BSOD and Start Up Repair won't work, Booting in safe mode neither!

webbeetle · 13 Dec 2016

The problem is with my wife's computer - it won't start up at all!
(So the instructions of Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions aren't of any use as the computer won't get that far to execute them...)

We know that the battery has problems, but where we are (Peru - travelling full-time) we cannot get a replacement. Until today it worked okay on mains power. But today my wife forgot to plug in and started the computer without the power supply - which resulted in a blue screen (of death) with the
error 0x00000074

All you can do is turn it off and on again, it then asks to 'Launch Startup Repair', which fails with an
error 0xc0000225
The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible

I searched for hours but can't seem to find a solution. The 'Windows 7 installation disk' is a dedicated partition on the harddisk (C/D/E?). We have a set of recovery disks for this laptop and an external DVD-drive, but it won't boot off it either. I even went into BIOS to change the boot disk order to external CD/DVD. (Strangely enough: it doesn't give partition letters for the internal hd, only says 'internal disk drive' or something like that. Otherwise I would have chosen the corresponding drive letter for the system files.)

Furthermore:
The computer won't boot in 'safe mode' either. I also tried the setting to get 'safe mode' with a 'command prompt' (BSOD) because I found some instructions to repair BCD from command prompt via bootrec /rebuildbcd
Booting to 'Last Known Good Configuration' doesn't work either - it results in another BSOD...

I'm at a loss!

Final idea, but I confess I forgot how to do this correctly: I could create a copy of the system disks from my laptop, which also has dedicated partition for the Windows 7 system. How do I create a working copy of this on an external drive?

----------------------------------------------------
Since it's not my computer I'm not 100% familiar with it, all I know is:
It's an HP Envy 4, running Windows 7 Home.
It has an i3 processor with 4GB of RAM
Stupidly the battery is built into the case.

ICIT2LOL · 14 Dec 2016

Hello mate now I don't know if this will be of any help but if you want a Windows DVD you can get the ISO form here Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool you will need to make the disk booatble of course it could be used to repair the machine.

The system disks from your machine if you can find the system files then just use ImgBurn to create the disks on the opto drive The Official ImgBurn Website There are plenty of YouTube vids on how to do that.

Now if the machine has indeed crashed {hard drive?) the if you want to retrieve data then see this.
BOOTABLE UBUNTU
Make a bootable Ubuntu disk Get Ubuntu | Download | Ubuntu
Set the BIOS to boot from the optical when the machine boots it will show you a screen with TRY or INSTALL > select TRY not INSTALL
When it is finished - it takes very little time you will get a screen like in the pic .
Open the drive you want > User and dig down until you get to the data / settings you may be able to copy / paste the material you want to an external source or other installed drive doing this.
I am not sure if it will but I have recovered tons of data etc using this method both on "dead" or just plain drives that you cannot get data from using Windows.
There is an alternative Linux based program that will do the same thing but I prefer the Ubuntu - I find it easier to set up. Emergency Kit - save your files from a dead OS

webbeetle · 15 Dec 2016

Thanks, ICIT2LOL - there maybe something in your reply which will be useful. I'm going to check it all out. (We couldn't get any internet yesterday because we're in the Colca Canyon in Peru - the second deepest canyon of the world - not a terrain for mobile towers.)

Do you know if there will be any problem if I try to repair the system from a different Windows version?
My wife's is Win 7 HOME, mine is Windows 7 Pro.

ICIT2LOL · 16 Dec 2016

Now if you are trying to reapair your wifes machine then just download an ISO from here Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool Make bootable disk and use it for whatever you want to do with it.

Just make sure you download the version for the machine and use the activation code - IF you are going to reinstall it if not then just use it as an original DVD - you can put the ISO onto a stick but I personally like a DVD.

The other little boot I showed you is purely for retrieving data should it be necessary to reinstall - doing that it is best you clean the drive before you reinstall - I do to make sure the drive is really clean.

Now the other option id to use the factory restore partition on the machine - that will of course reinstall the machine but lose all data but it does mean the machine is as it came out of the factory.

If you are not sure of the activation code you can find it with a couple of really good softwares Product Key Number for Windows 7 - Find and See but it is isn't booting so I am guessing that is not an option because even though you could boot into Ubuntu whether those would give you the key I am not sure as I have never had to do that.

webbeetle · 20 Dec 2016

I haven't got much further with this and the laptop is still unusable.

The main issue is that it really doesn't want to recognise any external drive or the internal partitions!

What I've tried so far (between driving over 500kms of rough roads):
1. Downloaded the Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool

Upon starting it it told me it needed Internet Explorer 11.

This I had previously deleted it from my ASUS Zenbook as it clashes with several things: my Windows Explorer keeps crashing with IE11 installed, several ASUS utilities don't work with it installed, including power management! So it will have to go again... The download used up all our available mobile data (and we're camping in a rural area where I can't go to a shop and recharge our phone). So I can't do more online or download other things until we move!

2. I found a set of five installation DVDs of the Windows 7 Pro version which is on my Zenbook. These are .iso-files, so they should work. I would assume that for a system repair it wouldn't matter if it's Win7 Home Premium or Pro - the core is fairly much the same and both laptops were/are running the 64-bit version.

3. we have 2 external DVD drives with us, one combined external hd/DVD, one small external ASUS dedicated DVD burner. Both work fine on my Zenbook, both aren't being used by the HP Envy as a boot device - it seems the faulty notebook is simply not recognising any drives!

4. on the faulty HP Envy are several HP specific testing tools, which I managed to access. The ones I managed to run (harddrive test, memory test, graphics test) all came back with no error! Hopefully some good news: the files on the hd should be intact.
Unfortunately checking i/o ports and a few other vital things is bundled into a 'system check' - this returns a faulty battery error code and then quits!

Would it be a good idea to open the case and unplug the faulty battery? To see if it changes things?

ICIT2LOL · 21 Dec 2016

Ok mate now i don't understand why you have 5? installation disks usually Windows is on just one DVD. Why it asked for IE11 I have no idea that is very odd.

Why the machine is not recognising any external drives is a mystery except that it may need the USB drivers updating that could be very problematical in that if you do as I do load the drivers on a stick it will not be seen can you download them direct from the manufacturer's site? I would give you a link if I knew what the model of that machine was as those driver software sites I never use unless things are desperate and then I only use one site.

The battery mate yes it would eb an idea to remove it as it could be the problem.