Computer fails to boot after using Disk Cleanup.

Hey guys,

At the minute Windows 7 is completely failing to boot on my PC. I reach the Windows logo (with the loading animation) and it freezes after roughly half a second before restarting my computer. The machine also fails to boot into safe mode and recovery mode.

Before I rebooted my computer (which is when the problem arrived), I did two things. First I ran Disk Clean-Up to free up some space. In Disk Clean-Up I was able to free a lot of space by deleting temporary update files. After this, I unistalled AVG Antivirus in preparation to change to a different AV. During the uninstallation, my keyboard starting behaving strangely, and so when the installer asked if I wished to reboot I said yes. As my computer was shutting down, it displayed the 'Installing updates' message, but only very briefly. After that, my computer was unable to start.

I have two theories:
1. My computer was host to some sort of dormant virus (I don't actually know if this is a thing) that was activated once it detected my antivirus was gone. I don't know whether my keyboard behaviour was anomalous or a strange symptom of the infection. I ran the AVG rescue CD with a completely up to date definition library and it returned no results. I'm hoping someone can debunk this theory...

2. Running Disk Clean-up deleted files that were necessary for a scheduled update. When the update attempted to run, it failed due to the files missing, leaving my Windows installation in a broken state.

Personally, I think both are a bit far fetched; it would be crazy to be infected with a virus so quickly, and I can't imagine that Windows would let Disk Clean-Up erase such crucial files. But I have nothing else.

Does anyone have any thoughts or tests that I might be able to try?

Thanks

Layback Bear said:

Two things come to mind.
1. Did you use the official AVG removal tool from their website?

2. You could run sfc /scannow to check Windows 7 files.

They have a removal tool? I just uninstalled it through the Control Panel. It was an AVG un-installer though.

What would be the best way to open the command prompt from outside of windows? I don't have a recovery disk. The computer that I'm using at the minute is running Windows 8.1, can I use this to create a recovery disk or not?

archer said:

Yes they have. Check out. http://www.avg.com/us-en/utilities

Well I guess I'll check it out if I actually get back into my computer.

I was able to run command prompt from inside a windows 8 recovery disc. When I run sfc /scannow, it returns the message "Windows Resource Protection could not start the repair service".

I've googled around and seen that this has been discussed a lot, but I haven't seen a solution for it from outside of the windows installation.

Any thoughts? Maybe I should start a separate thread for this issue?

Thanks

UPDATE

I managed to get hold of a Windows 7 recovery disk and ran the sfc scannow command again. This time the Resource Protection accepted the command, but it was halted with the message "There is a system repair pending which requires a reboot to complete. Restart Windows and run sfc again".

Obviously I can't restart Windows because I can't even boot into Windows.

Thanks

Boot into System Recovery Options
to run System Restore to a point before the problem occurred.

Then run AVG uninstaller | Download tools and utilities.

Install Microsoft Security Essentials, update and run a full scan.

Also install Malwarebytes and SUPERAntiSpyware
free editions, decline trial during install, update and run full scans.

Check for Updates and install all Important and Optional Windows Updates, after hiding Bingware and IE11.

If any futher problems work through the Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7