Unable to boot Windows 7 after system freeze and forced shutdown


  1. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
       #1

    Unable to boot Windows 7 after system freeze and forced shutdown


    Hello all, first time poster here. I have been dealing with a Windows 7 boot failure problem for a few days now and have not been able to find a resolution. I suspect that my hard drive may have failed, but I was wondering if I could get a second opinion. The boot failure problem started after my system froze and I had to force it to shutdown by holding down the power button. Upon rebooting, I was prompted to start either System Repair or the Safe Mode options. After I chose System Repair, the process started, but it seemed to hang intermittently and took at least 30-45 minutes to complete. During this time, I noticed that the hard drive LED on my computer case was lit solid. When System Repair did complete, it said Boot Manager missing or corrupt. So I have followed all of the steps to repair the Boot Manager and I can get Windows to start loading, but after the Windows logo animation closes the system seems to hang and I have the solid hard drive LED again. I restarted in Safe Mode, but it also hangs when trying to load disk.sys with a solid hdd light and will not progress further. So I went back into the recovery environment and tried to run a chkdsk on the Windows partition, and after 3% complete it displayed the following:

    Deleted corrupt attribute list entry
    with type code 128 in file 88874.
    Deleted corrupt attribute list entry
    with type code 128 in file 88874.
    Deleting corrupt attribute record (120, "")
    from file record segment 88999.
    Readable file record segment 88999 is not writeable.
    Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50.

    When running chkdisk again, it displays:
    Cannot open volume for direct access.

    Once again the hdd light is solid. The strange thing is that after rebooting I can load the partition in Partition Magic just fine and browse through the files.

    Is there anything else I could try to get Windows bootable again, or should I start recovering the files from the drive before it becomes a total loss?

    Many thanks in advance!
    Last edited by Strangename; 26 Aug 2014 at 22:34. Reason: forgot to add the part about rebooting
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 25,847
    Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
       #2

    I no expert but the first thing I would check is the boot order in the bios. Set the bios to default.
    Then make sure your ssd with Windows 7 is the first boot.
    I sounds like it's trying to boot from the hard drive instead of the ssd.

    You could also unhook the hard drive and see if it will boot from the ssd.

    A 32 gig sse with Windows 7 doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room.

    Please read this tutorial by Bare Foot Kid. I gives some helpful information.

    Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    I unhooked the hard drive so the ssd was the only drive connected. I reset bios to defaults and made sure that the ssd was the primary boot device. I ran startup repair 3 times with a reboot each time, and the result was the same every time it completed. I attached a couple screen captures of the message.

    I also ran diskpart and got a screen cap of the partition details. It looks like the system reserved partition is on C: and Windows 7 partition on D:

    My question is, does the Windows 7 partition need to be set to active for startup repair to work correctly?

    The ssd still has 2 GB of free space left on the Windows 7 partition.

    Any ideas on what steps I should take next?

    Thanks again!
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Unable to boot Windows 7 after system freeze and forced shutdown-20140831_201359.jpg   Unable to boot Windows 7 after system freeze and forced shutdown-20140831_201639.jpg   Unable to boot Windows 7 after system freeze and forced shutdown-20140901_113914.jpg  
    Last edited by Strangename; 01 Sep 2014 at 12:36.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 25,847
    Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
       #4

    To the best of my knowledge the reserve should not have a partition letter.
    Windows 7 should have C partition.
    Notice the Reserve has Systems and is Active.

    The partition With Windows 7 needs at least 10% and sometimes 15% free space before things will work.

    It should look like this.

    Unable to boot Windows 7 after system freeze and forced shutdown-disk-management.png
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    So to make this work, should I remove the drive letter for the system reserved partition (currently at C: ) and manually change the Windows partition to drive C: ?

    Then couldn't I transfer the image to a larger capacity drive and increase the Windows partition size?

    Sorry for all of the noobish questions, I really appreciate the help.
      My Computer

  6.    #6

    The drive letter is only a concern if it shows up in Windows which could allow something to write to it and clog the System Reserved partition. It isn't at issue here.

    What's needed is to confirm System Reserved is Active and then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times.

    If Win7 won't start then start at the top of these steps for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot which attempt everything possible to start it leading up to if necessary rescuiing your files to run Factory Recovery or do the superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

    As to a second opinion on whether the HD has failed, this is not a matter of opinion. Test it using the maker's Hard Drive Diagnostic Procedure extended CD scan which will determine with certainty its condition. If it's giving DIskpart readings without balking and there's no other reason to believe its failed then what is it that makes you think it's failing?
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    It appears that the issue has been resolved. After doing a little research I found a utility called HDAT2. It detected a couple bad sectors on the drive and seems to have repaired them but I'm not really sure; every time I ran it the bad sectors would be detected. After the repairs I didn't take any chances and cloned the SSD to an old 74 GB Raptor drive (which ironically was replaced by the SSD). Then I was finally able to get Startup Repair to successfully complete 2 times and boot Windows normally. I resized the Windows partition to use the remaining space on the Raptor drive. Everything seems back to normal.

    gregrocker said:
    If it's giving DIskpart readings without balking and there's no other reason to believe its failed then what is it that makes you think it's failing?
    This is my first SSD so I guess I'm not sure how to tell if/when it's failing or has failed. Since none of the Windows utilities were working (startup repair, chkdksk, sfc) I assumed there was a hardware failure. Maybe these programs weren't designed to support SSDs? I started looking around for information on how to tell if there is a failure based on SMART attributes but I wasn't able to relate this to the problem I was having. I ran a couple utilities that provided SMART info but it wasn't clear what I was looking at. For example, this is what CrystalDIsk displays for the drive:
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Unable to boot Windows 7 after system freeze and forced shutdown-crystaldisk.jpg  
      My Computer


 

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