Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of Andreas Gieryic
Andreas GieryicFlag for United States of America

asked on

Windows 7 professional PC will not boot

I have a fairly new Dell OptiPlex 3020 PC running Windows 7 professional
- just recently, the PC will not boot. It will come to a Windows blue screen (not the blue screen of death) with a cursor that responds with the mouse. There are no icons on the desktop. we let it run for over 24 hours several times across several days to no avail or change
- this all started two days ago when the user came in and saw all the PC attempting to do a startup repair and it ran for over 24 hours. Attempted several power shutdowns. It would not let you go into normal boot up mode and consistently attempts the start up repair. It will either sit at the start of repair window with a circling cursor and no icons on the screen or the screen would be totally blank
- attempted safe mode boot, same symptoms. Immediately goes into startup repair that never ends
- attempted to boot from a Dell Windows 7 professional CD. The option comes up to go into repair process. I choose the repair process. Then it just spends at a blue screen with no icons and a spinning cursor
- I then attempted to do and install and set up choosing repair and hoping he would give me an option to do an in-place upgrade. Here again, it comes up to a blue window with no icons and says "set up a starting". There is no drive activity. I'll just run it for hours with no progress.
I ran a full Dell diagnostics on the PC including the hard drive. Diagnostics came up clean and found no issues
- my attempt is to get on to the PC and run CHKDSK /R or repair the boot record for my command prompt.
- I truly don't believe the computer is infected with any virus. It has an updated subscription of the latest version of Malwarebytes premium. The PC is a little over one-year-old and it never had a history of getting infected - not saying that it could be infected, I just doubt it

Any recommendations or systems would be appreciated
- I do have a system image that was performed about six months ago. The only reason I haven't done so is that there is a specific application license that the user does not have access to and is very expensive. Application license was not on the image I created six months ago.
SOLUTION
Avatar of Scott C
Scott C
Flag of United States of America image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
I agree with Scott. Get yourself one of these. Cheap and handy to have. If the drive is not corrupt you'll be able to get data off of it. Then reformat it so you can reinstall the OS.
Avatar of Andreas Gieryic

ASKER

I ended up for now, just removing the original 500 GB hard drive and installing a new 500 GB hard drive to make sure I have additional options.
- I have a hard drive docking station and was able to see all data from the problematic drive. So, restoring any data this drive should not be an issue.
- I moved forward with installing new hard drive and restoring it with a system image I created on 5/17/2017. That restore process went well.

Just a matter now trying to restore a very specific program with a license file that I hope to retrieve from the registry or an INI file. It could've been worse

It's just a challenge that with all the years of Windows 7 support, I've never seen this issue where I can't run a repair or even reach an elevated command prompt to run repairs. I guess I was hoping there is a good third-party tool that would've allowed me to do this such as Commander Pro. The version I have his commander Pro 2005 which never supported Vista or Windows 7.
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Andrew - great feedback

I ran a virus check on the hard drive for my docking station and found no issues.
I do have all of my Malwarebytes premium, paid version with real-time enabled.
I also tried two different windows 7 professional DVDs. One was the Dell OEM another was a volume license Microsoft copy. Same results
 "Startup Repair Infinite Loop Recovery" tutorial - I'm not able to boot to the system recovery options, this is why this has been an issue

However,
I'm going to try the additional suggestions that you made. I'll try the chkdsk on the drive while in the drive dock.
I do have all of my Malwarebytes premium, paid version with real-time enabled.
Yep, I understand that, but there's been many reported issues of Malwarebytes Premium not starting with real time protection enabled after a reboot, which is why I asked.  (Check their own user support forum or this google search result)

I actually have an open support case with Malwarebytes at the moment for that very reason.  The bug has existed in several previous updates and continues to persist today - on both Windows 7 and Windows 10 installs. It doesn't affect everyone apparently, which is likely why they're having trouble nailing down the cause.  Glad you've confirmed no infections though.

Good luck with it.
Avatar of Ramin
Ramin

Check if you can find the  specific application license using Magicaljellybean or Belarc

Check supported programs.

https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/ 
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

then you can use that Image to restore the system.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Thanks, nobus,  interestingly I did run another chkdsk /f with the drive in a USB dock. This time CHKDSK found hundreds of deleted indexes and 140 KB in bad sectors.  I ran it once again and this time it found 860 KB in bad sectors. I feel it's best not to run it anymore where I could take a chance of really pushing this drive.
 
- I'm finding that you can't always trust hardware drive diagnostics although, I did not run the long tests on the hard drive as suggested. Ultimately, the operating system has to make the final call as to the condition of the hard drive sectors it writes to.

I've never seen a thing like this.
the drive is bad!

Just to see how the drive would act, I reinstalled the drive back into the PC and it actually booted further into the operating system by coming up to the "welcome" screen. Ran for about five or 10 minutes, then it came to a blank screen with a movable cursor. This time the screen is black instead of blue as before and the drive light is solid flashing maybe once every 10 or 15 seconds.

I could let it sit for another 8 to 12 hours to see if it actually boots, but at this point, I think the point is moot.


- I have a new drive in the PC with a good system image restore. I have full access to all the data on the defective drive so I should be able to access any INI file to retrieve the license file. The owner of the PC believes the license was modified in an INI file and that it should be retrievable.
I want to thank everyone's input for their help. This was extremely helpful.
Everyone added great input
nobus,
I have a copy of an older UBCD iso. However, when I try to go to their link http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html - they make it almost impossible to download because of all the re-direction and malware links that pop up everywhere. Do you have a good link for this tool?
Ran for about five or 10 minutes, then it came to a blank screen with a movable cursor. This time the screen is black instead of blue as before and the drive light is solid flashing maybe once every 10 or 15 seconds.

That's actually a pretty good indication that Windows is repairing itself. I suspect that given enough time, it would eventually boot to the user login prompt :)

I could let it sit for another 8 to 12 hours to see if it actually boots, but at this point, I think the point is moot.

I agree.. still, it's good to know (confirm) that it didn't beat you. Least for me anyway lol..

I'm glad I was able to offer some help.
use the link i gave, and scoll down you'll find all the mirror sites there
all you need to do is click on the download drive icon  as show,n:
User generated image
Thanks a bunch!
Andrew, you were correct, it did finally come to the Windows logon prompt after an hour or so. Sometimes you just have to know and not let it beat you . . . when you have the time.  It was worth the experience to see the full outcome.  But boy, did it drag trying to click on any icon or function. Thanks again!