Windows 7 repair installation attempts fail

After trying to run an auslogics registry defrag program I've been stuck with blue screen stop errors. Every attempt to resolve this with a system restore or a repair installation has been blocked and there appear to be no solutions.

I'm running Windows Home Premium 7 64 bit

By ths way, the DVD drive on this computer does not work, so my only reainstall option is though USB, but all attempts encounter roadblocks.

Starting in safe mode
goes directly to blue screen
stop 0x000000f4

When I get the computer to start from a USB stick
I get
windows is loading files
install windows

setup is starting
please read the license terms

accept the license terms

which type of installation do you want
I choose upgrade
then I got

compatibility report

the computer started using the windows installation disc remove the installation disc and restart your computer so that windows starts normally
Other attempts get an an install driver screen, bu there's no hint on what driver is needed or where to find this driver. Again, I'm trying to run the installation from a USB stick that's already inserted in the computer.

I try

boot rec /fixmbr
the operation completed successfully
bootrec /fixboot

the volume does not contain a recognized file system


bootrec /rebuildbcd
total identified windows installations 0

I try

chkdsk c:\f

chkdsk discovered free space marked as allocated in th master file table
windows has made corrections to th file system
8kb in bad sectors
failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50




System Restore says

No restore points have been created on your computer's system drive

There's a chance that there are restore points on the c: drive but I can not switch the system drive to c:

When I try

scf /scannow the response is

there is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete restart windows and run sfc again

They I try

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows

This does not work.


I ran windows memory diagnostics. No problems found


startup repair says

startup repair could not detect a problem



So every option encounters an unavoidable roadblock.

I've searched over an over again or a solution but nothing works and every sugesstion leads to an unworkable dead end.

Hi

If the original issue is caused by a registry error, you might be able to replace the corrupted registry hive files from the backup copy. Usually Windows will keep a backup copy inside "C:\Windows\System32\Config\Regback" folder. I would suggest carefully reading the below tutorial which covers step by step instructions on how to do the registry restore.

Startup Repair Infinite Loop Recovery

Anshad Edavana said:

Hi

If the original issue is caused by a registry error, you might be able to replace the corrupted registry hive files from the backup copy. Usually Windows will keep a backup copy inside "C:\Windows\System32\Config\Regback" folder. I would suggest carefully reading the below tutorial which covers step by step instructions on how to do the registry restore.

Startup Repair Infinite Loop Recovery

Thanks for the help!
This method worked where others failed.

Also, this serves as a warning to not use Auslogics Registry Defrag. +

A better option which has no bad reports during the entire 5 years of Win7 is Puran Defragger which offers a boot time defrag that includes System files which are not running during a boot scan.

Also, this serves as a warning to not use Auslogics Registry Defrag. +

In fact registry is not something which needs regular maintenance. You should read what Microsoft says about "Registry Cleaners".

Microsoft support policy for the use of registry cleaning utilities

Some products such as registry cleaning utilities suggest that the registry needs regular maintenance or cleaning. However, serious issues can occur when you modify the registry incorrectly using these types of utilities. These issues might require users to reinstall the operating system due to instability. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved without a reinstallation of the Operating System as the extent of the changes made by registry cleaning utilities varies from application to application.

Windows is a closed source operating system and nobody other than Microsoft knows which registry keys are wanted and which are not. Letting a program to delete Registry keys ( which it thinks as not necessary ) may create serious issues than doing any good. Simply stay away from anything which claims to clean or optimize the Registry.

The exception would be CCleaner. We've never seen a single case here of Win7 damaged by CCleaner, while we regularly see problems caused by "Registry Cleaner" sales scamware advertised in pop-up ads. None of these work. CCleaner is safe using both the Disk and Registry cleaner.

Hi,
I am posting this to help those after me who encounter this same problem.

Booting into windows gives an NTLDR missing error, not fixable even after attempting bootrec commands in Win7 Recovery Mode (via install disk). When attempting command bootrec /fixboot, I encountered the "volume does not contain a recognized file system," error.

I discovered the fix was to run Win7 Repair via install disk, and at the command prompt, type in

bootsect /ntfs60 C: (replace drive letter with your boot drive letter)

This will re-apply the master boot code despite bootrec /fixboot's failure.

Hope this helps someone in the future...

Bootrec /rebuildBCD can also accomplish this if /fixboot and /fixmbr can't, and also can overcome the problem with Startup Repair not detecting an OS to repair: How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows

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