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What causes just a blinking hyphen while booting my laptop
#1
I have only a hyphen mark which keeps blinking while I start the pc, it was running with windows 10,  how can  I enter to it someway.


Thank you  Sweet



#2
Blinking hyphen on top of screen like Battlefield 4? Joking.
Has it been running fine recently? Or did you install Windows 10 on it recently? Seems like the bootloader cannot find the drive to boot windows from. Try entering setup using default F10 key(press repeatedly or keep it pressed) and if you somehow get into setup, choose the hard disk or where you're running Windows from as a default boot device.
Also defragment your hard disc.
#3
I was able to get back to it by pressing F12, I was installing Ubuntu 18 on it for school purpose.
Now I can access the pc after reboot, but see there is warning of hard disk about to fail.


Thank you  Sweet



#4
now is the time to buy a new hdd my man. i say toshiba if not hgst. woohooo

The following is an account of what i would do. i enjoy it a lot too.

what i do in such situations is get on olx and find all the hdd offers within range which have some warranty on them. next i start bargaining and make a short list of shortlisted options..lol

visit them and run some tests and buy the best option. save a ton of money and get much better spec things too. Like if i went to shop or amazon, i might have bought 1 tb wd blue. but this way i can afford toshiba / hgst/ wd black with 1/2/3 years warranty and a nice fat drive 1/2/4 tb.
Sincere Thanks to VirMach for my VPS9. Also many thanks to Shadow Hosting and cubedata for the experiences I had with their VPSs.
#5
(09-03-2019, 08:21 PM)Littlemaster Wrote: I was installing Ubuntu 18 on it for school purpose.

That might be a issue as Ubuntu bootloader and Windows bootloader are different. You've possibly bricked your hard disc by installing both in the same partition. Use diskpart to check it if you've don't that or not. Mount windows 10 installer on a portable drive then select it at startup.
#6
(09-03-2019, 08:21 PM)Littlemaster Wrote: ...... Now I can access the pc after reboot, but see there is warning of hard disk about to fail.


If I were you, I would do backups of any valuable data inside this harddisk first.

I would also suggest you to get a new harddisk and re-install OS with it.

And then, scan the old harddisk to mark the bad sectors. This old harddisk may still be used for normal storage (without OS) if you are lucky enough.


#7
(09-03-2019, 09:07 PM)rudra Wrote: now is the time to buy a new hdd my man. i say toshiba if not hgst. woohooo

The following is an account of what i would do. i enjoy it a lot too.

what i do in such situations is get on olx and find all the hdd offers within range which have some warranty on them. next i start bargaining and make a short list of shortlisted options..lol

visit them and run some tests and buy the best option. save a ton of money and get much better spec things too. Like if i went to shop or amazon, i might have bought 1 tb wd blue. but this way i can afford toshiba / hgst/ wd black with 1/2/3 years warranty and a nice fat drive 1/2/4 tb.
Is Thoshiba HDD suitable for Lenovo Laptops?
I am new to hardware dept.


Thank you  Sweet



#8
(09-04-2019, 05:42 PM)Littlemaster Wrote: Is Thoshiba HDD suitable for Lenovo Laptops?
I am new to hardware dept.

Yes. It does not matter. Toshiba or hgst are the best options as they are the most tolerant of shock and movement in this segment. Just make sure you buy 2.5 inch drives. You need 2.5 inch form factor drives to fit in laptops. 3.5 ones are the bigger bulkier ones for desktops.Though none is sayig you can't use the 2.5 ones in desktop. But you can not do the other way round.

Be creative when searching on olx. some search term suggestions : "hdd" , "HDD" , "hitachi", "hgst", " HITACHI" , "hard disk" , "hard drive" , "1tb" , "1TB" , "1 tb" , "1 TB" etc, without the quotes. for some weird reason, olx search is not case insensitive in normal search. Also People will be people. They do a lot of spelling mistakes or inventions. hehe.

good luck.

Edit. oh yes. I almost forgot. Mention 2.5 inch small laptop form factor drives while talking to them and do not be naive. People are out there to get you , you know. hehe.

always do multiple checks, always test at their place and make sure that they have no objection to you deciding after being satisfied with tests etc.. Bring a friend with you if you are kinda soft hearted and cant face sudden outbursts or situation changes. I may be making this buying second hand appear more dangerous than it usually is. But, on rare occasions, bad things happen out of the blue. So only ruthless and ready survive. make sure the labels and pins and connectors are ok and no sign of mishandling that may void warranty and be ruthless but reasonable in bargaining. endearing yet unwavering is the key.

well.. too many words.. bllrrgaah
Sincere Thanks to VirMach for my VPS9. Also many thanks to Shadow Hosting and cubedata for the experiences I had with their VPSs.
#9
If you’re going with a new hard drive, why not just get an ssd instead?

It’ll boost the performance of your system by a lot! You’d be surprised at the huge difference it tends to make!

HDDs nowadays should only be used for long term storage. They’re on the verge of being obsolete in modern systems. They are simply not fast enough for today’s standards.

Sure it costs way more to get an ssd compared to an Hdd, but trust me. It’s worth it!

They’re also less prone to failure compared to using an hdd. Since they don’t have any moving part. While HDDs have a lot of moving parts.
Thank you Post4VPS and VirMach for providing me with VPS9! But now it’s time to say farewell due to my studies.



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