Option 3 then asks for a backup location, but when I browse for one there doesn't seem to be one on the drive. The user did not make one.
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Dell Vista error code 7B, hang at black screen after login, factory retsore
I am trying to get Latitude E4300 to boot into Vista
Business. A week ago it started exhibiting the following problem (suspiciously after
some Windows automatic updates): It will get to the Login screen, but after I select
a user and type in the password, it goes to a black screen with a responsive white
mouse cursor. It does not proceed, even after hours: it does not respond to CRTL-
ALT-DEL, and the HD light shows minor periodic activity. Same behaviour in Safe
mode, and with another user profile. During booting in safe mode there is a short
pause at crcdisk.sys.
I have attempted the following:
1) run dell diagnostics from F8 boot menu - (passed)
2) removed HD and attached to another system and run chksdk /f /r /b (no errors or
bad sectors found) I was able to view the HD contents and copied off the user data
files.
3) run Startup Repair from the F8 Dell menu (no change)
4) disabled all non-essential devices in BIOS to see if hang caused by hardware
failure (no change)
5) Restored system state to 2 different earlier restore points (no change)
6) when I try to boot from a Bart XPE CD I get a BSOD and Error Code 7B ( I was
trying to create a new user profile in case all the existing ones were corrupt)
Do you have any suggestions, short of full re-install of the OS?
How do I restore the HD to factory state? I don't have any separate Dell OEM
recovery CD's with Vista Business or Dell drivers. When I boot using F8 I can get
the "System Recovery Options" menu, but it does not include a choice "Dell
Factory Image Restore". It has only:
Startup repair
System restore
Windows Complete PC Restore
Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool
Command Prompt
From a cmd prompt using Diskpart I can see Disk 0 with 3 volumes:
Volume 1 X: Recovery 2GB
Volume 2 C: OS 231GB
Volume 3 no letter FAT 125MB Hidden
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Answers
check for and post the minidump from c:\Windows\minidumps it may give more info
but the restore to factory actually IS a full install of the OS - which seems to me your best option - but make a backup first !
How to do the complete restore :
http://support.dell.com/su
your drivers :
http://support.dell.com/su
nobus:
I'm sorry if I wasn't more clear above. In the "System Recovery Options" menu on the machine there is no choice "Dell Factory Image Restore" as described in that Dell document you refer to. I had seen that document, but it seems my machine has a different version of the restore/recovery software, which leaves out that option. The closest is "Windows Complete PC Restore" but that then asks for a backup image file that I can't find - the user hadn't made one and I have browsed and can't find a "factory image" one placed there by Dell.
I'll try to get the minidump you refered to, but that will take a a while. I'll post it as soon as I can.
I have some other Vista CD's but they are for different/non-Dell-OEM versions, which will not accept the Windows key on this laptop. It seems that until/unless I can get a physical re-install OEM CD from Dell I will not be able to do a re-install from the recovery partition on the machine.
nobus:
The files in that folder are all more than a month old, i.e. I don't think they are relevant to this problem, since it was working properly until a week ago. Plus when I try to open them with Notepad I get a "Access Denied" error.
Any other ideas?
Dell tech support say that this model in fact did not come with a factory image that could be used for a restore. So I would have to wait to get a set of re-installatiopn CD's sent to me....... They said they couldn't handle any more trouble shooting beyond what I had already done - they could only support me with a re-install.
Dell Factory Image Restore (Windows Vista Only)
1 Turn on the computer. When the Dell logo appears, press <F8> several
times to access the Vista Advanced Boot Options Window.
2 Select Repair Your Computer.
The System Recovery Options window appears.
3 Select a keyboard layout and click Next.
4 To access the recovery options, log on as a local user. To access the
command prompt, type administrator in the User name field, then
click OK.
5 Click Dell Factory Image Restore.
NOTE: Depending upon your configuration, you may need to select Dell
Factory Tools, then Dell Factory Image Restore.
6 On the Dell Factory Image Restore welcome screen, click Next.
The Confirm Data Deletion screen appears.
NOTICE: If you do not want to proceed with Factory Image Restore, click Cancel.
7 Click the checkbox to confirm that you want to continue reformatting the
hard drive and restoring the system software to the factory condition, then
click Next.
The restore process begins and may take 5 or more minutes to complete. A
message appears when the operating system and factory-installed
applications have been restored to factory condition.
