BSOD -> Hang at system repair -> cannot boot at all

Hi,

Just did a fresh install of Windows 7 on my computer a couple of weeks ago. Has worked like a charm until just now. I opened Firefox which just crashed instantly, I opened it again and the same thing happened. Third time I tried opening firefox, I got a BSOD for about 5 seconds, I was so surprised that I wasn't able to read the message before it restarted. I have been too LAZY to change the boot priority, as I have mostly kept in in hibernation when not using it. So when it restarted, it tried to boot from the CD-ROM, which still had the Windows 7 disc. But then I just got the message: Cannot boot from CD. BOOTMGR is missing.

So I restarted and went into BIOS and set my HDD as 1st boot priority. When I restart now, one of the following happen:

- It just hangs on the black screen right before the "Starting windows" progress bar is supposed to show.
- Windows detects something is wrong and asks me if I want to run repair or start normally. None of the choices succeeds, they both freeze on black screen, sometimes with a blinking cursor.

System:
- 32-bit
- Originally had XP installed but formatted the drive before fresh 7-install
- Hardware is about 2,5 years old
- Processor: AMD Phenom 9650 Quad-Core 2,3ghz

I guess this is most likely a hardware problem. But how do I find out what's wrong?

Thanks

Omg....I was suddenly able, after like 30 attempts, to boot windows normally. I followed the instructions here and was 10 seconds away from posting the system files when I got the BSOD again, and now I have the same trouble booting. Will continue trying until I get to upload the dmp files etc....

edit: The only thing I managed to read from the BSOD before it restarted was "pfn_list_corrupt"...

This is what I managed to gather before it died again.

I took out both RAM chips, and one of them was full of dust. Cleaned it and put it in again and after a couple of attempts I was able to boot again. It was running for like 30 minutes, but suddenly while I was browsing the Asus page for the Asus ATK0110 ACPI Utility I suddenly got BSOD again.

I can't find it on the Asus page. Do you mean uninstall from device manager? I read that Asus ATK0110 ACPI Utility required for Asus motherboards...

torkolort said:

I took out both RAM chips, and one of them was full of dust. Cleaned it and put it in again and after a couple of attempts I was able to boot again. It was running for like 30 minutes, but suddenly while I was browsing the Asus page for the Asus ATK0110 ACPI Utility I suddenly got BSOD again.

I can't find it on the Asus page. Do you mean uninstall from device manager? I read that Asus ATK0110 ACPI Utility required for Asus motherboards...

The ATK download is found under the 'Utilities' section. It is named as "ATK0110 driver for WindowsXP/Vista/Win7 32&64-bit"

I found where to download the driver, but only on my laptop as I am now completely unable to boot from anything on the computer.

The boot behavior is very random. It now mostly either freezes on startup with the black screen and blinking marker or after I get the choices "Launch system repair" or "Start windows normally". System repair instantly freezes, when I select normal startup I sometimes get to see the windows 7 logo before it just restarts automatically.

When I try to boot from installation CD, it starts loading files but then suddenly the Windows Boot Manager gives the error:

File: \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
Info: The file is possibly corrupt. Its header checksum does not match the computed checksum.

or

File: \windows\system32\drivers\volmgrx.sys
Info: The file is missing or corrupt (something like that)

I have no idea what to do...a friend of mine believe that one of the RAM chips are broken, and that I should try to boot with only one of them. I have 2 x 2gb. Does that sound reasonable?

Did you test the RAM which Memtest?

You can fix any system errors with SFC
SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

I took out the second ram stick and it booted instantly with no problems. It was the one that I cleaned all the dust from earlier. So now I currently run on one Crucial 2gb stick, I guess I should get another one. But since it just died, should I try a different type?

torkolort said:

I took out the second ram stick and it booted instantly with no problems. It was the one that I cleaned all the dust from earlier. So now I currently run on one Crucial 2gb stick, I guess I should get another one. But since it just died, should I try a different type?

It is always advisable to use RAM sticks of the same timings & manufacturer, but other types will also work depending on your BIOS