Hello tech guy forums,
First I want to say I used to have an account here and the people of this forum walked me through all kinds of hardware/software problems in the past, so thank you!
This time around I suspect the culprit is hardware, but I want to start here in case it is a possible OS issue. Here's the gist:
One night I tripped over the 1/8 inch speaker cord that was plugged into it's corresponding jack. The tension was enough that the plug actually broke off in the jack and the laptop took a 3' spill onto the carpeted floor.
The next time I tried to start my laptop, it took me to an error screen saying Windows had suffered an error and was unable to start. It gave me the option to start normally or run the Windows repair tool, which I opted to try.
Running the repair tool that time and each time since has resulted in a black screen that says "Windows is loading files..." followed by a low-resoltion Windows OS background and a loading wheel next to the mouse cursor that spins without anything happening.
After several attempts, I downloaded a Win7 .iso and put it on a bootable USB drive. I changed boot priority in BIOS and started up. This time I get the same "Windows is loading files..." screen followed by an "Install Windows" dialog box that asks for the installation language, time format, etc.
When I click "next" and "install Windows" it takes me to a "Setup is starting..." screen with the same loading wheel, and gets stuck there indefinitely. I can move the cursor around but nothing else. The last time I did this was before bed and it was still stuck in the morning.
Could this be damaged RAM or HDD, or is it possibly an OS issue?
Edit: If you suspect a hardware issue, is it possible for a mod to move the thread? Also sorry for any spelling/format errors -- posting from my phone =(. Thank you for your time and attention!
First I want to say I used to have an account here and the people of this forum walked me through all kinds of hardware/software problems in the past, so thank you!
This time around I suspect the culprit is hardware, but I want to start here in case it is a possible OS issue. Here's the gist:
One night I tripped over the 1/8 inch speaker cord that was plugged into it's corresponding jack. The tension was enough that the plug actually broke off in the jack and the laptop took a 3' spill onto the carpeted floor.
The next time I tried to start my laptop, it took me to an error screen saying Windows had suffered an error and was unable to start. It gave me the option to start normally or run the Windows repair tool, which I opted to try.
Running the repair tool that time and each time since has resulted in a black screen that says "Windows is loading files..." followed by a low-resoltion Windows OS background and a loading wheel next to the mouse cursor that spins without anything happening.
After several attempts, I downloaded a Win7 .iso and put it on a bootable USB drive. I changed boot priority in BIOS and started up. This time I get the same "Windows is loading files..." screen followed by an "Install Windows" dialog box that asks for the installation language, time format, etc.
When I click "next" and "install Windows" it takes me to a "Setup is starting..." screen with the same loading wheel, and gets stuck there indefinitely. I can move the cursor around but nothing else. The last time I did this was before bed and it was still stuck in the morning.
Could this be damaged RAM or HDD, or is it possibly an OS issue?
Edit: If you suspect a hardware issue, is it possible for a mod to move the thread? Also sorry for any spelling/format errors -- posting from my phone =(. Thank you for your time and attention!