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Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem

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  Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2011-12-04 22:49 -0800
    Re: Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem Tazz <dmswaine@gmail.com> - 2011-12-10 21:55 -0400
      Re: Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2011-12-14 21:00 -0800
        Re: Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-12-16 06:05 -0600
          Re: Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-12-18 23:46 +0000
            Re: Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-12-18 19:37 -0600
              Re: Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2011-12-19 00:06 -0800
                Re: Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-12-19 03:39 -0600
                  Re: Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2011-12-20 16:30 -0800
          Re: Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2011-12-18 23:56 -0800
        Re: Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem Tazz <dmswaine@gmail.com> - 2011-12-17 14:32 -0400
          Re: Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) - 2011-12-18 18:28 +0000
            Re: Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2011-12-19 00:08 -0800

#918 — Alternative to resetting Satellite A660 for potential hard drive problem

In the past week or so, I got a few blue screens saying that an
application was misbehaving, and that windows had to shut down to
prevent damage to my computer.  I would simply reboot and continue
working.  The last time it happened, I repeatedly got "boot failed"
and it said hdd, sdd, fdd.  So I held down the power button until I
saw no sign of activity, then booted.  Things went fine.  I called
Toshiba support, and they advised I go home and back up my files
before continuing.  It took hours to selectively do housekeeping, sort
out previous backups, and do a small-footprint backup.  When I called
Toshiba again, they recommended a "recovery", which is restoring
factory settings.  This puts me back to the stone ages.  I'd have to
go through a never-ending process of upgrading to Windows 7 Pro 64-
bit, installing and reconfiguring all apps and environments/
configurations, etc.  It will basically take out the holidays, if not
more.  I will also need to get another computer (perhaps a netbook) to
stay connected while I revive my laptop.  It is barely more than a
year hold.

Is there a diagnostic that I can do to determine the likelihood that
it is a hard disk problem?  Toshiba support says that it's the surest
way, since it provides an F10 diagnostic code for the hard drive, and
it also pushes bad sectors to the end of the disk (logically, I'm
guessing, since you can't physically move a defect).

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#926

On 05/12/2011 2:49 AM, AndyHancock wrote:
> In the past week or so, I got a few blue screens saying that an
> application was misbehaving, and that windows had to shut down to
> prevent damage to my computer.  I would simply reboot and continue
> working.  The last time it happened, I repeatedly got "boot failed"
> and it said hdd, sdd, fdd.  So I held down the power button until I
> saw no sign of activity, then booted.  Things went fine.  I called
> Toshiba support, and they advised I go home and back up my files
> before continuing.  It took hours to selectively do housekeeping, sort
> out previous backups, and do a small-footprint backup.  When I called
> Toshiba again, they recommended a "recovery", which is restoring
> factory settings.  This puts me back to the stone ages.  I'd have to
> go through a never-ending process of upgrading to Windows 7 Pro 64-
> bit, installing and reconfiguring all apps and environments/
> configurations, etc.  It will basically take out the holidays, if not
> more.  I will also need to get another computer (perhaps a netbook) to
> stay connected while I revive my laptop.  It is barely more than a
> year hold.
>
> Is there a diagnostic that I can do to determine the likelihood that
> it is a hard disk problem?  Toshiba support says that it's the surest
> way, since it provides an F10 diagnostic code for the hard drive, and
> it also pushes bad sectors to the end of the disk (logically, I'm
> guessing, since you can't physically move a defect).

You could give Spinrite a try. http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm
It will scan your hard drive and if it finds bad spots it will try to 
recover the data on those spots.

All I had to do to convince Acer support that the hard drive was bad on 
my laptop was tell them that Spinrite found some bad sectors on it. They 
took it and replaced the hdd no questions.

It is $89.00 and if it don't help you out just email the author/owner 
and tell him. He has publicly stated that if you bought it and it did 
not/could not help you that he will refund your money.

