Windows Update interrupted and now cannot boot laptop

[Stevolutionary]

Hello,

I just got a new Acer laptop with Vista and a Windows 7 upgrade. I installed the upgrade, and everything went fine, but after I shut it down it went into auto installing updates.

As I was on critical battery and couldn't find my charger, it shut down before completion. Now whenever I try to restart I get an error screen (which is only on for a second or two so I can't get the numbers off it) and then it tries system repair, which fails, and if I try system restore, this also fails.

I would have been happy to re-install the OS, as with it being new I have no important files on, but didn't get a Vista disc with the laptop and my Windows 7 disc is just an update disc.

Any advice?

Thanks,

Steven

 

[Stevolutionary]

Just took a photo of the screen as it flashed up and have the full message and error codes from the error screen. I've also put the Startup Recovery error messages/code below. System Restore says it runs fine, but then on restart it just returns to the Windows Error Recovery screen, then the Stop Error screen regardless of which restore point I choose (from 3)

STOP ERROR

"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

A process or thread crucial to system operation has unexpectedly exited or been terminated.

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. if this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select safe mode.

Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x000000F4 (0x00000003, 0x861266F8 0x86126864 0x82428D50)

Collecting data for crash dump...
Initialising disk for crash dump...
Beginning dump of physical data...
Duping physical memory to disk: 100"

STARTUP REPAIR

"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: 21201030
Problem Signature 05: AutoFailover
Problem Signature 06: 14
Problem Signature 07: 0xf4
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033"

Thanks for any help guys.

 

[Thomas R]

I have no idea how to repair the current damaged installation or if it is even possible.

But I have rescued data from crashed systems before. There are a few options:

1. If you have another working computer take the hard drive out off the notebook and hook it up to to the working computer then copy all data you need to save.

2. Get a free external hard drive and imaging software that can boot from CD (I use Acronis True Image) and image the entire system drive to the external hard drive. After that do a clean install of Windows 7 on your laptop. After that copy the data you need to save from the external drive onto your laptop.

I think Acronis True Image also allows you to save the data directly through the bootable system to an external drive but I never tried that so I can't guaranty that that's working. If it works, depending on the amount of data you need to transfer, you may get away with just a flash drive and don't need to get another hard drive.

BTW: did you try to start Windows in Save Mode?

 

[Stevolutionary]

Yep, I did try to start if safe mode and it doesn't work. I don't need to save any data as it's new so there's nothing on it I need. I just want to format it and start again if possible.

I do have an old broken laptop that came with Vista on a DVD and a product key. Do you know if I could use this to format the hard drive and re-install Vistas, then use my upgrade DVD to put Windows 7 on again?

I'm happy to do this, but have no idea how to launch and install Vista direct from the DVD.

Thanks,

Steven

 

[Uber Philf]

This should assist you:

http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html

 

[Thomas R]

I don't think you need to install Vista first to upgrade to Windows 7. You should be able to install Windows 7 directly if you have an upgrade CD/DVD. The Upgrade should come with a new key anyway. I just did this with my laptop at work.

 

[Stevolutionary]

Thanks guys!

I got into the command window after the system restore failed via advanced options and entered E:\setup.exe to boot the Vista disc. If this works from the Windows 7 Upgrade Disc, I'll do it from that instead and cancel the Vista install.

I'll post back with results.

 

[Stevolutionary]

Thanks for all your help guys!

I've re-installed Windows 7 from the upgrade DVD, but for a second it flashed up my options to start from "Windows 7" or "Windows 7", meaning I think I might have two copies of the OS on the HD. Is this possible? And is there any way to remove the old one?

Also, can I safely delete the "Windows Old" folder?

Cheers!

 

[Tews]

Yes, you can remove it with BCDedit... See Limneos' tutorial on how to use it -=> here

 

[Uber Philf]

Thanks for all your help guys!

I've re-installed Windows 7 from the upgrade DVD, but for a second it flashed up my options to start from "Windows 7" or "Windows 7", meaning I think I might have two copies of the OS on the HD. Is this possible? And is there any way to remove the old one?

Also, can I safely delete the "Windows Old" folder?

Cheers!

If you had any important files on your old install, windows.old folder will contain them, take a copy of them if there are any, if not, you can safely do a standard delete, and your all done.