It’s a Loveno laptop that’s around 3 years old. A week ago I started getting ominous popups stating the hard drive was on the verge of failure. I thought it might be malware so I didn’t do much except try to remove the malware.
So, as of this morning, when I try to boot it up I end up with nothing but a black screen and a cursor. The mouse still drives the cursor, but there is nothing to aim it at. I booted in safe mode with the same result.
I don’t even have a recovery disc top plop in the drive (Win8). I have a desktop running Windows 8 but I’m not sure if making a recovery disc from that would do anything for me.
Any advice at all?
Thanks!
ETA: and if I buy and install a new hard drive, how would I get Windows installed on it?
You need to get into the BIOS to see if the hard drive is still recognized by it. If not, then the drive is definitely bad. There may also be diagnostic tests that SETUP can run that will tell you if the hard drive is working or not. There should be text at boot-up saying what button to press to enter SETUP, it’s usually ESC or DEL or one of the F keys (F10, F12 etc.) The text will only be visible for a moment at boot-up so it might take a few tries.
If your hard disk is bad search YouTube for your model of laptop and ‘replacing hard drive’, it may be easier to do then you think. Plus you can get new laptop drives on eBay for $50 or less. If you are able to replace it you’ll then have to reinstall Windows. Look on the bottom of your laptop for the** Microsoft Product Key** sticker. Write down the product key (make sure you get it exactly right, don’t mistake a B for an 8 or an X for a K etc.). Then, on a working computer, go to Microsoft’s Windows download page and enter your product key. You will then be able to download an .iso image file of your Windows install disc (free of charge!). You’ll need to then burn it onto a DVD-R or USB drive, follow the instructions on the website. You then simply boot your laptop from this disc or thumb drive and install Windows. Once it installs, connect to the internet and activate Windows with your product key that you wrote down.
If you get this far you’re almost done, you next have to install all the past Windows updates. Connect to the internet and run Windows Update. A word of advice about this: DO NOT try to install them all at once! There may be over a hundred of them and if you do them all at once your computer will probably freeze up during the updates. Pick 15 or 20 at a time and install just them, then go back and keep doing this until you’re done (you’ll probably have to reboot in between many of the updates). This will take a while (probably much longer than installing the hard drive or Windows itself*!*)
I just did all this for a friend’s laptop. Note that, of course, you’re going to lose any data that was on your laptop’s old hard drive (files, pictures, music, programs etc.)
Do you have a CD or DVD drive? If you do, and can boot from it (most laptops that come with one can), you can use another computer to burn a Linux ISO (such as Ubuntu), and then see if Linux can detect and read your hard disk.
You should get a new hard drive and install onto that. No sense in installing on a drive which may be having problems. If you want better performance, consider SSD drives which are much faster than regular drives (and also more expensive).
You may be able to recover the data on your old dive by installing it an external enclosure like one of these. These enclosures allow you to take your internal drive and make it be an external drive you plug into your usb. It sounds like your computer is kind of booting up, so the drive is probably still partially working at least. You maybe able to access the data on the drive from a working computer.
Some notebooks like HP have a recovery partition you can get to by tapping f8 when the machine boots up they will take you to an automatic repair mode. Does your Lenovo have anything like that?
You might want to check the documentation. That HP feature has saved my ass more than once.
The magic key isn’t always F8. Watch for the on-screen prompts when the machine boots.
If the drive is toast, then you can usually order recovery disks from the manufacturer, which will be a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a new Windows disk from somewhere. The recovery disks are usually tied to a specific model of computer, and often won’t even install on other models, so making recovery disks from your desktop probably won’t work. The recovery disk will restore your disk to exactly as it was when it was made. Any data you have on the disk will be gone, though in the OP’s case he’ll probably be putting it on a new drive anyway, but for the benefit of anyone coming into this thread, you’ll lose any data on the drive.
Attempting a recovery is a good way to tell you if the drive is actually toasted or if your version of windows is just totally hosed from malware or whatever. If the drive will actually last long enough to perform a successful recovery, then the drive is probably still good. If the drive is toast, it will usually fail the recovery process.
ETA: My Lenovo laptop (which is also a few years old) has the built-in recovery from the hidden hard drive partition. I don’t know if it’s available on all Lenovo computers but it’s available on a lot of them.
That the mouse still drives the cursor indicates Windows is up and running to at least some extent. This sounds like malware or a corrupt copy of Windows rather than a hardware failure. If the HDD had failed it would likely be stuck at the BIOS screen.
You say you’ve tried booting to Safe Mode; have you tried booting to a command prompt? If you can, try using SFC /SCANNOW at the command prompt.
You can download installation media for Win8.1 here. You will need your Win serial key; that’ll be on a sticker somewhere on your laptop, probably on the bottom.
The big advantage here is that you get the full install of Win 8.1 back, without any of the crapware that came with your computer. In fact, when I buy a computer, I’ll usually use this right at the start to do a clean install.
Only works if your HDD is not faulty or the recovery partition didn’t get corrupted.
Bare in mind, that you may loose ALL your files on the laptop, if you didn’t do a backup before hand.
To back-up and /or test your HDD you can download the Ultimate Boot CD, burn it onto a CD and start your laptop from it (you may need to press the F2, F8 or F12 button to boot from CD).
Then select “HDD - Data Recovery - PhotoRec” with the arrow and Enter keys to boot into a Linux-OS where you can backup your files and test your HDD if its faulty.
I found that I do have the recovery boot button. It worked like a charm. Erased all my data (that’s OK), and then I started the long process of returning the machine to how I want it to be.
About an hour into customizing, though, the dreaded “your hard drive is on the verge of taking a dump” window popped up again.
