Laptop Won't Boot, can't get past Initial Windows Screen

UPDATE #1

Well, I can safely say chkdsk fixed something. I no longer get a message telling me to do the disk check when I enter the recovery environment while windows is searching for installations.

Another good sign is what I'm seeing from startup repair. Something different. Normally it goes to startup repair, says it's searching for problems, then a second or two later, almost immediately it says it's attempting fixes and that it may take over an hour.

The difference for me now is that it's still searching for problems. It's been running for two minutes or so now and is still searching. Maybe not much better than before, but maybe this means there's less problems. Will update again when something different happens. However, if the search end up taking too long, I'll probably shutdown and skip to the next step.

UPDATE #2:

Good news!

It would seem chkdsk has fixed something! It's now telling me to restart the computer so I can complete repairs!

Of course, as you advised Greg, I will run startup repair two more times just to be careful. After doing this, I will attempt to boot normally and update on how that goes.

Upon looking at the details of the diagnosis, it says that the root cause was found:

"Registry is corrupt.

Repair action: Registry rollback.
Result: Completed successfully.
Time taken: 6927 ms"

UPDATE #3:

I'm noticing a much healthier computer. Startup repair didn't come up automatically this time in the recovery environment, and this time when windows searched for installations, it was lightning quick. Normally it took at least 5 minutes.

However, upon trying my second startup repair, it scans for a short time, then tells me that:

"Startup repair cannot repair this computer automatically"

It then asks me to send information to microsoft.

When looking at the problem details, I'm shown a list of seven problem signatures. It says the Problem event name is StartupRepairOffline. I also don't recognize a majority of the problem signatures, but two of them do stand out: External media and CorruptRegistry.

If anyone needs me to list them all, let me know and I will.

From here I attempted Startup Repair for the third time. Same result. I made sure to send the report to Microsoft both times.

I'm going to attempt to boot normally now to see what happens. What I'm hoping is that these errors are present because there's nothing left to fix... though that may be wishful thinking. :P

Will update as usual after seeing the results.

UPDATE #4:

My computer... It lives!

At first, when I booted up normally, my hopes sank because it opened to a black screen and didn't even reach the Windows screen. But I just had to try again, unable to accept that it had gotten worse. On my second try, a successful boot! Everything came up like normal. Windows screen loaded nice and fast, and then I came to the log on screen. I typed in my password, and my desktop appeared normally/ All startup programs appeared normally as well.

... wow. I guess you don't appreciate a computer this much until you think you've lost it. It's all thanks to you gregrocker. Thank you so much!

I guess it's too early to celebrate though. I'll check back tomorrow afternoon to see your input Greg. Until then, time for some sleep...

Good work, Jim!

Download, install, update and run a full scan with Malwarebytes to see if infection could have been an issue with any of this. Repeat monthly. Use a recommended lightweight free AV like Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast 6 instead of bloatware, with Windows Firewall kept Updated (including Optional Updates for drivers).

I would still run the maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan to give your HD a clean bill of health and possibly fix any problems. Look in Device Manager to google your HD serial for model.

I'd also run Disk Check regularly. A good way to run Disk Check is using Puran Defrag Free Edition Boot-Tme scan which you can schedule with full Disk Check after reboot. I do this after running CCleaner Disk and registry tabs monthly.

I'd also watch the logs for repeat errors and monitor System Resources for problems to resolve as given in these useful troubleshooting steps.

Once you check these off then you can mark this thread Solved at top, open another if any problems arise in the future.

I can tell my computer hasn't quite gotten better yet. Upon booting it up today from hibernation, I was told that chrome.exe was corrupt. Could this have been the cause of my problems? Well I followed some directions to delete a chrome folder, and then restart. After restarting my computer has had a lot of trouble starting up again. It took a while, but I just got into the log on screen. It's taking a while to get back on, but I think it'll work.

Also, Safe Mode still doesn't work for me, another bad sign. It still doesn't load any files.

Greg, what would you say is the most urgent thing to do here? The HD diagnostic? I fear the computer won't boot the next time I restart.

So I found my HD make, and it turns out in the HD diagnostic guide you posted for me Greg, the guys says he always has trouble with their CD. Just my luck. lol

I will give it a shot anyway, but also burn the seagate one that was recommended.