PC Down : Boot Configuration Data Corrupt or Missing

My main PC didn't boot up the other day. Blue screen of death with the abo ve message. Tells me to boot from installation media and use recovery tool s. I can't get the PC to boot from the USB stick I created for this.

The PC came with installation files on a second partition, but I can't find a way to boot from that either. Shop in town wants two days and $100 to j ack up my data and install a new system under it. I'm not terribly confide nt they will do a good job of it. I only get to talk the the counter nerd, not the man behind the curtain.

What to do?

As a consolation and because this is as good an excuse as any, I bought a t ablet. Ok for light browsing, but I like a keyboard when typing, even a cr appy netbook keyboard beats a tablet virtual keyboard. There's also no way to mess with the USB stick on the tablet. I didn't dig that hard when buy ing it, but I expect the best most of them do is to have a micro-SD slot. Even that seems very "tetchy". So tiny and very recessed.

Rick C.

Reply to
gnuarm.deletethisbit
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First thing to try is booting from a bootable CD or DVD Linux image.

You may have to alter the boot order too.

Doesn't it have a micro USB socket for charging. You can get male uUSB to normal sized female socket cables or USB sticks with both options.

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Regards, 
Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

Check the user manual for your PC.... there will be a boot up function key ( Fx) to press while you power on..... or it might be DEL

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Reply to
TTman

+1. Then copy your data to backup. Then format, reinstall.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

One good reason to keep backups up to date. As well as configuring the system to put all your data on one physical drive, and the operating system on a separate one. Than when the worst happens, just replace the operating system, or the disk, as appropriate.

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Regards, 

Adrian Jansen
Reply to
Adrian Jansen

bove message. Tells me to boot from installation media and use recovery to ols. I can't get the PC to boot from the USB stick I created for this.

nd a way to boot from that either. Shop in town wants two days and $100 to jack up my data and install a new system under it. I'm not terribly confi dent they will do a good job of it. I only get to talk the the counter ner d, not the man behind the curtain.

tablet. Ok for light browsing, but I like a keyboard when typing, even a crappy netbook keyboard beats a tablet virtual keyboard. There's also no w ay to mess with the USB stick on the tablet. I didn't dig that hard when b uying it, but I expect the best most of them do is to have a micro-SD slot. Even that seems very "tetchy". So tiny and very recessed.

I apologize because I had the exact same thing happen to me like two years ago and I don't remember what I did to fix it. Because the computer was dow n, there is nothing saved to the computer about this event. I had problems with the USB too. Not all USB ports are equal, I had to use the USB ports i n the back of the computer and a different keyboard in order to get into th e BIOS. I don't think I reinstalled the operating system. I did something i n the BIOS, because I used to get only text when I booted up and now I get fancy graphics, but I don't remember if that was involved in the solution. I did get the solution off the internet using my backup laptop, so the answ er is out there. There is a fix for this.

Reply to
Wanderer

I didn't think of a Linux disk, not sure where I would go once I booted it. As it turned out it fixed itself. There is a recovery partition bootable with a special button next to the power switch. I had cautiously explored this before to find it seemed to only be capable of restoring the original state of the computer when I bought it. On exiting this software the machine booted normally. So maybe the problem is fixed or maybe the problem with the hard drive didn't really exist, it was just a glitch in the state of the boot hardware.

Never found one. There is a BIOS option to "enable" USB boot along with two networking boot modes, but no control over order.

The manual is one of the most brief things I've ever seen. No info on the USB port at all. It's a Samsung Galaxy Tab A so I expect I can find info online. I wonder if it will support a hub and/or other devices like a serial port.

I'm not what you would call "excited" about the tablet. I find the multitasking UI to be very clumsy. It seems to run multiple things, but the switching interface is a bit opaque. It makes sounds just lying there and I can't find a way to find out what is making the sounds. Heck, I did a search to find out where to see the battery status and no results, not even on Google. Everything I found wanted to tell me about much more complex things like how "healthy" the battery is, etc. I eventually noticed a battery icon but I can't figure out under which conditions it is visible. I guess it just isn't going to "feel" or "work" anything like a PC and I'll have to get used to it.

Talking to Google is a lot better than typing on the virtual keyboard. Maybe I can get it to type newsgroup posts from speaking to it. Let me ask Alexa if that will work.

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Rick C 

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Reply to
rickman

Usually it's hitting F12 while the system is booting. Sometimes the BIOS flashes a message about that, maybe if you hit space or escape right at the beginning to disappear the boot logo. It's not my fault that the PC booting environment is a poorly designed POS, but I do feel the shame, as we all should.

Reply to
Przemek Klosowski

Yes, I was able to get into that menu when the system booted, but no way to tell it to prefer the USB boot.

This largely confirms my opinion of Lenovos, they SUCK!

