[bestdarncomputer]

I have a Toshiba L645 that will boot to bios and will 'start windows' but ends in a black screen with a curser.

At this point I am just wanting to perform a system recovery, full system restore to our of the box conditions. I have attempted to perform the actions with F1, F8, F10, and 0 and am still yet to be able to access the Advanced Boot Settings. I attempted to put in another recovery Disk from another Toshiba running Windows 7 but end up in the exact same place. Also attempted to use Recovers Media from Toshiba but still end up in the same place.

Am running Memtest86 at the moment to rule out a memory problem. Thinking about just running DBAN on it and seeing if I can't install a fresh copy of Windows 7 from the Toshiba Windows 7 recovery media that I have but really don't want to attempt that as this point.

Any ideas of something else I could try at this point?

[bestdarncomputer]

Ran Memtest and everything checks out okay after 2 passes. Now it's doing something completely different.

Starts, gets to post, then pops up with.

------------------------------------------
Intel UNDI, PXE-2.0 (build 2003)
Copyright (c) 1997-2003 Intel Corporation

For Atheros PCIE Ethernet Controller v2.0.1.9(12/15/09)

Check cable Connection!
PXE-M0F: exiting Intel PXE Rom.
No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key
------------------------------------------------------------

Checked bios, hard drive still shows up, and everything seems to be right, restored to defaults to make sure and still get the same thing.

[bestdarncomputer]

Attempted to put in recovery disk from different Toshiba, as well as Recovery media from Toshiba for Windows 7, and in both cases I get this.

"Windows is loading files..."

This loads full.... screen blinks a few times, and loading bar appears, optical drive stops spinning the CD. After a few mins screen goes black, curser appears, and it sits there doing nothing. I am still able to move the curser around the screen, but nothing ever shows up.

[LagunaGTO]

Chances are your HDD is failing. Can you try a different Hard Drive?

[bestdarncomputer]

yeah I came to that conclusion about 5am. Attempted to order a replacement from TigerDirect.com but it would seem they're out of stock due to flood in Tiawan.

[LagunaGTO]

Originally Posted by bestdarncomputer

yeah I came to that conclusion about 5am. Attempted to order a replacement from TigerDirect.com but it would seem they're out of stock due to flood in Tiawan.

Yeah, unfortunately it's expecting to be like that until first quarter 2012. You might want to go local or attempt Newegg. HDDs will be short on supply soon. WD is taking a 70% production loss for at minimum 2 months.

Please mark your thread as solved!

[SUEOHIO]

If the hard drive is indeed failing if you can remove the harddrive try to salvage whats on there like documents, pix, etc before it goes completely.Im sure local computer repair places should have hard drives in stock. Whenever ive needed one i always buy local and that way i have one immediately with no waiting.