BleepingComputer.com: Laptop Battery Falls Out, Now Vista Doesn't Boot

Laptop in question: HP Pavilion DV2000, running Windows Vista Home (I think 32-bit).

Today, I was using my laptop, running on battery power only. Unfortunately, the battery no longer locks. I moved the laptop and the battery fell out. Naturally, as was not plugged in to an external power source, my laptop shut off.

Upon re-inserting the battery (and plugging in the laptop to an external power source for good measure), I received the "Windows Error Recovery" screen, presenting me with:

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Start Windows Normally

I tried "Start Windows Normally", and after a loading screen (Microsoft Corporation at bottom), then the screen went black. I could see the mouse on screen, yet Vista would not boot up.

I manually shut down my computer and this time selected "Safe Mode": same thing, loading screen, then screen goes black with mouse, Vista does not load.

I then hit "F7" to get to the "Advanced Boot Options":

Repair your computer
Safe mode
Safe mode with networking
Safe mode with command prompt
Enable boot logging
Enable low resolution video (640 × 480)
Last Known Good Configuration (advanced)
Directory services restore mode
Debugging mode
Disable automatic restart on system failure
Disable Driver Signature Enforcement
Start Windows normally

I tried the options in bold and the same thing happened each time: loading screen, then screen goes black with mouse, Vista does not load.

The "Repair your computer" option got me to the "System Recovery Options" screen where I didn't know how to proceed...(so I simply restarted, never actually getting to the loading screen).

The only other possible thing was the fact that I had unchecked a few Nvidia options in "Startup" using "msconfig" (all of which were not necessary on startup). However, after doing this, I was able to restart the computer twice without any problems (before the battery fell out), so I'm pretty sure this isn't the problem.

I'm so lost!

The nVidia stuff is related to your video drivers - and video drivers are a common (but not the only) cause of the black screen event.

I'd suggest going back to the Repair your Computer screen and choose the Startup Repair option (figure 9 in this link: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/repair-windows-with-windows-startup-repair/ ) And let Startup Repair do it's thing.

If that's not successful, then go back in and choose System Restore. And restore your system back to a time before you made the MSCONFIG changes. FWIW - this is one of the reasons that we don't recommend the use of MSCONFIG for anything but troubleshooting. For permanent modification of startup entries I recommend this free program: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysintern...s/Autoruns.mspx

usasma, on Mar 17 2009, 04:58 AM, said:

Thanks so much for the tips! Couple concerns:

1) If indeed my messing with the "MSCONFIG" "Startup" menu is the cause of the black screen issue, why was I able to fully restart my computer twice? This only started happening from the first time I tired to start my computer after my battery fell out...?

2) Just curious: Will either "Startup Repair" or "System Restore" possibly make me lose data? I ask simply because I have a lot of files which I have not backed up -- and I don't want System Restore to take my computer back too far (assuming before I downloaded my pictures, music, etc.)

Thanks again usasma!

1 - I don't know why. Based on what you've told us, and previous experiences with MSCONFIG (and Vista and UAC) I suspect that this is a video issue - because most issues of this sort are either video driver or hard drive related. Since video issues are easier to deal with, we start with them. Once we're sure that the video is OK, then we'll recommend several things to see if your hard drive is OK. If everything checks out there, then we're gonna have to search for other explanations.

System Restore is the easiest place to start from, and it will occasionally fix issues like this.

2 - System Restore won't affect your personal files/data. But the concern here is "What if it is a hard drive issue?" - then your data is in danger of being lost. Not through the tests that we run, but by the hard drive dying and making recovery a very expensive proposition. If the hard drive is indeed dying, then there's a limited amount of time to recover it on your own.

So what we're doing here is trying to strike a balance between attempting to repair your computer but saving your data. These aren't usually a problem with software repairs - but if the hard drive is failing, each use of it decreases the chances of being able to recover your data easily. So, it's your call - save data or proceed with the repairs/tests.

usasma, on Mar 17 2009, 05:22 PM, said:

Thanks so much again, and I'm going to try these things when I get home.

QUICK QUESTION: Is it possible that the sudden loss of power corrupted either the operating system or the file system? BUT...If that indeed happened, would I have even been able to get as far as to the first boot screen??

BAD NEWS:

1) I was told that Vista creates restore points automatically at regular intervals (around every 24 hours of use) as well as whenever updates are installed. So I was surprised that when I went to System Restore, I HAD NO RESTORE POINTS...!? So I got stuck there.

2) I then tried to acess "Startup Repair" by inserting the DVD that came with my laptop. However, mine is a "Recovery DVD" and did not have the option for "Startup Repair", only to recover the entire system. So I got stuck there as well.

3) I even tried checking out the "Repair your computer" option in the "Advanced Boot Options" menu [F7 to get Windows Boot Manager, then F8 to get "Advanced Boot Options"]. "Repair your computer" then brought me to "System Recovery Options", where it gave me the options:

-"To access recovery options log on as a local user."
-"To access the command prompt as well, log on using an administrator account."

4) For the heck of it, I even did the diagnostic that checks the hard drive for error (found under "Windows Boot Manager"), and when I came back to see what had happened, it had completed and restarted the computer.

I really don't want to lose my files...

Yes it's possible that the sudden loss of power corrupted the OS/file system.

Running Startup Repair is the course of action to repair the files system (and startup items).
Try logging in as an Administrator to access all of the options.