laptop wont start. i think i broke it

[SpikeyJohnson]

The easiest way to get your data off your old machine would be to pull the hard disk out and put it in a dock or case that uses USB. This will let you navigate it like you used to on the new computer. When you copy your old stuff off you can then use the disk as a backup if it is stable.

 

[W.Fovall]

wondows 8 has hidden boot sectors on drive. you need a windows 8 recovery cd to repair boot sector. also the bios can be locked to the factory OS so any tampering can cause it a no boot as Microsoft was getting tired of pirate win os copies... put win 7 on it..

 

[SpikeyJohnson]

You will still be able to put the hard disk in a dock and pull up the drive with a new computer. I do this all the time to back up data from customers computers. The OS does have hidden sectors but they have to do with starting and using that OS. You can still navigate the other partitions via another computer and operating system. I generally use Ubuntu to do this because it ignores permissions and shows all hidden items. The bios can be locked to the Factory OS but that won't stop you from taking the drive out of the machine and connecting it to another computer as a "slave" which will allow your other computer to use it much like an external drive.

Most laptops these days have the recovery "disk" on the hard disk as well. If the laptop won't even start or is completely dead, this is out of the option and in order to get the files off the disk he will have to connect it to another computer for recovery. The only thing that will stop him from getting the files off the hard drive if done this way is if the OS is encrypted which isn't an option unless you are using windows pro, enterprise or ultimate. In these OS's you generally need to select that you want contents encrypted. If this is his personal computer I would think it is running home premium and therefore this is a non-issue.

 

[bribrius]

wondows 8 has hidden boot sectors on drive. you need a windows 8 recovery cd to repair boot sector. also the bios can be locked to the factory OS so any tampering can cause it a no boot as Microsoft was getting tired of pirate win os copies... put win 7 on it..

Microsoft is full of commies... you pay for a computer you should be able to do whatever you want to it their licensing concerns should be their problem not the computer purchasers problem.
just for messing up my day I should work on pirating a windows 8 disc to hand out. Thing is even if I managed to no one would want it because everyone hates windows 8.

 

[bribrius]

You will still be able to put the hard disk in a dock and pull up the drive with a new computer. I do this all the time to back up data from customers computers. The OS does have hidden sectors but they have to do with starting and using that OS. You can still navigate the other partitions via another computer and operating system. I generally use Ubuntu to do this because it ignores permissions and shows all hidden items. The bios can be locked to the Factory OS but that won't stop you from taking the drive out of the machine and connecting it to another computer as a "slave" which will allow your other computer to use it much like an external drive.

Most laptops these days have the recovery "disk" on the hard disk as well. If the laptop won't even start or is completely dead, this is out of the option and in order to get the files off the disk he will have to connect it to another computer for recovery. The only thing that will stop him from getting the files off the hard drive if done this way is if the OS is encrypted which isn't an option unless you are using windows pro, enterprise or ultimate. In these OS's you generally need to select that you want contents encrypted. If this is his personal computer I would think it is running home premium and therefore this is a non-issue.

I think Ubuntu is what got me into this, or rather, trying to remove the Ubuntu partition and dual boot. it is home premium. I don't have a dock. Guessing putting the drive in he other hp is a no go if they are tied to the bios? explains why the recovery cd I made from the other computer didn't work in it as well. Thanks for the info. I still cant figure out why it wouldn't let me do it in disk part or partition manager right in the windows 8. Maybe it is locked somehow and when I forced the partition changes it did something.... Even override didn't work and I still cant wrap my head around that it is almost like it was locked. Maybe a antivirus lock or something ? it had Norton in it.

 

[SpikeyJohnson]

Ubuntu is a very powerful tool if in the right hands. Because it ignores many permissions it will let you ruin things though. What I recommend is buying something like this: Amazon.com: Sabrent Ultra Slim USB 2.0 to 2.5-Inch SATA External Aluminum Hard Drive Enclosure [Black] (EC-UK25): Computers & Accessories and putting the disk in it. You can then boot up your new machine and just plug in the drive like you would a SD card reader or external hard drive and view the stuff and copy it off. The docks work the same way but are more of a "professional" aproach where you aren't going to be moving the drive anywhere other than from the computer, to the dock on the other computer, and then back to the origional computer.

An enclosure will let you keep using the disk after you are done saving all your stuff off it.

 

[SpikeyJohnson]

Here is a video of some older hardware but the same idea.

 

[Jay Vee]

Yes, try the drive in question using USB and see what is still intact. Hopefully in resizing the partitions it didn't do anything destructive with the partitions you need. In the future I would refrain from moving/resizing partitions with data on them using these partition software. Most of the time they'll work fine but it only takes one mistake. And if you must, backup all important stuff before doing.

