help please lappy wont boot

[evenstevenuk]

my daughters laptop wont boot,,,god knows what shes done,,,,im getting the message pxe-e61 media test failure check cable,,,,,the laptop is a patriot 3070,,, i have looked in the bios andand the 1st boot device is on intel undi and available options also has cd/dvd and disabled,,,,can someone please help b4 i trash this lappy please.

[royphil345]

Hard to say...

The computer is set to try and boot from a network first.  The "pxe-e61 media test failure check cable,,,,,"  message would be normal when the computer's not connected to a network you can boot from. The computer should probably just try to boot from the device next in line. You could try the  "CD / DVD" or"disabled" options, but it really doesn't look like that's the problem. The computer's probably freezing the instant it tries to boot from the hard drive

My guess would be a badly corrupted hard drive (virus or just something caused by some touchy software, improper shutdown, etc...) or a damaged hard drive (they break pretty easily if a laptop is dropped).

Could try a format and reinstallation of Windows. Or boot to a CD that will test your hard drive. http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

[evenstevenuk]

cheers mate,,, im downloading it now,,,will put on disc if i can then try it in the lappy,,,,is it easy enough to do?

[royphil345]

Honestly, I haven't used it. I use #1-TuffTEST which is on a floppy and tests most of the hardware without using different applications. You don't have a floppy drive so...  Alot of people recommend this CD. I'm actually downloading it now also. I'm going to check it out.

I imagine some files are loaded on the hard drive to run the tests. If it's completely dead, you may not be able to run any tests.

Good luck with "Lappy"!!!

[GX1_Man]

Do you have a real Windows CD to reinstall/repair if needed?

[royphil345]

The "Ultimate Boot CD" seems like a winner for free. A little confusing with all the stuff on it.

Was able to successfully test my Seagate and Western Digital brand drives with the IBM / Hitachi test. The Memtest memory test worked well.

Just download the self-extracting file. After double clicking the file, select where you want the ISO file to end up. Burn the ISO disk image to a disk using any CD burning software that will create a disk from an ISO image (I used Nero).

[Rob Pomeroy]

I know this is being extremely fussy, but why "lappy"?  How much harder is it to type or say "laptop"?!

[GX1_Man]

Rob, that saves one whole letter.

[Rob Pomeroy]

And you just wasted 26 of 'em.

Swings and roundabouts.

[GX1_Man]

A lappy is just  a mobile compy.

[Rob Pomeroy]

moby compy