Solved Dell XPS M1530 Startup Repair Loop, Offline SFC does NOT function

[Z92435]

Dear Everyone,

Sorry to trouble all of you, but I've pretty much exhausted my google-fu. Thus, I figured that I should stop trying to throw things against the wall, and rather just see if there's someone wiser here who can help me out. Now, before you tell me, I am totally aware that I could easily cut my losses just by doing a re-install, which would make the Windows.Old folder and such, most of which can be easily put back via a command prompt script. However, being that this computer has software whose installation disks I do not have, I do NOT want to do a re-install, since it'll break program association and possibly other things which I cannot correct by re-installing them.

As far as I know, the machine in question is a Dell XPS M1530, with Intel Core 2 Duo T7250, Nvidia 8400M GS, 2GB RAM, and WD Scorpio Blue 250GB Hard Drive. It is running Windows 7 Ultimate, upgraded from Vista Home Premium, with all updates, software patches, and security fixes current according to Windows Update. As far as virus and malware goes, it has ESET NOD32 v4.7, Malware Bytes, and Spybot-S&D installed, with each being fully updated and scans immediately prior to the crash stating that the machine was clean. In addition, after the crash, I attempted to scan it with Avira, Dr. Webb, and Hiren's Boot CD, all of which stated that the machine is free of infection/threat.

Below, I'll attempt to take you guys and gals through everything, from the initial symptoms to the bag of tricks that I've employed, with each of its effect(s):

• Initial Outbreak & Symptoms: The Computer was fine, with everything being in tip top shape. However, being that Mozilla Firefox 10.2 had been stuck on loading a page when I attempted to shut it down, I used the "hold power button for 4 seconds" method to force it to quit (Yes, I know I shouldn't have done it.). Afterward, the system booted up and proceeded to go through the Dell Logo BIOS, followed by a brief version of the Windows 7 Waving Flag Splash screen. But, it abruptly changes into the Windows RE "Loading Windows Files" white bar, which leads to the Startup Repair. Initially, Startup Repairs states that the system had some corrupt files, which it will not be able to repair. The System then rebooted itself. At this point, I cannot launch Safe Mode (Any), pressing F8 does not lead to anything, and booting never completes.

• Treatment 1: Using Windows RE, I launched Chkdsk C:/R /X, which found and weeded out quite a few entries of corruption on the first run, which was corrected then and never showed up in any of the repeated scans of Chkdsk. Currently, when Chkdsk is run, it reports that it found no problems.

• Treatment 2: Trying to figure out if I messed up any hardware, I attempted to run Dell's built-in Diagnostic system, which initially told me that the Hard Drive was not detected with an error of 2000-0141 or 2000-0146 (they alternated), which is stated by Dell to be fixable by the removal and reinsertion of the Hard Drive, which was true. However, I've never been able to get through a scan without the 2000-014X error log, since it appears to be stuck in the log "from a previous scan", even though it has been corrected. As far as I can tell, the physical hard drive is fine, if its connection might have been a bit loose when the first scan was run.

• Treatment 3: Using Windows RE and CMD, I used the Startup Infinite Loop Registry trick, even though the file sizes of everything in my regback was drastically different than in the guide. However, being that I read others had mentioned they've got varying sizes (All nonzero) also, I thought I might be okay. Indeed, I thought things got a bit better afterward, since it brought back the ability to launch the Advance Boot Options via F8. Although, testing revealed that booting to Safe Mode (Any), Last Known Good Configuration, and Start Normally all result in the Startup Repair situation.

• Treatment 4: Just as a Hail Mary, I tried Bootrec /FixMBR and /FixBoot, both of which did NOT resolve the situation. However, it did seem to make the boot process more smooth and lasted somewhat longer before the Startup Repair takes over.

• Treatment 5: Now, this is the first and last thing I tried, so trust me when I say that this machine does NOT like SFC right now. Initially, when run via Hard Drive, SFC /Scannow yielded a message about Windows Protection Resource not able to perform. However, if run by Installation CD, SFC /Scannow says that it is waiting for a repair to complete, which requires a restart... even after it was restarted. Now, regardless of running it via CD or Hard Drive, if I use "SFC /Offbootdir=C:\ /Offwindir=C:\Windows", I get a little frozen stuttering cursor that blinks for a bit, then a message stating that "SFC Found Corrupt Files, but it was unable to repair them."