-- 

</Tazz>

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#929

On Dec 10, 8:55 pm, Tazz <dmswa...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 05/12/2011 2:49 AM, AndyHancock wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > In the past week or so, I got a few blue screens saying that an
> > application was misbehaving, and that windows had to shut down to
> > prevent damage to my computer.  I would simply reboot and continue
> > working.  The last time it happened, I repeatedly got "boot failed"
> > and it said hdd, sdd, fdd.  So I held down the power button until I
> > saw no sign of activity, then booted.  Things went fine.  I called
> > Toshiba support, and they advised I go home and back up my files
> > before continuing.  It took hours to selectively do housekeeping, sort
> > out previous backups, and do a small-footprint backup.  When I called
> > Toshiba again, they recommended a "recovery", which is restoring
> > factory settings.  This puts me back to the stone ages.  I'd have to
> > go through a never-ending process of upgrading to Windows 7 Pro 64-
> > bit, installing and reconfiguring all apps and environments/
> > configurations, etc.  It will basically take out the holidays, if not
> > more.  I will also need to get another computer (perhaps a netbook) to
> > stay connected while I revive my laptop.  It is barely more than a
> > year hold.
>
> > Is there a diagnostic that I can do to determine the likelihood that
> > it is a hard disk problem?  Toshiba support says that it's the surest
> > way, since it provides an F10 diagnostic code for the hard drive, and
> > it also pushes bad sectors to the end of the disk (logically, I'm
> > guessing, since you can't physically move a defect).
>
> You could give Spinrite a try.http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm
> It will scan your hard drive and if it finds bad spots it will try to
> recover the data on those spots.
>
> All I had to do to convince Acer support that the hard drive was bad on
> my laptop was tell them that Spinrite found some bad sectors on it. They
> took it and replaced the hdd no questions.
>
> It is $89.00 and if it don't help you out just email the author/owner
> and tell him. He has publicly stated that if you bought it and it did
> not/could not help you that he will refund your money.

I'm trying to research the best option for disk image backups before
doing anything further, like diagnostics or reformating (as Toshiba
tech support suggests). I got the blue screen again, but it happens
unpredictably -- days or (in this case) more than a week apart.
However, the blue screen doesn't linger long enough for me to copy
anything down. About 1.5 seconds. Thereafter, it tries to reboot and
gives boot failures of xDD. I tried holding down the power button
until everything looked off, waited for about 20 seconds, then tried
again with the same result. Finally, I tried what a friend suggested:
Pull the power cord, remove the battery, and hold down the power
button so that I know that every last ounce of charge is gone. Then
plug in power cord & battery and power up. It seemed to work. The only
message I got was that the last boot failed, and I had to option of
booting in safe mode (which I didn't).

P.S. Also a newbie to the world of disk drives and image backups, but
learning lots by talking to people. Looking at avoiding NAS due to
bandwidth limitations in my home DSL/router, and going with a SATA
2.5" in an enclosure with either USB 2.0 or eSATA. If the laptop drive
dies, I can just take the external SATA out of its enclosure and drop
it into the laptop. However, if the resident HDD is still good, I'm
thinking that an alternative to swapping drives is to simply recover
the image from the external SATA (to the resident drive). I'm just not
sure whether the recovery disk that is made by imaging freeware
(Paragon, Macrium) can recover from a USB or eSATA drive. Currently
trying to research it -- any chiming in from those who know would be
appreciated, thanks.

