Computer won't load?

[Charlie_D_]

I have a Toshiba with Windows 7 Home Premium that came with it. I used it several mornings ago and then set it aside. I heard the Windows "music" and looked over and it appeared to be restarting. The screen turned blue and the following words appeared:

"Preparing to configure Windows"
"Do not turn your computer off"
and a little "circle" spins. After several hours I used the off button to turn it off. I later pushed the off button to restart. It goes to the "F2" or "f12" prompts and I hit enter and it goes back to the same blue screen and it gives me the same message, After several hours it still is loading-I even left it on overnight. I did hit "f2" and "f12" to see what they say prior to it going t the blue screen but I am not savvy enough to know what to do.

There is no noise during the configure scenario. Normally heat is generated at the upper left where the hard drive is but no heat is generated now.

I was using my secure MIFI device at the campground we were in.

Ideas?

[wa8yxm]

I agree it sounds like a corrupt MS update.. This has been a problem for XP users as well as others over the last year or so (And by the way thanks for the reminders on a few things).

On my XP machines it just keeps trying till MS fixes the update
On my Win-8 box.. I have not yet "enjoyed" that but did have a software install go south (That is what you reminded me of)

Bad HD is also possible.

on Win 8 I have the option of doing a "Reset" on XP you can "Restore" (Well some can, I can't) on win 7.. I do not know.

[1492]

Did you completely erase the hard drive? Not just delete or format the drive before loading WIN 7?

[ferretgrandpa]

My daughter's win 7 did this about a year ago, and again in January of this year. I think the HD is bad, as Puppy-Linux runs fine (doesn't use the HD). Nothing that I can do seems to get it back to a windows machine.
Crappy hardware (emachine). Hard Drive test out OK, but can't get win 7 to install. (2 different win 7 install disks)

[Charlie_D_]

I forgot to mention that when I used the recovery feature it loaded properly all the way up to my full screen and icons BUT when I tried to open any screen or icon the dreaded hour glass popped up and continued to make it spin until I did a complete system restore.

[1492]

With all the recent forum posts about corrupt Windows updates causing startup issues, I discovered that my WIN 7 Pro desktop would suddenly not respond from sleep mode. Restart would just get stuck on POST, and would not boot into WIN 7.

Not too concerned, as I'm well backed up. My full system image backup is less than a week old. And my personal data such as browsers, email, files, and photos are all backed up and encrypted at minimum once a day. All thanks to free or open source backup/sync software set to run automatically.

But was a false alarm, as I noticed POST would not get past USB bus checks. Turns out, my Logitech mini wireless keyboard/mouse transmitter was slightly ajar in its front USB slot. Pulling it out and putting it back in allowed POST to complete, and load WIN 7 normally.

[strollin]

Charlie D. wrote:
... I did hit "f2" and "f12" to see what they say prior to it going t the blue screen but I am not savvy enough to know what to do. ...

Maybe if you posted what you see when you hit F2 or F12 we could help you decipher it.

[Charlie_D_]

1492 wrote:
Can you boot into Windows(RE)Recovery Environment in WIN 7? Generally, press F8 while booting. In the Advance Boot Options window, select "Repair Your Computer". You'll need your user name/password. Then select Startup Repair, or System Restore if it was turned on prior to your issues.

Tried that and it was unable to repair. I also tried to restore but that also did not work. I was able to find a Toshiba program that brought it back to the original state when purchased, Unfortunately, I lost all my favorites but I do have an external hard drive but did nit bring it on the trip, Hopefully it can restore most of what was lost. The "F8" was the key to getting the fix. Thanks

[rk911]

1775 wrote:
This is why frequent and multiple full system drive backups are a necessity.

absolutely. I do a complete OS image backup using software that can be booted from CD (Acronis True Image) before doing any OS updates.

[1775]

This is why frequent and multiple full system drive backups are a necessity.

[1492]

Can you boot into Windows(RE)Recovery Environment in WIN 7? Generally, press F8 while booting. In the Advance Boot Options window, select "Repair Your Computer". You'll need your user name/password. Then select Startup Repair, or System Restore if it was turned on prior to your issues.

[camperforlife]

I have bad news for you. It is a corrupt Microsoft update. I had the same thing today at work. We have the Dell/Microsoft pro support and they spent over 2 hours today trying to get it at least to the boot screen with no luck. We even have the recovery files but it won't even load those. I was told that they have seen a rash of this problem on Win 7 & 8 the last couple days and they were only getting about 50% repaired without a clean install since it won't get past diagnostics to even start loading Windows.

My system has a solid state boot drive and a standard hard drive. They are sending a tech out Monday with a fresh recovery disk & a new SS drive. I'll report back as to the result. All I can say is I am sure glad we have automatic back up on an external hard drive and 2 cloud services.

[mikeh449]

bad hard drive