8 Click Finish to restart the computer.
arixsin:
For some reason this machine did not have that version of Dell's restore software on it. At your step #5 there is no such menu choice. Dell tech support has confirmed that this machine did not ship from the factory with that feature. If that PCRestore program were on the recovery drive it would have been in its own folder called pcrestore - and that does not exist. The web document you were quoting from, and which nobus gave the link for, does not jive with what is on this machine.
nobus:
I am attaching the latest file as requested (with the extension changed from dmp to txt), but please note that the latest one was dated 9/24/09, i.e. well before these problems started. There is no such dump file for the last week of problems.
Thanks,
rh5757
i agree it is strange you've got no more minidumps; maybe they were turned off.
If so, you can turn them on in control panel>system>advanced settings >restart settings and make sure that under system errors the "log system errors" is checked
the "old " dump refers to an INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR
attached the file
I am trying to get locally a copy of a Dell OEM Vista Business CD to do a manual re-install. If I can't find one I probably can't wait the approx 10 days for one to be sent here (laptop isn't in US/UK), I'll use a retail copy I have here and not put in a key, and just use it in its free trial period. When the CD's arrive, I am presuming that I can do a "Repair" from the OEM CD, which will replace the retail version with the OEM version, and take care of the key/activation issues. Does that sound feasible?
Unless you have any other thoughts about fixing the hang?
By the way, what program did you use to open/parse the dmp file?
rh5757
Another problem has arisen.
I had decided to re-install the OS from CD's. Now when I try to boot to a CD, (either Vista, XP or Bart PE) the system starts loading, but then I get a BSOD with Error 7B (xxxx, 0xC0000034, 0000, 0000). So I can't even get to the Repair options on the CD. I can still get to the Sartup Repair option on the Recovery Partition, but that doesn't have any effect. The only thing I can think of now is to attach the drive to a different computer and reformat the C partition/drive and see if that allows the CD to boot.
Any thoughts?
it looks like hardware problems; if warranty left, try to get a repair /replacement !
you can also disconnect the disk, and check if you can boot then from cd
attach the drive to another PC, and run the disk diag on it : (if possible) http://www.tacktech.com/di
Dear nobus:
I received the Dell Vista Business OEM re-installation CD's, ran the re-install routine, deleted & reformatted the partition, but the install hung about 3/4 way through. I rebooted by pressing the power button, but when it attempts to boot it again hangs before completing (with progress bar still animated). When I tell it to boot in safe mode it hangs permanently at crcdisk.sys (which is where it was only pausing before).
I had previously attached the HD to a different machine and it passed all chkdsk tests.
I am now planning to give it to Dell to fix/replace. Any final thought before I do that?
Thanks for your help.
i did not suggest to run a repair; but to test the disk
since it does not boot, you can use the ubcd which has the diags : http://www.ultimatebootcd.
you can also rewrite the whole disk with it, but be sure to backup the data first !
Dear nobus:
I'm sorry if i short-circuited your instructions. The user got a bit anxious, and I had him send it to Dell for in-warranty service, since I thought there was something very strange with the HD, despite it passing the "normal" diagnostics. Even after I repartitioned and reformatted the HD, it still had a hang during Vista installation from DVD. Since I didn't have a 2.5" SATA lying around to do a test, I just told him to let Dell sort it out. I did manage to copy off all his data.
One thing I did learn from my chats with Dell Tech Support, which explained the 7B error: it seems Dell's (or several manufacturer's) implementation of SATA requires that the SATA drive be in certain different modes in order to sucessfully complete a boot from CD. An XP boot (and BART) requires ATA, and a Vista boot requires AHCI, i.e. both different from the default in Dell's BIOS of IRRT. That was why my initial attempts to boot from a Windows CD or Bart failed. I'm not sure which mode Ultimate Boot CD would have required.
Thanks for your help.
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by: arixsinPosted on 2009-10-25 at 22:47:43ID: 25659865
Option 3: Windows Complete PC Restore in the System Recovery Options will put the machine back to factory.
You have done a lot of really good troubleshooting. If you have restored it to a previous state, that would have undone the windows updates that came in, so I don't think it was that.
If you have your data backed up, I would just go ahead and reinstall. You will spend more time trying to fix it than you would reinstalling the OS and your applications. This would also be a good time to move to Windows 7!