A Laptop That Will Not Start

Recently, my laptop fell about three feet. Now, it will go through the typical start screens, but then the screen just remains black. I've tried doing an error test, and these were the results:
Problem Event Name: StartupRepairV2
Problem Signature 01: Auto Failover
Problem Signature 02: 6.0.6000.16386.6.0.6001.18000
Problem Signature 03: 6
Problem Signature 04: 196611
Problem Signature 05: NoRootCause
Problem Signature 06: NoRootCause
Problem Signature 07: 0
Problem Signature 08: 1
Problem Signature 09: SystemRestore
Problem Signature 10: 0
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.26.1
Locale ID: 1033

No idea what that stuff means, but maybe someone will. I've also tried a system recovery, but it will not get past 1%. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

If it literally fell about 3 feet to the floor, chances are that your harddrive is physically damaged and will need replacing. That's the worst case scenario. It could just be that you need to reinstall Windows. Was the computer running when it fell?

First of all, can you boot into safemode by tapping F8 upon boot? If not;
Can you access the BIOS on boot up, usually done by tapping F3 or Del on boot up, (it will state which key to enter settings/BIOS on the screen).

 

Its an HP Pavilion dv4. When it opens in safe mode, it goes straight to the recovery manager. Most of the time the recovery never goes past 1% but it just hit 2% so maybe there is hope.
To answer your question: Yes it was running when it hit the ground. The hard drive might be damaged, after the drop it made a screeching sound when it turned on, but it hasn't made that noise in a while.

 

Urgggg ... goodbye Hard Drive. Maybe the read/write head has dug a clearance groove in the platter.

I'm sorta kidding, but I'd bet your hard drive is overdue for a replacement. If you're lucky, you might be able to save some files using an external USB connector device. :unsure:

I wouldn't waste running time on the old drive without trying to retrieve files.

 

I agree with both Klick and Polo. There are very few moving parts in a laptop. If you eliminate the optical drive and keyboard. there is really only one. While that does not mean that something else may break when you drop a machine but very few things are capable of "screeching" I would remove that hard drive and get a usb adapter, then try to read it from another computer. If it opens at all then immediately copy any data that is not backed up already to some external source.

Only after you accomplish that would I try to see if there is some other issue involved. Each time you open or try to open that drive you are increasing the odds against ever being able to recover anything.

 

Well it did recover, to the factory condition, while running updates on it, it somehow screwed up. Now I don't even have an operatic system on it. Any suggestions with it now?

 

When the computer started up you press esc, then f11 for system recovery. This restores it to factory condition.

Yes, after it started running normally again windows had about 104 updates to install. During the restarting process something must've messed up, causing it to say there was no OS on the computer.

All of this aside, I have an identical model that has a broken screen which I use for parts. (The hard drive in it is shot also <_< ) I swapped the RAM and now it's running again which makes no sense to me. All that matters is it's back to working normally, for now.

 

I'm backing up every time before I shut it down until i have to eventually break down and buy a new one. Any suggestions brand wise?