Tech Help My Lenovo Y500 will not boot up

[ReconZeroCP]

Hello fellow clan members! I've encountered an issue with my laptop, and would like to know if anyone here could possibly point me in a direction as-to what caused it, and how to possibly fix it.

So this problem struck me yesterday evening, when my Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 just froze up while playing Insurgency; I waited a while, attempted to use task manager, but the entire screen was frozen. So I initiated a shut down via the power button, and turned the laptop back on, where it remained stuck on the Lenovo loading screen before Windows would appear. I attempted again to turn the laptop off and on again, several times, just to see if it was a random anomoly or such; but the problem persisted.

I then attempted to initiate a system restore via the Novo button on the side of the laptop (which I had successfully done several months ago when a seemingly-similar issue arose, and it fixed it via restoring it to factory settings). When I attempted the system restore via the Novo button, the laptop loaded needed files, proceeded to the Lenovo loading screen again to be seemingly frozen again.

I left it at that screen for a good while, it hit a point where (if I remember) Windows could not load, and would automatically attempt to repair the issue; the screen was only there for a split second, then turned to black, and it repeated the same frozen loading screen. Rinse and repeat this process.

I'm not sure if this explanation would make sense to anyone here, but I'm looking to see if there's any idea as to what the issue could be regarding its failure to boot up. I am able to get into the BIOS, something called "(Windows) Boot Menu"), System Recovery (which I've attempted already, resulting in the failure), and Normal Startup (which also failed).

-Sorry for the long post.

 

[Ice]

Sadly, it sounds like hardware failure to me. Exactly what component may be broken is hard to say without actually diagnosing the laptop.

All depending on how "techy" you are, you can do some simple tests as to listen that the fan/s are running like normal and check lights are all glowing like normal too.
Little more advanced, you can goto BIOS and "if your motherboard supports it" you may be able to see temperatures and Voltage of your CPU/GPU etc.

The first thing that comes to mind is, it could be your HDD/SSD "Hard drive". If you have or can borrow another laptop, you can swap the Hard drive and try to reboot. If that gives you the same problem, try to find one matching RAM "Memory Stick" and swap them out too (make sure they are suited for your motherboard first).

- How to swap Hard-drives and memory sticks, you can find lots of DIY help videos on Youtube.

If all of the above seem too overwhelming or if you feel insecure, I suggest you bring it to a shop and have them do some tests, make sure to ask all prices first and ask yourself if the repairs are worth it.

Good luck!

 

[ReconZeroCP]

Hm, I could try swapping out the 1TB HDD from the Y500 with my 600GB HDD from my older HP Pavilion g6, as long as it fit's. I'll look into the two other recommendations you mentioned as well if it fails.

Thanks, mate! I'll report-back my findings.

 

[ReconZeroCP]

Actually, before I start up the system... I've swapped them, and I'm wondering if my Lenovo Y500 (which used Windows 8) would be able to use my 640GB HDD used by my HP Pavilion g6 (which used Windows 7)? Or would I need to do something to the Pavilion's HDD before swapping?

My Y500 never came with a Windows recovery disc, nor did my Pavilion g6; so, for starting the system up after a swap, do you know what I could or would need to do?

If I needed a recovery CD, would it need to be a Windows 8 recovery CD for my Y500? Since Windows 8 was installed on the previous HDD it used, or would I need to use a Windows 7 recovery CD since that's what is installed on the swapped HDD? Sorry if that sounded confusing, my wording could be bad.

 

[Tanooki]

Actually, before I start up the system... I've swapped them, and I'm wondering if my Lenovo Y500 (which used Windows 8) would be able to use my 640GB HDD used by my HP Pavilion g6 (which used Windows 7)? Or would I need to do something to the Pavilion's HDD before swapping?

My Y500 never came with a Windows recovery disc, nor did my Pavilion g6; so, for starting the system up after a swap, do you know what I could or would need to do?

If I needed a recovery CD, would it need to be a Windows 8 recovery CD for my Y500? Since Windows 8 was installed on the previous HDD it used, or would I need to use a Windows 7 recovery CD since that's what is installed on the swapped HDD? Sorry if that sounded confusing, my wording could be bad.

To actually use the drive from you HP, it would have to be reformatted, and you would need to reinstall Windows. Since the HP drive contains an install of Windows that was installed specifically for your HP laptop, it can only be used on that hardware, or hardware that is very similar.

 

[Ice]

The goal is to test what components may be broken, not to re-format any drives. There are two ways of trying this out. Hook up the other hard drive to the Lenovo computer and boot the computer up, if it freezes on the same place as before, or in a Windows Recovery mode, its not your hard drive. "Do not start any recovery" unless you don't care about the HP drive being formatted.

The other way, is to remove the Lenovo Hard drive, hook it up to another computer, as an external drive with a cable or a docking-station and run a Disk Diagnostics software, to check the health of the drive.

 

[ReconZeroCP]

The other way, is to remove the Lenovo Hard drive, hook it up to another computer, as an external drive with a cable or a docking-station and run a Disk Diagnostics software, to check the health of the drive.

Would it be okay to hook up the Y500's 1TB HDD with a PC which uses an older version of Windows via a docking station?

I may look into this method, I could easily purchase a DS for relative-pricing on newegg based on its reviews.