 

[FITBMX]

Ubuntu is a very powerful tool if in the right hands. Because it ignores many permissions it will let you ruin things though. What I recommend is buying something like this: Amazon.com: Sabrent Ultra Slim USB 2.0 to 2.5-Inch SATA External Aluminum Hard Drive Enclosure [Black] (EC-UK25): Computers & Accessories and putting the disk in it. You can then boot up your new machine and just plug in the drive like you would a SD card reader or external hard drive and view the stuff and copy it off. The docks work the same way but are more of a "professional" aproach where you aren't going to be moving the drive anywhere other than from the computer, to the dock on the other computer, and then back to the origional computer.

An enclosure will let you keep using the disk after you are done saving all your stuff off it.

I am going to have to get one of those, that could be really handy!

 

[robbins.photo]

Sounds like your partitions are messed up and that's why it won't boot. Since you mentioned Ubuntu, I'd put the ubuntu CD/DVD in the drive and try to boot it to the live CD version. This should allow you to access any working partitions on the drive and copy files from them to back them up.

Then I'd wipe the drive in the laptop completely and reinstall from scratch. That will most likely be your best bet.

 

[SpikeyJohnson]

Sounds like your partitions are messed up and that's why it won't boot. Since you mentioned Ubuntu, I'd put the ubuntu CD/DVD in the drive and try to boot it to the live CD version. This should allow you to access any working partitions on the drive and copy files from them to back them up.

Then I'd wipe the drive in the laptop completely and reinstall from scratch. That will most likely be your best bet.

That is a wonderful idea as well. A live boot CD would allow him to get the data off the laptop if it is able to finally boot off the CD. Good thinking Robbins!

 

[bribrius]

Sounds like your partitions are messed up and that's why it won't boot. Since you mentioned Ubuntu, I'd put the ubuntu CD/DVD in the drive and try to boot it to the live CD version. This should allow you to access any working partitions on the drive and copy files from them to back them up.

Then I'd wipe the drive in the laptop completely and reinstall from scratch. That will most likely be your best bet.

I was actually going ahead with the hard drive thing. I comprehend taking out the hard drive. The way things are on 8 I actually wonder if it is a bios problem they seemed linked from the manufacturer and Microsoft now. Not like it used to be. would it even boot from cd? Didnt seem like it wants to boot at all. But then I don't know I am ignorant on the new "ways". Can you flash 8 for a bios repair? Old days just flash the bios and run a recovery cd. I am getting old me thinks. I am missing xp. it sucked but after they did the 214 or so updates over the years to fix it it actually kinda worked. Just when the finally sort the bugs out they out with a new one (LMAO). Remember the constant unregistered dll problem with xp? That was wicked fun. shoot. windows 98 is looking good right now. I think technology passed me by. My kid had to show me how to use my cell phone.

 

[robbins.photo]

Sounds like your partitions are messed up and that's why it won't boot. Since you mentioned Ubuntu, I'd put the ubuntu CD/DVD in the drive and try to boot it to the live CD version. This should allow you to access any working partitions on the drive and copy files from them to back them up.

Then I'd wipe the drive in the laptop completely and reinstall from scratch. That will most likely be your best bet.

I was actually going ahead with the hard drive thing. I comprehend taking out the hard drive. The way things are on 8 I actually wonder if it is a bios problem they seemed linked from the manufacturer and Microsoft now. Not like it used to be. would it even boot from cd? Didnt seem like it wants to boot at all. But then I don't know I am ignorant on the new "ways". Can you flash 8 for a bios repair? Old days just flash the bios and run a recovery cd. I am getting old me thinks. I am missing xp. it sucked but after they did the 214 or so updates over the years to fix it it actually kinda worked. Just when the finally sort the bugs out they out with a new one (LMAO). Remember the constant unregistered dll problem with xp? That was wicked fun. shoot. windows 98 is looking good right now. I think technology passed me by. My kid had to show me how to use my cell phone.

Windows 8 uses UEFI for quicker boot times - unfortunately this also means it's more or less hooked into the BIOS which can be a royal pain.

On a lot of systems, HP's in particular, if you hit the F10 key right after you power up that will get you into the BIOS. A lot of other systems use F12, and quite a few laptops will have F8 or F2 reserved for that purpose. On a lot of the newer windows 8 loads F2 will do the trick.

Windows 8 takes advantage of a new "Secure Boot" system built into UEFI bios's.. which is nice enough in theory but in practice if your Windows 8 install blows up, it' can be a royal pain in the keester. One of the many reasons I don't run Windows 8 - I stuck with 7 and won't be upgrading myself particularly on my laptop.

