Dell N5030: Windows 7 wont start. Dell logo > black screen. How to restore?

[KatanaDV20]

OcUK can you advise please..

Mate of mine asked me to help with her Dell N5030 Inspiron laptop. She has had it for about just over a year now. Dual-core Pentium, 4GB RAM, Windows 7 64bit. The problem:

1. You press the power button
2. The Dell logo appears along with the F2 & F12 options for Setup & Boot Options
3. This is followed by a black screen with a blinking cursor in the upper left.

...and thats it.

All this happens in the space of 6 seconds (power-up to black screen). Nothing else happens, no Windows logo screen, no Microsoft logo, nothing. Screen stays black with the cursor and the laptop instantly turns off when I press the power button.

Friend was desperate because she had over 740 family photos and some important documents she didnt want to lose. I was able to recover all of those using a Linux Mint live CD so at least shes all smiles for that

Using Mint made me realize that the hardware was working perfectly. The hard drive was good, no mem faults and of course the optical drive was fine. So its something with Windows 7 and the inability to access the Factory Reset partition.

Also while using Mint I could clearly see the Dell Recovery Partition. The problem is I dont know how to get the Inspiron to fire it up - because I cannot even get into Safe Mode where the "Repair your computer" option is.

When I pressed F12 all that comes up is an option to tweak the boot order and a diagnostics option. I ran the latter and it found no hardware faults at all. I wasnt surprised.

I tried the usual tricks for trying to get it to begin the factory reset. Stuff like: CTRL +F11, hold F5 down and then press power button, keep 0 pressed and then press power button. All of these do the same thing - they just start the Diagnostic Tests! (which BTW the laptop passed with no problems)

My friend says Dell did not provide a Restore DVD because they told her "it was all on the hard drive". But they assumed that the user would be able to get to the Advanced Boot Options screen - which is not happening!



Pressing F8 results in the Insipiron once again running its diagnostics. Safe Mode is not working.

Any ideas on how I can get this laptop to begin the factory reset? Thanx!

 

[d_brennen]

You could try a startup repair from DVD/USB media. You'll need the right media to do it, either 32 or 64 bit. It will probably sort it. Maybe

 

[KatanaDV20]

You could try a startup repair from DVD/USB media. You'll need the right media to do it, either 32 or 64 bit. It will probably sort it. Maybe

Hmm I didnt think of that will give it a try. thanks for the reply. I did try a Win 7 System Repair CD but that didnt work. it listed a ton of Restore Dates and all the ones I tried went to 99% and then failed. The CD also said it found "no startup problem" which is nonsense so I will try looking for another startup repair option.

To think that this would be SO easy to fix had they just given her a Restore DVD!

 

[Raumarik]

Hardly Dell's fault your friend was too daft to back up her data - what was she going to do if the HDD failed?

If the recovery CD won't start you might have to do a repair install rather than restore. The fact the 99% restore didn't work is a bit of a bad sign.

 

[robinbredin]

There is a dell journal HERE on how to do a factory reset.

 

[KatanaDV20]

Hardly Dell's fault your friend was too daft to back up her data - what was she going to do if the HDD failed?

Yea I agree, I even told her about backing up when she bought the thing but Ive long since learned that the average Joe doesnt care about all that, oh well.

But what I do have a gripe with is that Dell didnt provide a Recovery DVD. Had they given one this would be such a quick and easy fix - chuck in the DVD drive and restart and youre on your way. Ive never ever trusted these HD-based recovery options.

There is a dell journal HERE on how to do a factory reset.

Thanks ...but that wont work unfortunately because as Dells instructions say:

As the computer starts, press <F8> on the keyboard until the Advanced Boot Options menu appears on the screen.

Note:
You must press <F8> before the Windows logo appears on the screen. If you press <F8> after the Windows logo appears on the screen, the Advanced Boot Options menu will not appear on the screen. If you do not see the Advanced Boot Options menu, restart the computer, and then repeat this step until you see the menu on the screen.

...and thats the problem: pressing F8 does NOT bring up the Advanced Boot Options menu.

Ive given up, shes got her pictures & documents saved so thats good. Ive told her Ive tried my best and her she has 4 options: call Dell and order a Recovery DVD, have Dell take a look at it, buy her own copy of Windows or install Linux Mint.

 

[ian54]

Have you reset the BIOS ? One part to look at is the disk ATA or AHCI setting, I've had this reset by Dell updates that has prevented boot.

The other thing to look at is the MBR, I suspect this is the problem on an old Dell Laptop I've been looking at for a while.

 

[KatanaDV20]

Have you reset the BIOS ? One part to look at is the disk ATA or AHCI setting, I've had this reset by Dell updates that has prevented boot.

The other thing to look at is the MBR, I suspect this is the problem on an old Dell Laptop I've been looking at for a while.

I have looked at the BIOS but have not looked at those ATA settings, thanx for the suggestion will take a look.

I made a Win7 recovery disc (from my own PC) and it fired up fine. Said it found no startup errors (yea...really!).

I then ran a command prompt and ran chkdsk - which found and corrected several errors. Restarted - no luck

Back to command prompt and I ran bootrec /FixMbr - no luck