My laptop screen is stuck on 'Preparing Automatic Repair'

[PaulNCl]

Hi my laptop screen is stuck on 'Preparing Automatic Repair'.

I have tried the hard reset by taking the battery out and holding the power button and then plugging the power cable back in but I get the same results.

I left the laptop on this mode last night for several hours with no progress. Will it eventually give me some information on the screen or is there another test I can do?

Regards

Paul

[DavidPK]

Hi Paul,

Shut down the notebook.

Tap away at the esc key as you start the notebook to enter the Start-up Menu.  Select the Diagnostic Menu option ( f2 ) and run the tests on the Hard Drive and Memory.

Post back with the results, including any error code that mat be generated.

Can you also post back with the full Model No. and Product No. of your g6 series notebook - see Here for a guide on locating this information.

Regards,

DP-K

[PaulNCl]

Hi thanks for your reply it is still currently gogint through the system extensive test. I will post the findings. it does say so far 'software error' for hard drive short dst check. hard drive optimized check passed.

I will post later on the findings

Regards

Paul

[PaulNCl]

Hi again. It is now complete and It says software error on both hard drive short dst check and hard drive long dst check.
The Product id is C4M22EA#ABU
the system id is 188f

What would you suggest David?
Thank you for your time

[DavidPK]

Hi,

You're more than welcome

It would look like the Hard Drive has started to fail.  The most common cause of the 'software error' message is due to the HP_TOOLS partition ( where the diagnostic routines are stored ) being inaccessible or corrupt.

There use to be a more basic test that could be run from the bios menu, but this was largely phased out with machines that shipped with Windows 8 - however it's worth checking if this option is available.  You can do this as follows.

Shut down the notebook.  Tap away at the esc key as you start the notebook to enter the Start-up Menu.  Select the Bios option ( f10 ) and under the Advanced or Diagnostic tab you may find the facility to run a test(s) on the Hard Drive - if it is present, run the tests and let me know the results.

Could you also let me know if you have your Recovery Media ( discs or usb flash drive ) for the notebook.

Best regards,

DP-K

[PaulNCl]

Hi David

Under the f10 tab there is no option for advanced or diagnostic only main, security, system, configuartion and exit and there are no options under those to run a test. 

Im not sure what you mean by recovery media but if it has anything to do with pictures etc stored on my laptop i i have an exteranl hardrive but cannot get windows running to get my pictures off if you know of a way?

Kinf regards

Pauk

[DavidPK]

Hi Pauk,

Note:  To make the links more relevant, I've assumed from the Model No. of your notebook, that you live in the UK.

Regarding the data on your drive, if it's irreplaceable, the best option would be to seek the services of a company that specialises in data retrieval, however this is an expensive procedure.

A much more affordable option that is often successful, would be to remove the drive ( see the later section of this post for details on removing the HDD ), place it in an external enclosure, then connect it via usb to another PC and see if you can copy your data off - an example of what you require is on the link below.

External 2.5" HDD Enclosure

Regarding the Recovery Media, I was referring to the back up of the operating system that can be used to reinstall the operating system - this will be either discs or a usb flash drive and you should have been prompted to create this when the notebook was first purchased - if you didn't create this ( or it's lost ), you can still purchase a replacement set from the HP Partner on the link below.  The Product No. you need for your notebook is C4M22EA

https://www.best2serve.com/page/rcd_search?utm_source=HP-Customer-Care&utm_medium=referral&utm_campa...

As it's not 100% clear whether your existing drive has failed, what I would suggest is to first use this media to see if you can reinstall the operating system on the existing hard drive - procedure is described in the HP document Here.

If this works Ok, then all is good, however if it fails to install or you still end up with a unbootable machine, then you'll need to replace the drive - a brief overview of this procedure is as follows and is a fairly straight forward process.

The drive on the link below is an example of one that would be fine for your notebook.

 1Tb Notebook Hard Drive.

The procedure to replace the Hard Drive starts on Page 52 of your Maintenance & Service Guide.

Once done, the procedure to reinstall Windows is described in the HP document Here.

Let me know if you have any questions regarding this.

Best regards,

DP-K

[PaulNCl]

Thank you David I will try reinstalling the operating system. I have just watched the video as my only worry was that i would lose my pictures but it states that there will be an option to back up my files first which Im asuming means i can  save my family photographs. .

Thank you for your time I will come back to you to let you know the outcome 

Kind Regards

Paul

[PaulNCl]

And yes David I live in the Uk for the relevant links thank you

[DavidPK]

Hi,

You're welcome

All the best,

DP-K