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#196
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Toshiba W-7 went dark
In message , HB writes:
[] Rescue disks don't work. They didn't work for the other two that had this black screen w/blinker and they'er not working now. For some reason the Toshiba is unable to read them. Macrium will not download. I get the installer OK, but then get an unable to download error. Paul, any ideas? [] Nothing said it would boot from a DVD if no keys were pressed. ***** The Toshiba saw the rescue CD,said "press any key to bootfrom CD or DVD."***** If you're then pressing a key, I don't know what the problem is. [] 4. Best case: just some of the files have been corrupted (ones that Windows needs to be able to boot); if that's the case, we just need to repair those files. If we can get past the "disk read error occured" error. Which suggests it might be worse than the best case. 1 and 2, you'd probably do on the Toshiba itself; 3 and 4 we might help you to do on the Toshiba having booted from some sort of CD/DVD (Linux, Windows repair disc, Macrium boot disc, ...), or we might help you to do by taking the drive out and connecting it to something else. That was discussed here already. The "dock" thing. I need that thing I can plug the 2 ribbon cables into and then plug that into the USB port on this PC. With the dock I've shown you, you plug the drive into one of the two slots on top of the dock; there are connectors in the bottom of the slot which mate with the connectors on the end of the drive. You then connect a USB lead (which comes with the dock) from the back panel of the dock to a USB port on a (working) PC. You get the information that all parts of the laptop except the drive are OK; we have yet to determine whether the drive is faulty or just corrupted (see next post). If the drive is just corrupted, then Linux may well be of use in fixing that (though not with me giving the help). With no help it's of no use to me. I never heard of one OS showing the system info of another OS and fixing it, though it may be possible. I believe it is, though I don't know enough about Linux to know the details. Linux won't have the necessary files to repair a Windows installation if actual Windows files are corrupted, but it can: o interrogate the hardware of the drive to some extent o repair things like the partition table and boot sector The first is what we've been trying to do with fatdog's terminal and that command that begins with s. If you enter that command, _exactly_ as Paul specified it - so that you _don't_ get either "command not recognised" or "wrong number of parameters" - you should get something that, when you show it to us via a screenshot, will tell us _something_ more about the hard drive than we know now. Similarly with the fdisk command and its subsidiaries, as detailed by I think Java Jive. [] I've just looked at mine, and there's no maker's name on it anywhere - it just says "ALL IN 1 HDD Docking" on the front of it. that. The back slot is for SATA drives. I think this is the image: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/DvYAA...eW/s-l1600.jpg The bottom image is the one I think would work. I assume need a cable to go from it to the healthy PC. A cable that goes from the back of the dock to the healthy PC should come with the dock. Check the details of the listing (or in the box if you actually find somewhere that stocks them) to be sure you get: the dock; a power supply; and the USB lead. [] https://www.ebay.com/itm/151504204416 Seems to be a US seller (I'm assuming you're in the US). I am. Here's the "cable", which is cheaper: https://www.ebay.com/itm/172256326228 - the search phrase is "USB to SATA", and you should find even cheaper, though make sure it's one with a power supply. You will see the connectors you want, on the ends of the power supply (four wires) and SATA (red) cables. The ends on the red one don't look like they are for USB ports. No. The third image on that listing gives a clearer view. The red (SATA data) lead goes from the smaller connector on the drive, to the top of the big black plug with the coiled clear lead attached to it. The power supply feeds, via the four wire (black yellow black red) adapter lead, into the larger (SATA power) connector on the drive. The other end of the coiled clear lead is the USB plug that goes into your working PC. (The big black plug actually has three connectors on it: the long ones on the sides are for use with desktop and portable IDE drives - the SATA one is on its top, near the end furthest from the USB cable.) Here's the housing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/112652273779 - you can't see the connectors, but be assured they're on the back of the circuit board you can see in the second picture. Search for "external housing" or similar. What is the housing for? The HD from the Toshiba is inclosed with 2 ribbon cables. You take it out of the