My laptop wont start up...

So after my first HP laptop died, my best buy warranty allowed me to get... another hp laptop (Dont ask why it has to be another hp laptop... it just did). For the most part, it works fine but last night and as I have my Dell XPS I won from Nexon at home, I let my sister use my laptop when Im not at school (I bring it to school to take notes *cough msn/browse the web* in class). Lately, she's been watching Chinese dramas on it (though I dont think it matters) and last night, she told me she was shutting down and going to sleep so that's what she did. This morning when she tried turning on the laptop, it wouldnt turn on; The HP screen would load up and that'd be as far as it'd go... usually, there'd be a small flashing line on top and then Windows Vista (lolvista) would load up and then it'd start. However, today, the blinking thing would disappear and the screen would remain black.

I've tried starting it up multiple times to no avail; It'd always get stuck on that black screen. I've tried some of the options on the startup page and none of them actually got me anywhere. Ive tried booting it in safe mode when it's on the hp screen (F8) but that just produces a high pitched beeping sound and the other options at that hp screen arent much help either.

My question is how can I fix my problem, is my hard drive dead (that's what happened with my old laptop...plus, my Music History Paper is on there along with various other important things...) and if it's unfixable, is it completely dead? My warranty <should> last till February, which is when I got the laptop but... yeah. I really dont want to send it in, considering the problems I had with it last time.

Also, if I reset to factory settings, is there a way to keep the files I had on my hard drive? Like can I choose certain files to keep and the rest of the computer to be reset?

Thanks in advance to any advice Im able to get here~

If you have the Vista installtion disc, pop that in and boot from it.

When you get to this screen:

select start up repair and see if it will help you at all.

If you don't have a vista disc you can get this:

http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vi...-download/

If you have the Vista installtion disc, pop that in and boot from it.

When you get to this screen:

select start up repair and see if it will help you at all.

If you don't have a vista disc you can get this:

http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vi...-download/

Hmmm, for my laptop, it didnt come with the vista disc as it was built in or something along those lines (as in they have options to restore to factory setting, etc.) but the Dell XPS that nexon gave me did come with a vista installation disc for if I wanted to "upgrade" my Windows XP on it into Vista...Would that work?

Hmmm, for my laptop, it didnt come with the vista disc as it was built in or something along those lines (as in they have options to restore to factory setting, etc.) but the Dell XPS that nexon gave me did come with a vista installation disc for if I wanted to "upgrade" my Windows XP on it into Vista...Would that work?

it might assuming they're the same version

e.g. Home Premium and what not

it might assuming they're the same version

e.g. Home Premium and what not

They don't have to be the same version of windows. They all come with the same set of tools for recovery.

@Retalion

If the disc you're talking about is the windows anytime upgrade disc, they it should work. If you can't boot from it, download that Vista Repair Disc ISO I posted in my previous post, burn the image onto a CD and boot from that.

They don't have to be the same version of windows. They all come with the same set of tools for recovery.

@Retalion

If the disc you're talking about is the windows anytime upgrade disc, they it should work. If you can't boot from it, download that Vista Repair Disc ISO I posted in my previous post, burn the image onto a CD and boot from that.

Ive tried that to no avail. I phoned HP and proceeded to talk with them for 1.5 hours in which they went over things ive tried already (other than removing and putting back in the hard drive) and they've confirmed my thoughts: My hard drive is dead/will not boot, hence I need a new one and they're replacing it cause Im still under warranty. Meh

If you have any data that you want to salvage on the drive, you can try getting one of these: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/S...CatId=2783 and see if it will be recognized as a external hard drive.


have you tried: http://www.planetmy.com/blog/how-to-fixm...able-disk/

with the vista boot disk?