how do I fix a corrupt partition/hard drive on a laptop? I'm unable to do anything! It's as if my hard drive doesn't exist! In the AVG PC Tuneup program, I clicked an option for it to lock my hard drive, scan for errors, then unlock the hard drive. AVG program said I had to reboot the computer and then it will proceed. When I rebooted the computer, I was unable to pass the hard drive password authentication page. After troubleshooting, I realized that the partition is corrupt and nothing can pick up my hard drive as if it disappeared. What can I do? This is Windows 7 Professional (32 bit) on Dell Vostro 3500 laptop.

Well, I would say that you have a problem. This voodoo software is not really needed. Launching the Command Prompt and running chkdsk /f does the same thing. Scans the disk upon a reboot. At least two options exist. Boot from the installation dvd and input language options, select next and then select repair options. Try a Start up repair If you do not have the installation dvd, try pressing F8 after the Dell BIOS screen Select repair options from the menu and try the Start-up repair Also, in that menu, will be the system restore option-which would use a restore point prior to this happening. If you made a complete PC backup, you could recover to that also.

I tried all of your suggestions already. Only Disk 0 shows up when I try to install Windows. A blank appears with the other options. The startup repair fails due to corrupt partition. I can't get any repair option to work. Does this mean that I will have to get a new laptop?

No, you do not need to get a new laptop. However, it most likely means that you have lost any data that was on the drive. And you will need to reinstall Windows. If there is any data that you would like to attempt to recover, the drive would need to be removed and sent to a professional recovery service. If you would just like the computer to be usable again, Dell usually has a factory restore utility. This restores it to the state that it was in when you first received it, which would include any pre-installed software and Dell software. Typically, one uses CTRL + F11 after the BIOS screen to start the Dell factory restore\recovery. If that is not there due to the corruption, then the installation dvd is the last option and perform a clean installation. Then you have to visit Dell support and install the computer specific drivers and updates. You would any software included unless you received the disks (ie;MS Office) However, I would suggest that you email AVG support and describe what happened and see what they offer. Perhaps they have a recovery option. The software should not be that destructive so easily. Check with AVG first. I have looked at the FAQ's for product and see no posted answer for this situation.

I'll just have to get someone to fix my laptop. Nothing else works. Thanks for your help! :)

I am sorry that is the alternative. I would recommend acquiring an external hard drive and performing regular Complete PC Backups. Then is any catastrophic event occurs, you can quickly recover. click here Windows 7 Backup and Restore Good Luck!

Hi, According the issue, I understand you locked you hard drive via AVG PC Tuneup, restart your computer, when the AVG software requested a password to decryption the hard ware, it failed. Please understand AVG PC Tuneup is not Microsoft product. We do not have much information on it. Though our Forum doesn’t support this kind of problem. I suggest that you may contact the AVG support. http://www.avg.com/us-en/support Notice: Since the website is not hosted by Microsoft, the links may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information. If you have further question regarding the issue, please don’t hesitate let me know. Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.