patdaly

Hey, quick question since I am in WAY over my head here.

Long story short, last Christmas I got a Lenovo E535 for the daughter to use at College. First week, it tanks, won't load Win.7, she deals with Lenovo, they have her send it back. Fast forward to a week ago, same problem, this time out of warranty. They tell her to take it to the Lenovo repair center, they are useless, say it is a paperweight. Now I know better, so I have her bring it to me.

To save a lot of typing, I will put the link that I am trying to get help from.

Need help, E535 Windows 7 will not start - Lenovo Community

I found a similar problem ( at least in the beginning ) but on a Toshiba.

Win7 won't start - MajorGeeks Support Forums

Anyway, since I tried to use the Lenovo rescue disks, I am fairly certain I can't just fix the bootlog.

Does anyone here see where I am going wrong? I have ran the testing Lenovo provides for both the memory and for the drive, both pass.

The sad thing is, I paid extra for the Lenovo name, everyone raves about it and since she needs it, I figured I would get her a good one. I probably should have bought a cheap Acer like I did for myself, it is still working after 5 years........

j_martin

Boot sector on the hard drive is infected (root kit). Nowadays, easiest repair is to go buy a new hard drive, as they are only about $50, throw it in, and start from scratch with the recovery disks.

I do a lot of computer upgrading, loading newer operating systems. I've given up on the "upgrade" routine, as one of these root kits will usually wreck the system after all the work is done. Worse yet they can survive and wreck havoc later. I have one older machine in the corner set up to completely wipe hard drive and replace the master boot record with a new one. Those are the drives I use in the "new" machines.

The other trouble I routinely fix is when a hard drive (usually Seagate) suddenly bricks, or even throws errors for awhile and then bricks. Often it's a failed controller. You can't just replace the controller board because the bios is dependent on the hardware. I find or buy a similar board and move the bios chip over to the new board, install it, and put the drive back into service, usually with no data loss at all. It takes some special equipment and materials to do the job, but the tools are only a couple hundred dollars total.

Thought just crossed my mind. You might have one of these drives that's on the way out. Sometimes they act that way for awhile before they brick. Pull the hard drive out and write down the label information. Make, model number, firmware revision. I'll look it up and see if it's suspect.

Windows 7 and 8 have a fancy boot loader that can cause problems. If you need to save data and it's possibly a boot loader problem, it's worth the trouble to try to fix it. After you try a destructive reload, it's usually not worth the trouble as it takes some major geeking to get it done.

Nowadays the most expensive part of a computer is the software that comes with it. If you have the recovery disks you can replace both the hard drive and the motherboard and still be ahead of the game. The OEM supplied OS and other software is usually tied to the components in the original system, especially the motherboard. If you make a repair and Windows won't register, you call Mickey Soft and explain, and they do a dance with you and get it registered.

patdaly

So you think there is a virus on the boot sector? That would kind of make sense, I believe Lenovo replaced the hard drive the first time.

Anyway, it is a Western Digital WD7500BPVT-08HXZ Sata 3.00 bps

Serial WXD1A8213709
LI P/N 45N7059
LC P/N 16-200121
750GB
FW 03.01A03
5400 RPM

lower on the label is the following

MDL:WD7500BPVT3
Date: 28 Feb 2013
DCM HBOTJBN
DCX: 1H30X8RZ3
WWN: 50014EE6AD56F2A
R/N : 771692
5VDC:0.55A

Is that the info you need?

j_martin

That's not one of the flaky ones, bringing us back to MBR corruption by a rootkit.

This one's $50

patdaly

Ok, so the next question is, that one is a buy in store only, will any of these work as well? ( I would rather take a beating than have to drive to Chicago )

WD : 2.5" : Notebook : Internal Hard Drives : Hard Drives & Data Storage : Computer Parts : Micro Center

Sorry for the dumb questions, Cars and trucks I know, I can usually figure my way out of 50 percent of computer problems ( old computers that is ), but when it comes time to specify stuff, I have to admit, I have seen smarter 3 year olds.

Do I have to keep the SATA 3.0MBS or will the 6.0 MBS work, can I run the 7200 drive or am I limited to 5400 RPMs, those kinds of questions.

j_martin

Oops, didn't notice it is a notebook.

Drive needs to be 2.5" form factor.
Sata 3.0 or 6.0 will work. 6.0 may or may not be better performance.
Any spindle speed will work.
Any make/model will work.
Any size will work. Modern bloatware requires at least a 500 GB to have reasonable storage for most users. Don't know the chip specs for your mainboard, but you can assume it will handle 1 TB (1000 GB) at least.
They all have the connectors in exactly the same place.... no worries.
With laptops the only concern might be how thick the drive is. Compare the dimensions of your original and the one you're considering. Eyeball the original in it's nest to see if additional thickness can be accommodated. Most of the new drives are thin.

