Solved Windows 7 broken: can no longer log in...

[TerDale]

Can no longer log in after unexpected reboot & startup repair!

Hi there,

Sorry if this post is quite long, but it summarizes a whole day spent attempting to fix my broken system

Back to office this morning I found my Windows 7 SP1 (Ultimate x64) rebooted and entered in the "startup repair" procedure. Was really weird to me considering I left it yesterday at night powered on, and that it is configured to hibernate later on in the night, and to wake up at 8 am, just before I arrive to office.
Moreover, other machines let me say that there were no power outage.

After it attempted to repair, I rebooted and landed on the W7 Welcome screen, but with only one account, of which icon was empty (transparent), and no user name was proposed (to be fill in). So, I tried to key each of my accounts with associated PW, but all were denied access.

So, I spent the whole day to try multiple potential solutions found on the Net (including your forums), but I always ended up to the same issue: unable to log in. Here is what I've tried so far (not in exact chronological order):
- rebooted and tried "Last known good"
- rebooted with installation DVD, chosen "Repair":
* tried "startup repair"
* tried "system restore", took 10+ min. to restore the last Restore Point generated yesterday, but ended up with the same login issue
* tried "command prompt": let me see that all my 4 partitions are accessible with (apparently) all stuff in place
o chkdsk /b /r /v
o sfc /scannow /offbootdir:c:\ /offwindir:c:\windows, as per one of your tutorials, but was told that it could not start the repair service,
o sfc /scannow, but I'm always told that a system repair is pending and that I must reboot and try again...
o bootrec:
. /FixBoot: operation OK, but same issue anyway
. /FixMbr: operation OK, but same issue anyway
. /ScanOs: told me that it found 0 Windows installations
. /RebuildBCD: told me the same
o tried to rename currently present bcd & bcd.log*, as per another forum suggestion, and then rebooted
- rebooted in safe mode:
* but crashed with a BSOD just after displaying "Classupnp.sys"
* unfortunately my system is configured to restart after BSOD so I could not write down error number & other info,
* so, not knowing if "Classupnp.sys" was the driver currently loading or the last one properly loaded, I tried to replace it with the installation DVD one, but without success

I probably forgot some other attempts...

Anyway, I'm now out of idea, and my last resort is to reinstall W7, but I would like to avoid it, hence why I hope that you'll find a way to fix my current installation.
BTW, I'm puzzled by the fact my system rebooted, the only reason I can imagine is that it crashes with a BSOD, and that tried to reboot. So, the cause could be a new HW, but I didn't install one recently (just moved a USB bluetooth adapter from a USB slot to another), or the consequence of a system update (but sounds not very likely), or some malware.

Precision: FWIW I must tell that my OS is configured to have "Program Files" folders and user profiles on other drives that the system one thanks to junction points :
- C: is the system and boot drive, "\Users" is a junction to "F:\Users", while "Program Files" (and its x86 counterpart) is a junction to "E:\Program Files"
- D: is dedicated to the swap file
- E: holds installed applications
- F: user data
It's running like this for, years.

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[TerDale]

Anybody? No clue?

 

[quickdraw2011]

Do you hear any beeps?

Is your HDD clicking?

Have you entered setup options and ran an extend scan of your HDD?

 

[TerDale]

Hi quickdraw,

Thanks for the reply,

Do you hear any beeps?
Is your HDD clicking?

No to both

Have you entered setup options and ran an extend scan of your HDD?

If you mean with the installation DVD, then no, I didn't, will try and let you know

 

[quickdraw2011]

TerDale, are you there?

 

[TerDale]

Yep

 

[quickdraw2011]

Wait one

Trying to find another member to help. Give me a couple of more minutes. About to go to bed.

 

[TerDale]

OK, thanks

 

[Kaktussoft]

sfc /scannow /offbootdir:c:\ /offwindir:c:\windows, as per one of your tutorials, but was told that it could not start the repair service,
o sfc /scannow, but I'm always told that a system repair is pending and that I must reboot and try again...

did you do the sfc/scannow command from "repair disk", "installation dvd", or by pressing F8 and enter "repair computer"? Don't do it using F8 as most of the time sfc/scannow doesn't work then. Sure your prompt was X: instead of C: when doing the command? Do a DIR C:\ in "recovery environment" to be very sure C: is indeed windows partition

 

[quickdraw2011]

Well I see you've disappeared. Will someone help the OP when he returns. I'm off to bed.

