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A grandson, a mug of tea, and a Pavilion dv9000

post #1 of 18
12/25/10 at 11:28pm
Thread Starter 
The three obviously don't mix: I'll stipulate that up front.

If you surmised the laptop got wet, you're right. Since then, attempts at booting have resulted in a black screen (rather lengthy; will reproduce if asked) that allows me to attempt to boot in safe mode, safe mode with networking, safe mode with a command line, or normal mode. In any event, within seconds of hitting enter, I get the Windows startup screen--briefly--that is followed by this blue screen:
A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. If this is the first time you have seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps: Check for viruses. Remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated. Run CHKDSK/F to check for any hard drive corruption and then restart.

***STOP: 0X0000007B (0XBA4CF524, 0XC00000034,0X00000000, 0X00000000)

The machine then re-starts, yielding the black screen, the brief glimpse of the Windows startup screen, and the blue screen again; this cycle continues until I shut it off manually.

So, what gives? Am I looking at replacing the hard drive and getting help to extract the contents of the existing drive? And if so, would I be able to fit in pretty much any Seagate, Western Digital, or similar standard laptop hard drive and go from there?

Thanks very much.
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post #2 of 18
12/25/10 at 11:51pm
Well, you could easily replace the hard drive with any notebook hard drive. What I can't tell you is if that would fix the problem. You may have more extensive damage to your motherboard or other critical system components as well and it would not be fun to replace the hard drive only to find out that there were more problems. I would recommend checking out the rest of the system or asking someone else to do so just to make sure.
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post #3 of 18
12/26/10 at 10:39am
I 2nd Djembe with the hard drive replacement first - the error message seemed to be cut and dry about a failing hard drive. It's the simple thing to do before diving into other areas.

cheers ...
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post #4 of 18
12/27/10 at 4:34pm
Thread Starter 
OK: the replacement hard drive is simple enough--I think. Once I get the bottom off the machine, it ought to be evident where it is and how it's connected. Then it ought to be evident how to get the old out and drop in a new one. Now comes the question: how do I get what's on the old drive moved to the new drive? Or should I do that before installing a new drive? And in any event, what else do I need, especially given that the new hard drive will be totally virgin? Thanks.
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post #5 of 18
12/27/10 at 4:54pm
If you plan to be installing Windows (or you preferred operating system) to the new drive via a disc, then pop in the disc first thing after you start the computer with the new drive in. You should be able to follow the setup instructions from there.

To get stuff from the old drive to the new drive, you'll need an external enclosure - something that allows you to plug in your hard drive on one end and on the other end is a USB plug to put in your computer. Then you can transfer whatever is salvageable from the old drive to the new one via USB.
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post #6 of 18
12/27/10 at 5:04pm
Thread Starter 
Now we're definitely getting someplace--and before I go any further, thanks very much. This definitely seems like the right place to get straight answers.

Do I need some sort of software in addition to getting that enclosure? That is, do I need something like the software that people have been known to use to migrate from one PC to a new one?
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post #7 of 18
12/27/10 at 5:31pm
I don't think it's needed. That kind of software is helpful if you're transferring your operating system and everything else with it, but in your case the operating system was damaged (and most likely at least some of your data was damaged as well) so you don't want to transfer that to the new drive.
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post #8 of 18
12/27/10 at 7:25pm
Thread Starter 
OK. That says to me that once the new hard drive is installed and running, connecting the old drive via that enclousure will be analogous to connecting (let's say) a flash drive: the computer will recognize it--theoretically--as an external data-containing device and show it in Windows Explorer, allowing me to pick and choose what to move over.
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post #9 of 18
12/27/10 at 7:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1940lasalle View Post
OK. That says to me that once the new hard drive is installed and running, connecting the old drive via that enclousure will be analogous to connecting (let's say) a flash drive: the computer will recognize it--theoretically--as an external data-containing device and show it in Windows Explorer, allowing me to pick and choose what to move over.
Yep - as long as the data is still accessible. Hopefully in your case only the boot sector is being damaged and not the rest.

cheers ...
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post #10 of 18
12/27/10 at 8:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
Yep - as long as the data is still accessible. Hopefully in your case only the boot sector is being damaged and not the rest.

cheers ...
Just dawn on me after the post. You can try the following first:

- pop in the installation CD
- once it starts you can try choosing the option of "Repair"
- providing that the drive is salvageable, this repair process would re-install the system files needed for booting/starting up and leaving your personal data alone.