Thanks for the help, btw, mates.

 

[Ice]

Would it be okay to hook up the Y500's 1TB HDD with a PC which uses an older version of Windows via a docking station?

I may look into this method, I could easily purchase a DS for relative-pricing on newegg based on its reviews.

It is obviously up to you if you want to spend the money, since it does not have to be the hard drive at fault, although there is a possibility. Would you have any use of the docking-station after you have figured out whether the drive is functional or not?

To answer your question, what operating system is on your Lenovo hard drive once hooked up as an external drive would not affect anything, since you are not running it as a main Boot drive but merely as an "extra drive".

Good luck!

 

[Cloakedsphere]

It is obviously up to you if you want to spend the money, since it does not have to be the hard drive at fault, although there is a possibility. Would you have any use of the docking-station after you have figured out whether the drive is functional or not?

To answer your question, what operating system is on your Lenovo hard drive once hooked up as an external drive would not affect anything, since you are not running it as a main Boot drive but merely as an "extra drive".

Good luck!

Why would connecting an external HDD thats not set up as the main boot drive solve the issue of not being able to get past a window loading logo? That makes no sense to me as to why you'd just add an extra hard drive to supposedly "check" if it goes past that screen. Seeing as how the original drive that has not failed is still being the one with the main boot. No data is shared or transferred in that boot up process.

Sounds like you could have corrupted some type of file. Have you tried contacting lenovo beforehand and asking them about the issue? Have you checked your BIOS and looked at drive integrity? Start in safe mode?

 

[ReconZeroCP]

I think Ice was meaning access the possibly-corrupt HDD by removing it from the Y500 and connecting it to another PC in order to diagnose it that way via a scan.

Sounds like you could have corrupted some type of file. Have you tried contacting lenovo beforehand and asking them about the issue? Have you checked your BIOS and looked at drive integrity? Start in safe mode?

I've yet to contact them, I've searched online for similar issues with no success, however. My warranty's expired, though I could still contact them.

I can enter the BIOS (I think?), how do you go about seeing the integrity of the HDD via the BIOS settings? And I seem to be unable to access Windows safe mode via traditional methods (of pressing F8/F9/F10, I've seen different F-keys used for the access button), or via the Novo button.

Just to show my options atm, I have these options with the Novo button.

Novo Button Menu
--Normal Startup (freezes on loading screen when using this)
--BIOS Setup (I can access this)
--Boot Menu (which gives Windows Boot Manager option, also freezes to black screen after clicking)
--System Recovery (to-which the screen freezes at the Lenovo loading screen after loading files for recovery)

A seemingly-similar issue presented itself several months ago (the PC froze during Insurgency, refused to respond to any inputs), actually; which I resolved via a system restoration after a forced shut down in order to be able to access the laptop again.

 

[Cloakedsphere]

When you go to your BIOS there should be a boot option. It should be able to be switched to start in safe mode.

 

[ReconZeroCP]

There is a boot menu in the BIOS (I think this is UEFI BIOS).

Boot Mode: UEFI (or Legacy)
USB Boot: Enabled

EFI
Windows Boot Manager
EFI Network 0 for IPv4
EFI Network 0 for IPv6

Though, I see no method to boot into Windows safe mode via the BIOS; I wonder if they removed that option if this is a newer BIOS setup.

I presume removing "Secure Boot" would do nothing, as well.

Is there any way to create a Boot Recovery USB from another PC (if it uses Windows 8, as well), and use it on my Y500 during the boot process? (Since it only came with a partitioned HDD holding all the necessary files for a recovery process to initiate, but if I can't access them I'd need to obtain them through another means).

 

[Cloakedsphere]

There is a boot menu in the BIOS (I think this is UEFI BIOS).

Boot Mode: UEFI (or Legacy)
USB Boot: Enabled

EFI
Windows Boot Manager
EFI Network 0 for IPv4
EFI Network 0 for IPv6

Though, I see no method to boot into Windows safe mode via the BIOS; I wonder if they removed that option if this is a newer BIOS setup.

I presume removing "Secure Boot" would do nothing, as well.

Is there any way to create a Boot Recovery USB from another PC (if it uses Windows 8, as well), and use it on my Y500 during the boot process? (Since it only came with a partitioned HDD holding all the necessary files for a recovery process to initiate, but if I can't access them I'd need to obtain them through another means).

While in the boot process and before it gets to the windows loading screen, are you able to hit F11 at all? Click troubleshoot > advanced options > start up settings then restart?

 

[ReconZeroCP]

No opening to boot via the designated F-key ('seen F8-through F11 as keys to press).

Plan to create a bootable USB with diagnostic software to test the HDD on my Y500, now; after discussing with Ice. 'Plan to pick up a USB stick in the coming days to try it. I should hopefully be able to pinpoint what the issue is regarding the Y500 through that, I'm hoping.

 

[ReconZeroCP]

Late post,

The HDD turned out to be the issue, there was either some corruption or the drive itself was damaged; I encountered an reading error while a diagnostic scan of the HDD was running via a bootable USB. I purchased a new HDD, replaced the old one, and the Y500 started working like new again.

Thanks for the help, mates!

 

[Ice]

Glad I could help and you are most welcome!