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#930

On 12/14/2011 11:00 PM, AndyHancock wrote:
> On Dec 10, 8:55 pm, Tazz<dmswa...@gmail.com>  wrote:
>> On 05/12/2011 2:49 AM, AndyHancock wrote:
>>
>>> In the past week or so, I got a few blue screens saying that an
>>> application was misbehaving, and that windows had to shut down to
>>> prevent damage to my computer.  I would simply reboot and continue
>>> working.  The last time it happened, I repeatedly got "boot failed"
>>> and it said hdd, sdd, fdd.  So I held down the power button until I
>>> saw no sign of activity, then booted.  Things went fine.  I called
>>> Toshiba support, and they advised I go home and back up my files
>>> before continuing.  It took hours to selectively do housekeeping, sort
>>> out previous backups, and do a small-footprint backup.  When I called
>>> Toshiba again, they recommended a "recovery", which is restoring
>>> factory settings.  This puts me back to the stone ages.  I'd have to
>>> go through a never-ending process of upgrading to Windows 7 Pro 64-
>>> bit, installing and reconfiguring all apps and environments/
>>> configurations, etc.  It will basically take out the holidays, if not
>>> more.  I will also need to get another computer (perhaps a netbook) to
>>> stay connected while I revive my laptop.  It is barely more than a
>>> year hold.
>>
>>> Is there a diagnostic that I can do to determine the likelihood that
>>> it is a hard disk problem?  Toshiba support says that it's the surest
>>> way, since it provides an F10 diagnostic code for the hard drive, and
>>> it also pushes bad sectors to the end of the disk (logically, I'm
>>> guessing, since you can't physically move a defect).
>>
>> You could give Spinrite a try.http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm
>> It will scan your hard drive and if it finds bad spots it will try to
>> recover the data on those spots.
>>
>> All I had to do to convince Acer support that the hard drive was bad on
>> my laptop was tell them that Spinrite found some bad sectors on it. They
>> took it and replaced the hdd no questions.
>>
>> It is $89.00 and if it don't help you out just email the author/owner
>> and tell him. He has publicly stated that if you bought it and it did
>> not/could not help you that he will refund your money.
>
> I'm trying to research the best option for disk image backups before
> doing anything further, like diagnostics or reformating (as Toshiba
> tech support suggests). I got the blue screen again, but it happens
> unpredictably -- days or (in this case) more than a week apart.
> However, the blue screen doesn't linger long enough for me to copy
> anything down. About 1.5 seconds. Thereafter, it tries to reboot and
> gives boot failures of xDD. I tried holding down the power button
> until everything looked off, waited for about 20 seconds, then tried
> again with the same result. Finally, I tried what a friend suggested:
> Pull the power cord, remove the battery, and hold down the power
> button so that I know that every last ounce of charge is gone. Then
> plug in power cord&  battery and power up. It seemed to work. The only
> message I got was that the last boot failed, and I had to option of
> booting in safe mode (which I didn't).
>
> P.S. Also a newbie to the world of disk drives and image backups, but
> learning lots by talking to people. Looking at avoiding NAS due to
> bandwidth limitations in my home DSL/router, and going with a SATA
> 2.5" in an enclosure with either USB 2.0 or eSATA. If the laptop drive
> dies, I can just take the external SATA out of its enclosure and drop
> it into the laptop. However, if the resident HDD is still good, I'm
> thinking that an alternative to swapping drives is to simply recover
> the image from the external SATA (to the resident drive). I'm just not
> sure whether the recovery disk that is made by imaging freeware
> (Paragon, Macrium) can recover from a USB or eSATA drive. Currently
> trying to research it -- any chiming in from those who know would be
> appreciated, thanks.

Some BIOS can be set to store event logs and that might capture the blue 
screen error. And the third line is the only line that would be helpful 
to know what it says.

As for backing up, I have many backup software Acronis, Paragon, Ghost, 
etc. And my favorite is using cloning software. And one of my favorites 
is XXClone (the free version). Although this one has no boot disc and it 
has to run under a working Windows. I use USB2 enclosure for the laptops 
I have that only supports one internal drive. I use USB over than eSATA 
because USB is used on everything and eSATA isn't. So that is my reason.

Yes I have a number of netbooks. But you can also get very reliable used 
laptops say on eBay or something for a better price than a new netbook. 
I am not trying to talk you out of a netbook, as I do love them. I am 
just saying.

-- 
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v3.0
Centrino Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

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#944

In article <jcfc72$jpn$1@dont-email.me>, BillW50  <BillW50@aol.kom> wrote:
>
>Some BIOS can be set to store event logs and that might capture the blue 
>screen error. And the third line is the only line that would be helpful 

	Chances are that there are good indications of the problem in the
event logs.  A drive with bad blocks or bad servos will generally produce 
dozens of recoverable errors (that get logged) before hitting that fatal
freeze.  Likewise, bad memory will usually produce random crashes in addition
to blue screens, etc.  Has anyone looked at the event logs?

	Best way to back up a home PC is Ghost/Acronis/whatever and
an external USB drive.  Don't count on being able to just swap the physical
backup drive in because there's no guarantee the USB IDE "controller" and
the hardware controller in the PC are compatible. 

