Real puzzle here--All recovery methods fail, however...

My system continues to boot up and run pretty well. Most programs are fine. I can get online, access my C drive, as well as my data partition drives and my external HD backup. Windows live mail is fine. However, none of the following apps/processes work:

SCAN DISK
stops at 36%--"Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation"
(elevated command prompt, in windows, at boot, in recovery mode, etc. all same result.)
Also: findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"%userprofile%\Desktop\sfcdetails.txt
Fails to create text file
Also, running:
findstr /c:"[SR] Cannot" %windir%\logs\cbs\cbs.log|more
findstr /c:"[SR] Repairing" %windir%\logs\cbs\cbs.log|more
Shows many corrupted .dlls

DISK MANAGER
Snapin Error--"MMC has detected an error in a snap-in. It is recommended that you shut down and restart MMC"
If I "Ignore this error and continue running", there is no Disk Management snap-in under Storage.
Disk Management is listed in Add or Remove Snap-ins, but with no Vendor listed (unlike the others with an MS Corporation Vendor ID.)
Attempting to add it results in the same error as opening Computer Management shown above, followed by "MMC Window--MMC cannot initialize the snap-in Name: Disk Managment
CLSD: {DBFCA500-8C31-11D0-AA2C-00A0C92749A3}"

CHECK DISK:
Set to run at reboot, does not appear to run.

But, and here's the really fun part--all Recovery/Repair methods fail.



Not my screenshot, but the same.

STARTUP REPAIR
Does not fix any of these problems.

SYSTEM RESTORE
"The Application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b). Click OK to close the application."
(Though it will allow me to create new system restore points from within windows, but same error trying use it.)

SYSTEM IMAGE RECOVERY
I do not have a backup image. (Because I had a recovery partition, which I can't seem to access, and a DELL/Windows recovery disk.)

WINDOWS MEMORY DIAGNOSTIC
Results report said all tests were finished and no problems were found. However, under the two disk test LISTINGS (SSD Cache, and HDD w/system and data partitions) remained a "running" message (gif?)

COMMAND PROMPT
No solution, as noted above.

DELL DATE SAFE RESTORE and EMERGENCY BACKUP
My OS is not listed. My recovery partition (which I had used twice before to restore craptastic factory condition) does not show up. I can access the recovery DVD, but I can't find any setup files that load the drivers needed. I can get into my attached External HDD, but there's no recovery files there, either.

Not my screen shot, but this is how the test gui appears.



Also tried LAST GOOD CONFIGURATION
Does not fix any of these problems.

As a result of something I tried (but I can't recall exactly what) I received this message:
"The partition table does not have a valid system partition" That can't be good. Sure would be great if Disk Manager worked.

I have just 12 more days until my warranty runs out, so I'll probably have to call Dell support soon. But I dread that process. You know how it is. So, I figured if anyone could help me avoid that, it would be you guys.

DELL XPS ONE 2710 (non touch screen)
Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit w/ all Windows updates
16 GBs physical memory

I did a number of things that might have caused this. I removed Spybot S&D and had it delete quarantined objects. (The newest was from 6 months ago, and I'd noticed no problems.) I also downloaded and installed a lot of driver updates that the Dell site recommended. (Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver, Intel USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver, Intel Management Engine Interface Driver, Intel Chipset Driver. etc. And heaven only knows what else might have upset the non-apple cart.

Any questions? Any ideas?

OK, I used Seagate's SeaTools to test my drives and both the SSD and the HDD passed.

It seems that I have file and/or driver corruption, but I can't see a way to fix that.

Hoping for more suggestions.

MilesAhead said:

Do you have a UPS on the system? Those fraction of a second power glitches can easily corrupt files.

Yes, I have everything plugged in to a decent APC UPS.

As far as the registry corruption and the like, if you don't have an image backup or a good restore point I don't know how you can back out of it. First thing though is to find out why stuff is getting corrupted..

I've had this system for almost a year and had few problems with corruption or otherwise. I'm pretty sure everything got messed up because of the Driver updates, removing Sypbot S&D, or possibly I used the registry cleaner in Enhance my Se7en and didn't back up the registry (stupid, I know.)

I have always had good luck with Windows System Restore and back up my files manually to an external drive. With my data files seperated from my OS drive, it's worked out well. if worse comes to worst, I can go back to factory settings, either through the Dell recovery partition, or, the Dell recovery disk.. It's a pain to have to reinstall all the updates and programs, but it's happened infrequently enough that I've always kind of liked getting a fresh start on my system.

It never occurred to me that, short of a disk failure, I'd not be able to do what I've always done. How can my system be so messed up as I described in the OP, yet run just fine? It seems crazy to me, but then I'm no expert.

Add though it seems to be running normally still, I can't live without the Disk Manager and System Restore working. Plus, with all the problems I listed, it seems only a matter of time before other things go wrong.

I dread spending the 8 hours or more having them take me through, "Make sure your system is plugged in. Go to the Start Menu. Click on Control Panel..." but I guess I'd better call Dell before my warranty runs out. Though, I appreciate your help so far and would love to hear any other suggestions you might have.

MilesAhead said:

It might be a good idea to call Dell..

I called them today. After about 4 hours, they couldn't solve it and now must send me a USB Key to try. Now I have to wait a few days for that. I guess I should have done it sooner. The person helping me was not as bad as I'd feared, but not as good as I'd hoped.

Before doing that have you searched your model for weird problems? I don't remember the model PC but I'm reminded of one new machine that had all kinds of HD unreliability. There seemed to be no apparent reason. Turned out that heat from the Power Supply was being carried due to air flow right by the HD. It would run ok for awhile. But after being left on for serveral hours, disk file corruption etc... There might be something odd like that going on.

I saw that some people were having a problem with weird system beeps involved, but nothing that matched my estensive problems.

Hi SarahThom,

I understand most of the recovery options are not working on the system. It could be due corrupt recovery partition on the system or some virus caused this issue.

It would be best to do a clean install on the windows. Please follow this tutorial to clean install windows on the system and ensure ISRT enabled on the system:

http://dell.to/13EbJpn

If you need backup discs then you can go to the link below for requesting them:

http://dell.to/Zj7oHA

Keep us posted with the results so we can advise you further.

Hiya SandeepP,

Thank you for the suggestions. I was on the phone with Dell today for hours and we could not get anywhere. They are sending me a "USB Key" to try next. Unfortunatley, while trying to fix things before I called them, I ended up with a system that no longer even will boot into windows, so I can't follow the instructions at your link for a clean install.

Looking at my disks with Diskpart, I saw that the Dell Recovery partition is the only one set as active. I read somewhere on line that the XPS One 2710 normally boots "through" the Recovery partition. But the Dell CS rep told me that it doesn't. He said it should boot to the C drive where my OS is installed. I wondered if I should try making C active to see if I could boot up the system again. However, I think that's a little over my head, so I guess I'd probably do best to wait for the Dell USB key.

Then again, two or three days is a long time to wait and do nothing...