Start-up Failure

[jhopkins4]

I have owned two T-61s from my previous job at a start-up (so no tech help).  Both of the laptops have had the same issue where they fail to start-up.  I get to the log-in screen, and upon entering the password and hitting enter, it cannot pass this screen.  In the past I have just re-imaged the computer putting it back to factory settings and reloading all programs/files.  Are there any thoughts on how I might be able to avoid this and just fix the problem?  I know this is probably too vague, but I'm unclear as to any other details to provide.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

when you say it doesn't get past the screen, can you elaborate on that? does it require to reenter the password?

also which password do you try to enter? the bios password, hdd password or the windows password?

[ithinktfiam]

It might be the same problem as mine, so I'll post it here rather than start a new thread.

My logins have become longer and longer, with the screen waiting on the "loading personal settings" being the hanging point. Today, it wouldn't log it, just hung there waiting on settings. I wated 15 minutes, then tried it twice at 5 minutes. No login.

I just left it on the screen for somewhere around half an hour while trying and failing to get Lenovo to help. While typing this, I saw the Stinkpad go to a ThinkPad ThinkCentre screen that seems to be building new personal settings. It started everything over from scratch and now it looks like I'll have to reset everything. Considering I use a 4-button trackball and a kvm, that's a pain.

I used Kaspersky Internet Security and had recently defrag'd my drive, so it's hard to believe it's a virus or disk issues.

Why did personal settings become more and more problematic.

[jhopkins4]

Similar to what is stated in the next post, it just freezes on the page where you enter your password in order to enter windows (I'm using XP if it makes a difference).  The password I'm entering is the windows password.

Also similar to the next post, windows loading would sometimes take quite awhile.  Now that it is freezing, I left it for a couple of hours, and it was still left on the windows load screen when I returned.  Furthermore, upon restarting the machine a couple of times, one of those times I received an error during the windows load screen, and it restarted the computer automatically.  Usually it just freezes on the load screen.  In either case, I can no longer get past the windows password screen after inserting the password and hitting enter.

[markgrif]

One possibility is that there are some errors or bad sectors on your hard disk.

Try this:

 1) Find "Command Prompt" in the "accessories" folder for your operating system.

 2) If you are running Vista or Windows 7 you must run it with elevated privliges, so

     "right click" it and select "run as administrator".

 3) Type "chkdsk /r" (r as in romeo) and hit enter.

chkdsk will refuse to run because you have specified the "/r" (fix everything) parameter, but it will

ask you if you want to schedule it at the next re-boot. Answer "yes" and re-boot.

The boot will look a little strange as "chkdsk" runs in, shall we say, "dos mode".

Let it do its' thing and check to see if it found anything. If it did, it will attempt to fix it. Be

aware that there may be some files that are damaged and unrecoverable. The raw data

will be placed in one or more files on the root of your boot drive. You can't do much with these

but there they are.

You can try a preliminary run by simply typing "chkdsk". it will run but it won't be as exaustive as

one run at boot.

Good luck - I hope your HDD is ok!

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

as suggested your hdd could be the culprit of this.

Instead of running the chkdsk you can do the hdd test directly from bios menu.

If indeed it is on the way out, then you may want to clone your current hdd into a new hdd, by removing the drive and put it into an usb drive caddy. Then software like Acronis Trueimage to do the job. 

[jhopkins4]

Thanks for the suggestions - So I ran the bios test and about 70% the way through I got an Error Code 0000: Read verification failed.  Doesn't seem promising.  Anyway this doesn't mean the HDD is done?

Also how do I run the other test from the "Command Prompt" in the "accessories" folder?  All I know how to can access at his point are the rescue and recovery and the bios mode.  I hope it is within one of those?

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

this is a good enough verification that your hdd is about to go south. You can run the test from hardware diagnostic from the Rescue and Recovery. 

[markgrif]

Tell me what operating system you have so I can tell you how to get to a command prompt.

Lead_org is probably right though. Do your clone/backup quickly. When a HDD starts to go

it deteriorates pretty fast!

[jhopkins4]

I have XP