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#945

In news:jcltvs$cod$4@reader1.panix.com,
the wharf rat wrote:
> In article <jcfc72$jpn$1@dont-email.me>, BillW50  <BillW50@aol.kom>
> wrote:
>>
>> Some BIOS can be set to store event logs and that might capture the
>> blue screen error. And the third line is the only line that would be
>> helpful
>
> Chances are that there are good indications of the problem in the
> event logs.  A drive with bad blocks or bad servos will generally
> produce dozens of recoverable errors (that get logged) before hitting
> that fatal freeze.  Likewise, bad memory will usually produce random
> crashes in addition to blue screens, etc.  Has anyone looked at the
> event logs?
>
> Best way to back up a home PC is Ghost/Acronis/whatever and
> an external USB drive.  Don't count on being able to just swap the
> physical backup drive in because there's no guarantee the USB IDE
> "controller" and the hardware controller in the PC are compatible.

Huh? If it has a USB logo on it, why wouldn't it be PC compatible?

-- 
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

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#948

On Dec 18, 8:37 pm, "BillW50" <Bill...@aol.kom> wrote:
> Innews:jcltvs$cod$4@reader1.panix.com, the wharf rat wrote:
>> In article <jcfc72$jp...@dont-email.me>, BillW50  <Bill...@aol.kom>
>> wrote:
>
>>> Some BIOS can be set to store event logs and that might capture the
>>> blue screen error. And the third line is the only line that would be
>>> helpful
>
>> Chances are that there are good indications of the problem in the
>> event logs.  A drive with bad blocks or bad servos will generally
>> produce dozens of recoverable errors (that get logged) before hitting
>> that fatal freeze.  Likewise, bad memory will usually produce random
>> crashes in addition to blue screens, etc.  Has anyone looked at the
>> event logs?

As I mentioned in another posting in this thread, "Write an event to
the system log" is checked and AppCrashView did not show any events
since 2 days before the BSOD (5 Dec 2011).  I assume that the BSOD
prevented the event from being logged, and I hope that disabling
automatic restart will give me a chance to capture the BSOD message.

>> Best way to back up a home PC is Ghost/Acronis/whatever and
>> an external USB drive.  Don't count on being able to just swap the
>> physical backup drive in because there's no guarantee the USB IDE
>> "controller" and the hardware controller in the PC are compatible.
>
> Huh? If it has a USB logo on it, why wouldn't it be PC compatible?

As I mention in another post, the external 2.5" SATA drive will be in
an enclosure that connects to my laptop over eSATA.  However, when the
HDD in the laptop dies, I'll drop the external SATA into the laptop.
It is meant for a laptop, so I didn't expect there to be any
problems.  The enclosure is bought separately.

Wharf Rat, does what you said still apply to this scenario?  I'm
wondering if it implies that the exteral 2.5" SATA might be unusable
in a laptop simply because it was its contents was written while it
was in an enclosure.

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#951

In 
news:9e3ec046-760c-450b-a741-8cbec41a464a@o14g2000vbo.googlegroups.com,
AndyHancock wrote:
> On Dec 18, 8:37 pm, "BillW50" <Bill...@aol.kom> wrote:
>> Innews:jcltvs$cod$4@reader1.panix.com, the wharf rat wrote:
>>> In article <jcfc72$jp...@dont-email.me>, BillW50  <Bill...@aol.kom>
>>> wrote:
>>
>>>> Some BIOS can be set to store event logs and that might capture the
>>>> blue screen error. And the third line is the only line that would
>>>> be helpful
>>
>>> Chances are that there are good indications of the problem in the
>>> event logs.  A drive with bad blocks or bad servos will generally
>>> produce dozens of recoverable errors (that get logged) before
>>> hitting that fatal freeze.  Likewise, bad memory will usually
>>> produce random crashes in addition to blue screens, etc.  Has
>>> anyone looked at the event logs?
>
> As I mentioned in another posting in this thread, "Write an event to
> the system log" is checked and AppCrashView did not show any events
> since 2 days before the BSOD (5 Dec 2011).  I assume that the BSOD
> prevented the event from being logged, and I hope that disabling
> automatic restart will give me a chance to capture the BSOD message.

