18 replies to this topic

[johnboy]

My wife's laptop is a Toshiba Satellite U305-S2808 running Vista. When we turn it on we are prompted to go into normal startup or repair. Either selection results in a black screen with the cursor. The cursor can be moved but nothing happens, we have let it sit for several hours with no luck.

It may be worth mentioning that the battery in this laptop is completely shot. What I mean by that is without AC power the laptop will not remain on for more than a couple of minutes. I have tried booting the laptop with the battery installed and without the battery installed. When I boot without the battery installed it will turn itself off before it gets to the black screen. For further clarity, this is with the battery removed and the charger plugged in.

Any suggestions??

[Broni]

Is this some latest occurrence?
Was it booting fine before?
Any recent changes to computer hardware/software?

[johnboy]

Broni, we cannot think of anything that was done to the laptop. No hardware for sure and we don't think any software either.

[johnboy]

And yes this just occurred, we haven't really had problems with the laptop previously.

[Broni]

Let's see, if we can look at your computer booting from an external source.

Please download OTLPE (filesize 120,9 MB)

• When downloaded double click on OTLPENet.exe and make sure there is a blank CD in your CD drive. This will automatically create a bootable CD.
  
• Reboot your system using the boot CD you just created.
  
  • Note : If you do not know how to set your computer to boot from CD follow the steps HERE
• Your system should now display a REATOGO-X-PE desktop.
  
• Depending on your type of internet connection, you should be able to get online as well so you can access this topic more easily.
  
• Double-click on the OTLPE icon.
  
• When asked Do you wish to load the remote registry, select Yes
  
• When asked Do you wish to load remote user profile(s) for scanning, select Yes
  
• Ensure the box Automatically Load All Remaining Users" is checked and press OK
  
• OTL should now start.
  
• Press Run Scan to start the scan.
  
• When finished, the file will be saved in drive C:\OTL.txt
  
• Copy this file to your USB drive if you do not have internet connection on this system
  
• Please post the contents of the OTL.txt file in your reply.

[johnboy]

I did all that you asked. I am getting the same results as before, but instead of a black screen I have a blue one (cursor still there and movable).

[Broni]

Are you sure, you're booting form the CD?
Try the CD, you just created on another working computer and see, if it'll boot.

[johnboy]

The disk works great on my desktop.

I noticed that I get the same blue display as I do on the laptop but it only lasts a few moments and then begins setting up the reatogo software.

So I know the disk works now, also when I start with the laptop I get the "starting Reatogo-X-PE" status bar. But like I said before it then goes to the blue screen with only a cursor.

[Broni]

Hmmm....
We can surely exclude bad hard drive, since it doesn't participate in booting process.
It leaves us with RAM, or motherboard as possible culprits.

Try to reseat RAM.
If that doesn't help and you have more than 1 RAM module installed, try to start computer with one RAM stick at a time.

[johnboy]

I have two RAM sticks. If I place either one of them in one of the card slots the laptop doesn't want to boot at all. If I place either one of them in the other card slot I get the screen below. I get this screen for a few moments and then it turns off and reboots. When it reboots it goes back to the black screen with the cursor (original issue).

[Broni]

Error 0x000000ED translates to UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME, which may be caused by different culprits.
In most cases, it's either corrupt MBR, or a hard drive itself is having problems, but what's confusing here is the fact, that you can't boot from a CD, when hard drive actually doesn't even participate in booting process.

Let's try one more thing....
Place 1 of RAM sticks in a slot #2 (the one, which gives you the above BSOD) and try to boot from OTLPE CD again.

[johnboy]

Okay sounds like a good idea, I'll check it tomorrow evening and let you know what happens. Thanks for the help.

[Broni]

Sure thing :)

[johnboy]

Well booting from the single RAM stick did not change anything. I get the screen below when booting from the CD and the same screen but black background when booting from the harddrive. Do you have any other suggestions?

[Broni]

You may have some other problem then.
Motherboard maybe?

[johnboy]

Excuse my ignorance, but can I remove the harddrive from this laptop and place in another to retrieve the data that is on it? If so is there any configuration that needs to take place or just pop it in and turn it on?

[Broni]

You sure can.
The easiest way would be to buy USB hard drive enclosure (~$20).

[johnboy]

So that is a device I can place the harddrive in and connect to another computer via USB to access the data? Never heard of one.

[Broni]

Yes. Any electronic store should have them.