So…I quickly made a recovery disk.
I guess I need a new hard drive.
Installation shouldn’t be a problem, but I’m concerned about getting Windows onto it (Windows 7, I mistakenly said Windows 8 in the OP).
I jotted the Microsoft product key down, went to the Microsoft site, and inputted it only to be told to contact the manufacturer (because the software was pre-installed).
The Lenovo site isn’t much help. It told me that I’m out of warranty and indicated how I could purchase their extra-special protection at 20 bucks a month.
My main question: Once the new hard drive is in, what are the chances of me installing Win 7 onto it from the recovery disc that I burned?
If zilch, what are my options? I don’t feel like I should have to purchase a new version of 7.
Your recovery version should activate fine with your product key, but if not:
As I mentioned in my first post, as long as you get an .iso image file of the exact version of Windows that is written on your Microsoft hologram Product Key sticker it has to work.
Rather than go to the Microsoft site just Google ‘download windows 7 iso’ and there will be alternative sites offering the .iso downloads. Please note these are most likely not going to be pirated versions! Since XP introduced product activation (back in 2001) you have to have a valid product key (like yours on the sticker) for Windows to work. Without it the install discs themselves aren’t worth anything so nobody really cares if sites still offer them for download. But Microsoft wants everybody to use Windows 10 so they deliberately make it more difficult to get lower versions (and impossible to get Vista or XP and nearly impossible now to get Windows 7 from them). This is why there still are reputable sites keeping older Windows versions available for download. Still, use common sense. Disreputable sites are pretty obvious (they want to sell the files and/or a supposedly good product key, they ask for your email etc.) Avoid those.
Either way, once you get Windows back up if you need more than 50 or so updates do them in groups of 20-25 rather than all at once or your PC my freeze in the middle of updating.
Actually, if the only problem is that your product key doesn’t want to activate your recovery version of Windows 7 call Microsoft and absolutely insist that they make it work (i.e. give you a new key if necessary). They will do everything, including outright lying, to try and get you to buy a new Windows 10 key. Don’t fall for it, they must honor your old key as a legitimate & valid Windows 7 license.
I’m a little confused about what an iso image file is.
Is there one specific file for each version of Windows? (i.e. a Windows 64-bit Home Premium iso file will work with any Windows 64-bit Home Premium machine)?
Or would my wife’s laptop (for example) need a different iso file even though running the same version?
Also, while I have your ear…
I’m going shopping for a replacement hard drive. My current one is 5400 rpm. I’d like to up it to a 7200 model but I’m concerned that would generate too much heat for the machine (that was built with 5400 in mind).
Would it likely overheat? How would I find out for sure?
I really appreciate your help, Hail Ants (and others).
mmm
An .iso image file is merely one large file that is an ‘image’ of a DVD-ROM. They can be used to burn a copy of an entire DVD at once. They can also ‘burn’ or create the image on a USB thumb drive to be used as a so-called ‘virtual disc’ (even though it’s not an actual DVD disc the computer sees it as one). Yes, each version of Windows will have its own .iso file image. As long as your wife’s version of Windows is the exact same release as yours then the same .iso image file (or previously burned DVD) will work. Your wife’s however will need to use its own product key in order to be activated, yours cannot be used on more than one machine. When you buy a copy of Windows that’s essentially what you’re paying for, the valid product key.
Keep in mind there’s a big difference between an .iso install image and a recovery disc created by your laptop. The recovery disc will be specific to your make & model laptop and will come with its drivers and software etc pre-installed. You would not want to try and install that disc on your wife’s computer (again, unless it was the exact same model laptop). This also means that if your recovery disc doesn’t work and you do use a downloaded .iso image of your Windows version, once you get Windows up and running on your laptop you’re going to have to go to the Lenovo site and download and install its specific drivers. Just search the site for your model and it should list everything you need (chipset drivers, audio, video etc.) Sounds a little daunting but you just download each one, double click it, and it will install. Then reboot and do the next one.
5400 rpm drives are fairly old technology, so I would suspect that it may have been used in your laptop specifically because it generates less heat. In which case I would stick with the same kind. Again, search the Lenovo site for your model laptop and it will show all the different hard drives that were available for it. If your model was available with a 7200 rpm then it’s probably ok.
I am exceedingly suspicious of this. I have seen this as a result of malware many a time. Can you go into Event Viewer, Windows Logs, System, and see if there are any entries with a RED icon or entries with a source of DISK (or DISC)?
I was too, until the hard drive actually did fail. Anyway, too late now (for me at least), I bit the bullet and bought a new hard drive.
So now I’m here with my new drive installed and I can’t figure out how to get Windows on it. I downloaded the proper .iso file onto a disc; I guess I assumed when I booted up with the new hard drive it would read from the disc and hold my hand while Win7 installed.
Instead it seems to be looking for an installation disc (or file?) that is apparently required for installation that I obviously lack. I’m not even at a point where I am asked to input a product key.
By the way, I’m not laying on the couch munching on doughnuts waiting for you good people to pull me out of the quicksand. I’m Googling the hell out of this but I’m having a hard time honing in on my particular problem/answer.
You need to use a tool like Rufus to put the ISO image on to a USB stick from which you install it. For your convenience, afterwards copy all the drivers and utilities from the Lenovo site into a folder on that USB stick.
Once you’ve made your USB stick, eject it and plug it into the laptop. There will be a magic keypress that will allow you to select the boot device. Select the USB drive and it will start to install.
Note: when installing Windows, put the USB stick into a USB 2 port, not a USB 3 port. Otherwise you risk Windows suddenly not seeing the stick at a crucial moment for lack of a driver.
