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

Remember that several tools have shown you have a bad hard drive. Windows reported errors and aborted routine operations due to hard drive issues. I don't think you can trust anything from that drive from any software. It's demonstrated many times now that files can't be read properly. At this point I wouldn't put any stock into the results of these scans.

I still think you should replace the hard drive and start over.

Infection rarely will survive a reinstall unless it's in the BIOS (doubtful here) so if there truly is infection remaining it must be in the files partition(s) you saved and now has spread into the OS.

What was the result of the Malwarebytes full scan?

You need professional analysis of the specialized rootkit tool so post the results in the Safety forum.

If your Acer is under warranty I would call Tech Support asap to report problems with the HD, telling them the tests you've done but not mentioning any possible causes. They will probably want to confirm the HD condition and may RMA the machine to do this. They'll likely tell you that they won't cover it if it is damaged but it's doubtful they have a way to determine that if the case isn't marred. You may very well get a new HD. If not ask for their help in replacing it: the model, specs necessary, and how to find another. Use fully the tech support if not the hardware replacement warranty until you have the replacement in place and shaken out - you want these things done by the time the warranty runs out.

Hate to bump old threads but..

A friend of mine had this exact same laptop with the exact same problems you were having. I downloaded Western Digital drive diagnostic and got the same 0120 code you did. I tried a few more things with no luck.

The problem: I think some nasty little virus unmounted the restore partition so you cant access it.

The Fix: Download Ultimate boot cd 5.11 which is a linux type diagnostic cd.

use the tool called parted magic and mount the first partition in the list which should be dev1 then reboot the computer.

on reboot press and hold Alt key and F-10 key at the same time.

You come to acer restore and be able to restore everything to factory defaults.

This worked for me :)

Nice workaround Hotdog69.

Another thing to try first is marking the Recovery Partition Active, which is what the hotkey is supposed to do, then reboot. Partition - Mark as Active (Method Two)

Hotdog69 said:

Hate to bump old threads but..

A friend of mine had this exact same laptop with the exact same problems you were having. I downloaded Western Digital drive diagnostic and got the same 0120 code you did. I tried a few more things with no luck.

The problem: I think some nasty little virus unmounted the restore partition so you cant access it.

The Fix: Download Ultimate boot cd 5.11 which is a linux type diagnostic cd.

use the tool called parted magic and mount the first partition in the list which should be dev1 then reboot the computer.

on reboot press and hold Alt key and F-10 key at the same time.

You come to acer restore and be able to restore everything to factory defaults.

This worked for me :)

I actually haven't gotten aorund to replacing my HD yet, so I'll give this suggestion a try, thanks. Though I won't be able to for about a week or two unfortunately...

Press control alt delete and restart computer and or run in safe mode

Work through these steps for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot.

They lead up to if necessary copying out your files, running Factory Recovery or Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 with everything you need in the blue links.

If you will keep us posted on the results of the steps we can offer more specific fixes.