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Is A Windows 7 Reformatting Necessary?
Hi all.
My computer went from perfectly working to a big mess.
Basically, last week, I was having problems with my Chrome (too laggy) and decided to switch to Firefox, which I hadn't used in 2 years. The browser immediately decided to auto-update and after it did, within an hour, I got my first-ever BSOD on my laptop.
My computer restarted, thankfully, but then it gave me options to test for stability. One of the options was Disk Check at the next reboot, which I accepted. BIG mistake!
At the next reboot, the disk check took quite a while. It seemed to keep finding errors with certain files and after much waiting, it began to mark them as orphaned. I had no choice but to wait it out.
Once my laptop rebooted, everything was a mess! Here are the issues:
- My windows desktop background was all black - no wallpapers/themes seem to show up.
- My wireless connection was no more, and now it has a big red X on it.
- All the icons in my Windows Explorer, which were set to Large are no longer working. I had to decrease them to Medium in order for them to show up again. NO idea what this is about...
- When I tried to run a diagnostic on the wireless, it says, "Scripted diagnostic native host has stopped working".
- It gives me the option to "debug" on the above error, but when I choose that option, it says something about JIT is not specified.
- When I try to look at Event Viewer, it won't let me.
- It keeps giving me an error that the Microsoft Management Console has stopped working.
I have run an sfscan in CMD and it came back with errors found but could not be repaired. I tried to look at the CBS.log file, but it wouldn't let me - however, I was able to finally extract it...though it means nothing to me...
I took my laptop to a a local tech who ran a complete HD scan, and said the problem is not with my hard drive, but the OS seems to be corrupted and is unstable. He could reformat the computer for me from the partitioned OS on my drive, but he'd charge me money I don't have right now.
I also hadn't backed up oodles of my data, so I brought the computer back home and have spent the entire night backing things up on an external hard drive.
I'd like to think there is an alternate option to a complete reformat, but I don't know. Also, my laptop did not come with the Windows 7 recovery or OS disks, and I don't have a back up of that. But this tech guy said I should be able to reformat my computer from the partition using F9?
I am still able to connect to the internet hard-wired (which is how I'm on this forum), but I'd like to stabilize my computer and get things back to working order.
Other things of note:
1. I tried to do a system restore on the night of the BSOD but the computer couldn't complete it; I tried this several times and picked several different points, but nope.
2. I have run several virus check programs (Malware Bytes, Avast, and Emergency Kit Scanner).
- Malware Bytes marked several files in my Photoshop CS6 as trojan, but they were false positives.
- Avast picked several other .tmp files and I allowed it to delete it.
- Emergency Kit Scanner froze at 69% check, after 2 hours of scanning.
3. I tried to update the BIOS from the manufacturer's website and ran it via Winflash. It seemed to run it fine and asked for a reboot, but once I did reboot it, the screen went black for a worrisome amount of time, so I had to manually power off the laptop, at which point it came up with "Go to Setup to revert back to a previous working BIOS". So I did, and discarded the most recent BIOS update.
The only other alternative I've seen on this forum is the Repair Install of Windows 7, but that requires the ISO to be put on a USB flash drive/DVD, neither of which I have right now (nor can afford - sad but true). Plus, I don't even know if that would work of if that's what I need or not.
So...what am I missing? What have I not done? What alternatives do I have? Or is my poor laptop destined for a reformat??
My laptop details:
Asus G72GX
6.00GB Ram
64 Bit
Windows Home Premium
Intel Core2 Duo CPU P8700 @2.53GHz
Help...please.