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Updated, internet died, system restore fails, now laptop won't boot
Alright, so I have an HP EliteBook 8530w from school (Stevens Tech, Hoboken NJ). I installed Windows 7 Professional x64 myself with the school's provided license, and it has worked fine so far. A while back, I tried doing some updates, and it killed my internet (no connections via wifi or line, troubleshooter came up with nothing). It was just Windows updates, so I did a system restore and after a couple tries it worked fine. Now, after a few months of not updating anything (to be safe), I figured it would be safe to update along with the update out for Security Essentials. I updated all of the Windows stuff without any errors, but when I went into recommended updates after that and tried some of the driver updates, half of them failed, and my internet died again. I couldn't connect to anything via wifi, and didn't have the chance to try a line. I tried doing a system restore to before I did those updates, and when the computer restarted, it got to a point in the startup animation right before the four colors come together and froze, BSOD'd, and restarted without time to read the error. It started up automatically to the Startup Repair utility (the thing on rescue disks made during install), and it tells me "Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically". When I click "View Problem Details" it says the following:
Problem Event Name: StartupRepairOffline
Problem Signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 02: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 03: unknown
Problem Signature 04: 21201009
Problem Signature 05: AutoFailover
Problem Signature 06: 11
Problem Signature 07: BadPatch
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
After that screen, another comes up where I can either shut down, view diagnostic and repair details, or view advanced options. Under details, I get this (points of interest, it's really long. If you need the whole thing I'll type it out):
Last sucessful boot time: 7/9/2010 11:22:04AM GMT
Number of repair attempts: 11
Session details
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System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0
Windows Directory = D:\Windows
AutoChk Run = 0
Number of root causes = 1
All three sets of tests come up with this root cause: Startup Repair has tried several times but still cannot determine the cause of the problem. All of the error codes are 0x0. Previously, after trying system restore and the RAM test, it said "A bad patch is preventing the system from starting up". I don't remember the error code, but I have tried to reproduce it to no avail.
I tried EVERYTHING in there: System restore (all of the points), RAM scan, and Startup Repair. I can't start in safe mode because the system defaults to asking if I want to start normally (same animation freeze and BSOD) or to the Startup Repair utility. I have tried all of my restore points, and only a couple have said anything about changes in programs or drivers, and none until days before I did the massive update. Nothing has worked, and the rescue disk is worthless since it's the same utility. I have an Ubuntu disk I could run to fix things, if there's anything I could do.
A few notes:
-All of the drivers for the 8530w have been updated to fully support windows 7, and I had those before both occasions.
-I wasn't doing anything peculiar with it, I use it mainly for music production and internet work. No OCing or running it any different way than out of the box.
-There have been no physical modifications to the computer since I got it (packed with Vista).
-At work, I use a static IP, and at home, it is dynamic. Every day I have to go into my settings and put in the addresses again, and take them out when I'm home. I just figured out on our router at home how to change it so I don't have to, but I'm just putting it out there in case any of it makes a difference. It did all of this at work, and the IP is set to work right now.
Please let me know if there's anything I can do, I have a backup but it is over a month old and missing some important stuff, and I am a week away from being able to run out to school to have IT look at it or copy my HD. Tonight if no one has responded yet I will be setting it up in Ubuntu to copy over important files to my external drive, But I'd really love to not have to reformat and reinstall all of my music software and plugins and such. Thanks guys!
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