7 Wont Boot (nor Safe Mode) Repair Not Working - HELP !!

[Ex_Brit]

I installed what I thought was an updated driver for a PCIe eSATA card and since then get only the Advanced Repair options, none of which work.

The nearest I get is System Restore which finds the OS and the restore points but fails with this error, reading in part:
The inst. @ 0xfba6ca53 referenced memory at 0x0021cd49. The memory could not be read.
Or words to that effect.
None of the other options work except Command Prompt and I have no idea how to use that in this situation.

I have the only options of
a) Full Win 7 install, overwriting everything or
b) Running a Win 10 disk over it and upgrading in the hope it will preserve my files and settings.
But it may also not boot because that damn driver will still be there.

Help !! I'll monitor this from my 10 drive as best I can.

 

[DavidE]

Can you remove the PCIe eSATA card and see if the PC will boot ?

 

[Ex_Brit]

I could try that I suppose. Will see if possible in the morning when there's more ambient light and I don't have such a headache.

Thanks for the idea.

 

[DavidE]

OK.
If you have a drive connected, you could try disconnecting the drive and see if it will boot.

 

[Ex_Brit]

Oh well couldn't resist. Tried both options, unfortunately no-go. Sigh. If only I could initiate a repair installation I could save my stuff. It's mail I'm mainly worried about . (Vista Windows Mail)
I need a new computer desperately but this one is going to have to do if I can rescue it. I do have access via Windows Explorer from 10 but that doesn't do much good as far as I can tell.

 

[DavidE]

That seems weird to me that removing the card and the PC still won't boot.
I wonder if installing the driver changed something in BIOS.
Can you look in BIOS and see if anything looks wrong ?
Maybe even consider trying a BIOS reset.
I'm just guessing, maybe you could ask in the Drivers subforum and see if anyone knows about this.

 

[Ex_Brit]

There's nothing showing in the BIOS as that card boots after the BIOS. What I need to do is to be able to repair install 7 to preserve my stuff.
I will research that, thanks.

 

[Layback Bear]

Here is a tutorial on Repair Install by Brink.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

The problem is you must be able to boot into a existing Windows 7 on the computer for it to work.

 

[essenbe]

See if you can boot into Safe Mode ( http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/666-advanced-boot-options.html ). If you can boot into safe mode, uninstall the driver from Safe mode and try to boot again.

 

[Ex_Brit]

None of the above worked. Had to format and clean install.. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Ex_Brit]

Thanks everyone for the help. Finally got Win 7 Ultimate SP1 installed. The only trouble now is, apart from updating IE to v.11 and an update to the WU Agent itself...not a single update will download.
I think MS are sulking since all that bad press.
Well I hate to tell them, this isn't helping.

 

[DavidE]

There is a rollup update available that includes most of the updates since SP1.
You can read about it here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/news/396236-simplifying-updates-windows-7-8-1-a.html

I would create a backup image now that you have a clean reinstall.

 

[Ex_Brit]

Yes, but have you tried it....as with all those types of updates, it starts up by polling for updates....which usually ends up nowhere. However, will give it a try again.
Thanks.

 

[DavidE]

No, i haven't used it.
There's over 190 posts in that thread if you want to read what others say about it.

I don't see a need for it as my systems are up to date.
I would try it if i did a clean install.

 

[DavidE]

There's a lot of threads and posts about problems with Win 7 updates.

Here is a recent update that "is suppose" to help Win 7 updates.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3161647

I installed this update and it hasn't caused me any problems.
I don't know if it really helps.

I won't know until the next Patch Tuesday updates are published.
The only problem i have is Checking for updates takes a long time after PT updates are published.
Other than that W7 WU works the way it should - a minute or 2.

 

[Ex_Brit]

Ah, thanks for that last link.......we shall see how that helps.
It's going to take me weeks to get back to where I was, software-wise as I am going from memory regarding what I had installed......!
Serves me right for a) not doing backups and b) not printing out a Belarc Advisor report.

 

[Ex_Brit]

All is well in Paradise. But first I ran the reg file that blocks any Win 10 auto-upgrade....just in case.
Perhaps I should have gone with the original installation that I thought was broken, using my slipstreamed disk that contained the April 2016 Rollup.
It would have saved much of the below amount of updates.