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dropped laptop acting .... a bit odd. pjstock 01-19-2008
Posted by pjstock on January 19, 2008, 3:49 pm
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 My girlfriend just dropped her Dell Latitude laptop on the floor and
it is acting a little funny.
no visible damage, the screen seems fine, keyboard responds fine.
everything "seems" normal.

However, the screen she was on froze. And on rebooting everything
seems fine, the WIndows XP logo comes up. But, when it gets to
"loading personal settings" it stalls and hangs.

Same thing in Safe Mode.

I don't expect that I can fix whatever is wrong, but I am just trying
to figure out what might have gone wrong. a ding to the HDD requiring
a reinstall of the OS??

any ideas?

Peter

Posted by A Dembinski on January 19, 2008, 11:32 pm
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 Quickest diagnostic I can think of is to attempt to boot the laptop
using a Live Linux CD. This assumes the laptop is able to boot from a CDROM
before it attempts to boot from the HDD. Go here for a list:
http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php
These CD's do not need a functioning HDD in order to bring up the
machine. The Knoppix CD will also drive most common Ethernet & WiFi
adaptors if the laptop is not a real recent vintage. That's the one I use.
A Live Linux CD is a basic tool for any laptop owner, very helpful for a
variety of problems. Everyone should have one right at hand. Friends
who ask me for help with their laptops always get a copy for them to keep on
file, saves me looking for mine at their house.
Assuming the Live CD will work her machine & all its optional parts, then
the HDD is most likely at fault. I suppose the hardware to the HDD could
also be damaged, I don't think that's as likely.
> My girlfriend just dropped her Dell Latitude laptop on the floor and
> it is acting a little funny.
> no visible damage, the screen seems fine, keyboard responds fine.
> everything "seems" normal.
>
> However, the screen she was on froze. And on rebooting everything
> seems fine, the WIndows XP logo comes up. But, when it gets to
> "loading personal settings" it stalls and hangs.
>
> Same thing in Safe Mode.
>
> I don't expect that I can fix whatever is wrong, but I am just trying
> to figure out what might have gone wrong. a ding to the HDD requiring
> a reinstall of the OS??
>
> any ideas?
>
> Peter



Posted by BillW50 on January 20, 2008, 1:12 pm
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A Dembinski typed on Sun, 20 Jan 2008 04:32:09 GMT:
> Quickest diagnostic I can think of is to attempt to boot the
> laptop using a Live Linux CD. This assumes the laptop is able to
> boot from a CDROM before it attempts to boot from the HDD. Go here
> for a list: http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php
> These CD's do not need a functioning HDD in order to bring up the
> machine. The Knoppix CD will also drive most common Ethernet & WiFi
> adaptors if the laptop is not a real recent vintage. That's the one
> I use. A Live Linux CD is a basic tool for any laptop owner, very
> helpful for a variety of problems. Everyone should have one right
> at hand. Friends who ask me for help with their laptops always get
> a copy for them to keep on file, saves me looking for mine at their
> house. Assuming the Live CD will work her machine & all its
> optional parts, then the HDD is most likely at fault. I suppose the
> hardware to the HDD could also be damaged, I don't think that's as
> likely.

Or use a real OS like BartPE on CD or DVD. Why use Linux if you don't
have too? Remember you get what you paid for. :)

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

--
Bill
email: change kom to com


Posted by A Dembinski on January 21, 2008, 5:36 am
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Live Linux CD's are practically no-brainers. Download, burn, & use to boot
your machine. You might have to learn a few Linux commands to do as I
suggested, but I think overall the learning curve for a Live CD is not as
tall & doesn't take as long as setting up a BartPE system. The point of my
original post was getting an OS quickly & cheaply to boot your machine &
test the included hardware without needing an operational HDD.
> A Dembinski typed on Sun, 20 Jan 2008 04:32:09 GMT:
>> Quickest diagnostic I can think of is to attempt to boot the
>> laptop using a Live Linux CD. This assumes the laptop is able to
>> boot from a CDROM before it attempts to boot from the HDD. Go here
>> for a list: http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php
>> These CD's do not need a functioning HDD in order to bring up the
>> machine. The Knoppix CD will also drive most common Ethernet & WiFi
>> adaptors if the laptop is not a real recent vintage. That's the one
>> I use. A Live Linux CD is a basic tool for any laptop owner, very
>> helpful for a variety of problems. Everyone should have one right
>> at hand. Friends who ask me for help with their laptops always get
>> a copy for them to keep on file, saves me looking for mine at their
>> house. Assuming the Live CD will work her machine & all its
>> optional parts, then the HDD is most likely at fault. I suppose the
>> hardware to the HDD could also be damaged, I don't think that's as
>> likely.
>
> Or use a real OS like BartPE on CD or DVD. Why use Linux if you don't have
> too? Remember you get what you paid for. :)
>
> http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
>
> --
> Bill
> email: change kom to com



Posted by pjstock on January 21, 2008, 5:14 pm
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as it happened I had a Ubuntu LInux 7.1 CD on hand (my brother had
installed it on his PC and highly recommended I do the same)
Popped it in and it booted up brilliantly (from CD).
wasn't sure the best way then to verify the state of the HDD, but when
I tried to browse around what looked like the HDD, it came back saying
"could not mount device"

when I tried to save a text file to the hard drive, it also failed to
access the C: drive.

sounds like the HDD is messed up??


> Live Linux CD's are practically no-brainers. Download, burn, & use to boot
> your machine. You might have to learn a few Linux commands to do as I
> suggested, but I think overall the learning curve for a Live CD is not as
> tall & doesn't take as long as setting up a BartPE system. The point of my
> original post was getting an OS quickly & cheaply to boot your machine &
> test the included hardware without needing an operational HDD."BillW50"
>
>
> > A Dembinski typed on Sun, 20 Jan 2008 04:32:09 GMT:
> >> Quickest diagnostic I can think of is to attempt to boot the
> >> laptop using a Live Linux CD. This assumes the laptop is able to
> >> boot from a CDROM before it attempts to boot from the HDD. Go here
> >> for a list:http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php
> >> These CD's do not need a functioning HDD in order to bring up the
> >> machine. The Knoppix CD will also drive most common Ethernet & WiFi
> >> adaptors if the laptop is not a real recent vintage. That's the one
> >> I use. A Live Linux CD is a basic tool for any laptop owner, very
> >> helpful for a variety of problems. Everyone should have one right
> >> at hand. Friends who ask me for help with their laptops always get
> >> a copy for them to keep on file, saves me looking for mine at their
> >> house. Assuming the Live CD will work her machine & all its
> >> optional parts, then the HDD is most likely at fault. I suppose the
> >> hardware to the HDD could also be damaged, I don't think that's as
> >> likely.
>
> > Or use a real OS like BartPE on CD or DVD. Why use Linux if you don't have
> > too? Remember you get what you paid for. :)
>
> >http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
>
> > --
> > Bill
> > email: change kom to com


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