error loading operating system vista

[jdavidwik]

Intermittently I receive this message & can proceed no further; more often I boot from the full Vista disk, I then choose to boot in Safe mode, all the Windows 32 files load, then "Please wait" appears at the bottom of the screen and the laptop (Toshiba) sits at this point & can proceed no further. I had a recent issue with this laptop (10/2011 posts on this site), and like that this happened after a restart following a Malwarebytes' scan. Partition issue?

[Geek-9pm]

Please look this over and see if thee is something there for you.
http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php?topic=19999.0

Please return and report what you find.

[jdavidwik]

Would you recomend Testdisk? Any preferences here?

[Geek-9pm]

No, do not use TestDisk. It is a recovery tool.

Preference is the maker of your hard drive.
Either Seagate or Western Digital.
Maxtor is now Seagate.
I don't know about  Fujitsu, Toshiba or Samsung,
but others say their free tests are OK.
Seagate works on another brand if one Seagate is present.
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/

[jdavidwik]

According to their website, Toshiba, unlike most other manufacturers, does not make a hard drive diagnostic available to the general public. I will try an alternative.

[jdavidwik]

Seagate works on another brand if one Seagate is present.

I have two Seagate external hard drives. Do you mean that their diagnostic will work if I should have one of the external drives connected to the ailing laptop?

[JJ 3000]

jdavidwik, boot to the Vista disk and choose command prompt from the list of recovery options. At the prompt type cd\ and press enter to get to the root of C:, then type chkdsk /r and press enter. This will scan your hard drive and attempt to fix any errors that it finds. Let us know how the scan turns out.

[jdavidwik]

I was receiving such options yesterday, but no longer. Now, with the Vista disk in drive D, the laptop prompts "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD...", Windows files are loaded after key pressed, then laptop sits at black screen. Previously I was able to choose Command Prompt, etc., Windows Repair, etc., but no longer.

[JJ 3000]

Does the hard drive show up in BIOS? Is it reported correctly there?

[jdavidwik]

Yes, HDD Model Name Serial Number and Total Memory all look to be correct.

[JJ 3000]

Okay. Let's try seatools. It should be able to scan your hard drive and detect errors. Download it here:
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=seatooldreg&vgnextoid=480bd20cacdec010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

Click on "Download SeaTools for DOS ISO Image" on that page.

That is an ISO image, so you will need a program that can burn ISOs. Do you know how to do that?

[jdavidwik]

Ran Seatools for DOS on the unit; detected 1 device (identified the HDD accurately after running the diagnostic test).

[jdavidwik]

No errata detected in that Seatools test.

[JJ 3000]

I was receiving such options yesterday, but no longer. Now, with the Vista disk in drive D, the laptop prompts "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD...", Windows files are loaded after key pressed, then laptop sits at black screen. Previously I was able to choose Command Prompt, etc., Windows Repair, etc., but no longer.

How long are you waiting at the black screen before giving up?

Have you made any changes to the computer since the disk was working yesterday? Do you have any other devices plugged into the computer that weren't there yesterday? Made any changes in BIOS?

What is the brand and model of your computer?

Are you using the install disk that came with your computer?

[jdavidwik]

How long are you waiting at the black screen before giving up?

Have you made any changes to the computer since the disk was working yesterday? Do you have any other devices plugged into the computer that weren't there yesterday? Made any changes in BIOS?

What is the brand and model of your computer?

Are you using the install disk that came with your computer?

The longest that I have waited at the black screen is 1-2 hrs. No changes to computer since yesterday, no devices newly plugged in and no changes in BIOS. Toshiba Satelite P100, using install disk that came with computer. My computer has always had a long pause at the black screen just before the desktop appears at start-up, and I was told that this was abnormally long and perhaps an indication of a HDD problem. This "black screen" is not the black screen seen when the computer is turned off, a faint light is seen at the bottom of the screen which is otherwise black. Also, I have on recent attempts been able to get a screen which offers F8 option, then I get the option for Start in Safe Mode, Command Prompt, etc..  I chose Start w Command Prompt, then received the original result of all Windows files loading then stalling at "Please wait..."