Toshiba, and put it into the housing (the ends of the housing come off); there are two connectors on the back of the PCB you can see at one end of the housing in the second picture which mate with the two connectors on the drive. What you end up with looks very like your Seagate drive, and is used in much the same way - you connect its USB lead to a working PC (using two USB sockets at the PC end). [] If you had to buy an unused Windows 7 disc/licence [assuming you could find one!], it probably _would_ not be economic compared to the cost of a new PC. If we can find you one which you do not have to pay for - which I think you're entitled to, having (or your aunt having) bought it with the PC, and it's the same PC you're trying to fix - then I would say it _is_ worth it, even if you had to buy a new HD. It would _certainly_ be worth making a Linux PC out of it, since Linux is mostly free, but like you _I_ would not really want that. No, I don't care for it. And as far as I know her games wont play on it. Probably not. There is something called WINE, which is a program that runs under Linux, which makes it imitate Windows, and can run some Windows software, but I suspect many games would not. BTW I'm forwarding this info to myself so I have it. At this point I'm mentally exhausted trying to figure out what's wrong with the Toshiba. I just can't absorb any more. I wish I knew someone who enjoyed I think we've established with a fair degree of certainty that it is only its HD which has any problem - the rest of it is fine. What we still have to establish is whether the HD's electronics and/or mechanics are at fault, or whether there is just some file/folder/partition corruption: Paul's s... command and JJ's fdisk one, run from fatdog Linux's Terminal window, might get us closer to knowing that. (As would accessing the drive from your working PC using a dock, "cable", or housing, but the Linux way is easier at the moment since you don't have a dock, "cable", or housing.) spending hours online reading the most boring dry computer information and Sorry if we're boring! working on computers. I'm not that person. I would happily give them the Toshiba to work on and keep. I had no idea what was involved in solving the black-screen-of-death. BTW, the new Notebook with W-10, 8 GBs RAM and a 1 TB HD was under $400 tax included at our local WalMart store. A new HD should be $70 or less, probably much less, especially if you go for one of lower capacity than 1 TB. But only if you actually need one, which we haven't established yet. If you can't tolerate critics, don't do anything new or interesting. Jeff Bezos Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/interestingIf you can't tolerate critics, don't do anything new or interesting. Jeff Bezos Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/interesting -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf War is God's way of teaching Americans geography. -Ambrose Bierce, writer (1842-1914) |
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#197
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Toshiba W-7 went dark (running from disc)
HB wrote:
https://postimg.org/gallery/38afbakly/ I'm looking at the 4th IM004776.jpg of the fatdog desktop and I think I see an icon for sda1. If so, that is a positive sign that fatdog sees something (like your hdd). I would've like to have seen sda1 & sda2 (2 parts, 1 for recovery), but there are various ways of hiding a restore partition. I'm not sure because when I zoom the .jpg to read the icon's letters the pixels start coming apart. -- Mike Easter |
#198
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Toshiba W-7 went dark
In message , Patrick
writes: On 21/03/2018 12:08, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote: Here's the "cable", which is cheaper: https://www.ebay.com/itm/172256326228 - the search phrase is "USB to SATA", and you should find even cheaper, though make sure it's one with a power supply. You will see the connectors you want, on the ends of the power supply (four wires) and SATA (red) cables. Whoops, I jumped the gun there By the way, (in case anyone dosn't know; 2.5 HDD dosnt need a 12v supply, it will run from the USB's 5v. True. However, some do need more power - especially for the initial spin-up from stationary - than a single USB socket can supply (nominally max. 0.5 A); that's why I steer towards an external supply, or at least one where the PC end of the USB cable has two plugs if the "cable" _doesn't_ come with a power supply. (The above is quite a fancy version of a "cable", being able to support SATA and IDE, and having a power supply.) -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf But this can only happen if we replace the urge to blame with the urge to learn so that it is safe for staff to admit errors and raise concerns without the fear of being punished. - Former MI5 boss Eliza Manningham-Buller, RT 2016/5/7-13 |
#199
