Windows 7 will not start properly

Last night I attempted to shut down my computer, but foolishly forgot to check that this had completed. This morning it was still attempting to shut down. Since then I have no end of problems. I can usually log on to Windows (7) ok, but the system freezes soon afterwards. On one occasion I at least managed to set my Avast free anti-virus to scan on boot-up. This detected FakeAV-HR, which was deleted. However, things haven't improved. I've run startup repair, memory diagnostic tests (fine), but nothing works. I have valuable data, so I'm reluctant to do a system restore from my backup disks that will wipe the hard drive. Any advice on how to save valuable data, and to resolve the start-up issues would be gratefully received. I am not very savvy in these matters, so please bear this in mind. The system is an Aldi Medion akoya e4355d (md 8341) with intel i3 processor and 1tb hard drive, and 3gb of ram.

One other thing, I also managed to get task manager to run in safe mode, which indicated normal processes and programs were running (to me - with my admittedly limited knowledge), with low cpu and memory utilisation. I have Windows update set to automatic - could this have caused the problems? Or a virus?

Download the liveCD & Run this is a free tool from MS:
https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...per.html?ltr=M


If you have a External HD, you could copy & paste your data.
Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console
than copy & paste your data to new HD.

Thanks for the prompt reply. I'm afraid I don't have an external hard drvie. I downloaded and ran the tool you mentioned, but when I tried saving to CD, USB or ISO image it came up with "Download failed" "an error has prevented Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper Tool to download the required files". I'm trying to save it to an old XP computer.

Another thing. I've tried booting from a Puppy Linux CD and flash drive, and also from Avira AntiVir Rescue System. In all cases my Windows 7 system refuses to boot from either CD or flash drive (even though I've put them ahead of the hard drive in the boot sequence). Instead I'm just presented with the usual start windows from safe mode, normal mode, etc. options.

I've made some progress - I've managed to save crucial files to a USB stick. The key thing that made this possible was booting under low resolution. This option becomes available if you press spacebar repeatedly during boot-up followed by F8.

Apart from this I'm still making slow progress. I've also managed to run Avast boot-time scans and full scans when logged in - showing no problems to date. Am currently running Ad-Aware scan.

I've made some further progress. Some programs are now running fine. However I am unable to carry out several administrative tasks. Error messages include "The system could not find the environment option that has entered", messages indicating that I don't have administrator rights (when signed into the administrator account), and also "Windows 7 Build 7601 This copy of Windows is not genuine". The Windows was factory installed by Medion - so this is a spurious message. I guess some system files are corrupt. I have tried to follow the advice on other threads on this forum but have been frustrated by the lack of administrator rights. Any suggestions would be gratefully received. I don't want to do a clean re-install with my recovery disks if it can be avoided at all.

I would backup your data, & reinstall the OS.

More through luck and perserverance than anything I have managed to get things working properly again. The final step in the chain was carrying out a System Restore in Safe Mode. This may seem an obvious thing to do - but it wasn't possible until I'd carried out the previous actions (displaying in low resolution was the key first step). The restore point was an automatic one made just before the problems started. I've carried out various scans, including Malwarebytes anti-malware, and all seems good. There's an external hard drive in the post, so that I don't get caught short in future.

Thanks for the advice - which put me on the right track.

One last thing - there's a lot of advice on Google which seems to suggest that doing an OS restore that wipes the hard drive is the solution for the sort of corruption issues I've been getting. That may be true for some - but persistence may pay dividends.