Windows 7: stuck on "welcome" screen cant get "sfc /scannow" to work

Hi everyone.
All my experience is with XP, but my partners windows 7 laptop has this problem and I am stuck. it is a Dell laptop latitude E4300 about 4G ram, no external devices fitted.

Laptop starts to boot, I log in, "welcome" screen comes up but never finishes processing. Harddrive light keeps on pumping endlessly.
I tried to boot in "safe mode" and it stops at exactly the same spot.
I tried to run “System restore”: I can pick a restore point OK, and it loads it but then gets stuck on “finishing restore” (similar to the “welcome screen” thing - it just keeps on processing )
“Start up repair” both from harddrive or dvd both say it cant find anything wrong.
Ran the command prompt. “Sfc /scannow” it runs “beginning verification phase of system scan” – it gets to “Verification 100%” then displays the line : ”windows resource protection could not perform the requested operation”
Any ideas of where I can go from here? all Ideas welcomed greatfully - she might expire without her laptop

Welcome to Windows Seven Forums.

Have a look at this Microsoft article: How to use the System File Checker tool to troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files on Windows Vista or on Windows 7

When the system file checker runs it creates a log file, which should help you pinpoint which file couldn't be repaired.

However, if you can't get into Windows you might want to check this tutorial: Startup Repair Infinite Loop Recovery

Did your partner create a set of Dell recovery discs or does she have a Windows 7 DVD?

If all else fails, you may have to re-install Windows.

Thanks seavixen32. I should have mentioned I have already tried the "startup repair infinite loop" tutorial. I was able to copy the files over, however it did not change the problem at all.

I also took a look at the cbs.log file (I had to copy it to a usb stick and open it on another computer as I cannot gain access to the desktop on the faulty windows 7. And I must admit I could not get any usable information from this file - probably due to my ignorance !!

She did not create any recovery disks.

I do have her windows 7 disk - but when I ask it to do a startup repair from the disk it still reports that it can find nothing wrong. It still wont start in safe mode, and still wont complete a system restore.

Could I trouble someone to take a quick look at this cbs.log file and tell me if it contains anything useful to my problem? (it should only contain relevent data as I moved the old one, so a fresh,relevent .log file would be created.

Thanks for any help

I'm not real familiar with these log files, and tend to ignore the repair of .cdf-ms files
But I did note that it fixed your wimgapi.dll file also

I'd suggest starting with these free diagnostics: Initial Hardware Diagnostics

sfc/scannow did check to running mini windows so recovery environment itself!

boot to "safe mode" and logon as user admin instead. Does work?

Laptop starts to boot, I log in, "welcome" screen comes up but never finishes processing. Harddrive light keeps on pumping endlessly.
=>how long did you wait?

I tried to run “System restore”: I can pick a restore point OK, and it loads it but then gets stuck on “finishing restore” (similar to the “welcome screen” thing - it just keeps on processing ) =>this can take some time. How long did you wait?

babba,
Would be nice to know if your partner has a 32bit version of Win 7 installed or a 64 bit version.

Since you have her Win 7 DVD, however, we can proceed.
RUN THAT ABOVE COMMAND LINE 3 TIMES!

let me know what message you get after the third time.

You can go ahead and reboot the system or shutdown as you desire.

Wow thanks for all the responses. Hopefully I am not too hasty in saying I seem to have got it going - I think that the user settings were corrupt somehow? (And she had only one user)
Using the windows disk and your input, I finally got into windows under a tempory user profile... I created a new user with admin rights. I was then able to shut down and startup quite successfully using this new user. I am about to - very carefully - copy documents etc over to the new profile and very quickly make an image! I had another go at logging in as the old user and it still seems to hang - so I will just delete it. At very least I now have all her files off even if I have to format and reinstall.

Thanks for the help. What a great forum! I have been lurking for a while and learn heaps.

Sounds like good news then.

Thanks for the update.