Windows 7 stuck in setup after repair with disc

Unl1m1teD · 15 Apr 2014

Sony VAIO VPCEA1S1E, Intel Core i3 330M 2.13GHz, 4GB, 500GB, DVD±RW, WLAN, BT, Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit (I think)

Got a call from a friend about her laptop not starting up anymore after she downloaded a movie from tpb. She was able to watch the movie without problems and then shut the laptop down. When she tried to start it up again, the screen kept hanging infinitely in the blue windows screen with the background where your account and password should be entered.

Tried booting it in safe mode, with networking options or cmd, to no avail. Made a repair disc and burned an image to a DVD to try and repair windows, doesn't work either. However, with this one I got it to setup is starting (left it on all night, still stayed there). I'm perfectly able to get in to the BIOS and can also get into advanced startup options. Tried almost every one of 'em, all with the same result.

These include: Repair Your Computer, Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, Safe Mode with Command Prompt, Enable Boot Logging, Last Known Good Configuration (advanced), Directory Services Restore Mode, Debugging Mode...

I would want to recover her files since her thesis and other work related stuff is on that HDD, but since it keeps hanging in the blue windows screen I can't get any further with this.

Suggestions anyone? Thanks in advance!

mjf · 17 Apr 2014

Unl1m1teD said:

I would want to recover her files since her thesis and other work related stuff is on that HDD, but since it keeps hanging in the blue windows screen I can't get any further with this.

Recovering files appears to be your highest priority.
1) Using another PC you can download a light weight linux distro such as Puppy linux and burn the ISO to a CD
http://puppylinux.org/main/Long-Term...ed%20Puppy.htm
2) boot the laptop to the Puppy linux CD from your BIOS options
3) see if you can browse for files/folders
4) if you can then connect a usb external HDD or flash drive and copy files/folders to it

Note you will need to click on the drives shown at the bottom of the linux window to mount them. Also the drive names won't refer to their Windows letter. To burn the ISO use the Windows inbuilt or a free program like ImgBurn.

Unl1m1teD · 18 Apr 2014

Thanks for the advice!

I used a somewhat different approach since I have no idea on how to work with Linux. Used my two left hands to pry out the HDD and luckily I was able to connect it to my mobo in my desktop (ASUS Sabertooth X58). Right away it noticed on startup something was wrong with the newly added HDD and started chkdsk automatically. Came all the way to reading the USN-Logs and then it got stuck.

Rebooted and cancelled chkdsk so I could run my own Win7. From there on it was pretty easy in getting access and recovering her files, used chkdsk F: /r to repair the drive and it should be in working order now.

Thanks for the help, hope this helps others too. Btw it was a Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB drive, read about the fact that Seagate HDD's have a lot more problems like this than WD or any other brand.

mjf · 18 Apr 2014

Glad to see you resolved your problem.
If you and others have a similar problem in recovering files, I wouldn't be put off by a lack of knowledge with linux (I don't have much). It's a window style environment and you can find files/folders and drag them to an external HDD or flash drive.