2.5" : Internal Hard Drives : Hard Drives & Data Storage : Computer Parts : Micro Center

hope it helps

Scotty

Lenovo Superfish scandal: Why it?s one of the worst consumer computing screw-ups ever.

Is this a problem?

patdaly

It could well be, that's part of the issue, nobody will say just when this was started.

I know this, this will be the second time in about a year this Lenovo has gacked, and I have NEVER had issues like this before.......... coincidence?

Perhaps but not probable.

As soon as I get it restored with a new drive i will run the test to see though.

j_martin

Easy hole to stick in a root kit for sure.

patdaly

Ok, new drive, same recovery failed problem.

Lenovo is ABSOLUTELY USELESS to try and get help from.

So now that it has my Irish up, JMartin, from that micro center, which Win7Pro 64 bit should I buy?

Let me back up, would you try a fresh operating system, and how much grief am I getting myself into?

Thanks!

j_martin

Dangit, I hate it when it does that!!!!

I should have listened to my instincts and demanded that you write down the exact error code that is thrown when it occurs. Without it I just guessed. If the original program load won't go, then there must be something wrong with the motherboard hardware or bios. As innexpensive as these things are, It probably isn't worth the trouble.

I don't buy many computers myself, but where I work we like ASUS laptops. We don't like the systems with a lot of bloatware, like Dell, Lenovo, Compaq, etc. The hardware's OK if you do a plain OS load on them.

Believe it or not, I'll recommend going with Windows 8.1 rather than 7. It's actually a faster, more efficient operating system. If you like the feel of 7, you can have it by running classic shell. What you buy should depend on what you plan to do with it. Standard stuff, office apps, web browsing, etc a Core I3 processor and 4 gb of memory should be ample. Intensive graffics, such as AutoCad, or professional sound or video editing require more processing power and memory. High end graphics aren't needed unless you get into applications like SolidWorks, or extreme gaming.

8.1 does well with a touch screen if you desire.

patdaly

Don't feel bad, there is no error code, it is simply recovering, then about 75 percent just a simple box that says recovery failed.

That is what is so frustrating.

I have run all the lenovo diagnostics, and everything passes with flying colors, I still think it is the stinking lenovo software.

No matter what I do this will be the LAST lenovo i ever buy, or recommend.

Asus was one of the systems I looked at, and I must admit, Acer after the last one I had worked out so well.

I have some thinking to do now.

j_martin

Acer seems to be pretty good from what I've seen.

Laptops are hard to buy without a system. I always put up a desktop from scratch, usually using an ASUS mainboard. I've used some AsRock boards also in lower end units. Plain install of the OS and whatever software is needed. One irritation is that if you let the mainboard driver disk install automatically, it'll put in some bloatware (like Norton) you don't really want. Usually they have a routine where you can select the drivers and features you want and turn it loose. One trick is to install the OS without a password so the multiple reboots needed can just go automatically. Be sure to add a password manually after the drivers are installed.

I'm not sure where in the install yours fails, but it could be in the bloatware that's automatically installed. A lot of systems using Intel's video chip or core video drivers will fail also, though usually they don't blue screen. They just don't install the VGA drivers. It could be as simple as a mainboard setting. (Default settings are usually most stable, though an alternative disk setting may help, but if needed usually indicates a failing SATA component.) It is possible to be at the wrong bios level on the mainboard. The latest version is not always best, as it is usually done to compensate for some new version of other hardware and often compromise the original intent and then is not thoroughly tested before the upgrade channel is abandoned.

I'm not sure, but I think you can reload your system from a plain OEM Win-7 install DVD with your install code. I can send you one if you need it. Try to get a release 1 install disk or you'll spend 2 days updating, instead of 4hours. You'll also have to find the chipset and peripheral drivers (usually sound and network) and install them. They are usually available on the manufacturer's websight, or maybe can be manually picked off the install disk set.

There's lotsa tricks to the trade. One is that 64 bit is best, but if you have some older 16 bit programs to run, you need a 32 bit OS. 32 bit is natively limited to 4GB memory.

Another one is that 64 bit Microsoft office 2010 is buggy. The 32 bit version is about the least troublesome version you can get today. It runs well on 64 bit Win 7. Probably 8.1 as well.

patdaly

Well, to close the loop ( hopefully ), a clean Win7 home pro 64 bit install went flawlessly, and her 'puter is now running.

I find it kind of suspicious that nowhere on that computer was the authentication code........ Wonder if Lenovo was doing something hinky, it was bought when Win8 was coming out and people were screaming about it, perhaps an unauthorized downgrade?

Thanks for the help!