Windows Ten Laptop Scanning and Repairing Drive Frozen?

dalchina said:

If you need access to the information on the drive, I suggest you remove it from the laptop, put it in a caddy, connect it to a different PC and see if you can read it.



It's not possible to assess the damage to your laptop - that's for an expert.

Appreciate you're in a foreign country and your time constraints. I had to have a laptop repaired in China..

Hi. Well i am going to the repair shop to have them remove the swollen battery. So they would be able to access the hard drive to see if any damage is done right? By doing that, they would use like an enclosure and connect it to their computer?


There is no risk of malware/virus when they connect it to their enclosure and computer right? Main concern is im sure they connect lot of hard drives to it with other customers so could there be a risk of infection? Or not in my situation because i have bitlocker enabled?


Well... i have to finish some work on my laptop... originally i planned to finish that work today... then go to repair shop tomorrow and remove swollen battery. Then i was planning to head back to the US. But now it looks like I might have to head back to the US even sooner because of this. Regardless, i was going to buy a new laptop battery in the US when i get back.


But in my situation now... go to repair shop and have them remove swollen battery as first thing right? Then have them turn on laptop and see if it still has same message? If so... what would they do or you ask me suggest them to do? Go put it in caddy to see if it would read it? But if they do that... dont they need my bitlocker pin/password to access it? Or they could view it just from putting it in enclosure?


Thank you.

dalchina said:

Oh.. do you have bitlocker encryption enabled on it? If the drive is healthy... (!)

How to access BitLocker encrypted drive on another computer?

I have bitlocker enabled on my laptop yes... always had to enter a pin/password to get in.


I have no idea if the drive is healthy now b/c well... i can't get to my main screen on my laptop as it has that Dell scanning and repairing drive message.


I am typing all this from a chromebook of mine...

I am heading to the repair shop very soon. So when i get there, first thing is immediately have them remove the swollen battery... then use the laptop plugged in with ac charger and see if i get the same dell screen scanning and repairing drive 100 percent complete right?


And if so, what do you suggest i ask them to do? Have them take out my 2.5 in samsung ssd and put it in enclosure? But when they do this, they need me to enter my bitlocker pin/password to check if the drive is healthy or not? But the thing is ... is there risk of my hard drive getting malware when putting the hard drive in their enclosure since well repair shops put lot of hard drives into their computer? The reason why i installed bitlocker a while back was if someone had access to my laptop, they need my bitlocker pin/password to access it... so thats why i have bitlocker installed.

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I never did any backups for my laptop with disc imagining... i had planned to do it a while back but never did. Yes foolish of me. But my important documents, I do have it backed up in a usb drive and dropbox.. so im okay with that. It isn't the end for me if the hard drive is completely wiped... though that is what i definitely do not want.


But right now... like i ask in my previous post... what should i do right now? I have to head to the repair shop soon before they close. But you agree getting the swollen battery removed should be my first priority right? Do you think the swollen battery could possibly caused this? Brink told me rarely would a swollen battery cause this unless it was leaking ... and from what i read online, this is more likely a hard drive issue? But of course it could be the swollen battery damaging the system as then the hard drive?

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dalchina said:

If you don't use disk imaging routinely as is so often recommended here, or at least have backups, you have been running at significant risk...

Dalchina, you recommend me to go to repair shop and have them remove the swollen battery first though right? Then see where it goes from there? Again im heading out very soon... just waiting for you and others replies to this b/c i dont want to get there... then not sure what to ask them to do or possibly not do...

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Im heading out in a few minutes. Im going to go there and have them take out the swollen battery first and then power it on and see from there. Any advice on this before i go? Will update once i come back.

dalchina said:

Make sure you have the bitlocker key.. and a clear idea of what you want to do with data if you want them to copy or extract that., say.

Okay... so I decided to just power it off after it was on that dell scanning and repairing screen for over three and a half hours... then decided to just power it back on.... and it does work. I type in my bitlocker pin and have access to my laptop right now.


I mean i could have done this hours ago when this happened but I did not because my immediate thought was the swollen battery caused this. Had i not had the swollen battery issue, i would have powered it off and turned it back on hours ago.


So right now my computer seems to be fine. So what should i do now? Still go to repair shop and have them remove the swollen battery or not? I should still do this for safety issues right? I was planning to head back to the us in a week or two but because of this, was planning to head back in a few days had my laptop not turned back on.


Again, when i go back to the US, i would be ordering either a new dell laptop or a new battery and new hard drive anyways b/c my hard drive space is low.


Would you say there is a huge risk if i fly in a airplane with my laptop like with the battery swollen? Make sure the swollen battery is removed first before I fly back right?


Thanks.

dalchina said:

You don't want to take risks with a damaged battery. Dispose of it in an environmentally friendly way if possible. And before you fly. There's a risk of applying power to your damaged battery of course. Worst case could destroy your laptop. That should determine your priorities.

Presumably you can't remove it... because it's swollen.

Great you can access your data.

dalchina, so right now you want me to go to repair shop and have them immediately remove the swollen battery right? Then once they do that... charge it plugged in at the shop to see if it works... and once it does, then turn off laptop? So i would be using it basically on battery then right?


Also i actually have a few dell power banks as well. So i could essentially connect that to it in the meantime right?

So there would be no issues using my laptop as is without a battery but using it charged with my ac charger or the powerbank in the meantime?


So when they take out the battery of mine, have them dispose of it? Or shoudl it take it back with me?

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Wanted to add real quick. Is it fine if i finish my work now which will take a few hours... then the next day go there and have them remove the swollen battery? I ask this because if they remove the battery... i mean there is always a chance my laptop might not turn on right?


I ask this b/c years ago when i went to repair shop in the US to take out an old battery and put a new one in... that guy has done it for me many times at a shop and very smart.. well when he tried to turn it on... it did not even work many times but eventually it finally powered on. He had no idea why and he is very good with computers. Like i dont want to right now go there and then they take out the battery, then they plug it in in ac charger and suddenly... i cant get it to work since i still have some online work to do. There is always risk of this right?


Also based on this situation, this hard drive issue most likely was not a battery swelling thing since powering if off and back on fixed it? Would you say its fine if i go to the repair shop once im done with my online work... then once i go there... even if they remove the battery, and it doesnt work... well not a big deal?


Like to hear your thoughts on this. Again, i think the battery swelled maybe a month ago but i didn't notice until weeks ago because i never look at my touchpad.


I will one hundred percent have my laptop swollen battery removed before i fly back though.