My Laptop Does Not Boot Properly

[TheWalkingMan]

Hi,

I am having problems with VISTA Home Premium starting on my Toshiba Satellite P305-S8822 laptop.

When trying to start it does not get to the log in screen. It just seems to cycle and the hard disk accessing light comes on for a bit, then goes off. So I switched it off and back on. Once on, it went to the trouble shooting screen and I clicked the auto repair option.

It went though the auto repair process and it gave me the option of restore. So I tried that and after completion it ask me to restart. I restarted and the same problem occurred.

I turned it off and on. Then I got the bright idea to remove the battery and unplug it during the start up process. Not smart, but upon restarting after that, it went to the troubleshooting screen and on the screen it says something like "If shut down occurred due to it being unplugged then start normally." I started normally and it booted properly. Once running it seems fine with no obvious problems.

Any ideas how to correct this? Or is the system letting me know that it is about to die? Unplugging the laptop cannot be good for the system. What do I need to do in order to correct this problem.

Note that I have the original Toshiba Recovery and Applications/Drivers disks.

Thanks in advance for any help with this problem.

TheWalkingMan

[welo]

Cutting off the power cannot really harm the computer hardware, but it might cause troubles with the file system and corrupt files that are opened and being written to at the moment the power cuts off. Windows will recognize such events (when the file system is not unmounted properly) and trigger a file system check on next boot during which affected files should be fixed.

During system startup most file IO is reading and no sensitive data is written to (mostly log files and stuff).

Do I understand correctly that the situation is still unchanged, Vista not starting without your unplugging trick? (Did you try this only once or repeatingly?)

Did you install any software during the last session before the problem occurred for the first time. Did Windows install any system updates?

How long did you wait for Windows to start up until turning off?

Can you boot into safe mode?

welo

[thaibear1]

sorry it don't touch your problem but I would never again buy any Toshiba Satellite laptop.

I come from Europe with a 2'100 Euro Toshiba under warranty. The LCD screen start make problems. I contact 3 times by e-mail the Toshiba head office in Bangkok. Outlook say the mails was read. No answer. For a phone call because the lady don't understand I get only a giggle. AND NOW AFTER few month the warranty is over!!!

[TheWalkingMan]

Cutting off the power cannot really harm the computer hardware, but it might cause troubles with the file system and corrupt files that are opened and being written to at the moment the power cuts off. Windows will recognize such events (when the file system is not unmounted properly) and trigger a file system check on next boot during which affected files should be fixed.

During system startup most file IO is reading and no sensitive data is written to (mostly log files and stuff).

Do I understand correctly that the situation is still unchanged, Vista not starting without your unplugging trick? (Did you try this only once or repeatingly?)

Did you install any software during the last session before the problem occurred for the first time. Did Windows install any system updates?

How long did you wait for Windows to start up until turning off?

Can you boot into safe mode?

welo

Hi Welo,

Vista does start with the unplugging trick and I am able to get into the safe mode. One more odd thing, I did a restart and it worked fine, but when I shutdown the laptop, the problem occurred in the morning.

I did the unplugging the last 2 times I was able to get the laptop to boot. No software was installed before the last session.

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated. I think step one will be to do a back-up.

thaibear1,

That is terrible.

TheWalkingMan

[mauiguy90]

1)If nothing else, I would make a recovery/boot disk as soon as possible before the program dies out.

2)Have you checked for viruses? Viruses tend to attack the boot program most often.

3)Also take a look at whether you can reset your computer to a date when it was working properly. Use the system restore program in your control panel.

Best of luck,

Randy

Edited March 8, 2010 by mauiguy90

[lopburi3]

If you have anything (USB) plugged into the computer I would remove and see if that helps. My Acer often will not boot with external drive connected (although don't believe it the same problem you have).

[bkkorg]

Step 1: startup---- press F7 and try to let system repair itself in safemode.

step 2: any beep voice when start up?

you know dude, can not judge problem just from your unclear description.

[welo]

A virus infection or a harddisk numbering problem (due to a connected USB storage device) are possible explanations. A failing harddisk is another one.

0. Where exactly does the boot process hang? Does the colored screen appear saying 'Loading Windows Vista'?

1. Does Safe Mode always work or only after your 'unplugging trick'. If it works always, we could also consider a software problem (drivers or startup programs).

2. Do you hear any strange noises from the harddrive, especially non-random, repeating noises before the boot process stalls (if there are bad blocks on the harddisk the OS will try several times to read from the damaged block). You will have to get your ear very close to the harddrive (in a laptop it is usually located to the left of the touchpad (or to the right if your DVD drive is located there).

3. Do you have a antivirus software installed, if YES, which one? Does it have current updates?

4. Please make absolutely sure that the laptop does NOT start normally without the unplug trick. Sometimes we suspect a pattern or a connection though there is actually none. It does not absolutely make sense to me that cutting off the power during startup 'fixes' the startup for the next run. Though it could be related since Windows will know that something went wrong and it will try to avoid the problem during the next startup (maybe by disabling the failed driver or whatever).

