Solved Win 10 won't start on Toshiba Satellite L70C-12H - "Preparing Automatic Repair"

OK, thanks, but there may be a delay, I want to clone that HDD first, I still have hopes of getting that particular laptop working again once I find a new fan. It has run happily for some hours since I put the HDD back in, sure it's a bit hot but I haven't been working it hard, I just downloaded Macrium Reflect and looked around at options for SSDs etc. With a new fan and an SSD it could prove very useful when my wife's just as ancient laptop inevitably dies. Fans are available, but it seems two types have been used in the same model, and the problem is persuading the seller to reveal exactly which one their advertisements relate to! One of them won't fit, as others have discovered after purchase.

You're right, there isn't much on either the Toshiba or the Asus. As I said earlier, I got into the habit of using USB drives for the "big" stuff like music and photos, and the cloud for documents, just for the convenience of having them available everywhere. I just don't need big disks now.

I'll let you rest a bit now, while I plan the transfer of the Asus HDD to the Toshiba. I did remove it from the Asus and put it back again and the machine still works, so as you can see I'm not entirely useless with a screwdriver. I don't really remember it much now, but I built my first computer from a kit of parts, soldering components to the circuit board. Sure it was only a Sinclair ZX81 that plugged into the TV and you couldn't do much with it before there was an internet and email, but it was a start. Going further back, I built a digital clock with Nixie tubes from a kit and it has been running virtually non-stop since 1973 and keeps perfect time. I wish everything electronic was that reliable.

I don't know much about product activation, I hope it's not something that's going to make us fall at the last hurdle.

Thanks again for your help so far.

Michael

Hi Bruce, I am now in a room full of dismantled laptops and & desktop, with enough cables snaking around to give Indiana Jones nightmares.

First report: I took the case off the HP desktop so I could try the Toshiba HDD in it as we had discussed. What should be easy doesn't look so easy. The desktop interiors I recall had collections of HDD and power connectors bundled up, all you had to do was slide a disk into the tray, screw it up and attach some of the spare connectors, though there was always some tricky adjusting of switches that never <ever> did what the instructions said, just the opposite usually. Anyway, it looks like I would have to disconnect the HP 3.5" HDD (and therefore the Win 10 OS) and use the connectors to attach the Toshiba HDD. Is it worth it?

Second report: I have surprised myself by successfully cloning the Asus 640GB HDD to a new SanDisk 480GB SSD using Macrium and a USB3.0 to SATA adapter cable. I took the HDD out of the Asus and plugged the SSD in its place. Switched the Asus on and glory be, it not only started starting up, it finished starting up almosts instantly (by comparison with everything else) and I was on the desktop in no time at all. I was expecting all sorts of trouble.

So now I had a 640GB HDD that doesn't matter quite so much if it gets trashed to plug into the Toshiba, that is exactly what I did and switched on. Windows did not start up. I Got a blank screen with a hyphen at top left for a while, then a message: No bootable device ** please restart system. Hmm. The HDD was a bootable device when it was in the Asus, was it not? Anyway, I switched off, plugged in the magic USB stick and started again, pressing F12 as it started. It brought me back to the same Windows screen as message #18 . So, Bruce, does that mean that the Toshiba laptop is working and I should go ahead? What happens next, please? I presume that either Windows gets installed on the HDD (after wiping it) or there is a failure to communicate with the HDD/non-bootable device.

Michael

Thanks Bruce, but no luck yet. Just three abbreviations that mean nothing to me! The Asus HDD is apparently the wrong sort, an EFI drive is needed, whatever that is.

I found this on YouTube, which may help. No harm in trying, is there?

Michael

The YouTube video worked and I'm now up to "getting files ready for installation (38%)." This is progress - I hope.

Michael

Woohoo! Thank you <so> much Bruce for your help and patience.



All I had to do was sign in to my Microsoft account with the email address and password I had before, there was no problem about authentication.

The machine has already installed a Windows 10 update and is now "adding some new features, this could take a few minutes". Sigh, none of their new features have ever been of the slightest use to me. If the non-Microsoft programs I want to use run, that's all I care about. The most useful feature for me would be one they got rid of long ago: the ability to have several copies of File Explorer open and swish files between them with the mouse.

Now I have the confidence, I shall spruce the machine up Replace the HDD with an SSD now I know how. Get a new battery if I can (the old one never kept going as long as it should have done, even when new). And hoover out all the mysterious bits of stuff that have been sucked in over the years. The machine has already installed a Windows 10 update and is now "adding some new features, this could take a few minutes". Sigh, none of their new features or many of the old ones have ever been of the slightest use to me. If the non-Microsoft programs I want to use run, that's all I care about. The most useful feature for me would be one they got rid of long ago: the ability to easily have several copies of File Explorer open and swish files between them with the mouse (which btw you can do on a Mac ).

Michael