Windows 7 System Restore Environment (HELP!)

Hello,

My neighbor was having issues with their laptop and since I'm a bit more tech savvy I'm attempting to fix it for them. The laptop is a Toshiba Satellite L505d-S5983. Its about 3 years old. They had an issue with the laptop and now whenever it starts up windows it shows an error screen that gives error f3-f200-0002. Apparently this can happen to Toshiba laptops. Seems there is a corrupt Windows 7 file and I need to do a system restore. There are no system partitions to do a back up of.

I burned a disc on another laptop of the Windows 7 System Recovery Environment and changed the boot drive to the disk drive in the BIOS. Now it loads the disc and loads up the Windows 7 System Recovery Environment. The problem now is it doesn't detect a Windows installation. It gives me an option to load a driver from c:\Windows\System32 to detect the Windows installation, but I don't know which file has information about the Windows install.

I can skip the step of detecting a Windows installation but if I try to use the System Restore tool it says... "To use System Restore, you must specify which Windows installation to restore." So I need to find out which file in the System32 folder to select to detect my Windows information.

It also has a tool called Startup Repair which I've tried and it didn't do anything to help.

So my question is this, what file in the System32 folder do I need to select to detect my Windows Installation to do a System Restore?

karlsnooks said:

That error appears at what point in starting Win 7?

Is the friend's Win 7 also a 32 bit version of Win 7?

Yes it is a 32 bit version. And the error occurs after the windows logo is displayed on startup. The cursor appears as if it is going to load and then the message pops up in a box. Appears there is a corrupt file so I will need to do a system restore.

Thanks Karl but on this laptop I'm using Vista, on the one I'm trying to fix it is Windows 7. However I downloaded an ISO and burned it to a disc for the Windows Recovery Environment which is what you mentioned. I tried the system repair like 5 times and it never works. Also I can't use the system restore on it because as I mentioned it can't detect the Windows version. I have to select a file from System32 for it to know what Windows version I'm using but I don't know what file.

Apparently the problem with the repair is it can't detect an installed OS or something?

Also when I try booting up the computer now it doesn't even reach the window screen, it gives me a screen that says:

File: \Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc0000098
Info: The Windows Boot Configuration Data file does not contain a valid OS entry.

kegobeer said:

Have you tried following method one in this tutorial?

SFC /SCANNOW : Run in Command Prompt at Boot

Yes I have, the problem appears to be step 5 for me. It doesn't list an OS for me. I tried hitting next anyways but I come across problems.

kegobeer said:

If you press F8 during boot, are you taken to the Windows boot option screen?

Yes it does.

__________

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt

Enable Boot Logging
Enable low-resolution video (640x480)
Last Known Good Configuration (advanced)
Directory Services Restore Mode
Debugging Mode
Disable automatic restart on system failure
Disable Driver Signature Enforcement

Start Windows Normally