Stuck on Startup Repair Screen. Keeps looping.

Whoa! No said I was a computer wizard. If I was, I wouldn't be here looking for help. I am getting a lot of things and links thrown at me. I appreciate your help and your time but honestly, computers are not my expertise and if it was perhaps I would be on this forum helping others keeping in mind that not everyone has the same understanding and that yes...perhaps things have to be repeated. If that is a problem then I thank you for your time.

I will attempt the steps in Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot?

Sorry but I tend to get testy once things are repeated twice. But please don't let that stop you from asking back all the questions you need to get each step done. We are eager to help and will see you through it.

Keep in mind that even with failure to start it up, we specialize in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7
so can also help you get a brand new start with a perfect reinstall. You can even rescue your files first.

Hi gregrocker. Thank you so much for your help.

At this moment I run startup repair normally from my problem machine:

HP Mini 110-4125TU
-320GB Hard Drive
-1024MB DDR3 SDRAM
-Intel Atom N26000 Processor (1.6GHz)
-Genuine Windows 7 Professional 32bit
-No cd/dvd drive
-USB port
-LAN port

If this "normal startup repair" doesn't fix the problem, I will try your method. One thing that I really want to know is it normal if the "startup repair" run for more than 8 hours? May I know how long does it take to run a startup repair? Below is my issues. I hope you can lead me to the right path, since I want to save my important files on this machine. Can someone kind lend me a hand please.


My issue:
Before this problem occur, I read an email, install ad-aware and watch 3 video on YouTube from this machine. Suddenly the machine hang but I wait for about half hour. Since the machine still hang, I decide to force shut down by clicking the shutdown button. Then I wait for 20 second to start the machine again. Then a black screen with safe mode, start windows normally and etc appear. So I pick safemode and it run the startup repair, so I let it run for about 3 hours. Since I have a lot of things to do, I decide to give another force shut down to this machine. Then after 5 hours I start the machine again and there is no safe mode option this time. Only startup repair(recommended) and start Windows normally option appear. So I pick start Windows normally but it run startup repair. I let it run for about 9 hours until my notebook battery lost its power. I thought when I wake up on the morning everything will be fine. Nope I was wrong. So today I run startup repair again.

Work through these steps for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start

If Startup Repair takes that long it likely is stalled checking the disk. Did it tell you it was checking the disk which may take some time?

Enter BIOS setup to see if HD is detected at all. If so run the HD maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan on the HD, followed by Disk Check from the Win7 installer or Repair CD's System Recovery Options Command Line.

It only show the startup repair windows with the words:

Code:

Startup Repair is checking your system for problems...

If problems are found, Startup Repair will fix them automatically. You computer might restart several times during this process.

No changes will be made to your personal files or information. This might take several minutes.



Attempting repairs...
   Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete.

If you don't mind, may I know how to enter BIOS setup on my machine?

Yes, that is the message which sometimes results in never-ending Startup Repair because Disk Check has entered a failure loop.

Tap the F10 or ESC key at boot to enter BIOS setup to see if HD is detected.

Then run HP Diagnostics to run by tapping the F11 key as shown at end of this tutorial: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...t=4011349#N398.

If the drive has problems you may need to run the maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan to fully repair it to get the data off, but I would still replace it as it is no longer reliable. You can Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console or connect it to another PC using a converter cable.

Then I would replace HD:

I'm downloading the Windows Defender Offline now and will follow the methods given.

Hey gregrocker. Thanks for your time helping me.


I have reboot my machine and tap the esc button. There's an option for system recovery. So I've pick(F9) it and HP recovery Manager windows appear. Can I do something with this? If not I will reboot it again.

You missed the steps above to test your HD, which you can do from that menu as shown at the end of the tutorial here: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...t=4011349#N398.

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Test from the hard drive (recovery partition exists and hard drive is working)


Use the following steps to perform a hardware test from the hard drive through the Recovery Manager upon system startup:
Step 1: Start Hardware Diagnostic Tools
NOTE: Hardware Diagnostic Tools provides a lot of information. For best results, read and follow the instructions as they are displayed. The instructions may be displayed before, during, and after the tests are run.

1. Turn off the computer.
2. Disconnect all connected devices (such as the Personal Media Drive, USB drives, printer, and fax), remove media from drives, and remove any recently added internal hardware. Do not disconnect the monitor, keyboard, mouse, or power cord.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Do one of the following actions depending on how Windows 7 was installed:
   
   
   • If Windows 7 came pre-installed on your computer, or you upgraded from Windows Vista, press the F11 key repeatedly when the first screen opens (the logo screen), until the Recovery Manager program opens on the screen.
     
   • If your computer was upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 7, press the F10 key repeatedly when the first screen opens (the logo screen) until the Recovery Manager program opens on the screen.
     
   
   
   Figure 8: Recovery manager
   
5. Click Run Computer Checkup .

Step 2: Run tests

1. Click Basic Test to test the CPU, hard disk drive, and computer memory.
2. For more detailed analysis of the hard drive, optical drive, CPU or memory, choose one of the tests under Advanced Category .
   Figure 9: Hardware Diagnostic Tools
   
3. On the test screen, click Run .
   Three test results are possible:
   
   
   • Passed: No problems were detected for the hardware device tested. This may indicate that the computer issue is caused by software program and not the hardware.
     
   • Failed: A problem was detected with the hardware device. Make a note of the error code. Replace the bad component or have your computer serviced.
     
   • Aborted: The test was cancelled by the user.
     
   
   
4. When the test is complete, click Quit to finish using Hardware Diagnostic Tools and restart the computer.
5. Click Quit to finish using the Hardware Diagnostic Tools and restart the computer.

Running the test from the startup screen (boot)




Using the Bootable Diagnostic DiscIf you cannot access Windows 7 or the Recovery Manager, you can use a Bootable Diagnostic Disc to run the Hardware Diagnostic Tools. The Bootable Diagnostic Disc is created using the Hardware Diagnostic Tools in Windows 7. For more information about creating the Bootable Diagnostic Disc, see Using Hardware Diagnostic Tools from Windows .

Run Hardware Diagnostic Tools

I'm not a tech guy so please accept my apologies. I don't even know that this HP Recovery Manager is inside this machine.

So there's an option on HP Recovery Manager

1) I need immediate help
-Microsoft system restore:Restore your system to an earlier date.
-System Recovery: Restore your computer to its original factory condition.
-Minimized Image Recovery: Restore operating system, drivers and select software only(clean image)

2) I'd like to perform maintenance tasks
-Run Computer Checkup: Use the Hardware Diagnostics tool to diagnose your computer's memory, HD, etc...

3) I'd like to take safety measures
-File Backup: Back up your personal data.

4) I'd like to contact HP Customer Support
-Show contact information: Show contact information for HP Customer Support.

Which one should I pick?? Sorry I'm quite slow.