Yes I do recall you mentioning you checked the system logs. But you are 
talking about Windows event logs and I am talking about BIOS event logs. 
Those are two different things. Anyway the BSOD files are usually stored 
in the c:\Windows\minidump folder (as long as "Enable Write an Event to 
the system log"
and "Disable Automatically Restart" are set). These files are pretty 
useless in a text editor. And Microsoft has Windows debugging tools to 
create logs from these files. Which requires lots of typing through CMD. 
Luckily there is a better way.

Blue Screen View
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

>>> Best way to back up a home PC is Ghost/Acronis/whatever and
>>> an external USB drive.  Don't count on being able to just swap the
>>> physical backup drive in because there's no guarantee the USB IDE
>>> "controller" and the hardware controller in the PC are compatible.
>>
>> Huh? If it has a USB logo on it, why wouldn't it be PC compatible?
>
> As I mention in another post, the external 2.5" SATA drive will be in
> an enclosure that connects to my laptop over eSATA.  However, when the
> HDD in the laptop dies, I'll drop the external SATA into the laptop.
> It is meant for a laptop, so I didn't expect there to be any
> problems.  The enclosure is bought separately.
>
> Wharf Rat, does what you said still apply to this scenario?  I'm
> wondering if it implies that the exteral 2.5" SATA might be unusable
> in a laptop simply because it was its contents was written while it
> was in an enclosure.

I have done this for many years. And I never had any problems other than 
some partition utilities won't move, resize, etc. partitions if it is 
now using a different controller than when it was created with. But that 
is no big deal since this isn't something most people do anyway.

-- 
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz - 2GB - Windows XP SP3 

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#962

On Dec 19, 4:39 am, "BillW50" <Bill...@aol.kom> wrote:
> AndyHancock wrote:
>> As I mentioned in another posting in this thread, "Write an event
>> to the system log" is checked and AppCrashView did not show any
>> events since 2 days before the BSOD (5 Dec 2011).  I assume that
>> the BSOD prevented the event from being logged, and I hope that
>> disabling automatic restart will give me a chance to capture the
>> BSOD message.
>
> Yes I do recall you mentioning you checked the system logs. But you
> are talking about Windows event logs and I am talking about BIOS
> event logs.  Those are two different things. Anyway the BSOD files
> are usually stored in the c:\Windows\minidump folder (as long as
> "Enable Write an Event to the system log" and "Disable Automatically
> Restart" are set). These files are pretty useless in a text editor.
> And Microsoft has Windows debugging tools to create logs from these
> files. Which requires lots of typing through CMD.  Luckily there is
> a better way.
>
> Blue Screen Viewhttp://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

Thanks, Bill.

I have to admit, I'm not sure how to make sense out of most of the
info shown.  I've copied down the text for the last BSODs
(INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR and KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR).  I will surf for
information on them after cloning my HDD.

>> As I mention in another post, the external 2.5" SATA drive will be
>> in an enclosure that connects to my laptop over eSATA.  However,
>> when the HDD in the laptop dies, I'll drop the external SATA into
>> the laptop.  It is meant for a laptop, so I didn't expect there to
>> be any problems.  The enclosure is bought separately.
>
>> Wharf Rat, does what you said still apply to this scenario?  I'm
>> wondering if it implies that the exteral 2.5" SATA might be
>> unusable in a laptop simply because it was its contents was written
>> while it was in an enclosure.
>
> I have done this for many years. And I never had any problems other
> than some partition utilities won't move, resize, etc. partitions if
> it is now using a different controller than when it was created
> with. But that is no big deal since this isn't something most people
> do anyway.

I think I have to be careful here about the consequences.  I never
anticipated mucking with partitions before.  However, with the recent
surfing I've done on backups, it is conceivable that I will want to
adjust partitions.  As an example, my resident HDD is 640GB but the
new HDD I bought is 500GB.  From surfing, it seems that I can still
clone to the 500GB and boot from it.  The only thing is, I need to
shrink my main partition (which takes up most of the 640GB) so that
it's less than 500GB.  In fact, I used Disk Manager and found that I
have 4 partitions (3 without drive letters).  Since I want the cloned
500GB drive to be bootable, I figure I better clone the whole set of
partitions (but only shrink the main partition so that the whole thing
fits in 500GB).

