The laptop I use for work rarely connects to the internet other than to update it periodically, and the last time I used for leisure it was when we were away in September.
I took it with me on Monday and when I tried to use it, found it took ages to boot up and was hanging whenever I asked it to do anything. It wouldn't even switch off other than with the 'Off/On' button
It's a Lenovo Thinkpad running Windows 7.
Yesterday I tried to find what was wrong. Malware bytes found nothing but the more I use it the worse it is getting, so I booted into safe mode and it makes no difference.
I disabled all start up programmes and it makes no difference.
I tried to restore it to an earlier point but have found that all my system restore points are gone.
Event Viewer won't load as by then it has ground to a complete halt.
I did get a quick look at the thingummygig that tells you about CPU and that was normal, but I noticed the memory graph showed only 4% free at it's worst, and there is very little on the laptop at all which should be using that much.
Any ideas please?
Pat
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Pat, it sounds beyond fiddling and diagnosing with. Its going to need to be recovered back to factory build. Its easily done - it has a rebuild function built in, instructions are on the Lenovo Web site.
Get all your data off first.
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It freezes completely before I can get to that recovery function Z.
Pat
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>>
>> Get all your data off first.
>>
>>
Pat, if you cant get in to Windows you will struggle to backup the data.
Best option IMO is to download and burn a Linux based recovery CD to access the contents for the hard drive and you can then copy them over to a USB flash stick.
Use this link to download a file you can then burn to a CD
ftp://mirrors.sonic.net/knoppix/knoppix-cd/ADRIANE-KNOPPIX_V7.2.0gCD-2
013-07-28-EN.iso
Use a program like ImgBurn to burn the CD.
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Most of the data I have on there is copied elsewhere so I'm not too worried about losing it.
I have just downloaded to recovery programme from the Lenovo site on the desktop to a USB stick and started the laptop (again!) to run it but it will only install it.
Before the install is complete I get this message
'The instruction at 0x000007FEEBE86850 referenced memory at 0x000007FEEBE86850
The required data was not placed into memory because of an I/O error status of 0x00000b5'
The laptop won't then do anything other than turn off at the switch.
Pat
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To clarify with this recovery USB stick, you are booting off the USB stick to do the install. You're not running it from within Windows.
This could be a hardware issue. I hope not for your sake.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 11 Dec 14 at 14:00
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It is a hardware issue. Memory from the sound of it - could be disk
If you know how, pop out the memory simm and pop it back in again
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 11 Dec 14 at 14:08
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Pat, do you have another laptop around that you could swap the disks over? It probably won't boot very well, perhaps not at all, but it will tell you if the error remains the same.
Because as Zero says, its almost certainly a hardware fault and I'd guess its the disk - deteriorating performance and then nothing is often how they go.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 11 Dec 14 at 15:09
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My desktop is a Lenovo as well and after Googling everything I have found you can make a bootable recovery disc from any other Windows 7 64 bit version, which both are.
I have made a disc and changed the boot order and am now waiting while it loads files to see what the Lenovo recovery tools can do.
Before this it started to load windows and then just stops on a blue screen now....my heads spinning:)
Pat
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It's been 'loading files' for 40 minutes now and I can hear it working but the bar at the bottom is only a tenth of the way across.
How long do I wait? I don't do patience.
Pat
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>> It's been 'loading files' for 40 minutes now and I can hear it working but
>> the bar at the bottom is only a tenth of the way across.
>>
>> How long do I wait? I don't do patience.
>>
>> Pat
If the disk is cucked, and its starting to sound like it, you'll be watching that blue bar till next spring.
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But it's moving across very, very slowly all the time....what happens when they are all loaded?
I can happily leave it on all night but will it wait until I get up around 2.30am or will it do things while I'm not here to follow what's happened?
...and it's a white bar, on a black screen:)
Pat
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>> will it do things while I'm not here to follow what's
>> happened?
Well hopefully it will feed the cats and clean the kitchen floor, maybe make you a cup of tea.
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If it's reinstalling Windows 7, this is taking much longer than it should.
If it was me I'd want to know if it's hardware related and I'd rule out Windows totally by booting a live Linux CD. Knoppix has already been mentioned in the thread but there's Ubuntu. But I think I'd consider Knoppix.
If you boot of a live Linux CD it won't be using the hard disk at all. So if it works you might have identified the fault as the hard disk. And if it is, get yourself an SSD and swap that in (they're fairly cheap) and this thing will fly when booting etc.
If you can get into an alternative OS like Linux then you could try formatting the disk to see what happens for example.
If it has memory issues then you'd probably encounter those in Linux too.
Might also be worth running some diagnostic software that doesn't rely on a Windows install.
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If you cannot boot from a live Linux disc, you may have problems with your DVD (optical) drive.
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Just buy a new laptop.
You know you want to.
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Well, perhaps not a new laptop; given the use it seems you put this one to, a cheap second-hand laptop may work very well.
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Nobody said she couldn't boot from a LiveCD/Restore CD. It's reinstalling OS that's having a problem. Sounds like the hard disk is failing/failed.
And Pat's got a new Windows 8.x tablet she could use but chooses not to.
It's a shame you're not nearer to some of us who could help by taking a look.
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3.30am update.
It's still installing Windows files but is now over 3/4 of the way there, so I shall leave it to complete and see what it does then.
I actually don't want to buy a new laptop because Mark is correct, I only use this one for work and when I'm away from home
The training room I use most of the time is in a wifi blackspot so it never goes on the internet or even needs to for work.
It needs to run presentations and have access to Word docs and be able to link to the printer I have at work.
The idea of the tablet was to be able to leave work behind when I'm away and keep the data on the laptop safe. Just to use it for fun really.
