Laptop no longer booting...

[Esconodo]

Last night I was srowsing the net when my laptop (Toshiba Satellite C660) blue screened and crashed. From there when I tried to reboot I would get stuck at either "BOOTMGR is corrupt" or "Failed to start the boot process, a file may be missing".

So deciding that my computer was stuffed I decided to try running Ubuntu from a CD or USB to at least recover and backup my files. When I tried to boot from CD I was left with a checkered, multi-coloured flashing screen of LSD trip for some reason. Then trying the USB method I managed to get to the first options menu, though me being me I wasnt looking and it timed out to boot or...whatever it does. The first boot failed so I rebooted my computer. I remembered reading somewhere that sometimes even replacing or installing new RAM can cause problems. I rebooted and chose the memory test option. It got to about 60% of test 3 before it was left hanging. Now when I turn on my laptop nothing happens. The light comes on, CD drive spins up and USB sticks light up, but the screen is still blank...
Please help, I really can't afford to lose some of the data on there :o

Thanks in advance!!

[Hedgehog1]

At first glance, I think your laptop is dying.

I carry an Ubuntu install on a USB stick for rescuing PCs, and based on what you wrote you appear to have tried the right things if the issue was only software/OS based.

To retrieve your data, you may have to remove the Hard Drive and use on of those SATA-to-USB gizmos. I have one (SATA/IDE to USB) I only use once in a great while, but it save been a life saver (data saver?) for those folks that needed the help.

I think the issue is NOT your hard drive, or the USB/CD boot would have worked, so there is a good chance you can save the data on the drive.

The Hedge

:KS