Well, I got another BSOD...but this is different. To explain, I actually have received two kinds of BSOD events on this PC.
The BSOD that I attached the minidump file for on this thread was a case where Windows 7 started, I got to the login screen and after I logged in the error occurred.
The other BSOD I have seen previously (and now just got again) is where the PC starts (after being off for several hours), Windows 7 starts and during the Windows 7 logo display (prior to the login screen) - a BSOD flashes on the screen.
In the case where a BSOD occurred after the Windows 7 login I would get an option on restart to enter Safe Mode. With the BSOD that occurs during the Windows 7 startup prior to the login screen, I only get two options: attempt the Windows 7 start again or run the repair disk. Trying to start Windows 7 again always fails so I use my Windows 7 repair disk and it always fixes the problem.
Using the Windows 7 repair disk you have two options: Attempt a repair using the disk or replace the Windows 7 drive with a backup image (usually from an external USB drive or another drive on the computer). The repair option has always worked for me.
After the repair has run its course a popup dialog window appears and gives an option to view the results. Here is a summary of what my repair action shows:
Number of repair attempts: 1
System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0
Windows = E:\Windows
AutoChkRun = 0
Number of root causes = 2
I don't know why it shows Windows = E:\Windows when it is actually on Drive C.
Following that information the report continues with some information about tests on Harddisk0 - all of those tests pass:
System disk test
Result: Completed successfully
After the system disk tests the report has this information:
Root cause found
Boot Manager failed to find OS Loader
Result: Failed. Error Code = 0x490
Repair actions: Boot Configuration data store repair
Result: Failed. Error Code = 0x490
Repair Action System Restore
Result: Failed. Error Code = 0x490
From that bit of information I thought the repair was not successful. However, the popup dialog has a button to Finish (and reboot). When I select that button the computer restarts and Windows 7 starts up without any problems.
So is the cause of this annoying BSOD actually because the Boot Manager fails to find OS Loader? If so, what does that mean? A bad harddisk?