Computer stuck at 'Starting Windows' screen. HELP PLEASE!

[Wakellor957]

Dear Seven Forums.
Just over a week ago, I restarted my computer and it stayed stuck at the 'Starting Windows' screen.
There was no logo (4 coloured dots turning into the Windows logo) but the text, 'Starting Windows' was there.
I have tried to use startup repair (the startup repair menu appears at startup now) but stays on for hours and doesn't work.
I have tried all 3 Safe Modes but they all freeze at '\Windows\system32\config\system'.
I have also tried the 'Last Known Good Configuration' option.
I also tried 'bootrec /fixmgr' and 'bootrec /fixboot' in the Command Prompt in the Repair Your Computer utility.

None of them worked.
All these options I accessed using F8 on the keyboard.
These are the only tricks I know about...

I should note that my computer has a battery/charger problem (I don't know which one has the problem) that leaves the battery level at 0% all the time, and when I unplug my charger the computer dies. I have accidentally unplugged the charger many times and have always thought that something small would happen because of that. I hope this isn't the reason for my computer's malfunction.

Please help. There are important files on it (I was working on my next music track before it broke) and I do NOT want to have to reinstall Windows. I'm very worried and would love for this problem to be fixed.

PS: I'm not experienced with computer hardware so I haven't and probably can't do very technical changes to the computer or it's insides!

Hope it can be fixed! Thanks.

 

[torchwood]

Hi Wake,

Do you have access to a W7 SP1 iso/copy/image ??
(you could make one from the comp you used to post)
YOU are going to need one

The root cause would likely be the loss of power, they do cause major problems, especially if the system was performing background maintainance/updating.

Suggest you buy a new battery, cheap and cheerfull from ebay about £15
If that fails to charge then the internal adapter is more than likely bust, about £60 to fix.

Roy

Suggest you download Macrium reflect (free) and start making image back-ups

 

[wizardwillow]

download SHADOW PROTECT software and burn it into DVD and boot with it.. down there, u can re-create WIN bootloader as well as clean TEMP or PREFETCH folder (suspect something resides there!) etc etc.

another choice was BOOT from WIN DVD, go to REPAIR OPTION and do some repair there!, maybe u can do some scanning SFC at command prompt or CHKDSK .. goodluck!

 

[Mellon Head]

It may also be possible (in addition to the suggestions that Roy made) that your hard disk is starting to fail. The fact that Startup Repair doesn't work leads me to this conclusion. It's possible that you might have lost a couple of hard disk sectors in the spot where the Windows Boot Manager lives.

One thing to try is Check Disk. It will check and isolate bad sectors on your hard disk...

Using your Win 7 install disk, or a startup repair disk, boot into Startup Repair, and then go to the Command Prompt selection. See the tutorial below for details on how to get to the Command Prompt:

System Recovery Options - Windows 7 Help Forums

Once at the command prompt, enter "chkdsk c: /r" (without the quotes) and press enter. Go away and have coffee or dinner or read or something. This will take a while.

Once done, Check Disk will give you a bad sector report. If there are a lot of bad sectors, you might want to chuck the drive after you copy the files you need from it, and get a new one.

If what is wrong is what I expect is wrong, you ARE looking at a reinstall of Windows. If you have a high bad sector count, it would be best to redo it on a new drive.

 

[Wakellor957]

Hi Wake,

Do you have access to a W7 SP1 iso/copy/image ??
(you could make one from the comp you used to post)
YOU are going to need one

The root cause would likely be the loss of power, they do cause major problems, especially if the system was performing background maintainance/updating.

Suggest you buy a new battery, cheap and cheerfull from ebay about £15
If that fails to charge then the internal adapter is more than likely bust, about £60 to fix.

Roy

Suggest you download Macrium reflect (free) and start making image back-ups

Thanks, Roy! I'll try to buy a new battery. If that is the only root of the problem then I am SO happy!

Wizardwillow2 ive akready tried CHKDSK. But Ill try e others!!! Thanks for the tips everyone! Ill tell you all the development they re grape a
ill update everyone on my prog

 

[Wakellor957]

It may also be possible (in addition to the suggestions that Roy made) that your hard disk is starting to fail. The fact that Startup Repair doesn't work leads me to this conclusion. It's possible that you might have lost a couple of hard disk sectors in the spot where the Windows Boot Manager lives.

One thing to try is Check Disk. It will check and isolate bad sectors on your hard disk...

Using your Win 7 install disk, or a startup repair disk, boot into Startup Repair, and then go to the Command Prompt selection. See the tutorial below for details on how to get to the Command Prompt:

System Recovery Options - Windows 7 Help Forums

Once at the command prompt, enter "chkdsk c: /r" (without the quotes) and press enter. Go away and have coffee or dinner or read or something. This will take a while.

Once done, Check Disk will give you a bad sector report. If there are a lot of bad sectors, you might want to chuck the drive after you copy the files you need from it, and get a new one.

If what is wrong is what I expect is wrong, you ARE looking at a reinstall of Windows. If you have a high bad sector count, it would be best to redo it on a new drive.

Mellon Head thanks!
I will try this as soon as I get back home! I tried another chkdsk command a while back (I think it might have been /f) but it gave an error. I've forgotten what it was but I'll reply as sson as I can... Thanks again.