I might still need partition tweaking after that.  I'll use the new
500GB drive as my main drive since it is higher performance.  However,
I might also tweak the main partition to be even smaller in order to
lessen defrag time.  A friend told me that Windows 7 defrags in the
background, but at the same time, I've read on the web about
defragging volumes before cloning or imaging (even for Windows 7).

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#947

On Dec 16, 7:05 am, BillW50 <Bill...@aol.kom> wrote:
>On 12/14/2011 11:00 PM, AndyHancock wrote:
> Some BIOS can be set to store event logs and that might capture the blue
> screen error. And the third line is the only line that would be helpful
> to know what it says.

Actually, I accidentally found a switch that might save crash info.  I
was following advice on another forum to disable automatic reboot:

> Open the Start Menu, right-click on "Computer," and click
> "Properties." Click "Advanced system settings" on the left. A new
> window should open. Under "Startup and Recovery," click "Settings."
> Under "System failure," make sure "Automatically restart" is
> unchecked.

In that same panel is a checkbox for "Write an event to the system
log", and it was checked.  .  I web surfed about how to access the
system log.  I found AppCrashView, which did not show any events since
2 days before the BSOD (5 Dec 2011).  I guess the BSOD prevented the
event from being logged, so I hope that disabling automatic restart
will give me a chance to capture the BSOD message.

> As for backing up, I have many backup software Acronis, Paragon, Ghost,
> etc. And my favorite is using cloning software. And one of my favorites
> is XXClone (the free version). Although this one has no boot disc and it
> has to run under a working Windows. I use USB2 enclosure for the laptops
> I have that only supports one internal drive. I use USB over than eSATA
> because USB is used on everything and eSATA isn't. So that is my reason.

I have only one computer...the laptop I'm trying to clone.  It has a
combined USB2.0/eSATA port, so I think I can safely go with eSATA.
However, I've forsaken the path of creating a recovery disk with which
to restore from an image.  Instead, I want to regularly clone the
laptop's resident HDD to the external drive (a 2.5" SATA in an
enclosure with eSATA connection to the laptop).  By clone, I mean
bootable sector-by-sector replica of my resident HDD.  That way, if my
resident laptop becomes unbootable, I just take the external HDD out
of its enclosure and drop it into the laptop.

> Yes I have a number of netbooks. But you can also get very reliable used
> laptops say on eBay or something for a better price than a new netbook.
> I am not trying to talk you out of a netbook, as I do love them. I am
> just saying.

eBay is really cool, according from anecdotes from friends.  I just
haven't gotten over the paranoia of subscribing to PayPal yet.