 

[bribrius]

Sounds like your partitions are messed up and that's why it won't boot. Since you mentioned Ubuntu, I'd put the ubuntu CD/DVD in the drive and try to boot it to the live CD version. This should allow you to access any working partitions on the drive and copy files from them to back them up.

Then I'd wipe the drive in the laptop completely and reinstall from scratch. That will most likely be your best bet.

I was actually going ahead with the hard drive thing. I comprehend taking out the hard drive. The way things are on 8 I actually wonder if it is a bios problem they seemed linked from the manufacturer and Microsoft now. Not like it used to be. would it even boot from cd? Didnt seem like it wants to boot at all. But then I don't know I am ignorant on the new "ways". Can you flash 8 for a bios repair? Old days just flash the bios and run a recovery cd. I am getting old me thinks. I am missing xp. it sucked but after they did the 214 or so updates over the years to fix it it actually kinda worked. Just when the finally sort the bugs out they out with a new one (LMAO). Remember the constant unregistered dll problem with xp? That was wicked fun. shoot. windows 98 is looking good right now. I think technology passed me by. My kid had to show me how to use my cell phone.

Windows 8 uses UEFI for quicker boot times - unfortunately this also means it's more or less hooked into the BIOS which can be a royal pain.

On a lot of systems, HP's in particular, if you hit the F10 key right after you power up that will get you into the BIOS. A lot of other systems use F12, and quite a few laptops will have F8 or F2 reserved for that purpose. On a lot of the newer windows 8 loads F2 will do the trick.

Windows 8 takes advantage of a new "Secure Boot" system built into UEFI bios's.. which is nice enough in theory but in practice if your Windows 8 install blows up, it' can be a royal pain in the keester. One of the many reasons I don't run Windows 8 - I stuck with 7 and won't be upgrading myself particularly on my laptop.

well, the other thing is somewhere in that uefi (guessing) is the settings for external monitor. since the screen is broke and I was using a external monitor whatever it IS doing I cant see it. As it isn't even relaying over to the external monitor. Hence I am pushing buttons guessing where it is in bootup as I cant SEE it.

 

[robbins.photo]

Sounds like your partitions are messed up and that's why it won't boot. Since you mentioned Ubuntu, I'd put the ubuntu CD/DVD in the drive and try to boot it to the live CD version. This should allow you to access any working partitions on the drive and copy files from them to back them up.

Then I'd wipe the drive in the laptop completely and reinstall from scratch. That will most likely be your best bet.

I was actually going ahead with the hard drive thing. I comprehend taking out the hard drive. The way things are on 8 I actually wonder if it is a bios problem they seemed linked from the manufacturer and Microsoft now. Not like it used to be. would it even boot from cd? Didnt seem like it wants to boot at all. But then I don't know I am ignorant on the new "ways". Can you flash 8 for a bios repair? Old days just flash the bios and run a recovery cd. I am getting old me thinks. I am missing xp. it sucked but after they did the 214 or so updates over the years to fix it it actually kinda worked. Just when the finally sort the bugs out they out with a new one (LMAO). Remember the constant unregistered dll problem with xp? That was wicked fun. shoot. windows 98 is looking good right now. I think technology passed me by. My kid had to show me how to use my cell phone.

Windows 8 uses UEFI for quicker boot times - unfortunately this also means it's more or less hooked into the BIOS which can be a royal pain.

On a lot of systems, HP's in particular, if you hit the F10 key right after you power up that will get you into the BIOS. A lot of other systems use F12, and quite a few laptops will have F8 or F2 reserved for that purpose. On a lot of the newer windows 8 loads F2 will do the trick.

Windows 8 takes advantage of a new "Secure Boot" system built into UEFI bios's.. which is nice enough in theory but in practice if your Windows 8 install blows up, it' can be a royal pain in the keester. One of the many reasons I don't run Windows 8 - I stuck with 7 and won't be upgrading myself particularly on my laptop.

well, the other thing is somewhere in that uefi (guessing) is the settings for external monitor. since the screen is broke and I was using a external monitor whatever it IS doing I cant see it. As it isn't even relaying over to the external monitor. Hence I am pushing buttons guessing where it is in bootup as I cant SEE it.

Ugh. Well in that case your best bet is probably to pull the drive out completely, if you have a desktop you can hook it up to that and boot the desktop, then access the drive that way to get at your files. You can also get a neat little doodad I used to use a lot that allows you to plug a sata hard drive into a dock that connects to the system via USB. I used mine a lot back in my computer tech days for situations like this, where someone's system had crashed and I needed to get files off the drive.