Windows 10: Laptop stuck in "Preparing Automatic Repair" with external hard drive still plugged in.

Hello, I need help. My Omen Win10 laptop was on and working fine. Although it has been overheating for a while and needs new heat sink I left the room for about 20 minutes and when I came back, the screen was black and said "Preparing Automatic Repair" and the little dots that usually spin when it's "thinking" are frozen. Also, I have an external hard drive that has all my stuff saved on it. What can I do about this frozen Auto Repair AND can I unplug the hard drive without losing everything and causing it to become corrupted?!? Do I need to shut down and unplug it? Can I shut down and try t

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Preparing Automatic Repair

My son's Lenovo Ideapad 110-15ACL has been stuck on "Preparing Automatic Repair" for over a week now. I can't followed any steps listed for remedying it because the computer doesn't respond to any instructions, like holding F8 or even booting from a USB, at all. Has anyone ideas or it's time to discard this 5-year old laptop?

 

Laptop stuck on Preparing Automatic Repair

I tried to boot into advance startup options but it didnt work. followed the instructions. it might be of note that when I turned off the machine the first and third time, the Preparing Automatic Repair text was there. After completing your given instructions, it continued to start up and say Preparing Automatic Repair. Waiting to see what happens next as of 11.55pm uk time.

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Also, should note I dont have a disk drive in this laptop.

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11.58pm uk time
the preparing automatic repair text is gone and the laptop restarted quickly, the os text was in top left , now stuck on the loading wheel which is the state it was in when I tried using advance startup options a few minutes ago.

 

Computer freezes and Explorer doen't respond when I plug an external Hard drive

Hello jobkakule,

The issue is possibly caused by corrupted data or bad sectors on your external hard drive or could be a sign of a failing hard drive.

To better assist you with your concern, I'd like to know the following:

• Confirm which build is currently installed on your device. To check, follow the steps below:

1. Press Windows key + R, then type in winver.
2. Click OK.

• Have you tried plugging your external hard drive to a different USB port? Also, check if you can access the drive by plugging it to a different computer.
• What is the make and model of your computer?

Meanwhile, I'd suggest to repair the bad sectors on your external hard drive. Kindly refer to the steps below:

(Let's just assume that the drive letter for your external hard drive is E. If not, please do change it to the correct drive letter)

1. Plug in your external hard drive. Click on Start, search for
Command Prompt, right-click on it and select Run as administrator.

2. Type in the following command below and press Enter after each command:

Chkdsk /f E:

Chkdsk /r E:

3. Reboot your computer after the scan is completed.

Looking forward to your response.

Regards.