• Hypothesis: After throwing a whole bunch of tricks at it, now Startup Repair makes through the scan and states that it cannot figure out what is wrong. Yet, every time I turn on the computer, this problem pops up. Based on my thoughts, I'm of the mind that if SFC could run, it could probably easily fix whatever corruption there exists. Unfortunately for me, I'm like a guy with a loose screw whose screwdriver has broken off its handle. Thus, I'm of the mind that if one of you guys and gals and point me to salvation, I'd be really grateful. Why? Well, my reasons are:
  • If you wish, you can find the extended CBS Log here. The computer broke on 02/22/2012, which means that the SFC haven't been logging, or perhaps doing, anything for the past few days, even as I've been repeatedly trying to run it, which leads me to think that my screwdriver's kaput.
  • Going by the CBS Log, you can see that between 02/12/2012 and 02/20/2012, the SFC was running successfully, along with that nasty little percentage bar. However, when I attempt SFC of any kind now, there is no percentage bar, just a crazy little blinking cursor, followed by the "corrupt and unrepairable" message.

• Current State: When Startup Repair is run, whether repeatedly or just once, it keeps on telling me that it cannot repair the problem. However, when you check out the details, it tells you that it cannot figure out what the problems are, as the machine passes all of its tests. Yet, it still is stuck in the loop. Occasionally, it'll say that the flaw resides with rdyboost.sys file being corrupt, but if I do chkdsk and recheck, it states that it can't find anything wrong.

• Caveat: Sorry about this, everyone. But, please keep in mind that:
  • While I would LOVE to do a repair install, I cannot do it because I cannot log into Windows, and Windows 7 only allow repair install from inside the OS! (What idiots designed this?!)
  • I have checked everything from CPU to RAM to the display cables, everything is now well connected. So, I do not think that it is a loose connection.
  • Yes, I know that you'd probably advise me to just re-install, which I could easily do so. But, as I mentioned, I know that it'll break all kinds of software and stuff, leaving me a big mess and unable to fix them due to lack of installation media. I really don't want to do it, unless there's literally no other way, which I find surprising.

Please, everyone. Help me out here. How the hell do I help the program that's supposed to be helping me?! How does one manually switch in a good rdyboost.sys file? Help?

 

[writhziden]

Nevermind, see you tried Startup Repair Infinite Loop Recovery... It appears you have done everything humanly possible to fix it through Windows. Try TestDisk through PartedMagic which you can obtain from the Ultimate Boot CD Overview through the download link.

http://www.sevenforums.com/software/190430-regain-lost-drive-using-test-disk-illustrated-guide.html will help you repair the hard disk partitions.

 

[Z92435]

Nevermind, see you tried Startup Repair Infinite Loop Recovery... It appears you have done everything humanly possible to fix it through Windows. Try TestDisk through PartedMagic which you can obtain from the Ultimate Boot CD Overview through the download link.

http://www.sevenforums.com/software/190430-regain-lost-drive-using-test-disk-illustrated-guide.html will help you repair the hard disk partitions.

Writhziden,

Thanks for the help attempt and the edit. I'll admit that I was a tad surly when I woke up and saw that someone told me to try using a CD, which would be great advice, if only I hadn't done it already! I mean, I'm sorry if I sound arrogant, flippant, or surly, but even though I'm not a professional coder by any means, I do like to consider myself a relatively advanced user with pretty good google-fu (At least I hope that's true. Haha.). Regardless, I'm downloading the UBCD right now, which it appears will take a while (i.e., 2 hours and 9 minutes!), despite being not as massive as some of the OS downloads out there; I'll definitely try it when I finish downloading and burning.

I really should have attempted TestDisk, but I didn't think that it could be a partition thing, since it didn't indicate anything wrong with the partitions, just that either rdyboost.sys was corrupt or that it can't find anything wrong. Just curious, what kind of conditions could render SFC unable to function? Because I was always under the impression that SFC always worked as one of the triage programs, but I never knew that it could be killed by something other than a virus or malware. Under this situation, are there simply no way to "borrow a screwdriver" from somewhere else that'll "tighten up my loose screw"? I mean, based on the lack of CBS logs from recent days, it really does seem like SFC isn't actually doing anything, which is as annoying as it is mysterious to me.