I came very close to buying a new laptop yesterday. But I must have misread one of the cards or they don't sell the same machines in all the Costcos. I thought I saw an $800 HP, 17" screen, i7, 16 GB with 2 GB video chip. That was on my way home from Tennessee as I was buying some food for the trip. Whey I looked at the local store they didn't have that exact machine, but one like it, only with 12 GB RAM which is a *major* limitation in my use. They had another machine with a touchscreen (which I *don't* want) and a bad keypad, they are combining the up and down arrows as two half size keys in one key position. Very silly considering that in a 17 inch laptop there are many square inches of wasted space to put the keys in. In fact, my previous laptop still had the keypad separate from the keyboard. I use the arrow keys constantly and those tiny things would suck.

They had a "gaming" machine that had ok keys but the touchpad was still "one button" and the color was all black like it was a weapon or something. How silly is that? The sales person said it was a serious "gaming" machine and I asked him what did it have that was for "gaming" that the other machine didn't have? He couldn't answer that.

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Rick C 

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Reply to
rickman

Thanks to everyone who offered advice. I don't like working PCs, but I guess it's better than working on cars. :)

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Rick C 

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Reply to
rickman

formatting link

Reply to
Michael A Terrell

Assume that the next time it powers down you could be in the same position or worse and back up everything dear to you *NOW*. You have had a reprieve but be sure and backup starting with the most important stuff first.

Odd - there usually is somewhere in most BIOSes.

Try connecting it to your PC I expect it will look like a media device.

You want a beginners guide to Android. It isn't all that different to a PC you just need to get used to its quirks. I have a one that I got for Tesco supermarket loyalty points and it has served me well. Mostly for doing fairly trivial stuff whilst travelling its 3 years old and its battery is fading now. I'm in the market for a new 8" tablet but so far haven't found any to my liking. I want the small size for portability.

You will quickly learn that "Alexa" is "she who must not be named".

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Regards, 
Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

I run regular backups. The problem is mostly the hassle of porting everything to a new machine. It takes days to get a new machine up and running. I keep saying I'm going with portable apps that don't need to be installed, but that never seems to happen.

Yes, *that* is my point.

I guess "media" means a disk of some sort. It shows up and after installing the drivers it gives some options of what to do when it is plugged in. "Sync media files" seems rather open ended. I'll see if I find anything worth syncing. I supposed it might benefit from a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. My present PC mouse has both a dongle and bluetooth. The bluetooth works like crap on the PC with loads of lag, but seems to work properly on the tablet. When it connects to the tablet it disconnects from the PC mouse dongle.

There's a rant... why haven't they come up with a universal mouse/keyboard interface that is built into devices? Every brand of mouse/keyboard uses proprietary dongles.

Yeah, I think this one is 10" and that might be a bit large, but then even

8" won't fit in my pocket... all jokes aside... I just don't have a good way to carry a tablet that isn't a phone fitting in my pocket. I've held off getting a smart phone because the screen would be far too small to be of use for me... limited vision for small things.

Friends have them and I don't find them terribly useful.

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Rick C 

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Reply to
rickman

Thank you. PCs are leaving the disk drive behind these days, but I see they have a USB version too. How to get it to boot I wonder.

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Rick C 

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Reply to
rickman

So once it's all set up, copy the lot to backup. Now all you need do is format & copy it back - voila, everything all installed.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Den torsdag den 30. november 2017 kl. 03.00.03 UTC+1 skrev rickman:

what model Lenovo?

ime Lenovos are bulletproof pro machines as long as you stay away from the cheap consumer models then it is the same as all other other brands

Reply to
Lasse Langwadt Christensen

Lasse Langwadt Christensen wrote on 11/30/2017 2:28 PM:

I don't see anything other than "cheap consumer" models anywhere I shop for PCs, Costco, brick stores, online. I was about ready to pick up a Dell, but everyone seems intent on compromising not just the touch pad, but also the keyboard these days. Arrow keys have turned into half size mini-keys that aren't intended to be used. Makers seem obsessed with the "look" of a keyboard rather than its functionality.

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Rick C 

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Reply to
rickman

I don't think you understand the installation process. Most apps make entries to the registry. Also, what is "the lot" exactly? You can't do a simple copy of the entire hard drive, many files seem to be protected. Heck, I can't even access "My Documents" or several other folders under my user directory. Windows has some strange defaults.

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Rick C 

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Reply to
rickman

My Lenovo is a mile better than the Dell the work issued Dell, despite a 2:1 cost advantage (nether cheap, by any means) for the Dell. This dual-core I7 beats the crap out of work's quadcore Xeon, with twice as much memory (32GB vs the Lenovo's 16GB).

Reply to
krw

so it wasn't like down-arrowing to the USB line and hitting return? Ah, important point---the USB line might not show up unless you have a bootable USB device plugged in while starting up.

Reply to
Przemek Klosowski

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