Can't Boot Windows with ANY Rescue CD!

Suddenly and for no apparent reason, I cannot boot into my Windows 7 PC. I am running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit dual boot with Linux Ubuntu. On boot up most of the time I cannot even get to the GRUB boot loader. I just get a blank screen, sometimes a blinking cursor up in the left corner. I cannot boot from the Windows 7 install DVD. It starts to load windows files then freezes. I have downloaded and burned about half a dozen "Rescue CD" iso images, from AVG to Avir to Norton to Paragon Rescue Kit, etc., etc. -- all to no avail! Either they won't boot at all or they freeze during the process. I even created a couple of bootable rescue USB flash drives. Nothing works!!! Once or twice I managed to actually start a virus scan with the AVG Rescue disk, but then the scan aborted before it could even get going. It's like something keeps killing the scan. I can't even get into my BIOS! It just freezes when I hit the F10 key. What the heck is going on and how can I fix this? Is this some really nasty boot sector virus or perhaps a hardware failure? I just replaced the HDD a few weeks ago, so I don't think it could be that. Any and all ideas GREATLY appreciated!

technomann said:

Suddenly and for no apparent reason, I cannot boot into my Windows 7 PC. I am running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit dual boot with Linux Ubuntu. On boot up most of the time I cannot even get to the GRUB boot loader. I just get a blank screen, sometimes a blinking cursor up in the left corner. I cannot boot from the Windows 7 install DVD. It starts to load windows files then freezes. I have downloaded and burned about half a dozen "Rescue CD" iso images, from AVG to Avir to Norton to Paragon Rescue Kit, etc., etc. -- all to no avail! Either they won't boot at all or they freeze during the process. I even created a couple of bootable rescue USB flash drives. Nothing works!!! Once or twice I managed to actually start a virus scan with the AVG Rescue disk, but then the scan aborted before it could even get going. It's like something keeps killing the scan. I can't even get into my BIOS! It just freezes when I hit the F10 key. What the heck is going on and how can I fix this? Is this some really nasty boot sector virus or perhaps a hardware failure? I just replaced the HDD a few weeks ago, so I don't think it could be that. Any and all ideas GREATLY appreciated!

Could be a virus, hardware, or software. Does it POST? do you see your boot screen or does it go directly to the black screen?

Ken

zigzag3143 said:

technomann said:

Suddenly and for no apparent reason, I cannot boot into my Windows 7 PC. I am running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit dual boot with Linux Ubuntu. On boot up most of the time I cannot even get to the GRUB boot loader. I just get a blank screen, sometimes a blinking cursor up in the left corner. I cannot boot from the Windows 7 install DVD. It starts to load windows files then freezes. I have downloaded and burned about half a dozen "Rescue CD" iso images, from AVG to Avir to Norton to Paragon Rescue Kit, etc., etc. -- all to no avail! Either they won't boot at all or they freeze during the process. I even created a couple of bootable rescue USB flash drives. Nothing works!!! Once or twice I managed to actually start a virus scan with the AVG Rescue disk, but then the scan aborted before it could even get going. It's like something keeps killing the scan. I can't even get into my BIOS! It just freezes when I hit the F10 key. What the heck is going on and how can I fix this? Is this some really nasty boot sector virus or perhaps a hardware failure? I just replaced the HDD a few weeks ago, so I don't think it could be that. Any and all ideas GREATLY appreciated!

Could be a virus, hardware, or software. Does it POST? do you see your boot screen or does it go directly to the black screen?

Ken

Once in a while I'll get to the GRUB boot screen. I can select either Ubuntu or Windows 7, but then it won't boot into either OS. It will start to but then freeze. On boot I'll see the <Hit escp key for Start Menu> message at the bottom left, but then it will go to a blank screen. And sometimes I can get to a rescue CD interface, but again a freeze or sudden scan abort.

Open up the case and see if you need to clean out the dust bunnies. While you have the side off i would re-seat your RAM modules and any add-in cards like Video cards etc. Then try powering up again, make sure all the fans are working especially the CPU fan. If it still won't boot up I would try to boot up with the bar minimum of components, Motherboard, CPU with heat sink, video card and 1 stick or RAM. If the motherboard has onboard video use that. If it won't post then you have pretty well guarantied its a hardware problem. If it does post and you can get into the BIOS, then connect your hardware back up one item at a time until the problem comes back. The last item you connected is likely the culprit. If you can get it to reliably post then you can run some diagnostics on your Hard drive and RAM to rule them out.

In addition to the suggestions above, consider resetting the bios using jumpers on your motherboard and removing and reinstalling the battery on your motherboard. You could have a corrupted bios.

alphanumeric said:

Open up the case and see if you need to clean out the dust bunnies. While you have the side off i would re-seat your RAM modules and any add-in cards like Video cards etc. Then try powering up again, make sure all the fans are working especially the CPU fan. If it still won't boot up I would try to boot up with the bar minimum of components, Motherboard, CPU with heat sink, video card and 1 stick or RAM. If the motherboard has onboard video use that. If it won't post then you have pretty well guarantied its a hardware problem. If it does post and you can get into the BIOS, then connect your hardware back up one item at a time until the problem comes back. The last item you connected is likely the culprit. If you can get it to reliably post then you can run some diagnostics on your Hard drive and RAM to rule them out.

I neglected to mention that the afflicted machine is an HP Pavilion LAPTOP. I removed the bottom cover and there were no dust bunnies. The only hardware I could easily get to were the HDDs and the memory sticks. I re-seated the memory, and then removed the primary HDD from the laptop. I hooked up this 2.5 SATA drive to my desktop PC via USB, and ran my virus scanner and malware scanner over the entire contents of the drive from the Win 7 desktop PC, but no boot sector virus was evident.

In the mean time, I had a cloned backup of the 2.5 SATA, whick I installed in the HP Laptop. I tried to boot with that, but nothing, nada, not even a POST now. All I get are lights around the periphery of the keyboard blinking 4 times in succession, over and over. I suppose this is code for some hardware error or other?

No POST is a hardware fault. Laptops are a pain to work on. As you've discovered there isn't much you can swap out for testing. Try taking the battery out and running it just on the power pack. The flashing lights may be the equivalent of a BIOS beep code. If you poke around the HP site you might find some info as to what they mean. If you use the right search term Google might offer up some info too. How old is it? If it's really old the CMOS battery may have died or shorted out. It could be a real pain to get to and replace though. I worked on a Dell laptop and there was a trick to getting it apart without breaking something. Lots of little screws of different lengths, so you really had to keep track of where they came out. I striped it down 2 or 3 times but never did get it working again.

Look carefully on the motherboard for blown capacitors (rounded/fat on the silver top that should be flat). HPs are notorious for this.

Take yourself a can of compressed air.

Blow out the vents around sides and bottom of case.

When you get a chance be sure to visit the HP site. HP has improved the usefulness of their site considerably.