Finally, just curious, if testDisk doesn't work, or if it revealed no errors, what options do I have other than reinstalling? Or, if there are none, are there any options which would make sure every program and their linkages worked if I had to use the "Windows.old"-and-move-everything-back option?

 

[writhziden]

A couple of things can render SFC nonfunctional:

1. Registry errors often caused by automated registry cleaning tools are the most common.
2. System corruption to the point that SFC is no longer capable of correcting Windows files.
3. Hard disk errors or a failing hard disk.

My guess is that yours is a result of one of the first two cases. Not necessarily that you used an automated registry cleaner, but that the registry became corrupted in the same way Windows does.

Also, the corruption found on your hard disk, while corrected, may not have been corrected in a way that the data was actually recovered resulting in these issues. TestDisk may be able to repair such problems. We'll have to wait and see.

 

[Z92435]

A couple of things can render SFC nonfunctional:

1. Registry errors often caused by automated registry cleaning tools are the most common.
2. System corruption to the point that SFC is no longer capable of correcting Windows files.
3. Hard disk errors or a failing hard disk.

My guess is that yours is a result of one of the first two cases. Not necessarily that you used an automated registry cleaner, but that the registry became corrupted in the same way Windows does.

Also, the corruption found on your hard disk, while corrected, may not have been corrected in a way that the data was actually recovered resulting in these issues. TestDisk may be able to repair such problems. We'll have to wait and see.

Lord. I knew I shouldn't have allowed Startup Repair to run that first time, since I completely have a feeling that Windows' attempt at repairing itself the first time is what did me in. After all, it did have an single episode right after the Startup Repair where SFC actually ran, but froze at 18% for three hours, leading me to necessitate a forced power button shutdown followed by a hard disk diagnostic check. After that, it just never did jack diddly except blink a little cursor at me. *Sigh* Here's praying that TestDisk can get some of these things fixed, since everything really looks pretty much intact on the Hard Drive.

If nothing else, I guess I can use UBCD to clone this drive to another volume, so that I can explore a re-install, if need be. That way, if a reinstall really does fubar things completely, I can back track. Thanks again, and I'll report in once UBCD downloads and runs.

 

[Z92435]

All right. Just got done with the whole shebang. I ran TestDisk much like the guide said, off of the live CD. Quick Search did not end up giving me much of anything, but I let it write the partition anyway. Then, to be thorough, I had it run a deeper search, which also said that everything was okay. But, just as before, when I rebooted my machine (into Safe Mode with CMD), the Startup Repair loop happened again.

 

[writhziden]

At this point, it is probably a good idea to clone the drive or backup important data, and then http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html.

Treatment 5: Now, this is the first and last thing I tried, so trust me when I say that this machine does NOT like SFC right now. Initially, when run via Hard Drive, SFC /Scannow yielded a message about Windows Protection Resource not able to perform. However, if run by Installation CD, SFC /Scannow says that it is waiting for a repair to complete, which requires a restart... even after it was restarted. Now, regardless of running it via CD or Hard Drive, if I use "SFC /Offbootdir=C:\ /Offwindir=C:\Windows", I get a little frozen stuttering cursor that blinks for a bit, then a message stating that "SFC Found Corrupt Files, but it was unable to repair them."

Also, before you do the clean install, are you sure the Windows drive shows up as C: in the recovery environment? That environment has different letter techniques than Windows explorer.

 

[Z92435]

At this point, it is probably a good idea to clone the drive or backup important data, and then http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html.

Treatment 5: Now, this is the first and last thing I tried, so trust me when I say that this machine does NOT like SFC right now. Initially, when run via Hard Drive, SFC /Scannow yielded a message about Windows Protection Resource not able to perform. However, if run by Installation CD, SFC /Scannow says that it is waiting for a repair to complete, which requires a restart... even after it was restarted. Now, regardless of running it via CD or Hard Drive, if I use "SFC /Offbootdir=C:\ /Offwindir=C:\Windows", I get a little frozen stuttering cursor that blinks for a bit, then a message stating that "SFC Found Corrupt Files, but it was unable to repair them."

Also, before you do the clean install, are you sure the Windows drive shows up as C: in the recovery environment? That environment has different letter techniques than Windows explorer.

