Windows 7 won't boot. Nothing added to system.

KT888 · 08 Aug 2017

Windows 7 Ultimate won't boot anymore. I shut it down normally last night and this morning Windows won't boot. I didn't add any new hardware or software.
The drive functions fine if connected to another machine as an extra drive but I can't boot from it. I know there are certain hidden files windows needs to boot and I'm thinking one of those has likely gotten corrupted.

I don't have the experience to know what those files are specifically and I was hoping someone out there would be willing to share their knowledge & expeience with me.

Chronologically what happens is
machine boots

says windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.
Lists two options
Launch Staretup Repair (recommended)
Start Windows Normally

Startup Repair fails says
"Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically
"If you have recently attached a device to this computer, such as a camera or portable music player, remove it and restart your computer blah blah blah and on it goes.
It says Click Finish to exit and shut down your computer.

System restore says there are "No restore points have been created on your computer's system drive."

i checked the memory and it's fine.

Launching Windows normally there is actually a BSOD but i can't read anything that displays because my system reboots immediately. When i comes up again it says
"reboot and Select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key"

So my machine is trying a different drive on reboot but if I force it to use the Windows drive it's a repeat of the above.

I do have an earier clone of this drive that does work (It's just an earlier version) so I have a copy of any files windows needs if someone could help me know what files windows needs.

BTW using the cloned drive of Windows works and all the same hardware is connected so I'm thinking I can eliminate any of the hardware connected to this system as the cause of this issue.

**axe0** · 08 Aug 2017

Hi KT888,

Please remove as much as possible hardware from the system.

In your system specs you mention 2 builds, could you specify which one it is you have this problem with?

KT888 · 08 Aug 2017

Hi axe0 thanks for responding.
I added some additional information to my original post that should address the hardware question. But I do have the exact hardware setup the failed installation will not boot connected to an earlier cloned version of the now failed installation and everything is working perfectly. This actually happened a few days ago I've just been using the clone till I had some time to troubleshoot this issue. I would just keep using the installation that is working but It's pretty old and I'd have to make a ton of changes to get it to where the misbehavin copy is at. And honestly I have no idea what all those changes are they were made over a period of months to all kinds of software and hardware settings I'm constantly honing my systems I'm sure you can relate.

It's the 4770K system.
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64
CPU: 4770K
Motherboard: Asrock Z87 OC Formula/ac
Memory: 32GB G.Skill RipjawsX 2133MHz
Graphics Card(s): 2x Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 OC GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
Monitor(s): 4x27" BenQ GW2750HM, 1x42" Samsung HDTV
Screen Resolution:5x 2560x1440
Hard Drives: Samsung 840 Pro 128GB SSD
20x 3 to 8 TB Internal & external SATA & USB 3.0 drives
PSU: EVGA Supernova 1000W 80+Platinum
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced Blue Edition
Cooling: Corsair H80I Hydro Series
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Wireless Ergonomic Keyboard 7000
Mouse: Logitech G700s
Antivirus: Norton Security Premium
Browser: FF v50.0.1
Other Info: Wireless Corsair Gaming Headset 2100 Wireless Earforce PX5 Headset

**axe0** · 09 Aug 2017

Download an ISO from Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums, mount the ISO and copy the files onto a USB.

Use the misbehaving copy, boot from the USB containing the files of the ISO. After the system is booted, go to Windows Explorer and find the partition of Windows. Go to Minidump folder in Windows folder and copy all dumps to the USB, take also the memory.dmp file in Windows folder itself.
Upload the files please.

While your in the Windows PE, try to run th 'fix boot issues' option in Macrium Reflect.
Use Macrium Reflect Rescue Media to Fix Windows Boot Issues Windows 10 General Tips Tutorials

KT888 · 11 Aug 2017

Hi axe0 thanks for the information. I noticed you said to get a Windows 10 recovery disc but My OS is W7 should I still download the w10 recovery disc.

What files do I need to copy from the iso exactly. That's what I'm not sure of.

I actually have access to the non bootable Windows drive which is functioning perfectly fine as a drive just not as a boot drive. So I was able to access the minidump folder without the W10 recovery tools.

I went to the minidump folder but there's no minidump for the day my system died. The latest one is from 2 months ago and the one before that is from 8 months ago. As I said I actually shut down Windows properly using Windows shut down so that wouldn't generate a minidump and when I tried to boot up it never went into Windows so that didn't generate a Windows minidump. I guess.

I'm thinking there's gotta be a way to just copy the missing/corrupted Windows files from the working cloned copy of the same installation. I just don't know what files I need exactly.

**axe0** · 12 Aug 2017

With a PE the OS doesn't matter.

All files, missing a file could prevent booting.

when I tried to boot up it never went into Windows so that didn't generate a Windows minidump

Depends on if it a BSOD was, if it was then a dump would've been generated.

The files you're talking about are inaccessible for copy/paste, easiest you could try is the Fix Boot option in Macrium, see post #4, last link linked.

KT888 · 15 Aug 2017

I tried Macrium Reflect System Recovery
I accepted all 4 options it suggested

Reset the boot disk ID
This is the unique identifier of your hard disk and is a common cause of boot problems.

Replace the master boot record
Your computer will not be able to start if the Master Boot Record is missing or corrupt.

