Cannot boot (Windows 7)

Hi,

I'm having issues booting my PC recently. I have a Dell XPS 8100. Windows 7 64 BIT OS, 8 GB RAM and 1 TB hard drive. Computer was fine until recently when it became very sluggish when booting up. I've had issues where it will try to boot up and then just freeze on a black screen. I've booted from my Dell OS disk and and tried some commands like bootrec /fixmbr. I was able to get to Windows after that but PC was still slow. I was trying to do a windows backup and it failed. I noticed someone else had a similar issue and it turned out their antivirus (MS Essentials, same as mine) had discovered some java exploits when they also had tried a b/u and it failed. I ran a full virus scan and sure enough I had a few java exploits which were removed. I had a couple windows updates install as well and eventually powered down the PC.

I've not been able to get back into Windows since then. I try to boot from the OS cd and it takes a real long time to finally get to system recovery screen. However I'm getting an RecEnv.exe error. Something like specified I/O is not found. It mentions \Device\Harddisk0\DR0. I see D drive on the screen with Windows 7 but partition size is 0 MB. I remember from the previous time the partition size was nonzero and I was able to get into Windows then. Not sure if the 0 MB size is an issue here.

I've tried bootrec fixmbr again (after clicking Try Again many times on the RecEnv.exe error above I do eventually get to System Recovery Options) but cannot get back into Windows.

I don't know if this issue is related to the exploits or if my HD is failing but I'd like to be able to get into Windows one last time at the very least to do a Windows backup now that the exploits were removed (assuming the backup can run clean).

Appreciate any help.

Work through these steps for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot which try everything possible to repair and start it, leading up to rescuiing your files to run Factory Recovery or Clean Reinstall. if necessary

Hi,

Kindly check if Hard Drive is recognized in BIOS or not. If yes, follow next step. If NO, load BIOS defaults and reseat HDD.

Try booting in to Safe mode and check if system works fine. If yes, then perform system restore.

If the issue still persists then I would recommend running Dell Diagnostics. In order to run Dell Diagnostics from Hard Drive, follow the mentioned steps: Restart your computer. When the DELL™ logo appears, tap <F12> immediately. In the boot device list, highlight Boot to Utility Partition and press <Enter>. Under Dell Diagnostics Main Menu (see Dell Diagnostics Main Menu), select the extended test. If you get any error code, make a note of the error code.
Let me know if that works

Debbie B said:

Hi,

Kindly check if Hard Drive is recognized in BIOS or not. If yes, follow next step. If NO, load BIOS defaults and reseat HDD.

Try booting in to Safe mode and check if system works fine. If yes, then perform system restore.

If the issue still persists then I would recommend running Dell Diagnostics. In order to run Dell Diagnostics from Hard Drive, follow the mentioned steps: Restart your computer. When the DELL™ logo appears, tap <F12> immediately. In the boot device list, highlight Boot to Utility Partition and press <Enter>. Under Dell Diagnostics Main Menu (see Dell Diagnostics Main Menu), select the extended test. If you get any error code, make a note of the error code.
Let me know if that works

Hi Debbie,

Sorry for the delay in responding. The HDD was defined in BIOS (WDXL333 7200 1TB). I was not able to boot into safe mode.

I ran the extended test in Dell Diagnostics and came across the following error message:

Error Code 0F00:1332
MSG Disk - Block 20318336: Interrupt Request(IRQ) did not set in time.

I continued a few times but this type of error message occurred every 128 blocks. Skipping this test resulted in a 0F00:0632 error. Skipping that error ended the test.

I googled the 0F00:1332 error message and I'm afraid it does not sound good from other people's comments => HDD is shot, get a new HDD.

Is this true? Can this HDD be recovered in any way? If not, can I put it in an external enclosure and try to at least access files for manual recovery?

In order to avoid this situation in the future (assuming the HDD is SOL), what should I do in the future to mitigate this type of situation. I need to buy a new HDD and then reinstall windows. Are there certain HDDs I should look for (SSD?)? How should I back up to lessen the impact in the future?

Lastly, I had MS Office installed on the current HDD. If the HDD is shot and I need to install a new one, is the license attached to that HDD? If it is, can I get it back and reassign it to the new HDD I need to install?

Sorry for all the questions. I guess I've been fortunate in that this is the first time my HDD has done this on a PC but I'd like to prepare myself better should it occur again.

Thanks all!

Run the maker's HD diagnostics extended CD scan in the forenote of the tutorial I linked before. This will tell you if HD can be repaired enough to rescue your data using one of the rescue methods given in the tutorial Step 9.

Then replace the HD and Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

Hi Greg,

Thanks for your reply. I ran the SeaTools test and it failed on the Long Test. I received a "Error(s) detected on NON Seagate Drive" and then "Sector Repair Failure. Repair was unsuccessful on the hard drive". I did not d/l and run the WD diagnostic tool yet as the instructions mentioned the WD tools could have some issues.

Is it worth a shot running the WD tool or will the result likely be the same as the SeaTools test?

Appreciate your assistance!

If it's a WD drive then you should run WD Data Lifeguard DOS extended CD scan.

Hi Greg,

I tried booting off a cd with DLGDIAG v5.04 but am receiving the following message:

"Unable to locate the license agreement file, DLGLICE.TXT. Please make sure the license agreement file is located in same path as DLGDIAG.EXE."

Then I get "Cannot load the file A:\COMMAND.COM"

The thing is the license agreement file is there in the same path on the cd. Although the exe file is named DLGDIAG5 but not sure that would matter.

I do see a DLGDiagv519 on the WD site but it is only an exe. There is no iso there.

If you scroll down the page you see the .ISO file to download, then click on it or rightclick to burn/open with Windows Image Burner.

Greg,

I was able to burn the v5.04 iso fine. When trying to boot off the v5.04 iso I get the above messages. It's not working for me. There seems to be a newer version (5.19) but it is not an iso, only exe.