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#931

On 15/12/2011 1:00 AM, AndyHancock wrote:
> On Dec 10, 8:55 pm, Tazz<dmswa...@gmail.com>  wrote:
>> On 05/12/2011 2:49 AM, AndyHancock wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> In the past week or so, I got a few blue screens saying that an
>>> application was misbehaving, and that windows had to shut down to
>>> prevent damage to my computer.  I would simply reboot and continue
>>> working.  The last time it happened, I repeatedly got "boot failed"
>>> and it said hdd, sdd, fdd.  So I held down the power button until I
>>> saw no sign of activity, then booted.  Things went fine.  I called
>>> Toshiba support, and they advised I go home and back up my files
>>> before continuing.  It took hours to selectively do housekeeping, sort
>>> out previous backups, and do a small-footprint backup.  When I called
>>> Toshiba again, they recommended a "recovery", which is restoring
>>> factory settings.  This puts me back to the stone ages.  I'd have to
>>> go through a never-ending process of upgrading to Windows 7 Pro 64-
>>> bit, installing and reconfiguring all apps and environments/
>>> configurations, etc.  It will basically take out the holidays, if not
>>> more.  I will also need to get another computer (perhaps a netbook) to
>>> stay connected while I revive my laptop.  It is barely more than a
>>> year hold.
>>
>>> Is there a diagnostic that I can do to determine the likelihood that
>>> it is a hard disk problem?  Toshiba support says that it's the surest
>>> way, since it provides an F10 diagnostic code for the hard drive, and
>>> it also pushes bad sectors to the end of the disk (logically, I'm
>>> guessing, since you can't physically move a defect).
>>
>> You could give Spinrite a try.http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm
>> It will scan your hard drive and if it finds bad spots it will try to
>> recover the data on those spots.
>>
>> All I had to do to convince Acer support that the hard drive was bad on
>> my laptop was tell them that Spinrite found some bad sectors on it. They
>> took it and replaced the hdd no questions.
>>
>> It is $89.00 and if it don't help you out just email the author/owner
>> and tell him. He has publicly stated that if you bought it and it did
>> not/could not help you that he will refund your money.
>
> I'm trying to research the best option for disk image backups before
> doing anything further, like diagnostics or reformating (as Toshiba
> tech support suggests). I got the blue screen again, but it happens
> unpredictably -- days or (in this case) more than a week apart.
> However, the blue screen doesn't linger long enough for me to copy
> anything down. About 1.5 seconds. Thereafter, it tries to reboot and
> gives boot failures of xDD. I tried holding down the power button
> until everything looked off, waited for about 20 seconds, then tried
> again with the same result. Finally, I tried what a friend suggested:
> Pull the power cord, remove the battery, and hold down the power
> button so that I know that every last ounce of charge is gone. Then
> plug in power cord&  battery and power up. It seemed to work. The only
> message I got was that the last boot failed, and I had to option of
> booting in safe mode (which I didn't).
>
> P.S. Also a newbie to the world of disk drives and image backups, but
> learning lots by talking to people. Looking at avoiding NAS due to
> bandwidth limitations in my home DSL/router, and going with a SATA
> 2.5" in an enclosure with either USB 2.0 or eSATA. If the laptop drive
> dies, I can just take the external SATA out of its enclosure and drop
> it into the laptop. However, if the resident HDD is still good, I'm
> thinking that an alternative to swapping drives is to simply recover
> the image from the external SATA (to the resident drive). I'm just not
> sure whether the recovery disk that is made by imaging freeware
> (Paragon, Macrium) can recover from a USB or eSATA drive. Currently
> trying to research it -- any chiming in from those who know would be
> appreciated, thanks.

In Win7 press Windows (Start) button and right click on Computer and 
choose Properties. Click on Advanced System Propertied (left side) then 
the Advanced tab. Click the Settings... button under Startup and 
Recovery. Un-check Automatically Restart in the System failure section.

If it messes up again it should stay on the blue screen until you hit 
the reset button.

-- 

</Tazz>

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#940

In article <4eece018$0$29441$9a566e8b@news.aliant.net>,
Tazz  <dmswaine@gmail.com> wrote:

[...]

>In Win7 press Windows (Start) button and right click on Computer and 
>choose Properties. Click on Advanced System Propertied (left side) then 
>the Advanced tab. Click the Settings... button under Startup and 
>Recovery. Un-check Automatically Restart in the System failure section.

For those of us who (like me) are still on XP, you can do the same thing
by going to:

Control Panel; System; Advanced; Startup and Recovery and unchecking
"Automatically Restart".

-- 
Rich Greenberg  Sarasota, FL, USA richgr atsign panix.com  + 1 941 378 2097
Eastern time.  N6LRT  I speak for myself & my dogs only.    VM'er since CP-67
Canines: Val, Red, Shasta, Zero & Casey (At the bridge)        Owner:Chinook-L
Canines: Red & Cinnar (Siberians)  Retired at the beach  Asst Owner:Sibernet-L

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#949

On Dec 18, 1:28 pm, ric...@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) wrote:
> In article <4eece018$0$29441$9a566...@news.aliant.net>,
>
> Tazz  <dmswa...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>>In Win7 press Windows (Start) button and right click on Computer and
>>choose Properties. Click on Advanced System Propertied (left side)
>>then the Advanced tab. Click the Settings... button under Startup
>>and Recovery. Un-check Automatically Restart in the System failure
>>section.
>
> For those of us who (like me) are still on XP, you can do the same
> thing by going to:
>
> Control Panel; System; Advanced; Startup and Recovery and unchecking
> "Automatically Restart".

Done, as mentioned in my recent response.

As I described, in that same panel is a checkbox for "Write an event
to the system log", and it was checked.  .  I web surfed about how to
access the system log.  I found AppCrashView, which did not show any
events since 2 days before the BSOD (5 Dec 2011).  I guess the BSOD
prevented the event from being logged, so I hope that disabling
automatic restart will give me a chance to capture the BSOD message.

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