actually need to do that with my sons g/f's laptop. so you just take out small one and reinsert a larger one ?

 

[Linny40]

update put harddrive into case and we ran checks - well after 3 hrs it had found over 60 nasty objects on Maleware Bytes and was also running MSE - that found all sorts to., so left him to it. he said HD is now clean and finally finished about 9.30 pm.
But he says now he cant get into the files. So ive got to go back to see him on thursday to find out why he cant open the files up that are on the harddrive. Would there be any simple reason for this do you know. Would it be something like because its been taken out the laptop and put on another laptop that for some reason they wont open.

 

[Linny40]

been round to him today and it says there are over 35 gb on the harddrive but cannot get into anything. I have got it here now and doing another virus scan with my avg. it comes up with file names that have a long name wit digest/letters. will do a screenshot once its done the virus check.

Do you think that now its been cleaned all maleware and virus if i put it back in the laptop the laptop might start up and would it then allow us to access the files. here are some screenshots

 

[sinno]

You will need to take ownership of the harddrive in the advanced settings Linny and make sure you include the sub folders HERE
Its a pdf describing the process
Sorry i didnt see your earlier post i would have got back to you sooner also get rid of avg and get Kaspersky for your own sake if your going to be doing all these computers for friends