Error message on boot, help needed

jamesk014

Hey guys I recently installed a fresh install of Windows on an old laptop for a friend as they had facial recognision software which was currupted and left the laptop inacessable even through trying to uninstall through safe mode.

Anyway I installed the Windows 7 onto the hard drive of the laptop by removing the hdd and mounting it in my own of via sata becouse the laptop CDdrive is no longer working. It installed with no problems and I could boot my pc from the hdd.

When I installed the hdd back into the laptop I am only getting an error code I'll include a picture.

The hdd is showing up under boot devices and in the bios and is set as the primary boot. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated quite a simple job had turned into a mayor pain. The laptop is a Lenovo g550.

jamesk014

It's the original hard drive going back into the laptop except it has been wiped? And new Windows running on it.. now what ?

jamesk014

Ah so wipe the hdd again and install from usb on the laptop ?

jamesk014

Formatted via external hdd enclosure to ntfs put it back in laptop set usb to boot. usb's led flashes on startup I get Lenovo splash screen and the straight back to error screen. Just constantly tests and fails and maybe once every minute there a beep although I can't find a beep code error I line to explain it's meaning.

stimpson

That's a PXE error. Looks like you're trying to boot from the network. Check your boot priority in the bios.

jamesk014

Boot priority as is pictured there isn't much options to do anything in the bios but I have set it to usb theN hdd still no look just getting the same error repeating.

stimpson

Looks like this is a common issue on the G550:

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-B-and-G-Series-Notebooks/PXE-E61-Media-Test-failure-Check-cable-Lenovo-g460/td-p/1763075

Do you have another machine where you can download a bios image? I'm thinking a bios update might be worth a shot.

stimpson

Looking again, it might be worth checking if the drive is seated correctly. Take it out and put it back in making sure it's secure.

jamesk014

tried re seating and im sure its in there properly still giving error. Even tried booting from usb without the hard drive in and still giving error message. I cant believe iv made such a mess of a simple job . I wonder if you could help me in trying the bios image i have no knowledge of how to go about doing it

Conar

jamesk014 wrote: »

tried re seating and im sure its in there properly still giving error. Even tried booting from usb without the hard drive in and still giving error message. I cant believe iv made such a mess of a simple job . I wonder if you could help me in trying the bios image i have no knowledge of how to go about doing it

Not sure you can simply copy files on to the USB drive for it to boot.
Usually you need to create an iso and use Windows USB/DVD tool, or Winsetupfromusb.
Just test that USB stick on another pc or laptop, I suspect it won't boot on that either.

Also the drive is detected in the bios so I'd say it's most likely seated fine.

stimpson

The more I read up, the more I think your drive isn't bootable, there is a problem with the SATA connector or a problem with the HDD.

You say you tried to boot from USB. Is your usb drive bootable? Can you boot off a Windiws disc and recognise the HDD in the windows install?

jamesk014

going through creating a .iso bootable usb at the minute, will update soon

jamesk014

used windows 7 usb dvd. brought over the .iso to the usb and booted right away from the usb and installed issue free onto the hdd. Back up and running (thank god) Thanks for all the help guys much appreciated!!

Conar

jamesk014 wrote: »

used windows 7 usb dvd. brought over the .iso to the usb and booted right away from the usb and installed issue free onto the hdd. Back up and running (thank god) Thanks for all the help guys much appreciated!!

Good stuff. Now run away before something else goes wrong :-)

jayo26

Conar wrote: »

Good stuff. Now run away before something else goes wrong :-)

Done this so many times ha,