Solved Cannot boot (Windows 7)

[jaycase]

Hi,

I'm having issues booting my PC recently. I have a Dell XPS 8100. Windows 7 64 BIT OS, 8 GB RAM and 1 TB hard drive. Computer was fine until recently when it became very sluggish when booting up. I've had issues where it will try to boot up and then just freeze on a black screen. I've booted from my Dell OS disk and and tried some commands like bootrec /fixmbr. I was able to get to Windows after that but PC was still slow. I was trying to do a windows backup and it failed. I noticed someone else had a similar issue and it turned out their antivirus (MS Essentials, same as mine) had discovered some java exploits when they also had tried a b/u and it failed. I ran a full virus scan and sure enough I had a few java exploits which were removed. I had a couple windows updates install as well and eventually powered down the PC.

I've not been able to get back into Windows since then. I try to boot from the OS cd and it takes a real long time to finally get to system recovery screen. However I'm getting an RecEnv.exe error. Something like specified I/O is not found. It mentions \Device\Harddisk0\DR0. I see D drive on the screen with Windows 7 but partition size is 0 MB. I remember from the previous time the partition size was nonzero and I was able to get into Windows then. Not sure if the 0 MB size is an issue here.

I've tried bootrec fixmbr again (after clicking Try Again many times on the RecEnv.exe error above I do eventually get to System Recovery Options) but cannot get back into Windows.

I don't know if this issue is related to the exploits or if my HD is failing but I'd like to be able to get into Windows one last time at the very least to do a Windows backup now that the exploits were removed (assuming the backup can run clean).

Appreciate any help.

 

[gregrocker]

Work through these steps for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot which try everything possible to repair and start it, leading up to rescuiing your files to run Factory Recovery or Clean Reinstall. if necessary

 

[Debbie B]

Hi,

Kindly check if Hard Drive is recognized in BIOS or not. If yes, follow next step. If NO, load BIOS defaults and reseat HDD.

Try booting in to Safe mode and check if system works fine. If yes, then perform system restore.

If the issue still persists then I would recommend running Dell Diagnostics. In order to run Dell Diagnostics from Hard Drive, follow the mentioned steps: Restart your computer. When the DELL™ logo appears, tap <F12> immediately. In the boot device list, highlight Boot to Utility Partition and press <Enter>. Under Dell Diagnostics Main Menu (see Dell Diagnostics Main Menu), select the extended test. If you get any error code, make a note of the error code.
Let me know if that works

 

[jaycase]

Hi,

Kindly check if Hard Drive is recognized in BIOS or not. If yes, follow next step. If NO, load BIOS defaults and reseat HDD.

Try booting in to Safe mode and check if system works fine. If yes, then perform system restore.

If the issue still persists then I would recommend running Dell Diagnostics. In order to run Dell Diagnostics from Hard Drive, follow the mentioned steps: Restart your computer. When the DELL™ logo appears, tap <F12> immediately. In the boot device list, highlight Boot to Utility Partition and press <Enter>. Under Dell Diagnostics Main Menu (see Dell Diagnostics Main Menu), select the extended test. If you get any error code, make a note of the error code.
Let me know if that works

Hi Debbie,

Sorry for the delay in responding. The HDD was defined in BIOS (WDXL333 7200 1TB). I was not able to boot into safe mode.

I ran the extended test in Dell Diagnostics and came across the following error message:

Error Code 0F00:1332
MSG Disk - Block 20318336: Interrupt Request(IRQ) did not set in time.

I continued a few times but this type of error message occurred every 128 blocks. Skipping this test resulted in a 0F00:0632 error. Skipping that error ended the test.

I googled the 0F00:1332 error message and I'm afraid it does not sound good from other people's comments => HDD is shot, get a new HDD.

Is this true? Can this HDD be recovered in any way? If not, can I put it in an external enclosure and try to at least access files for manual recovery?

In order to avoid this situation in the future (assuming the HDD is SOL), what should I do in the future to mitigate this type of situation. I need to buy a new HDD and then reinstall windows. Are there certain HDDs I should look for (SSD?)? How should I back up to lessen the impact in the future?

Lastly, I had MS Office installed on the current HDD. If the HDD is shot and I need to install a new one, is the license attached to that HDD? If it is, can I get it back and reassign it to the new HDD I need to install?

Sorry for all the questions. I guess I've been fortunate in that this is the first time my HDD has done this on a PC but I'd like to prepare myself better should it occur again.

Thanks all!

 

[gregrocker]

Run the maker's HD diagnostics extended CD scan in the forenote of the tutorial I linked before. This will tell you if HD can be repaired enough to rescue your data using one of the rescue methods given in the tutorial Step 9.