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Toshiba W-7 went dark (running from disc)
Oops. typo
s/smartctrl/smartctl/ Mike Easter wrote: The second time you used: smartctrl -a /dev/sda return I meant you input smartctl not 'smartctrl' That was not an acceptable command for smartctl either (return string bafflement) and smartctl told you so. -- Mike Easter |
#200
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Toshiba W-7 went dark (loaded fatdog)
HB wrote:
"Patrick" wrote in message news On 20/03/2018 07:59, HB wrote: There is nothing like that to be seen. It says FATDOG in the center of the screen with the few icons along the left hand side and bottom. I'm looking at it now. It's running in RAM, not from the HD. The Icons along the bottom, do you not see the Icon that looks like '_' and is pointed to by an arrow drawn by Paul that says 'Terminal'? if you do then click-it. Found it - No image shows after typing in some kind of code. https://postimg.org/gallery/38afbakly/ Your first command, it looks like you typed a capital S. The second command, you were supposed to type smartctl -a /dev/sda One of your pictures shows an interesting thing. The hard drive shows a single partition of sda1. Which would be a little unusual for an OEM disk setup. Or for that matter, for a Windows 7 retail install. An OEM-prepared drive would have things like 14GB recovery partition, a System Reserved, and a C: partition. I take that to mean, Fatdog doesn't "see" a second partition, meaning other partitions are damaged or the partitions are no longer in the partition table. Normally, I would try running "testdisk", but the interface is pretty horrible, and one of the operations involves starting a scan, stopping it, and *then* it presents a menu opportunity to examine the files inside the partition. And you definitely don't want to write a new partition table to the disk (as testdisk would like to suggest), unless you have evidence the new partition table bears some resemblance to "the truth". Many times, I've used testdisk and it finds "phantom" partitions. It requires the human operator to be the "arbiter of good taste", and make the right decision. If you accept and write a new MBR value which is incorrect, it can cause immediate data destruction. But for just displaying the existence of files in a partition, it's a great tool to have onboard. The "ddrescue" test can prove the drive is readable, even though your original error report said "disk read error". A ddrescue scan would give some idea how sick the drive was. Even the smartctl report of Reallocated Sectors "raw data value" would be of some assistance. Paul |
#201
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Toshiba W-7 went dark (running from disc)
Java Jive wrote:
On 20/03/2018 11:14, Mike Easter wrote: Later he got fatdog to boot: Then I must apologise for sowing this thread with an even greater level of confusion than that which caused me to miss that post! If he gets to a command prompt, then he might care to try giving the command (in all that follows, the precededing sudo may not be required, it would be in Ubuntu, but I don't know about this distro that he's using): sudo lilo --helpEnter If he gets a page of help, rather than a terse message similar to ... lilo not found ... then the command ... sudo lilo -M device mbrEnter ... will fix the MBR on his hard disk. But first we would have to help him find out what to use for device. As it's fairly recent, it's likely to be /dev/sda, making the command ... sudo lilo -M /dev/sda mbrEnter ... but again, I don't know the distro, so others may be able to give better advice as to how to determine the hard disk's device designation. In his picture of the Fatdog64 desktop, it shows the existence of sda1. Which means the hard drive is visible. But something is horribly wrong with the partitions detected so far. As an OEM or even a Retail Windows 7 should have more partitions than just "sda1". Even using fdisk /dev/sda p === prints the MBR partitiont able q === quits running of fdisk command would give some idea what the partition setup is like. The command disktype /dev/sda can also give that information, as long as disktype is present. it will show the partitions it can see/read. Paul |
#202
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Toshiba W-7 went dark (running from disc)
HB wrote:
"Paul" wrote in message news Java Jive wrote: a screenshot But he hasn't got a GUI! TBH with you, I have *no idea* what's on his screen. Not a clue. https://postimg.org/gallery/38afbakly/ The Fatdog screen comes up with the icons on the side and bottom, dog in the center, but not that image after I type in the code in the command/terminal window. Maybe because it runs from the DVD and is not installed on the HD. I didn't want it on the hard drive :-) I wanted it to: 1) Prove the machine boots. 2) Use as a platform for various, randomly picked, commands. We now know the machine isn't a candidate for the dumpster. it has a hard drive of questionable heritage. That's all we know. Commands are available in FatDog64, to pick at it, pick over the carcass. What we don't have (and don't want at the moment) is CHKDSK. If you use CHKDSK on a "sick" hard drive, the outcome is random. It could be a good or a bad outcome. One of the reasons I wanted a ddrescue "scan", is to see if the hard drive is on the verge of death or not. Or, it's "just" some software issue that has trashed a partition. Your Fatdog64 picture shows the drive having "sda1", which is too few partitions for my liking, and implies a partition is sick or has gone missing. My OEM laptop had three partitions at least, before I messed with it. Paul |
#203
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Toshiba W-7 went dark (running from disc)
HB wrote:
I've read what seems to be hundreds of pages and have not found the answer to getting the Toshiba to boot. This is true. I hope you weren't expecting miracles. The way USENET normally works, is we give "hints" to the best of our ability. The poster uses their wealth of computer experience to fill in the cracks (as it were). You, the poster, perform the actual repair. We just comment and offer encouragement from the bleachers. You're not a totally naive computer user, because you've already demonstrated the ability to upload photos of the desktop (without being prompted). You've managed to post to USENET. We know you have a certain level of sophistication. You're not my mom :-) One of our objectives here, is *not to break your stuff*. We go out of our way, to try not to destroy your only chance to repair a computer. ******* When ever I'm involved in a computer issue, the first thing I do, is a backup of the sick item. I like to have two hard drives. One drive holds an "image" of the sick item. The second drive is used to hold scavenged files, if the user wants their data back and doesn't care about the OS. I'm not an IT guy or a Geek Squad guy. A Geek Squad guy doesn't make a backup of your hard drive. A Geek Squad guy just "goes for it". If CHKDSK trashes the disk, he reinstalls the OS and charges you $200 and says "Done". Professional repair people watch the clock. Their flowchart for repair, is a lot more brutal than ours would be. One objective of getting you a Win7 DVD disc, is to reinstall the OS, if you cannot make a repair. So there's always a final outcome of needing to reinstall. But before throwing in the towel that way, it would be good to know whether the hard drive is even healthy enough to accept an installation. You might get half way through and have it crash for example. Small 2.5" hard drives are available for around $50-$60 or so, if worse comes to worse. Such drives are normally 9.5mm thick. There might be some platforms which use 7mm drives (and shallow drive bay), but for the most part, the bay should have a 9.5mm one in it now. Paul |
#204
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Toshiba W-7 went dark (running from disc)
Paul wrote:
Even using Â*Â* fdisk /dev/sda Â*Â* pÂ*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* === prints the MBR partitiont able Â*Â* qÂ*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* === quits running of fdisk command would give some idea what the partition setup is like. I like that idea. HB may not understand how that command structure works for fdisk. When fdisk /dev/sda is running, it is awaiting additional commands, so the prompt becomes Command (m for help) Then he inputs 'p' (no quote) as you say above, with its result, and then the above command request returns and he inputs 'q' no quote to quit fdisk. -- Mike Easter |
#205
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Toshiba W-7 went dark (running from disc)
Mike Easter wrote:
Paul wrote: Even using Â*Â*Â* fdisk /dev/sda Â*Â*Â* pÂ*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* === prints the MBR partitiont able Â*Â*Â* qÂ*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* === quits running of fdisk command would give some idea what the partition setup is like. I like that idea. I'm trying to figure out an uncomplicated way for HB to provide screenshot from fatdog. Some kind of screensaver is activated when prtscr is used, because the cursor changes and it can draw a selection around whatever. I thought that the screensaver so activated by prtscr was xscreensaver because of a message in the puppy forum, but I can't figure out how to use whatever has been activated with prtscr. So far I have only been able to go back to the default cursor with prtscr again, but nothing is in the clipboard for mtpaint with that sequence. Fatdog default also includes an mtpaint snapshot tool which will faciliate a screenshot with onscreen instructions. That is found in the graphics subsection of the menu. -- Mike Easter |
#206
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Toshiba W-7 went dark (running from disc)
saying 'screensaver' when he/I means screenshot...
