Windows 7 Wont Boot Properly
I have a client with a PC that I can't get to boot Windows. If left alone, the PC gets stuck in a reboot loop. The screen stays blank but the num lock light goes on/off every few seconds. If the disk tray is open, it shuts after the num lock key flashes. If I mash the F8 key nothing happens. Heres what I've tried:
I really don't know what to do at this point. The drive seems to be in good condition and virus free but it still does not come up. The last thing on my list is to burn a system repair disc in my version of windows 7 and boot up the customers machine with it, in hopes that that will provide me with a system restore option.
Any thoughts?
1.
Put the drive in another computer as a slave and run a full Malwarebytes & Vipre Antivirus Scan. Both came back clean.2.
Boot the PC with the Kaspersky Rescue Disk and run a full scan. Came back clean.3.
Run a full CHKDSK /F while the drive is in another machine as a slave. No problems were found. No problems or delays in browsing the file-structure either, while it was a slave drive.4.
I used a Paragon backup and recovery 12 home CD to fix partition boot records and the MBR.5.
Ran a SFC /SCANNOW /OFFBOOTDIR /OFFWINDIR while it was a slave drive in another PC. Came back ok.I really don't know what to do at this point. The drive seems to be in good condition and virus free but it still does not come up. The last thing on my list is to burn a system repair disc in my version of windows 7 and boot up the customers machine with it, in hopes that that will provide me with a system restore option.
Any thoughts?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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With the disk in the other PC, zip the last 3 minidump files (should be hidden, in the Windows\Minidump folder, with a *.dmp extension), and attach the zip file here.
Also run the disk manufacturer's diagnostic on it. Chkdsk doesn't tell you anything about the disk itself, it only scans and fixes problems with the ntfs file-system on that disk. That you should be able to do from the "bad" PC using the UBCD (also run memtest86+ which is also included on that CD):
http://ultimatebootcd.com
Also run the disk manufacturer's diagnostic on it. Chkdsk doesn't tell you anything about the disk itself, it only scans and fixes problems with the ntfs file-system on that disk. That you should be able to do from the "bad" PC using the UBCD (also run memtest86+ which is also included on that CD):
http://ultimatebootcd.com
at this point why not just pull the data out and try reimaging the hard drive.
ASKER
The memory test did it... I don't know how, or why, as it did NOT find any problems, but after I ran it once Windows came right up in Safe Mode. I immediately cleared all the system restore points and created a fresh restore point. Reviewed the logs for errors and rebooted. Came up fine. Tested shutting down, rebooting, and waking from sleep mode multiple times with no problems what-so-ever. No idea why this fixed it, but it did. Thank You! As a side note, I wanted to avoid reloading this PC at all costs because it was built for Windows 8, and apparently only Windows 8, and I reloaded it with Win 7 Pro. It was a nightmare finding drivers that worked for Windows 7, when HP provided ONLY Windows 8 drivers for this specific machine.
Given all you have done, you need to try a Windows 7 Repair Install. Here is a Seven Forums Tutorial on the steps required to do that.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html
Be sure to back up the data on this system first. The repair may go wrong because of the state of the system, so you want the data recovered first.
.... Thinkpads_User