Hmm, looping issue on laptop.

[Deathdiesel]

My brothers laptop, is a Asus G50-VT iirc, and hes not very good about keeping it clean of viruses and junk he doesnt need. Well recently he tells me that hes no longer able to start his computer normally, whenever its turned on, it acts as if you were going to allow you the option of starting windows using safe mode, or with networking capabilities, etc. Whenever you do any command, it just restarts and enters the same frame again, i ran a checkdsk, and it was supposed to show me the results but when it restarted it just ran through the loop again, i tried a few things but i dont have the windows install disk for vista, which is on it, to run windows repair. Any ideas? Also, most keyboard strokes result in a restart as well.

[kilgoretrout]

You could pull the hard drive, connect it to another computer via a usb adapter and scan it for malware with a fully updated malwarebytes in thorough mode:

Slaving a harddrive to scan for viruses.

[Deathdiesel]

Hmm, very true, ive never thought of that. I have malwarebytes atm anyways on this computer. I might just give that a shot.

[Deathdiesel]

Ok, so ive tried that, nothing came up, i also tried running my windows 7 boot disk to try to do a windows repair, but that didnt work. It is a vista laptop. At this point im probably just gunna wipe it clean and restore from a point i had earlier, i cant think of anything else to try. I know its the HD because when i tried running it without the HD and the disk it allowed me the option, but with the HD in i cant even get to BIOS or try the disk.

Edit: hmm, i just thought of something, when i ran my recovery point, i had just copied and pasted the drive over, however this didnt get everything apparantly..I know i should have used a image of the drive, but i didnt back then. Whats the best way to approach this now?

[glc]

Aha! Run hard drive diagnostics! You may need a new drive.

[Deathdiesel]

Where is this program at? Or do you mean error check it?

[glc]

What brand is the hard drive?

[Deathdiesel]

Seagate momentus

[glc]

Then you would download SeaTools - to run the diags over USB you need the Windows version. To run it in the laptop, you need the DOS version which creates a bootdisk.

[Deathdiesel]

I dont think it would even allow it to work via disk, just like it wouldnt for the windows7 disk, so ill end up doing it via USB. Ill try that out and see how it goes.

[Deathdiesel]

Quick question, what are the best tests to perform? SMART, short drive self test, drive information, short generic, long generic, and advanced tests, are all at my disposal.

[glc]

Start with the short, if it passes do the long. If it fails the short, buy a new drive and see if you can get a recovery disk from Asus.

[Deathdiesel]

Ok, kinda odd. Passed all tests besides short drive self test. SMART is unavailable to me.

[kilgoretrout]

Smart test usually won't run on a usb connected drive.

[glc]

Rescue his files using USB, then read the manual and see if it has a recovery partition - if it does you can reload it to factory specs without a CD/DVD. On my Asus EeePC, you do it by pressing F9 on startup.

[Deathdiesel]

The HD was bought with the computer, so odds are my brother threw away or lost that manual. Where could i get it via dvd/cd? And what do you mean by rescue?

[glc]

You should be able to download the manual from the Asus support site.

Rescue = copy them.

[Deathdiesel]

Hmm, i downloaded the manual, and it really doesnt say squat about having a seperate partition. And i havent noticed any other ones elsewhere. Actually,i just looked in disk management, and it shows a 11.7GB primary partition, aside from the active partition on the drive, so would that be it? Also just sent an email to ASUS to get their opinion on this.

[kilgoretrout]

Actually,i just looked in disk management, and it shows a 11.7GB primary partition, aside from the active partition on the drive, so would that be it?

Probably, unless your brother is in the habit of using partitioning tools on his own. Did you try the F9 key as suggested by glc? You have to hit it as soon as you see the asus logo on bootup to start the recovery routine.

[glc]

Page A-16. Press F9.

[Deathdiesel]

Gotcha, and that will essentially restore the HD to factory settings right?

[glc]

Read the whole page. There are options.

[Deathdiesel]

Ah okay, cool, ill go ahead and do that and let you guys know, thanks for the help so far, seriously saving me a ton of help.

[Deathdiesel]

Ok so now the laptop is fully up and running, but whats the best way to move over all of the programs over? Word docs and etc are fine but programs are kinda harder without having a cloned image of a good time of the HD

[kilgoretrout]

Programs that did not come from asus with the laptop have to be reinstalled. Data files and desktop preference settings can be restored from your "My Documents" backup. Be sure to get all your updates and also install Microsoft Security Essentials(MSE) for your brother. Unistall any trial antivirus or anti-malware applications that came with the laptop before installing MSE.