Boot Up Hung at "Starting Windows" Logo!

[technomann]

Suddenly and for no apparent reason, my Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit ASUS laptop will not boot past the "Starting Windows" logo. I inserted the Windows 7 installation DVD in the drive and managed to boot to "Repair Windows". I repaired Windows Start-Up and did a System Restore and re-booted. I managed to get booted into Windows proper and everything seemed fine again. But today the problem has re-occurred--my system hangs at the "Starting Windows" logo and will not go any further no matter how much time I allow it.

Does anyone have a clue as to why this is happening or how I can repair it?

Thanks for any and all advice!

 

[Ranger4]

It looks like your hard drive might be failing. You need to save your personal files ASAP if you can get the computer started again.

 

[looked]

Does anyone have a clue as to why this is happening or how I can repair it?

The first thing I would try is sfc/scannow SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

 

[technomann]

It looks like your hard drive might be failing. You need to save your personal files ASAP if you can get the computer started again.

Thanks for the clue about the possible hard drive failure. I think that was the correct diagnosis! For some time now my "D" drive has been randomly disappearing from Windows, then re-appearing. My C drive is a relatively new SSD which contains the Windows OS. My D drive, on the other hand, is an older SATA 2 TB HDD that contains all of my data. I removed the D drive from the laptop and Windows booted up without a problem! Time to purchase a new HDD (fortunately all of my data is backed up).

Thanks again for the clue!

 

[Snick]

Hi technomann,

You can download SeaTools for Windows and install the program.

1. Run the application & it scans for all your supported drives.
2. If a pop-up appear stating "stxcon.exe has stopped working", click Close Program (doesn't affect the performance of the tool).
3. Accept the EULA
4. Check the appropriate box(s) preceding the drive(s) you wish to scan.
5. The basic tests will highlight with a preceding green checkmark.
6. Hover cursor over basic test.
7. When the dropdown menu appears, choose self-test.
8. If that passes, choose short generic.
9. If that passes your drive is good.
10. If your drive fails & you have a Seagate drive you can try the repair tool (only works on Seagate drives however)

 

[Ranger4]

Thanks for the clue about the possible hard drive failure. I think that was the correct diagnosis! For some time now my "D" drive has been randomly disappearing from Windows, then re-appearing. My C drive is a relatively new SSD which contains the Windows OS. My D drive, on the other hand, is an older SATA 2 TB HDD that contains all of my data. I removed the D drive from the laptop and Windows booted up without a problem! Time to purchase a new HDD (fortunately all of my data is backed up).

Thanks again for the clue!

If the computer is now booting properly from your C drive which is what it should have been doing before you had this problem, it means that you were previously booting from the D drive, which means you had 2 drives with an active boot setting & D just happened to be the first drive in the boot process, so when it started to fail you lost the ability to boot.

You may be able to recover your data files by getting into the BIOS & selecting the C drive as the first boot option. Then reboot with the D drive attached again & see if you can recover those files. You should now be operating from the C drive & you should be able to see the files located in the D drive if it is still working enough for that & copy the data files that you need, to Folders on your C drive or to another medium such as a USB thumb drive.

 

[CF40INPA]

Suddenly and for no apparent reason, my Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit ASUS laptop will not boot past the "Starting Windows" logo. I inserted the Windows 7 installation DVD in the drive and managed to boot to "Repair Windows". I repaired Windows Start-Up and did a System Restore and re-booted. I managed to get booted into Windows proper and everything seemed fine again. But today the problem has re-occurred--my system hangs at the "Starting Windows" logo and will not go any further no matter how much time I allow it.

Does anyone have a clue as to why this is happening or how I can repair it?

Thanks for any and all advice!

Hi. where did you get the " windows 7 installation DVD" ? I am unable to get windows started on an old machine, I wonder if this could be a solution without losing all the data on the hard drive

 

[technomann]

Hi. where did you get the " windows 7 installation DVD" ? I am unable to get windows started on an old machine, I wonder if this could be a solution without losing all the data on the hard drive

I am an MCSE and I used to have a Microsoft TechNet subscription so I had access to every flavor of Windows 7. Still keep the disc images around in my Archives. But you should be able to purchase a copy of Windows 7 on eBay for about $35 or $40...

 

[Ranger4]

But you should be able to purchase a copy of Windows 7 on eBay for about $35 or $40...

Not a good idea at all. There are far too many hacked & bogus version on Windows 7 on Ebay, that only cause a multitude of problems.