Windows 7 feezing on startup.

Windows 7 freezes part way thru the startup procedure. During Windows 7 startup there is a black screen with a Windows flag emblem right in the center of the screen and underneath that it says "Starting Windows". It freezes at that point everytime.

I retry and the Startup recovery options sreen comes up and it runs several tests of which are succesful except for one. I get the following messege. My wording might not be exact.

"Unspecified changes might be cause of problem
System Integrity Files check Failed Error 0x049"

Windows tells me it cant fix this problem automatically. I then tried a system restore using a date that windows suggested but 7 still freezes up at same point. Trying to restore at another point fails, it wont let me do another restore from an older date.

Windows did some updates, I think there were a couple of critical updates in there, about a week ago and one update was for my video driver. After updating the vid driver, my screen would go blank for about 3 seconds every 30 minutes. After putting up with this for a couple of days I went into the control panel and "rolled back" the vid driver to the previous version. Computer worked fine for about 3 days until it started freezing up during startup.

So, I'm at a loss right now. I cant do another restore, Windows cant fix the problem, cant do an Image recovery because I don't have one.

Any ideas on what I can do here to fix this sucker ??

Specs: off the shelf computer
Gateway DX4822 8Gig Ram, 1TB drive
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Nvidia Geforce GT220 1024mb

mouser said:

Windows 7 freezes part way thru the startup procedure. During Windows 7 startup there is a black screen with a Windows flag emblem right in the center of the screen and underneath that it says "Starting Windows". It freezes at that point everytime.

I retry and the Startup recovery options sreen comes up and it runs several tests of which are succesful except for one. I get the following messege. My wording might not be exact.

"Unspecified changes might be cause of problem
System Integrity Files check Failed Error 0x049"

Windows tells me it cant fix this problem automatically. I then tried a system restore using a date that windows suggested but 7 still freezes up at same point. Trying to restore at another point fails, it wont let me do another restore from an older date.

Windows did some updates, I think there were a couple of critical updates in there, about a week ago and one update was for my video driver. After updating the vid driver, my screen would go blank for about 3 seconds every 30 minutes. After putting up with this for a couple of days I went into the control panel and "rolled back" the vid driver to the previous version. Computer worked fine for about 3 days until it started freezing up during startup.

So, I'm at a loss right now. I cant do another restore, Windows cant fix the problem, cant do an Image recovery because I don't have one.

Any ideas on what I can do here to fix this sucker ??

Specs: off the shelf computer
Gateway DX4822 8Gig Ram, 1TB drive
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Nvidia Geforce GT220 1024mb

Can you boot into safe mode (F8)? If so you could try a system file check
(type cmd in search>right click and run as admin>sfc /scannow)

let us know the results

Ken

Apparently I cant get into Safe mode. When I turned the power button on I started tapping the F8 key about once every second but eventually I get a black screen that says "Windows Error Recovery" "Hardware or Software change might be the cause" and it gives me 2 options, to start windows "normally" or launch "startup repair".

This is a screen I got the other day. Of course, with startup repair, windows tries to fix the problem and then proceeds to tell me it can't.

So, no go on the Safe Mode unless I wasnt performing the proper procedure for launching Safe Mode ?? I think I was doing it right ??

mouser said:

Apparently I cant get into Safe mode. When I turned the power button on I started tapping the F8 key about once every second but eventually I get a black screen that says "Windows Error Recovery" "Hardware or Software change might be the cause" and it gives me 2 options, to start windows "normally" or launch "startup repair".

This is a screen I got the other day. Of course, with startup repair, windows tries to fix the problem and then proceeds to tell me it can't.

So, no go on the Safe Mode unless I wasnt performing the proper procedure for launching Safe Mode ?? I think I was doing it right ??

You did it right.

I assume you dont have a backup from before the problem?

Can you boot from DVD to do a clean install?

I assume you dont have a backup from before the problem?

I just backed up my important, individual files about a week ago to a dvd but dont have a backup of the entire computer

Can you boot from DVD to do a clean install?

Well, I'm not sure if I can boot from DVD but I dont have a Windows 7 Operating System disk. Isnt that what I'd need to refresh Windows 7 ? Only thing I have is that Windows 7 recovery disk I made right after I purchased the puter but apparently it only allows you to get to the Windows Recovery Option screen which I've already been to several times.

Also, a clean install, does that just affect the system files ?? That wont overwite my entire hardrive will it ? Please forgive my noob questions but I'm not very computer savy.

mouser said:

I assume you dont have a backup from before the problem?

I just backed up my important, individual files about a week ago to a dvd but dont have a backup of the entire computer

Can you boot from DVD to do a clean install?

Well, I'm not sure if I can boot from DVD but I dont have a Windows 7 Operating System disk. Isnt that what I'd need to refresh Windows 7 ? Only thing I have is that Windows 7 recovery disk I made right after I purchased the puter but apparently it only allows you to get to the Windows Recovery Option screen which I've already been to several times.

Also, a clean install, does that just affect the system files ?? That wont overwite my entire hardrive will it ? Please forgive my noob questions but I'm not very computer savy.

So
1-no
2-no win 7 dvd=no
3=Yes. A clean install means re-installing all your applications

But.
You options are fairly limited.

Well crap. I guess I'll have to pack it up and take it to a local puter shop to have Windows 7 reinstalled.

Is that what you'd recommend since I dont have a Windows 7 Operating System disk ?

Fortunately I didnt have that many new programs installed on it so I wouldnt lose much and the programs I did install I have their install disks so can just reinstall them easily. I backed up all of my important files and pics so I wont lose them and I've got this backup puter to use while the other is out of commission. I guess I'm not too bad off.

Hey man, thanks for your quick replies, you're freakin awesome.