I can replace memory and a drive in a desktop but I'm less than confident in opening up a laptop for the first time:)....but I don't like being beaten!!
I have a very old Dell Lattitude D410 in the training room that I use for Tacho simulators etc and I wonder if that would do for presentations if this one is kaput, but it is very old and slow. I think there is a bit of a resolution problem with the projector too.
Plan B is to buy Ian a tablet for Christmas and use his laptop;)
Pat
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It finally finished around 5.30am and gave me this message: windowssystem32bootwinload.exe 0xc0000098 Application missing or corrupt.
I googled the message and eventually got into the repair computer screen
Memory test and disc check are both ok as are all other tests it did automatically apart from this one: System files integrity check and repair failed Error code 0x79
So I tried again with the option to restore to Lenovo factory state which it did but will only boot to the 'starting windows' screen and then returns to a black screen with options to boot from original OS disc which, of course, I don't have.
Pat
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Sounds very like problem I had with The Lad's Packard Bell detailed here:
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?f=6&t=10938
While there were specific theories about the cause there the symptoms look very similar. Fix was initially possible by reformatting but eventually it needed a new hard drive. Pretty straightforward job on that model but all laptops are different. You may though be able to find a technical diagram or alternatively a You Tub vid on the net.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Fri 12 Dec 14 at 09:10
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>>
>> I can replace memory and a drive in a desktop but I'm less than confident
>> in opening up a laptop for the first time:)....but I don't like being beaten!!
>>
>>
>>
Pat you would be surprised, most of the components are housed under little screw off flaps. The memory is pop out, pop in, and is very visible. The HDD is often screwed into a pull-out caddy which can only go back in one way.
No harder than changing an air filter on a car.
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>>No harder than changing an air filter on a car.<<
Now that's given me confidence:)
I really don't like being beaten and if it isn't working after all this I have nothing to lose really.
Bromp
I've just read that thread and it certainly does sound the same problem.
Of all the laptops I've had this one has done the least work. All the others travelled round in a lorry daily and were used nightly on the dashboard first with Bluetooth and a Nokia phone, then later with dongles.
I give this one an easy life and look what happens.
Pat
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Just a thought....and I know I'm probably being thisk too!
If I replace the hard drive I haven't got the original Windows 7 discs to install an operating system so will I have to buy them again?
Pat
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If you've got the code then I did find somewhere to download the full install disks a few months back. I *think* it was legal but it's a big download (3Gb I think). I guess you'd need to be able to burn it to DVD though. It certainly worked for me, and they were reasonably up to date with patches etc. (Though again I have a nagging feeling that an original Windows 7 code may not work if the download has, for instance, SP1)
(And having said that, I can't remember where it was, I will go and look while you come back about the code...)
OTOH there are cheap enough laptops out there, that'd be the way I'd go.
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The windows 7 "key" is on a label on the bottom.
And I did say that lenovo laptops had become a pile of poo, and you retorted that yours was wonderfully reliable*
I know this is not the time and place for such sentiments, but burger it, if you can't kick someone when they are down you can't do it at all.
I told you so pttthhhhhhhhhhh Large raspberry.
*of course you know you sealed its fate at that point.
If I were in your shoes I would be firing up this new windows 8.1 pad I bought and consigning the laptop to the cupboard for later play
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 12 Dec 14 at 09:51
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>>I told you so pttthhhhhhhhhhh Large raspberry<<
:) Karma is a wonderful thing!
I have got the code Smokie
I've also got an legiy Winows XP disc, would that be OK to load on it for what I want to do with it?
Pat
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>> >>I told you so pttthhhhhhhhhhh Large raspberry<<
>>
>> :) Karma is a wonderful thing!
>>
>> I have got the code Smokie
>>
>> I've also got an legiy Winows XP disc, would that be OK to load on
>> it for what I want to do with it?
>>
>> Pat
you can load xp on it, it will work, kindoff. However you will have to sort out and download some of the device drivers from Lenovo yourself. There will be stuff on your laptop windows XP wont know about natively and XP might nbot use all the memory you have on it. Its not a good option.
Now here is a nag as you are deliberately ignoring the issue
TURN ON THE RUDDY WINDOWS PAD
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 12 Dec 14 at 10:17
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>> If you've got the code then I did find somewhere to download the full install
>> disks a few months back.
The page here:
tinyurl.com/lhbme7w
...has the details for this, and the download links (which from time-to-time change, or become inactive), appear to be current.
There is, as stated, a requirement to be able to burn an ISO to DVD.
In addition, as detailed in the article, Windows thus installed may not activate immediately with an OEM code (which the Lenovo laptop probably has). It *will* install, however, and work for the 30 days, and a call to Microsoft over the activation problem will probably sort that (it used to be Freephone).
Borrowing an installation disk from someone and using your own code is another option, though again, the OEM code issue above will probably exist.
TBH, even though you appear to have run Chkdsk, a hard drive problem is still the most likely (though not the only possible cause). If you know what hard drive you have, and can burn a CD ISO, then downloading the disk manufacturer's specific bootable diagnostic disk and booting from it is the first thing I would try.
I've managed to recover a couple of failing/failed installations by using these to diagnose a problem, 'repairing' the disk, to a point where Windows will boot, and then rapidly cloning the failing drive onto a replacement, avoiding the need for re-install.
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Oh for God's sake, just buy a new laptop and stop faffing about.
You know you want to.
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See my post at 3.30 am R O'R.
I've downloaded the Lenovo Linux bootable recovery disc but I haven't got a disc to burn it to here!
I've spent far too much time on this problem this week so I need to get on with some other stuff.
I'll pick up some rewritable discs at the weekend and have another go next week.
I'm quite enjoying the challenge of this, it's something which has been missing since I'm not lorry driving daily.
Pat
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Laptop problems - Zero
