Boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible

Hi all,

I'm desperately in need of help.

I just talked my gf into restoring her dell inspiron 5010n. It was getting slow and running way too many background programs (she likes to download games). We also believed that it was infected due to some program glitches.

Anyway, after copying all of her personal files to discs, I tried to reset her computer to factory settings through the control panel recovery advanced options.

The option to recover from disc was available (I created the discs right after we took it out of the box about 18 months ago), but would not initialize upon clicking on that option.

So, I inserted the recovery disc 1 into the cd/dvd drive and initiated the recovery after restarting the computer. Everything seemed to go well.

Windows started up, and I began configuring her computer. Anyway, windows indicated it needed to restart after downloading 1 update.

When the computer restarted this time, the windows boot manager came up and said:

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:

1. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language settings, and then click "Next."
3. Click "Repair your computer."

If you do not have this disc, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance

Status: 0xc000000e

Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.

I then tried the recovery discs again. Everything seemed fine, windows restarted a few times while it configured itself. When it tried to download the first update, I stopped it. I then downloaded all 91 updates and installed them. Upon restarting, I got the same Windows boot manager msg.

I don't have a windows installation disc, just the recovery discs.

Does this have something to do with the bcdedit/enum, I read about here? F8 "Repair your computer" stops working with 0xc000000e

If someone could walk me through this, it would be greatly appreciated... my gf is gonna kill me. Well not that... but atleast no lovin' for now.

When you boot, there should be an F key for you to use to open the boot device menu. If you know what it is (F8 or something during the splash screen), could you use it to see what your boot options are?

I don't think I have seen that type of message before, so not sure what it might be.

You can turn off automatic updates....

When I first power the machine, I get the Dell Inspiron screen which indicates F2 Setup and F12 Boot Options.
Pressing F1, F3-F9 gives me a windows boot manager screen.

Choose an operating system to start, or press TAB to select a tool:

Windows 7

To specify an advanced option for this choice prss F8

Tools:

Windows Memory Diagnostic

When I choose to boot Windows 7, I get the same error msg in the original post.
When I choose the diagnostic, I get a similar msg, which says

File: \boot\memtest.exe

Status: 0xc000000e

Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt.

F12 gives the the Please select boot device page:

Hard Drive
Cd/DVD/Cd-RW Device
Network
Diagnostic
Enter Setup

Try using the F12 key. It should give you a list of everything bootable on your system. Let us know what they are.

I have no experience with recovering an OEM install, but it sounds like you are doing it correctly. Possibly if you use your recovery disks you made, the last one may need to be loaded first...not sure.

You can download a Windows 7 SP1 install .iso file. You might be able to use it and do a Startup Repair after getting into the Repair you Computer section.

Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River « My Digital Life

See if there is a lightweight HD testing facility built into your BIOS by going into setup (F2) or via the last entry 'Enter Steup' in the Select Boot Device screen (F12).

The next to last option in the Select Boot Device screen (F12) is 'Diagnostics'. I believe that's a completely different set of testing tools and not the one you already tried and found it wouldn't run. It's a fairly good and comprehensive set of hardware testing tools.

You could also try testing that HD by using a bootable CD you can burn from here:

WD Support / Downloads / SATA & SAS / WD VelociRaptor

Under F2, I cannot run the memory diagnostic, the msg is posted above.
I'll try the Enter setup option next time.

I just ran a recovery again... this time disabling auto update. Configured windows, set up the wireless, and created a restore point.

Something I thought odd... under the restore protection settings, it listed 3 available devices:
Recovery
OS (C) (System)
OS (C) (Missing)

That last entry looks odd... anyway...

Restarted the system, and my error msg came back up

I'll try your suggestion right now

Mediokrates said:

Under F2, I cannot run the memory diagnostic, the msg is posted above.
I'll try the Enter setup option next time.

Although confirming that the memory is good is always a good first step (considering just about everything else relies on it), your prior posts make me think you need to look at that hard drive (HD) first.

Try the 'Diagnostics' under F12 (not F2 'Setup Options'). It's a completely different set of diagnostics, not the one you've already tried.

Also download and burn the Western Digital HD diagnostics app to a CD and boot from that (using the F12 'Select Boot Options'). See what it has to say about that HD. Don't worry if your HD is not a Western Digital, it'll work to the extent that you need for now.

OK,

Last night, when this happened, I actually tried the diagnostic test in F12 Enter Setup. I didn't run the entire test, but everything was passing. Just an fyi.

So, now, I've recovered the computer for the 4th time, and am using it. I'l going to try not restarting it.

Is there anything I can do now that I have access to windows to fix this?

While it is running, open disk management (diskmgmt.msc) and expand it so you can see the details. Use the snipping tool to take a picture of the Disk Management window and attach using the paperclip. Maybe we will see something.

Also go to Windows and turn automatic updates off. You can turn them back on after some testing. But start checking them and make sure no optional, hardware updates are installed for a while.

I turned off auto update on initial configuration this time.

Here's the snip: