Windows 7: Systems Repair loop, Netbook, Windows 7 Starter

I am a novice when it comes to errors and sytem repair so I decided to seek help here for my specific situation. I have a Gateway netbook, bought last year, that is running Window 7 Starter, as was default when purchused. Here's my problem:

Last night while coming out of hibernation my netbook flashed a blue screen and a countdown (too fast to read, has happened before to no issue) which led to the netbook restarting into System Repair mode. I clicked the system repair and it ran and said everything was fine and restarted. It continued restart back to System Repair mode. I tried restoring from a restore point and at first it said it was successful and then restarted back to System Repair. I shut my netbook down for the night, as it was getting late, and started it back up this morning, trying all the same things. Too scared to try anything else. I have never made a back up, I kept waiting for back-up drives to go on sale or for the price to fall. I guess that was a mistake. Anyway, after consulting with forums here and other places online, I have tried the following: F8 into safe mode (restarts into System Repair mode). Now when I try system repair or restore points is says it's unsuccessful. The last system repair attempt yeilded the following message in the diagnosis section:

(everything else was successful except the following)

Root cause found
------------------
Boot critical file d:/windows/system 32/kdcom.dll is corupt.

Repair action: file repair
Result: failed. Error code = 0x490
Time taken = 873418ms


Root cause found
------------------
A reent driver installation or upgrade may be preventing the system from starting.

Repair action: System Restore
Result: failed. Error code = 0x1F
Time taken = 712379ms

I am very cautious about trying anything as I stated, my files are not backed up. What I'd like to do first, before anything else, is to back up or copy my files from my netbook, either onto a external HD or to my laptop as they are very important. After that, I will be much more comfortable perfoming any fix on my computer. Thank you, I hope someone can help.

-Sarah

Hi Sarah and welcome,

Please use this tutorial to help you gain access to your files for backup-up before attempting any repairs:

Peppermint3 - Create Live CD/DVD/USB To Use For Emergency Backup

Post back here if you need more help or clarification.

Regards,
Golden

Sarah,

I think it would be better if you purchased a simple USB flash drive for this operation instead of your existing external USB drive. Something similar to this will do just fine - you only need small size (e.g. 2GB) and any make is perfectly OK. They are just a few dollars in price.

Attachment 242296

Create the live PepperMint3 USB, and then post back here and I'll guide you with booting from this USB.

Regards,
Golden

Thank you very much for your help. The external harddrive I have is one that I've had for quite a while. I already transfered all the files from that to a new 1TB external harddrive, that I got recently, so I could use it. It's an older one and there's not a whole lot of space on it, that's why I thought it would be more practical to use. I think I have a USB thumb drive, if you really think that would be better. You're the computer person, I'll leave the judgement up to you.

I will create the Peppermint some time today, but I will have to put off the back up attempts until at least Friday 'cause I have two days of baking and then I'll be away from home on Thursday for Thanksgiving.

Thank you so much fo your continued help and I hope to talk to you again on Friday.

Hi,

In that case, use your older USB as you suggested - that will work just as well.

Regards,
golden

Forgot to add that I'm in America, that's why we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving. I just noticed yesterday that your icon says you're in Australia. So when I said Friday, that would be Saturday where you are, right? Just wanted to make sure we are on the same page.

No worries - I'll keep checking back here. Take your time.

I have formatted my external harddrive with the Peppermint system and await further instruction as how to boot my netbook. Thank you.

OK.

Plug the external HDD into a USB2 port on the laptop. Power it on, but immediately keep pressing the ESC key - eventually a menu will pop-up that allows you to boot from the external HDD. Select that to boot from the HDD, and then follow the steps in the Peppermint tutorial to copy your data.

If the ESC key doesn't work, use the F1 or F2 function keys to enter the BIOS, and then select the external HDD to be the first disk to boot from. Save and exit the BIOS, and the computer should boot from the external HDD.

Regards,
Golden

I will try that tomorrow and let you know if I was sucessful or if I need any more help. Thank you so much. I'm so glad there are people and forums that are able to help people like me.