Matts96HB

Comp: Asus G73jh
Problem: will not boot. black screen that says "select proper boot device or insert boot media"
Attempts to fix: Searched for BIOS updates, there are none.

This has happened before. Last time I replaced the HDD and updated the BIOS and it worked just fine up until about 2 weeks ago when it began running sluggish on start up and became slowly less reliable when in windows. My guess is the HDD took a shit (again) but I am just curious if anyone thinks it could be something different.

TurboMirage

windows 7? do you have a recovery DVD? or even a hirens?

Matts96HB

win7 64 bit, I have a recovery disc that will take me all the way back to a virtually fresh install of windows. thats about it lol

reinstall windows?

TurboMirage

you could try a repair from the recovery dvd.

reikoshea

Usually means there's a corrupted mbr or a missing mbr on your primary boot device. If you've got a recovery disk, then you can boot into the install, hit repair, click command prompt and type:

bootrec /FixMbr

After that reboot and see if windows works.

whiterabbit06

I have a MSI board that I've had for a few years now and it has 6 SATA ports on it. One of them took a shit so I can't use it. I was having the same problems it wasn't detecting my HDD and telling me to insert a boot device, then I figured out the one port went bad.

cjvictoria

looks like the problems been sorted out, or at least these guys pretty much said exactly what i was going to say. its most likely the mbr got screwed up... mine had to be 'repaired' a couple weeks ago because i forgot to shut the pc down (rather than sleep) and i switched my hdd for my other one that I have Ubuntu installed in.

K2e2vin

I had a similar issue; twice, that was the result of the boot order getting screwed up(it was trying to boot through the CD-ROM drive first; and of course no disc/media so it would just stay stuck at that screen). Went into the BIOS, had it boot via HDD first, and solved my problem. Though, when my HDD did mess up, it did do something similar but the boot order was still the same(HDD first).

Matts96HB

Update: Tried reikoshea's suggestion and it still would not boot. Ended up switching the hard drive to the other port and it is working, for now.

Does this mean that the original port is dead? Or is there something else that could possibly cause the port to malfunction?

Dual-500

^ If it just manifested it's probably hardware. Could be the firmware (BIOS) or even corrupted BIOS. I'd probably just leave it alone if it's working ok. Cuz, if the CMOS is dorked and causing the issue, trying to update the BIOS could crash it.

reikoshea

^

Ports go bad on motherboards, software freaks out. Rule of thumb with motherboards, if it isn't keeping the computer from booting at all...leave the bios version alone.

whiterabbit06

So the same shit that happened to mine, the port went bad?

Dual-500

^ Difficult to say without some testing - but, when they get to that point it's usually best not to mess with them as many times they will crash and become unuseable.

Matts96HB

Bringing this back because I am having problems yet again.

It now boots fine, but after I log in to Windows, I've been getting a message that says Windows explorer has stopped working. Of course this means everything quits working and leaves the computer virtually useless. If I restart win explorer, it works fine for about 30 seconds and then reverts to the same message.

I did some searching and found a couple of things in the windows event viewer.

Event ID 11 ATAPI - TechNet Articles - United States (English) - TechNet Wiki

and

Kernel Power Event 41

It seems likely that the second error would be caused by the first; as holding the power button down is the only way to get the computer respond after win explorer has crashed.

Other info:
HDD has been replaced due to prior boot issues
BIOS is up to date
HDD is now in 2nd HDD slot due to prior boot issues (it didnt like the other port for some reason)

any ideas or suggestions? im in the process of building a new rig anyway (should be done this week) but I'd still like to have my lappy in working condition.

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reikoshea

If explorer is crashing that's generally due to a driver issue on something super duper important (SATA, PCI, etc), or due to missing/corrupt dll's.

Unfortunately there's not a really good way to test for either outside of reformatting and reinstalling windows. The raw fact is, that if you need to go to a forum to ask a question like 'Why is explorer crashing', reinstalling windows should be kind of an annual ritual in my experience.

Very few users, including power users like myself and chris and a few other select folks, are capable of running a windows system and keeping it virus free and free of software that could have negative effects on the OS for more than a year, two at the outset. Everyone's computer runs slower than the day they bought it, and most people end up running into something the OS despises every year or two.

That being said, there's no shame in reinstalling windows, I can guarantee, if I had a windows machine that had explorer crashing on a semi regular basis, I'd reinstall windows after looking for 45 minutes without a solution.

Hell I'm almost there due to a blue screen every few weeks caused by the network driver.

Anyway, long winded answer is reinstall windows and give it another go, otherwise, if you can get into the event view (Start>Right click on Computer>Manage) you might see something in that log that gives you a clue, but there's not much else I can help you with.



EDIT:

Went back and read the beginning of this post, Error 41 is very similar to what you reported earlier. It's likely the motherboard on your laptop is on it's last legs. As I said, this is usually a driver thing, and you've been having quite a few issues with your hard drive recently...

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Dual-500

^ Disc drive controller on the mobo is a likely suspect. Many times mobo failures on the laptop's are a result of prolonged excessive heat. i.e. many of them aren't cooled very well.

Matts96HB

Thank you for a detailed response. I was wondering about the mobo as well. The event viewer has reported error 41 thousands of times over the past 7 days, which is strange. I'm going to get my win 7 CD and reinstall once I figure out what to do with my important files.
Funny you should say that because this is a gaming laptop with a first generation i7 720qm (notoriously hot cpu) and a Radeon 5870m - also runs notoriously hot.

Dual-500

^ I had a Dell Laptop a couple of years back at work. Whatever model it was, the Radeon video subsystem ran hot, to the point of instability and eventual failure after a year or year and a half of service. When the tech fixed it, I asked him about what he replaced and such - he explained it to me and said they were prone to failure. The replacement board has much more robuts head sinks and a fan as I recall.

He said the fix was good - at that time, for that machine.