New
#1
Previously Installed Windows 7 Fails to Start
Hey everyone,
This happened to me a few weeks ago and I haven't been able to resolve it since, so I'm turning here for assistance. One fine evening, I come home and notice that my computer is giving me an error message:
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the problem.
I am then told to insert my installation CD, reboot, and follow some steps. There is one problem: I do not have an installation CD. I upgraded my erratic copy of Windows Vista to 7 (Premium 32bit I believe) last year as part of the $30 upgrade for students program, and did so online. I tried using friends' installation disks of various editions to no avail, and when I boot directly from the disks it either gives me the option to reinstall or gives me the same error message (0xc0000001, \Boot\BCD). I tried to track down my purchase information, but the email address I used to make the purchase no longer exists and my online banking service doesn't keep records past 6 months (I made the upgrade roughly a year ago). My question is, what can I do to fix this? Do I have to reinstall and lose all my data, is there a problem with the computer itself (this is not the first OS to be bucked off, it rejected Vista last May), or can I get what I need to run a system repair somehow?
Many thanks, and happy Thanksgiving!
Edit: Forgot to mention, the only software change I have made in the last few weeks is uninstalling Firefox and installing Chrome, and I don't think that would be the issue.