BrianHawkinsTech

Hi,
I have a Toshiba laptop that won't boot. It shows the Toshiba loading screen and then restarts repeatedly. It doesn't even get to the Windows XP screen... Any ideas?

Hi Dave,
It sounds like it is probably a drive related issue. One suggestion would be to burn yourself a copy of the Ultimate Boot CD available here. This is a great diagnostic tool when you can't boot into Windows. Boot your computer off of this disc and try using some of the drive diagnostic tools. They should be able to tell you if there is a problem with the drive and possibly repair it.
If you are able to boot into the CD and use the tools, that likely means the rest of the pc is ok (motherboard, ram, etc). But you can reduce those chances even further by running the various Mainboard diagnostic tools.
If after running these tools there are no other apparent hardware failures and you are still unable to boot into Windows, you may have a drive failure. At this point if you have data that is valuable to you (worth spending >$1000), a data recovery service might be an option.
After that, you could try using your OS Recovery Disc or a new Windows Install Disc to re-install. It is possible that a fresh install could overwrite any bad sectors and function at that point. If that fails I would recommend replacing the hard drive. Good luck! -Brian