In message , Paul
writes:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , HB writes:
"Paul" wrote in message
news
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disktype /dev/sda
I typed this in the CP (command prompt) and
. It sees there are 2
That is rather reassuring: it suggests that the drive electronics
are
working, and can read the drive surface, at least as far as the
partition table, which is (as its name suggests) a table near the
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As I said in the previous post, if, when it was working, you could see a
C: and a D: partition, then if there was also a hidden partition (which
there often is), there would indeed be three partitions.
Unfortunately, I don't _think_ we can assume that partition 3 is D:;
different things see the partitions in a different order. Would you mind
posting us a screenshot of where "it mentions a partition 1 and a
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A shot of the results of the
smartctl -a /dev/sda
result might also be useful - I know you're getting fed up of that one,
but _we_ have so far only seen the results of your first two attempts,
one of which had the capital S and the other the extra "return".
It's sounding like a disk with CRC errors to me.
I would have started ddrescue scavenging, long ago.
Yes, but you and I are smarter than the average bear - or rather, have
more experience (some bitter) than the average user.
Remember, that disktype command starts with the MBR (Sector 0) and reads
[stuff that will be over HB's head snipped]
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The table dumped by the smartctl command, could have a bit of
info we could use. I already indicated in a previous post,
That's why I've asked him to show it to us (-:
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Summary:
1) New drive time. $60 or so.
Remove the hard drive and take it to a store, if you need help
identifying the connector type.
I think he's established that it's a SATA - he likes the look of the
$4.04 "cable" someone posted a link to. [Did they ever make 500G or 1T
drives in EIDE, anyway?]
My one good (not Best Buy) computer store has a vast
collection of new drive SKUs, and could match whatever you
SKU?
bring into the store. Their in-store stock is good enough, you
won't leave the store empty-handed.
2) Make sure you have the COA sticker with xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
format license key available. No need for step 3 without it.
There is a high probability the COA sticker is scratched.
He has confirmed it's getting worn, and - I hope - already copied what's
on it.
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3) Download a Windows 7 DVD, of matching type, for the OS reinstall step
onto the new $60 hard drive. If you can't get the Windows 7 DVD
When we get to that point, will it be difficult for him to find the
appropriate source for such a DVD?
I presume what's downloaded is an .iso file.
to boot (which I would consider unusual when a FatDog64 boots),
then again, that might void the (1) step. The Windows 7 DVD
should boot, even if there is *no* hard drive in the laptop.
The one exception, is cases where the laptop maker has a "stub loader"
of some sort, which must load first, before anything else will work.
And in this case, the FatDog64 result tells us the machine
probably isn't booby trapped.
This is what's puzzling me; as you say, he's got the fatdog disc to
boot, suggesting the laptop is capable of booting from a disc in that
drive, but he's tried various other discs (which he's described as
Rescue, Repair or similar) and says he's had no success. He hasn't tried
a Macrium one because he hasn't got beyond the first stage in getting
Macrium, but he says he's tried some others and is still getting "disc
read error" or something like that. I wonder if he's still not been
burning them _from_ .iso files (so it's reverting to trying the HD).
The
press any key to boot from CD/DVD
message: do you know if that's a BIOS thing, or something that only
appears when you boot from a Microsoft disc? (I know I see it when I
boot from a Macrium one, but that _is_ Windows, really.)
Paul
John
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
The first banjo solo I played was actually just a series of mistakes. In fact
it was all the mistakes I knew at the time. - Tim Dowling, RT2015/6/20-26