5. Please enable boot logging during a system startup that fails. Then attach the log file to your next post. Instructions here: http://www.watchingthenet.com/how-to-enabl...in-windows.html

If you provide detailed answers I will recommend actual steps in my next post.

welo

Edited March 8, 2010 by welo

[TheWalkingMan]

A virus infection or a harddisk numbering problem (due to a connected USB storage device) are possible explanations. A failing harddisk is another one.

0. Where exactly does the boot process hang? Does the colored screen appear saying 'Loading Windows Vista'?

Right at the beginning... where there is a black screen and at the bottom of the screen there is a color bar going from left to right. It never gets to the password screen.

1. Does Safe Mode always work or only after your 'unplugging trick'. If it works always, we could also consider a software problem (drivers or startup programs).

Only did Safe Mode once and left the laptop on all night last night as today I wanted to buy an external drive for backing up.

2. Do you hear any strange noises from the harddrive, especially non-random, repeating noises before the boot process stalls (if there are bad blocks on the harddisk the OS will try several times to read from the damaged block). You will have to get your ear very close to the harddrive (in a laptop it is usually located to the left of the touchpad (or to the right if your DVD drive is located there).

No funky noises as I specifically listened for that because a couple of years back I had a laptop die on me.

3. Do you have a antivirus software installed, if YES, which one? Does it have current updates?

I am using Microsoft Security Essentials and I believe it is up to date.

4. Please make absolutely sure that the laptop does NOT start normally without the unplug trick. Sometimes we suspect a pattern or a connection though there is actually none. It does not absolutely make sense to me that cutting off the power during startup 'fixes' the startup for the next run. Though it could be related since Windows will know that something went wrong and it will try to avoid the problem during the next startup (maybe by disabling the failed driver or whatever).

Yep. When I restart I will just let it run to see how it plays out.

5. Please enable boot logging during a system startup that fails. Then attach the log file to your next post. Instructions here: http://www.watchingthenet.com/how-to-enabl...in-windows.html

Thanks for the tip! After I finish backing this thing up, I will enable the boot logging and post the results.

If you provide detailed answers I will recommend actual steps in my next post.

welo

Thanks for the help!

[TheWalkingMan]

I found some software called EasyBCD 1.7.2 and it had an option to Reinstall the Vista Bootloader. I did it and it seemed to work.

I hit F8 in order to get the Boot Logger option. Found it, restarted and it started fine. Naturally, I cannot find the log file. The file for the boot logging is NTBTLOG.TXT or NTBOOTLOG.TXT. I even did a search on *.txt which did not find the file...

I turned the laptop on and off about 10 times and it booted each time.

However, there is one odd thing.

Before the password screen, a blue screen flashes for a second or so and I was able to snap a few few pictures in order to get the entire message.

It said

STOP: c0000145 {Application Error}

The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000005). Click OK to terminate the application.

I did not click anything as it continued to the password screen.

Now that it's starting fine, I am just worried about this blue screen.

BTW, I purchased a 1 Terabyte, USB hard disk. Very quiet. The brand is Buffalo HD-AVU2.

TheWalkingMan

[welo]

Weird.

Try checking the system event log to see what application failed.

I am seriously considering a virus infection now. But didn't find any sources online to undermine this suspicion. If there is something like a virus that infects the vista boot loader you might have wiped it out by running EasyBCD. Otherwise I don't really see a connection between the boot loader and the system hanging during the welcome/login screen. These are two completely different stages during the boot process.

I also don't know where the log file should have been gone. It should be located in C:\windows\ntbtlog.txt. If you hit WIN-R and then type ntbtlog.txt it should pick up the file from any system folder and open notepad.

EDIT: actually there could be a connection between boot loader and startup services related to the windows genuine check...

Since you mentioned the USB drive, I assume you had the USB drive unplugged all the time and ruled this out as a possible reason!

Please not that of course the main point is not that it is connected with the cable but connected AND turned on during the boot process (actually during the POST, this is what happens before you hit F8 when the BIOS detects harddrives and maps USB storage systems to a drive letter.

Anyway, the USB would not explain the application error you see now during login.

If anybody is still following this thread, what do you think?

I think you should focus on finding what application failed during logon, this might indicate what we are dealing with.

You could also try to disable ALL startup services using msconfig.exe. Of course this will temporarily prevent some programs to start automatically, but you can later re-enable them using the same program (just check the checkboxes again).

Btw, did you notice any other strange behavior, like websites getting redirected, or task manager not loading, etc.

EDIT: I still think it might either be a failing harddisk or a virus infection. Checkout comments on this post

EDIT: One more thing. Please keep rebooting 3-4 times and see if the behavior is CONSISTENT! Erratic behavior rather points to hardware problems (harddisk, memory) whereas consistency in behavior indicates a software problem (incl. virus infection)

welo

Edited March 10, 2010 by welo