Replace partition sector boot code.
The partition sector boot code is called from the Master Boot Record. If this is corrupt then your computer cannot start.

Rebuild the Boot Configuration Database (BCD) and BOOT.INI files
The BCDd anBOOT.INI files are essential for the active partition to locate any operating systems of your disk. The Boot.ini file is only required if you have a Windows version earlier than Vista on your PC.

The first two seemed to work effectively but there's a giant red X next to Updating Partition Boot Sector and Creating BCD Store so I'm guessing they didn't work.

When I selected to reboot my system it does not reboot. Everything from the Macrium screen disappears and the screen shows the background from Macrium but the system does not shut down or reboot. I had to manually shut down and reboot.

When it came back up Windows Boot Manager shows TWO Windows 7 options which it shouldn't I only have 1 drive connected and I even removed the USB drive with the Macrium boot drive.

If I select the first one it just reboots in an endless loop

When I select the second one it shows

Windows failed to start ...
Shows File: \Windows\system32\winload.efi
Status: 0xc000000e
Info: The application or operating system couldn't be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors.

Something I forgot to mention in my initial post that I think will be useful in troubleshooting exactly what happened and what to do about it.

I had shut down my PC properly from within Windows as I mentioned but then my cat moved the mouse on my desk which causes my PC to wake up and since I had just closed it because I was turning in for the night and I did not want it to boot up again I unplugged it. It hadn't reached windows and I'm pretty sure post hadn't even run yet or finished at least but...

Now it won't boot and I'm thinking boot record or C\boot directory has been corrupted or something. BCD corrupted or some problem with the partition record or some file that was being used when the power was cut didn't close properly and became corrupted. Anyway some file Windows needs to boot. The Windows drive that won't boot works fine if I connect it to another Windows installation so it's not the drive itself and I can run all the hardware in my system from another Windows Installation so it's not an issue with any of the hardware connected to the system.

I've seen posts elsewhere that suggest using diskpart to make the drive active again and others suggesting using easybcd to replace the BCD on the windows drive. This last makes the most sense to me considering what actually happened and what's happening now and also the fact that Macrium failed to create the BCD store which likely means an issue with the BCD. Also the Partition Boot Sector failed to update but I know not what this means.

What do you think?

**axe0** · 16 Aug 2017

See if this tutorial fixes MBR issues.
Bootmgr is missing - Fix - Windows 7 Help Forums

Please note, it may not fix all issues but it will fix any MBR issues.

KT888 · 23 Aug 2017

Thanks for the suggestion axe0

I've been very busy so I haven't been able to work on this til now.
I tried the process at the page you listed above

When I tried the 3rd part

Bootrec /RebuildBcd
I get this response

Successfully scanned Wndows installations
Total Identified Windows installations: 0
The operation completed successfully

Now rebooting just has me in a loop. The PC just keeps rebooting without entering the windows environment, giving me an error or anything.

So I followed this
Bootrec.exe Tool in Windows Recovery Environment

Make sure your computer is configured to start from the DVD drive

Insert your Windows installation DVD or Windows repair DVD
Press any key when prompted
Choose your language, time, currency, keyboard language and click Next
Click Repair your computer
Select the operating system you want to repair and click Next
Click Command Prompt in the Systems Recovery Options dialog box
Type the following commands in the Windows RE command prompt window and press Enter to execute each command (paying particular attention to insert a space where shown below):
bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
c:
cd boot
attrib bcd -s -h -r
ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
bootrec /RebuildBcd

It seems like something happened. Now at least when my pc boots it actually TRIES to go into windows. I have detailed boot showing so I can see windows loading drivers when it's starting but then at the end of that instead of going into Windows it gets to CLASSPNP.sys and then BSOD and reboot. It happens far to fast for me to see what it says it's instantly gone.

When I run startup repair it says Windows cannot repair this computer automatically
The problem details are

Problem Signature 03: Unknown
Problem Signature 04: 21199126
Problem Signature 05: AutoFailover
Problem Signature 06: 12
Problem Signature 07: NoRootCause

It's not at all helpful to me but maybe that means something to one of you gurus

When the pc reboots I get the "Windows Error Recovery" screen
I tried

Safe Mode
runs through loading the drivers loading It gets to CLASSPNP.sys and then BSOD and reboot

Safe Mode with Command Prompt
runs through loading the drivers and then BSOD and reboot

Last Known Good Configuration
Goes right to the Starting Windows screen with the spinning animation then BSOD and reboot

Start Windows Normally
Goes right to the Starting Windows screen then BSOD and reboot

And just for good measure I ran Safe Mode with Networking which ran through loading drivers and then BSOD and reboot

I wish I could see what's on the BSOD because I know for a fact it's not hardware related because I'm using every single piece of hardware that's connected to the system with a cloned copy of THIS installation so obviously none of my hardware is faulty. Even the windows drive that won't boot itself works fine as a slave connected to another Windows installation so the drive itself isn't broken.

It says above the recovery options
If power was interrupted during startup, choose Start Windows Normally
This is exactly what happened in this case. As it's happened countless times in my life with computers. It's never caused a problem before I just start normally and it starts. Don't know why this time it's different.

Anyone have any suggestions based on the sequence described here. Hopefully it triggers a recollection in someone's experience that can help here.

Thanks

**axe0** · 25 Aug 2017

You'll want to run startup repair 3 times with a reboot between each.