Solved Can't Boot Win7 Even Though it Looks Perfect

[anonymous81]

Hi,

I'll start with a little background information before I get to my problem. I was attempting to uninstall an old version of Avira antivirus then install the latest version on Win7Ultimate x64. During the process I got a blue screen with error 7B, I did some research already and attempted everything I've found.

The blue screen no longer occurs and more importantly Windows doesn't even load, or rather it seems like it doesn't even try to.

The system ran perfectly prior to this and had no known issues/infections.


Here's the current details:
---------------------------------

I tried the Windows RE automatic repair numerous times, but it always says the tests are all successful and nothing is fixed.

I ran bootrec /fixboot and bootrec /fixmbr, both successful.

I looked at bcdstore and there is two entries, (1) for the boot manager on drive "E:" and the Windows loader also on drive "E:" My version of Windows is indeed on "E:\Windows" "E:" is marked as the default and I'm wondering what is "resumeobject?" I can't seem to find any directions for how to change that or if I should be concerned about it... it appears to point to a different ID than "E's"

I also tried bootsect /nt60 e: /force /mbr successfully.

I also ran chkdsk /f on all disks... no errors reported nor corrections made

E: is marked Active, System, Primary, and bootable.
(verified by DISKPART and Ubuntu's Gparted)


BIOS boot order is CD drive then the hard drive. When the computer boots it asks if I want to boot from CD, but I wait, and nothing happens... control never seems to transfer over to the Windows hard drive. If I try setting to just booting the hard drive, I get a black screen with the little underscore and nothing progresses to load Windows.


This is new to me, very bizarre, and I am completely stumped here. I only have 2 ideas left, which are very extreme and I want to avoid:

1. reset BIOS
2. Reinstall Windows then re-image the drive from a backup. This should fix the boot settings and put my data back in place.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

 

[marsmimar]

If you can access Safe Mode you might be able to use a system restore point to roll back you computer to a date/time prior to when your problems began.

Safe Mode

System Restore

If you can't access Safe Mode and since your BIOS is set to boot from the CD/DVD drive as first option, you could use a system repair disc and see if that will give you access to your repair options.

System Repair Disc - Create

Your second idea (to reinstall Windows then re-image the drive from a backup) has me confused. Do you already have a recent system image? If yes, you can use the system repair disc to access Windows Complete PC Restore using your backup image.

If I've misunderstood anything my apologies.

 

[Megahertz07]

Please edit your profile with ALL hardware information. It's very important to us so we can help you better.

Boot from your Win 7 installation disk, go to repair, open CMD.
Run chkdsk E: /f

 

[anonymous81]

I have a little update. I believe this bares great significance that I omitted: There are 4 primary partitions on the drive in question, including other unused Windows 7 installations. I also have a System Reserved 100MB partition... I have now corrected the boot setup to where the computer attempts to load Windows (using bootmgr on the reserved partition and a BCD store on the Windows drive I want to boot), however, it goes back to my original problem; the BSOD. It is 7B with parameters (0xFFFFF880009A97E8, 0xFFFFFFFFC0000034, 0 an all others).

Still no idea how to solve this BSOD. I have spent days looking into it. Again, CHKDSK finds no errors with any drives in the computer and Windows Repair runs all tests successfully without changes made to the system.

 

[ThrashZone]

There are 4 primary partitions on the drive in question, including other unused Windows 7 installations. I also have a System Reserved 100MB partition... .

Hi
Why ?
Clean the entire disk and reinstall with No other partitions.

 

[Eric3742]

You need to update your spec, as the OS is California or Win 7 Ultimate.
Also do include the Device Management, if possible, regarding to your post #4.


Without these, it is harder to understand.


Some questions.
What do you mean you was attempting to uninstall an old version Avira then this problem pop-up.
What did you did recently, any hardware change, as mainly hardware change may affect booting.
How come your Windows end in E:\ drive and which partition.


Do reset your BIOS to start from HDD.
As you mentioned like system hang, as if it HDD then you know.
So to force to boot HDD and there may have an indication on the error codes or what cause this issue.
If at any time you want to boot from USB &or DVD, then there is a certain key, ex. F12 to select boot option to boot from.

 

[anonymous81]

I discovered SFC cannot run successfully in Windows RE. I tried many other websites instructing how to get it to run, but it still does not. Also, Startup repair is now reporting it cannot repair the computer automatically with these details:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: StartupRepairOffline
Problem Signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 02: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 03: unknown
Problem Signature 04: 21200967
Problem Signature 05: ExternalMedia
Problem Signature 06: S
Problem Signature 07: CorruptFile
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

I believe the issue is due to corruption... I renamed the \windows\system32\drivers folder and naturally the computer complains about missing files. When I put the drivers folder back to normal, I get the BSOD again during Windows boot. I have looked at the "date accessed" on these driver files and it's funny, nothing lists today's date and the most recent date access listed is actually 1 day prior to when the BSOD started.

 

[Layback Bear]

If you have moved or renamed Windows 7 files or folders I would suggest doing a Repair Install and hope that works. I'm not really sure why one would do such a thing as moving or renaming Windows 7 files or folders.

This is a little tutorial by Brink that will guide you.

Repair Install

Jack

 

[anonymous81]

I found this minidump - no idea if it helps.

 

[Layback Bear]

No help to me because I can't read them.

Jack

 

[anonymous81]

I used osronline.com to analyze the file. It appears to be for the computer prior to upgrades made - irrelevant. It's odd I get the BSOD but no minidumps from the same time. So, I still have no idea to the cause of the problem. I'm now leaning towards upgrade/repair/re-install. I've spent too much time on this.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Well it is a lot easier to clean install just clean the disk first of all that is on it and go for it
See post #2 here for the three updates to download in advance,
windows update

 

[Megahertz07]

I agree that you already lost a lot of time. I would do a clean install.
-Backup all your data on another disk.
Disconnect ALL other disks from MoBo
-Boot from the installation disk, go to install, advanced, delete all partitions, create new and proceed.
Clean Install Windows 7

 

[anonymous81]

I figured it out (kinda):

I don't know exactly what caused the BSOD 7B, but I did discover that if I did a clean install of Windows, then used the registry from the messed up installation, I was able to reliably recreate the BSOD 7B. I changed nothing else. It is clearly something in the registry is awry. I tried to isolate the problem, but all I can conclude is it is something inside HKLM\SYSTEM. I came across many "solutions" online and saw many posts saying to change various registry entries, but nothing worked for me. Luckily, I did discover that there is a backup of the SYSTEM hive from about a week before the BSOD 7B. So, I simply overwrote the current SYSTEM hive with the slightly older one and the BSOD 7B went away.

No re-install required.

Swap
\Windows\System32\config\SYSTEM
with this one
\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\SYSTEM


In Review,

The BSOD 7B led me to so much tinkering I inadvertently messed up a working BCD, which got rid of the BSOD temporarily, but presented me with a new problem - the computer simply couldn't find the Windows installation. I then fixed that issue via correcting the BCD entries then I got back to receiving the BSOD 7B during boot. I then replaced SYSTEM with a backup, and now the computer is booting fine.

Problem Solved.

After thought: Although the computer boots, I am not sure what other issues may lie ahead in reverting the registry by about a week. Hopefully, not many changes occurred in that period. Also, if I knew of a program that could automatically compare two registries then I would be able to pinpoint the exact entries that cause the BSOD instead of manually going through it, which would be a very long time.