Endless Automatic Repair Loop Upon Startup

[ub6424]

Hello @ADonMartini_790 

This will help you ...

--->>> Maintenance and Service Guide

Page 34 Chapter 5 Removal and replacement procedures for authorized service provider parts

Page 50 Chapter 5 Removal and replacement procedures for authorized service provider parts

Page 51 Component replacement procedures

Page 54 Chapter 5 Removal and replacement procedures for authorized service provider parts

Kind regards

[tk_srq]

@ADonMartini_790,

It appears that you can access command prompt at startup. See if you can run File Explorer from command prompt and copy your personal files to a USB drive. I'm certain that you can save your data if you are able to follow the steps below:

1. Connect a usb drive to the laptop. Start the laptop and open command prompt.

2. At the prompt type notepad and click enter.

3. Notepad will be opened. Click File on the upper left corner.

4. Click Open.

5.Click This PC on the right side and now you'll see  C: drive and usb drive. 

6. Double click C: drive and find Users folder, which is located just above Windows folder.

7. Double click Users folder and double click <your account name > folder.

8. Go to small window that reads "Text Documents (*.txt)" at the bottom of the screen and click it and highlight All Files and click it.

9. Finally, you can now see and access any of your personal data from there.

10. To copy files/folders to the usb drive, just right click them, point to Send to in the window that opens and left click the usb drive.

11.You can copy any files including pictures and music from there. When you are done, keep clicking the arrow, shown red-circled in the screen shot below, until you see the usb drive in This PC. Double click the usb drive and make sure you see all files you have copied.

12. click x on the top right corner to exit out of the File Explorer and notepad.

13. Type exit and click enter to exit out of command prompt. 

Be sure to select All Files in #8 step, otherwise you don't see any files. If you have any problems, please let me know. 

Take care.

[ADonMartini_790]

Hello again @Ub6424 -- please forgive the long wait for a response.

I'm just returning to state that I was able to do some shopping yesterday and got hold of a pair of precision screwdrivers; I'd had some technical issues with the one I had been using before, further complicated by one screw on the bottom of the laptop that had been having difficulty moving. I may need to use some hardware lubricant (à la WD-40) to help resolve that particular issue.

I have a Phillips-head #00x2" and a Slotted-head 1/16"x1-1/2" -- the two smallest screwdrivers I could find at my local Menard's hardware store. Hopefully, one of them will do the trick; I'll give that a try pretty soon and give an update on how that goes. If anyone knows the proper dimensions needed for this if these screwdrivers aren't the right kind, please let me know. Again, I will provide an update once able.

Thanks in advance

- ADonMartini_790

[ADonMartini_790]

Hello @Tk_srq -- please forgive the long wait for a reply.

Thank you for that advice; as preserving my hard drive contents are important before attempting the fix, I will give your strategy a try as soon as I am able, and will try to be swift in updating on any results.

Thanks again

- ADonMartini_790

[ADonMartini_790]

@Tk_srq

Sorry for the wait, but I just tried your tip on my laptop a few minutes ago, and apparently, something's a bit off...

I tried following the steps you've laid out in your last message to use the Command Prompt to back up my drive before applying the fix recommended by @Ub6424, but there was a peculiar issue, as the image below will show:

Oddly, I noticed that my laptop's C:// drive was displayed as the USB external drive I attached to the computer upon startup, alongside the Boot (X:) drive; for whatever reason, the actual C:// drive containing all my files won't display here.

Would anyone know why that is, or might know a possible correction for that? Otherwise, I'll likely have to turn back towards Ub6424's original recommendation of getting hold of a second hard drive and transferring the contents of the original drive via an external adaptor, which is gonna take me some time (and funding) to pull off.

Thanks in advance for any helpful replies; I'll try to be a bit faster in returning any other messages, should I get them.

ADonMartini_790

[ADonMartini_790]

@Ub6424

Thank you for including the PDF for the manual; had a change to examine it a bit, so it helped some.

I tried out those screwdrivers for the screws on my device; it looked to be a fit, but the two trouble screws didn't move much. They might be wedged in place a bit; I don't want to run the risk of stripping the screws (if I'd haven't already, hopefully), so maybe some duty-grade lubricant (à la WD-40) might help with at least getting the device open.

Barring the recommendation made by @Tk_srq, your suggestion of replacing the hard drive hinges on getting past this annoying setback. I'll try to update the matter swiftly once I'm able.

- ADonMartini_790

[tk_srq]

@ADonMartini_790,

Possible explanation for C:\ drive not being present in This PC is: File structure of the disk is corrupted, or Windows partition (C:\ drive) somehow lost its drive letter. You need to run diskpart to check the state of the disk.

Remove the USB disk off the laptop and run command prompt again and type the following command lines with each line followed by hitting Enter key:

diskpart

list disk 

select disk 0     <<if your boot disk is 1, use 1 instead of 0>>

list partition

list volume

Please post a screenshot of the above operations. If you are able to execute all the command lines and don't see volume C (C:\ drive), you can easily fix it. If you get an error such as "no fixed disk found" when running list disk command, the disk structure seems to be corrupted and it's a serious problem. Below is a copy of diskpart operations performed on my laptop. It is displayed in text mode for easy viewing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19041.1288]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

X:\Sources>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: MININT-B68PNC4

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 111 GB 1024 KB *
Disk 1 Online 14 GB 0 B

DISKPART> select disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list partition

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 System 100 MB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Reserved 16 MB 101 MB
Partition 3 Primary 111 GB 117 MB
Partition 4 Recovery 509 MB 111 GB

DISKPART> list volume

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 E DVD-ROM 0 B No Media
Volume 1 C NTFS Partition 111 GB Healthy
Volume 2 FAT32 Partition 100 MB Healthy Hidden
Volume 3 NTFS Partition 509 MB Healthy Hidden
Volume 4 D ESD-USB FAT32 Removable 14 GB Healthy

DISKPART>

[ADonMartini_790]

@Tk_srq

Sorry for the delay in responding; for some reason, I didn't receive a notification of your reply in my E-mail inbox.

I've just tried the Command Prompt inputs you've given me, and the findings of said commands are included in the image below:

Unfortunately, there wasn't any C:// drive detected with the command, so it would seem that there may be a corruption issue, as was suggested. @Ub6424 made an earlier comment about how to back up the drive; would that be the only option left with this apparent disk problem, or could something else be done? Of course, if the root problem is that bad, one can't help but worry if that method would even work at all anymore, but I'll try staying optimistic. Certainly didn't need more bad news, though.

Whatever advice that can be given is welcomed; I'll try to check the thread itself once able, as well as watching for (what's supposed to be) an automatic Email notification, so I should be able to respond more quickly.

Thanks in advance

ADonMartini_790