Mike Easter wrote: Some kind of screensaver is activated when prtscr is used, because the cursor changes and it can draw a selection around whatever.Â* I thought that the screensaver so activated by prtscr was xscreensaver because of a message in the puppy forum, but I can't figure out how to use whatever has been activated with prtscr.Â* So far I have only been able to go back to the default cursor with prtscr again, but nothing is in the clipboard for mtpaint with that sequence. Some kind of screenshot is activated when PrtScr is used because the cursor changes and it can draw a selection; but having drawn that selection, the cursor is still in the drawing mode, and doesn't change with a R click. Fatdog default also includes an mtpaint snapshot tool which will faciliate a screenshot with onscreen instructions.Â* That is found in the graphics subsection of the menu. -- Mike Easter |
#207
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Toshiba W-7 went dark (running from disc)
In message , Mike Easter
writes: Mike Easter wrote: Paul wrote: Even using *** fdisk /dev/sda *** p********************** === prints the MBR partitiont able *** q********************** === quits running of fdisk command would give some idea what the partition setup is like. I like that idea. I'm trying to figure out an uncomplicated way for HB to provide screenshot from fatdog. Although not ideal, I think the ones he's provided so far are just about usable. Certainly where we know what the result should look like, as in the s... command Paul is asking him to run (gives a dump of SMART data), and presumably the three lines above (I don't know what the partition table will look like, but I guess some here will). Some kind of screensaver is activated when prtscr is used, because the [] Fatdog default also includes an mtpaint snapshot tool which will faciliate a screenshot with onscreen instructions. That is found in the graphics subsection of the menu. I suspect that would be too complex for him at the moment. -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf Where [other presenters] tackle the world with a box of watercolours, he takes a spanner. - David Butcher (on Guy Martin), RT 2015/1/31-2/6 |
#208
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Toshiba W-7 went dark (running from disc)
Mike Easter wrote:
I'm trying to figure out an uncomplicated way for HB to provide screenshot from fatdog. Aha. I'm getting control of this thing. It is better to start the screenshot from the commandline instead of PrtScr. Then you get instructions and better/expected behavior. When started with xscreenshot a dialog opens to tell you to draw your selection and when the L mousebutton is let go, the screenshot is complete and a .png of your selection has been saved to fatdog's root directory. That still requires HB to be able to use fatdog's browser (SeaMonkey 2.48) and to be able to use its fileselector to navigate to the .png. Another complication is that the default mode is to save the .png in root's directory, but that directory is not accessible from SM's file selector. The easiest way to mitigate that is to open the filemanager from the taskbar (which opens root's directory) and copy the .png into the default Spot directory. SM can find it there when he wants to paste it into postimg.org -- Mike Easter |
#209
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Toshiba W-7 went dark
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , HB writes: [] Rescue disks don't work. They didn't work for the other two that had this black screen w/blinker and they'er not working now. For some reason the Toshiba is unable to read them. Macrium will not download. I get the installer OK, but then get an unable to download error. Paul, any ideas? [] While ReflectDLHF.exe 7.1.2646.0 is running, it reports what is going on in here. It there is an error, it might be noted in this file. C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Macrium\ReflectDL\ReflectDL.log I put a copy of my logfile here. This is text and readable in a browser. Notice that the log doesn't show where the files are actually coming from. https://pastebin.com/eiqN6rFp The download should be done in two pieces. The user should select just the Macrium portion first. Then do the WinPE5 or WinPE10 download as a separate step. The WinPE5 and WinPE10 are likely to work with a UEFI-only computer (not set for UEFI+CSM), as well as offering driver support for USB3 and various NICs. I'm going to run the download a second time, and use Wireshark to log the source. Source: daks4cgsf00ej.cloudfront.net (52.84.143.55) === (a Macrium rental?) The WinPE10 is 808MB of download data. And is bigger than the default (less useful) WinPE3 at less than 200MB. Once it's downloaded, Macrium compresses the download into a 432MB package. Source: e3673.dscg.akamaiedge.net (23.34.218.252) === A Microsoft CDN ? There's nothing too spooky looking about that. Looks pretty normal for a "Content Distribution Network" CDN download source. Should have worked. Paul |
#210
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Toshiba W-7 went dark (running from disc)
Mike Easter wrote:
Mike Easter wrote: I'm trying to figure out an uncomplicated way for HB to provide screenshot from fatdog. Aha.Â* I'm getting control of this thing. Without the terminal, PrtScr activates xscreenshot and the cursor changes and the left mouse can be used to make the selection. Then ctrl-shft-PrtScr terminates the xscreenshot and by default puts the selection .png into the root directory. Using the filemanager on the taskbar opens that directory and the .png can be dragged into the Spot directory which is present by default. PrtScr is xscreensaver's default hotkey. SeaMonkey can be used to access postimg.org and paste in the .png and can access the Spot directory by default. That method eliminates having to give xcreenshot any commands from the terminal which command options can be seen with xscreenshot -h. It requires HB to use SM to open the Spot directory which is seen in the L pane of its file manager to give the .png to postimg.org. -- Mike Easter |
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