 

[TerDale]

Hi Kaktussoft,

did you do the sfc/scannow command from "repair disk", "installation dvd", or by pressing F8 and enter "repair computer"? Don't do it using F8 as most of the time sfc/scannow doesn't work then. Sure your prompt was X: instead of C: when doing the command? Do a DIR C:\ in "recovery environment" to be very sure C: is indeed windows partition

Don't remember exactly if it was via F8 or DVD, so I'll retry it as per your recommendations, and will report the result here, thanks.

 

[TerDale]

I found him waiting for him to show

Thanks man!

 

[Kaktussoft]

in recovery environment do
dir d:\
dir e:\
dir f:\

so you know what driveletters mean in recovery environment.
chkdsk/f c:
chkdsk/f d:
chkdsk/f e:
etc

any errors? files are still on disk?

 

[Kaktussoft]

in recovery environment->command prompt:
bcdedit /enum all >C:\mybcd.txt
then copy to some usb stick
COPY C:\mybcd.txt Q:\
if Q is drive letter of usb stick
now you ca delete mybcd.txt
DEL C:\mybcd.txt

put usb stick in another machine and post the file

 

[Kaktussoft]

sfc /scannow /offbootdir:c:\ /offwindir:c:\windows, as per one of your tutorials, but was told that it could not start the repair service,
o sfc /scannow, but I'm always told that a system repair is pending and that I must reboot and try again...

did you do the sfc/scannow command from "repair disk", "installation dvd", or by pressing F8 and enter "repair computer"? Don't do it using F8 as most of the time sfc/scannow doesn't work then. Sure your prompt was X: instead of C: when doing the command? Do a DIR C:\ in "recovery environment" to be very sure C: is indeed windows partition

dont use sfc /scannow as it scans the recovery environment itself!!
use the offbootdir options

 

[Kaktussoft]

-safe mode still gives you a BSOD?
-normal boot still works (but is behaving strange at logon screen)?
So the bcd store (bootmenu) is still there. I thought you renamed it (not smart as the system was booting)

 

[TerDale]

OK, so:
- rebooted with installation DVD
- open command prompt
- at X: prompt, dir c:, Windows partition right there
- sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\Windows
> Beginning system scan...
then, after 2 or 3 secs:
> Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation
- sfc /scannow
> Beginning system scan...
then, after 2 or 3 secs:
told that a system repair is pending and that I must reboot and try again..
- so, rebooted with DVD again
- command prompt again
- sfc /scannow
> Beginning system scan...
then, after 2 or 3 secs:
told that a system repair is pending and that I must reboot and try again..

 

[TerDale]

Kaktussoft,

I still have to do chkdsk, bcdedit stuff as requested, I'll let you know in a few minutes

 

[Kaktussoft]

OK, so:
- rebooted with installation DVD
- open command prompt
- at X: prompt, dir c:, Windows partition right there
- sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\Windows
> Beginning system scan...
then, after 2 or 3 secs:
> Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation
- sfc /scannow
> Beginning system scan...
then, after 2 or 3 secs:
told that a system repair is pending and that I must reboot and try again..
- so, rebooted with DVD again
- command prompt again
- sfc /scannow
> Beginning system scan...
then, after 2 or 3 secs:
told that a system repair is pending and that I must reboot and try again..

sfc /scannow doesn't work and it worked it checks the recovery environment itself!

so use: sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\Windows
as you did as well. I'll google for answers

 

[TerDale]

in recovery environment->command prompt:
bcdedit /enum all >C:\mybcd.txt
then copy to some usb stick
COPY C:\mybcd.txt Q:\
if Q is drive letter of usb stick
now you ca delete mybcd.txt
DEL C:\mybcd.txt

put usb stick in another machine and post the file

How do you spell Murphy's Law?
- inserted my USB key in a USB slot
- looking for it, tried all letters, not found
- changed slot: not better
- rebooted recovery env. with USB key inserted
- not better

Chkdsk currently running on the different drives...