Windows 8 Brand new Lenova notebook is dead. Please help!

Lizz Janzen · Jan 12, 2014

Hi Windows community, I would greatly appreciate some advice for fixing my dead Lenova G505 notebook.

I am downgrading the factory Windows 8 operating system to a new version of Windows 7. Through my attempts, I have rendered my notebook useless.

I turn on the notebook and see the "Lenova" logo for a split second. The screen instantly becomes black with a blinking white line on the top left corner. I am not able to type any letters or to enter the BIOS through any of the F Keys.

This is what I did:

1) Booted a USB drive containing Parted Magic (Linux partition editor)

2) Deleted the old GPT partition table

3) Created a new MSDOS partition table

4) Created a new primary NTFS parition

5) Attempted to boot Windows 7 install disk

6) Attempted to boot into BIOS

After I press the power key, the screen becomes blank...I need to boot into my USB drive or my Windows 7 install disk. Does anybody know a way to enter the BIOS? Is there another way to boot?

Any help with this will be greatly appreciated!

-Lizz Janzen

Saltgrass · Jan 12, 2014

When you get the indications you show, there system is not being directed toward a bootable install.

Since the system was factory Windows 8 and probably UEFI, are you going back to Legacy on purpose?

It was also probably set up as a Windows 8 Secure Boot system, so for Windows 7 you need to look for a bios entry relating to the CSM (Compatibility Support Module) and enable that. The Secure Boot option may or may not need to be changed for Windows 7.

To boot to the Windows 7 DVD, you should have the option to enter a Boot Device Menu, either through the bios or with a key combination. Use that to select the Windows 7 DVD and you may see two entries for the DVD drive. One with a UEFI indication and the other for legacy.

If the...

Lizz Janzen · Jan 12, 2014

Update: The FN+F2 key combo started up BIOS.

Saltgrass · Jan 12, 2014

When you get the indications you show, there system is not being directed toward a bootable install.

Since the system was factory Windows 8 and probably UEFI, are you going back to Legacy on purpose?

It was also probably set up as a Windows 8 Secure Boot system, so for Windows 7 you need to look for a bios entry relating to the CSM (Compatibility Support Module) and enable that. The Secure Boot option may or may not need to be changed for Windows 7.

To boot to the Windows 7 DVD, you should have the option to enter a Boot Device Menu, either through the bios or with a key combination. Use that to select the Windows 7 DVD and you may see two entries for the DVD drive. One with a UEFI indication and the other for legacy.

If the Windows 8 Drive had a Recovery partition with the factory reset image for Windows 8, did you copy that somewhere safe?

MikeHawthorne · Jan 12, 2014

Hi

Do you have Data on the computer that you need to retrieve?
If you do you can boot to a Ubuntu disk and retrieve it.

I see you know how this works since you booted to a USB drive already.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/install-desktop-latest

If you don't need any data from it, can you reset the computer to factory state?

Here's the instructions....

http://www.justanswer.com/computer-networking/792n0-reset-lenovo-laptop-factory-settings-please.html

When you get it back up and running I'd recommend that you try running Classic Shell and Modern Mix before you downgrade to Windows 7.

You may find that you don't need to downgrade to be comfortable using you computer.

I've been using both since I beta tested Windows 8 and I don't have any problems with W8 as long as I can boot to and work from the desktop just as I did in Windows 7.

If you do want to downgrade here are the instructions I found on the Lenovo web site...

1. Press Shift+F10 when you get to the "install Windows" screen

2. A command prompt will appear, type the following and press enter on each command:

diskpart

list disk

sel disk 0 (where disk 0 is the HDD)

clean (this will clean all partitions)

exit

Close command prompt and try to install Windows 7.

Mike

Windows 8 Brand new Lenova notebook is dead. Please help!

Lizz Janzen

New Member

Saltgrass

Lizz Janzen

New Member

Saltgrass

Excellent Member

MikeHawthorne

Essential Member

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