Worth a shot before getting a new drive.

cheers ...
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post #11 of 18
12/27/10 at 8:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
Just dawn on me after the post. You can try the following first:

- pop in the installation CD
- once it starts you can try choosing the option of "Repair"
- providing that the drive is salvageable, this repair process would re-install the system files needed for booting/starting up and leaving your personal data alone.

Worth a shot before getting a new drive.

cheers ...
Just to clarify, Windows does not automatically repair itself with this option - you have to tell it what to do. When choosing the repair option, you'll be able to select from a number of drive letters (hopefully). If you can, then select letter C. You'll then be taken to a command screen (or terminal if you prefer the Linux term). The commands you can use to see if fixing the boot sector is possible are fixmbr and fixboot. If they both work, then you can try restarting the computer to see if the hard drive will reboot. If not, then your drive is probably shot and you need to follow the steps detailed above.
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post #12 of 18
12/27/10 at 8:46pm
Thread Starter 
Didn't realize that about the possiblity of repairing Windows. I'll see about locationg the disc and giving it a shot. If it works, fine; if not...nothing lost. Thanks, folks.
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post #13 of 18
12/28/10 at 4:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1940lasalle View Post
Didn't realize that about the possiblity of repairing Windows. I'll see about locationg the disc and giving it a shot. If it works, fine; if not...nothing lost. Thanks, folks.
I like the man's attitude

Good luck.

cheers ...
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post #14 of 18
12/29/10 at 4:40pm
Thread Starter 
Tried repairing last night: no luck/same results as before. That is, I turned on the machine to get the CD/DVD drive to open, popped in the disc, closed it, and waited. Same sequence of events, and the keystrokes to try to change the boot order had no effect; that is, they didn't work at all to change the boot order.

Looks to me like it's definitely time to go for the new drive, etc. One bright spot, though: removing the existing drive is very easy. I did note that the nameplate on that drive mentions "SATA power" (that's what I saw; the nameplate is partially obscured), so I'm assuming a SATA drive is what I want, right?

Thanks.
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post #15 of 18
12/29/10 at 4:52pm
Yep - a SATA drive is what you need.

cheers ...
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post #16 of 18
1/4/11 at 9:58am
Thread Starter 
Update: got all the stuff noted above on order; should be in hand before the end of the week. Just to review, I believe the order of march should be:

1. Ensure the machine is totally powered down.
2. Extract the old hard drive.
3. Install the new one.
4. Begin boot-up (don't know how, or if it's even physically possible, to open the DVD drive otherwise) and insert the operating system DVD quickly
5. Close the DVD drive and let the disc do its thing to boot up and get the operating system installed

Is that about right? Thanks.
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post #17 of 18
1/4/11 at 10:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1940lasalle View Post
Update: got all the stuff noted above on order; should be in hand before the end of the week. Just to review, I believe the order of march should be:

1. Ensure the machine is totally powered down.
2. Extract the old hard drive.
3. Install the new one.
4. Begin boot-up (don't know how, or if it's even physically possible, to open the DVD drive otherwise) and insert the operating system DVD quickly
5. Close the DVD drive and let the disc do its thing to boot up and get the operating system installed

Is that about right? Thanks.
Battery removed also, totally disconnecting from power source. You can use a paper clip and open the DVD drive with it - pushing the tip into the tiny tiny hole in front of the bezel - that's a emergency mechanism - then put it the installation disk before powering on.

Never rushing about - and good luck.

cheers ...
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post #18 of 18
1/4/11 at 11:56am
Thread Starter 
Looks good to me. Now all I need is for UPS to come through and deliver my new toys--and implement the above. More to follow.
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