Well, at this point, I just popped in my Data Rescue PC by Prosoft Disc, to run after the Startup Repair loop breaks. Hopefully, it can pull out enough Data off. I currently on dividing up a Terabyte drive into thirds, so that I can use one volume to clone the drive, other to pull data, then a third for whatever. Maybe the data recovery process will correct something?

Any other ideas other than a clean install? Any way I can somehow tweak the registry some more into making system restore or SFC work? Regarding the lettering, I think that it's labeled as C:, but then again I sometimes mix up the Recovery Console, Recovery Environment, and some other stuff.

 

[writhziden]

That's why I was asking about the C: drive in recovery being the Windows drive. I was wondering if there was any chance you might have run SFC on the incorrect drive... On my system, the Windows drive becomes the E: drive. See the picture for what I mean; the red letters are how the recovery environment sees my partitions.
View attachment 200269

 

[Z92435]

That's why I was asking about the C: drive in recovery being the Windows drive. I was wondering if there was any chance you might have run SFC on the incorrect drive... On my system, the Windows drive becomes the E: drive. See the picture for what I mean; the red letters are how the recovery environment sees my partitions.
View attachment 200269

As far as I can tell, that's due to the fact that you've got a partition scheme going on, whereas my hard drive is simply one partition on one drive. But, just in case, I'll run diskpart and check it out. Maybe I did possibly mistakenly call the wrong letter, but I somehow don't think so. Meh.

 

[writhziden]

When you install Windows, it usually creates the system reserved partition for the boot information. You can delete that reserved partition through Disk Management, and Windows will usually still run (in my experience, though I do not recommend doing so).

If you do not have a system reserved partition, then your steps were correct. See Method Two of http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/139810-sfc-scannow-run-command-prompt-boot.html if you do have a system reserved partition.

 

[Z92435]

When you install Windows, it usually creates the system reserved partition for the boot information. You can delete that reserved partition through Disk Management, and Windows will usually still run (in my experience, though I do not recommend doing so).

If you do not have a system reserved partition, then your steps were correct. See Method Two of http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/139810-sfc-scannow-run-command-prompt-boot.html if you do have a system reserved partition.

Nope, I'm pretty sure that this HD was installed by Dell, rather than a later aftermarket install. I merely upgraded the existing Vista Home Premium to the Windows 7 Ultimate, so it does just have the one volume.

Interestingly, I'm now trying to clone the drive, but Data Rescue is telling me that I've got a Sector Read Error. Maybe that was the source of the damage? Here's hoping that Data Rescue can iron out some of the information damage. Interesting how it was not picked up by the other programs, but Data Rescue saw the damage. Hmmm.

Update: Heh. I don't know if the bad sector in question was already labeled by SFC or not, but the funny part is that while the Data Rescue was churning around the bad sector, the time required jumped up to 49 or 50 hours. However, as soon as it got through it, my cloning speed is now at just over 4 hours. It appears that, no matter what, this drive does have a few bad sectors. I wonder if part of the problem was that some of those bad sectors were in use by the OS for something.

 

[writhziden]

Strange about the partitioning scheme.

What is Data Rescue?

 

[Z92435]

Strange about the partitioning scheme.

What is Data Rescue?

Data Rescue is a software that's made by Prosoft Engineering, which is used on Hard Drives which cannot do much at all. To be honest, I typically only use it on computers so clogged with viruses that it doesn't get much past the BIOS, if at all. It does a good job in finding your data, whether deleted, lost, or gone, then allow you to clone it onto another drive. Only issue is that it is not cheap, and I'll be honest that I've never used the clone function on it. However, here's hoping that it is a good one, since that's what I'm using to clone my drive, in case my further tweaking just mess up more things. Data Rescue is usually last resort for file recovery, but pretty decent.

 

[writhziden]

Yeah, there are a lot of data recovery programs out there, so I am only familiar with a few. We typically recommend the free versions on here since it is against the forum rules to promote any paid products. Rescue Kit Free Edition | PARAGON Software Group - free partition software, hard disk partitioning is probably suggested the most.

 

[Z92435]

Yeah, there are a lot of data recovery programs out there, so I am only familiar with a few. We typically recommend the free versions on here since it is against the forum rules to promote any paid products. Rescue Kit Free Edition | PARAGON Software Group - free partition software, hard disk partitioning is probably suggested the most.