Then replace the HD and Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

 

[jaycase]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for your reply. I ran the SeaTools test and it failed on the Long Test. I received a "Error(s) detected on NON Seagate Drive" and then "Sector Repair Failure. Repair was unsuccessful on the hard drive". I did not d/l and run the WD diagnostic tool yet as the instructions mentioned the WD tools could have some issues.

Is it worth a shot running the WD tool or will the result likely be the same as the SeaTools test?

Appreciate your assistance!

 

[gregrocker]

If it's a WD drive then you should run WD Data Lifeguard DOS extended CD scan.

 

[jaycase]

Hi Greg,

I tried booting off a cd with DLGDIAG v5.04 but am receiving the following message:

"Unable to locate the license agreement file, DLGLICE.TXT. Please make sure the license agreement file is located in same path as DLGDIAG.EXE."

Then I get "Cannot load the file A:\COMMAND.COM"

The thing is the license agreement file is there in the same path on the cd. Although the exe file is named DLGDIAG5 but not sure that would matter.

I do see a DLGDiagv519 on the WD site but it is only an exe. There is no iso there.

 

[gregrocker]

If you scroll down the page you see the .ISO file to download, then click on it or rightclick to burn/open with Windows Image Burner.

 

[jaycase]

Greg,

I was able to burn the v5.04 iso fine. When trying to boot off the v5.04 iso I get the above messages. It's not working for me. There seems to be a newer version (5.19) but it is not an iso, only exe.

 

[gregrocker]

Look on the Downloads page for your model's for Data Lifeguard ISO.

If there isn't one then you can try it from Hiren’s BootCD 15.1
or Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) from a USB flash drive | USB Pen Drive Linux.

If you can't run maker's HD Diagnostics then you'll need to rely on Dell Diagnostics via F12 at boot, which I see you already ran.

 

[jaycase]

Greg,

I was able to run the latest WD diagnostic off the ultimate boot cd. Thanks for that.

I ran an extended test and the following messages came up:

Smart Attributes

ID Name Value Thresh Worst
1 Raw Read Error Rate 195 51 195
3 Spin Up Time 237 21 232
4 Start/Stop Time 100 0 100
5 Re-allocated Sector Count 55 140 55
7 Seek error rate 200 0 200
9 Power-on Hours Count 95 0 95
10 Spin Retry Count 100 0 100
11 Drive Calibration Retry Count 100 0 100
12 Drive Power Cycle Count 100 0 100
192 Emergency Retract Cycle Count 200 0 200
193 Load/Unload Cycle Count 200 0 200
194 HDA Temperature 122 0 102
196 Re-allocated Sector Event 1 0 1
197 Current Pending Sector Count 200 0 192
198 Offline Uncorrectable Sector COunt 200 0 200
199 UltraDMA CRC Error Rate 200 0 200
200 Multi Zone Error rate 200 0 200

Warning! One or more current or worst-case attributes are below threshold.

Hit any key to continue

I then received

The System must be reset - HIT CTRL-ALT-DEL or turn the power off.

I hit ctrl-alt-del and the system restarted. I received the following message:

NOTICE - Hard DRive SELF MONITORING SYSTEM has reported that a parameter has exceeded its normal operating rage. Dell recommends that you back up your data regularly. A parameter out of range may or may not indicate a potential hard drive problem

Press F2 to resume

I hit F2 to change controller back to RAID from ATA (I read somewhere that the 5.04 WD diag didn't like RAID setting)
then received the following:

AHCI Port0 Device Error
Press F2 to resume

System tried to boot to windows and then I got something like

Startup Repair
A hard disk problem is preventing windows from starting
Contact your sysadmin....

Root Cause Found:
Bad hard disk
Press F2 to Resume

Any hope left?

 

[gregrocker]

I tend not to argue with errors such as "Bad hard disk" from SMART data. Even if WD Lifeguard can repair a HD I no longer trust it for operations.

Having it run several Disk Checks and HD Diagnostics extended scans (the only one which can repair) which come up clean might allow it to continue if you stay backed up.

If it's less than a year old it is under warranty.

 

[jaycase]

Thanks Greg. So it sounds like it is dead then. Unfortunately it is not under warranty (> 2 years old). Time for a new hard drive it seems. Any recommendations for good backup software for my next HDD? Something which if this were to occur again I could take the backup image to a new hard drive and continue on seamlessly? Thanks again for all your help.

 

[gregrocker]

You can use Acronis premium cloning/imaging app free with any WD or Seagate HD in the mix. Otherwise favorite freeware here is Macrium - Image your system while many stick with Win7 backup imaging since it's built-in but has somewhat limited options.

 

[jaycase]

Will definitely use one of those next time. Thanks again for all your assistance. It's appreciated.