Ooops! Sorry about that, Writhziden. I didn't know that this forum had that rule. Although, to be fair, Data Rescue does have the same full featured free edition that Rescue Kit Free Edition does, its just that the number of uses is limited. So, maybe I only bent the rules a bit, but not actually broken it? Hehe.

Just wondering, I know that you mentioned that there's a lot of data rescue programs out there, but are there any with the capability to possibly help with my situation, other than just clone or file grab? I mean, I did just see that one of the features on the product you recommended is that it could "easily fix boot problems", but does that claim extend to situations like mine, or is this situation too stage 4 for these programs?

I know that I'm currently cloning the drive, but I really DON'T want to do a clean install unless there is simply no other way. Maybe it's naive, but I still hold out hope that as long as SFC or something like SFC can function, maybe it'll correct everything. *Sigh*

 

[writhziden]

I don't think you broke the rules. You weren't linking to the site to advertise but to answer my question as to what you were using.

I've never actually used the Paragon rescue CD, so I do not know if it would work. It is up to you whether you want to try it out. I don't imagine it would exacerbate the problem. I prefer to make system image backups so if I run into problems like what you have I can just revert to the system image.
I use

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html,​

and

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html?ltr=B​

is also a good method.

 

[Z92435]

I don't think you broke the rules. You weren't linking to the site to advertise but to answer my question as to what you were using.

I've never actually used the Paragon rescue CD, so I do not know if it would work. It is up to you whether you want to try it out. I don't imagine it would exacerbate the problem. I prefer to make system image backups so if I run into problems like what you have I can just revert to the system image.
I use

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html,​

and

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html?ltr=B​

is also a good method.

Meh. It would have been good to make a system image of this hard drive right after I had made it all shiny and HD shaped. But, I thought that I was going to give it back to my uncle the next day, so I thought that it'd be more his problem than mine. Who know that I'd break it within the 4 hours it was supposed to remain in my care. Bah!

Are there any other suggestions, tweaks, or tricks that can possibly help? Also, can you give me some tips on how to get the re-installation done on top of the existing drive? I'd like to disrupt as little as I can. As far as I know, there seems to be a DOS command that can automatically move "Whatever.old" contents into the newly created folders. Also, are there ways to gauge which associations and such are broken by the re-install?

 

[writhziden]

Unfortunately, programs cannot be moved over and work properly due to them needing to be setup properly through the install procedure. You will just have the user files remaining in Windows.old that are still usable; everything else that is kept is not going to help too much unless there were files saved in other areas by your uncle.

Re-reading everything you wrote in the first post, I feel bad that I could not offer a better solution. The only thing I can say is it may be worth trying the Paragon Recovery CD just to see if the claim that it can restore boot problems is true. Do this after you create the clone, of course, in case you need to revert back due to the unforeseen.

As to what initially got the computer into this mess, I learned the hard way just as you are, although it was a little different since it was with my own machine. I now will not do a hard shut down unless I really have no other option. I have literally waited close to an hour for my system to shut down just to avoid what you are experiencing. I had software installed a few months ago that would cause my system to take between 15-53 minutes to shut down on a regular basis (that software has now been removed and I will never touch it again).

Believe me, I know what you are going through on both levels. I have caused problems with my mom's computer trying to fix it before. These things happen, and luckily family forgives us.

Anyway, try the recovery CD after you get the clone made. Then do a re-install with windows.old folders as a last measure.

 

[Z92435]

Unfortunately, programs cannot be moved over and work properly due to them needing to be setup properly through the install procedure. You will just have the user files remaining in Windows.old that are still usable; everything else that is kept is not going to help too much unless there were files saved in other areas by your uncle.

Well, that's really just crappy then, since he really doesn't have any files on this thing. However, he does have his settings and passwords on the browsers and stuff, which I can no longer access because it requires booting. Mostly, it was just his programs that needed to work, which I know can probably survive in the "Whatever.old" folder. So, what you're telling me is that, I'm essentially screwed, with what I fear being true, that the re-install will affect everything, and I can't do anything to help or change that.

Are there no situation in which you can go into the files to see exactly what the damage is? I mean, the fact that the Windows OS is booting up somewhat initially, and the Safe Modes are running down the list of drivers seems to say to me that it is largely intact. If the damage done can be figured out, there must be a way for it to be repaired. I mean, God knows that it should be possible to do so, if it isn't, then Windows leave a whole frickin lot to the desire.