Crashes on Win7 Logo - Safe Mode Works

[wlhaywood]

Hi, this morning my computer randomly locked up and needed to be restarted. Now it will not boot normally, only in safe mode. When attempting a normal boot, it sits on the normal Win7 loading screen for 4-5 seconds and then goes to a black screen with the computer still running. No error messages, no BSOD, mouse/keyboard are dead. The only way to get any response is to power off then back on.

I have nothing plugged in except for the mouse and keyboard (they both work) - I also unplugged my storage HD with no result. I have reset the Bios to default settings and optimal default settings - no luck. The whole computer is relatively new (2 weeks old), but I have not installed any new drivers or hardware since the initial setup. Windows automatic update is on (This is probabyly the culprit? I don't know for sure)

Originally when running the startup repair, I was getting a badpatch error. Now I'm getting ExternalMedia. I can provide the details if needed for the repair failure message ( just need to run it again)

I've looked through a lot of tutorials on this site, so far:
-Turning off processes in safe mode and trying a "clean boot" does nothing - it still freezes at the same point.

-I ran both an antivirus and malwarebytes scan in safe mode - neither found anything.

-System restore tells me it cannot complete due to an unknown error (no other information). Despite this, when I load in safe mode it tells me it was successfully restored. I tried all four restore dates and none would boot normally.

-chkdsk from command prompt reports no bad sectors, completes successfully.

-The sfc /scannow from command prompt completes succesfully and reports no errors.

I'm about to give up and to a complete format/clean install, but I want to avoid that if at all possible. Any ideas?

 

[wlhaywood]

Well, I went to run the startup repair again so I could give full details on the error but now its telling me it can't find a problem. Despite this, the issue remains - Win loading screen -> black screen (monitor active, no command prompt, no mouse/keyboard, no BSOD or other errors)

I also want to say I tried the "Last Succesful Boot" option with no success.

 

[andrew129260]

Please read this tutorial fully, and follow all steps.

99% of the time all issues can be resolved with problems starting windows with this tutorial.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219533-troubleshooting-windows-7-failure-boot.html

 

[wlhaywood]

Thank you for the response. I did read and follow that tutorial, I've done everything up until the point of backing up files and doing a clean install. I would really like to avoid that if possible so I thought I would see if anyone had ideas.

I feel like this should be fixable since safe mode is working, I just don't know what to do. I also looked into doing a repair install but since I can only start in safe mode that isn't really an option.

 

[andrew129260]

Thank you for the response. I did read and follow that tutorial, I've done everything up until the point of backing up files and doing a clean install. I would really like to avoid that if possible so I thought I would see if anyone had ideas.

I feel like this should be fixable since safe mode is working, I just don't know what to do. I also looked into doing a repair install but since I can only start in safe mode that isn't really an option.

I am going to ask someone for assistance, please stand by. Thank you for actually following the tutorial

 

[wlhaywood]

Thank you.

I enabled boot logging and looked at the file in safe mode, there are a lot of drivers failing to load but its so many that I can't tell which one is the problem (or even if this is the problem).

Service Pack 1 6 18 2014 13:53:14.125 Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\ntosk - Pastebin.com

 

[Berton]

Have you considered using System Restore? You can start it while in Safe Mode. Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore. Choose a date before you started having problems.

 

[wlhaywood]

Yes, I have 4 system restore dates available and tried them all. It gives me an error saying the system restore cannot complete, but when I start in safe mode I get the popup saying it has been successfully restored to X date.

Regardless none of the four restores will boot normally, only in safe mode.

 

[gregrocker]

Post a camera snap of the Partition Wizard drive map and listings, which you'll have handy if you completed all the Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7 steps.

Which AV scans did you run and what found? SFC results?

 

[wlhaywood]

Hi, so theres a pretty massive update but still the same problem.

I decided to just go ahead and reformat/clean install. Everything goes fine, I start installing drivers and then this problem starts again.

Long story short, as soon as I install the drivers for the GTX 760 my PC won't boot. I system restore to before the drivers and its fine. I've tried multiple versions of the driver, always the same problem. There was a beta driver release yesterday - I do not know if GeForce experience automatically installed it or not.

The thing that makes this so weird is although its a new build, it was running perfectly for a week with the latest stable driver installed. Now it no longer works - this is after a completely fresh format and Win7 install.

Could my card have died? It runs fine without drivers, but as soon as I install them Windows 7 won't boot. The install is always clean with no errors, it just wants me to restart and when I do the problem occurs.

 

[gregrocker]

Why are you injecting drivers into a driver-complete OS like it's XP?

Start over and follow the same steps in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 tutorial below, especially the parts in red a out how drivers should be handled in Win7.

What Display driver is listed in Device Manager once all Important and Optional Windows Updates are installed? Don't forget to enable Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3).

 

[andrew129260]

Did you get your drivers from here?

NVIDIA Driver Downloads - Automatically Detect NVIDIA Products

If after that driver things keep going wrong it is most likely there driver and you are going to have to wait until they fix it. Or stay with the provided driver windows 7 gives you, although performance will not be as good as it can be. But it does beat this issue until you can get some stable drivers for your video card.

Try running FurMark: VGA Stress Test, Graphics Card and GPU Stability Test, Burn-in Test, OpenGL Benchmark and GPU Temperature | oZone3D.Net furmark and see if you the card crashes. If so it may indeed be your video card.

 

[wlhaywood]

Thanks for the information. I will try both approaches and get back to you.

It is not the specific driver, I'm starting to think the GPU went bad. It was running perfectly for 1 week with the most up to date driver from Geforce Experience and now won't boot with any of them. I tried the newer beta driver, the older one that came ont he disk with the GPU, and a couple of other older ones from the Nvidia website.

 

[wlhaywood]

I'm currently going through the steps provided, but I had one quick question:

Since I can boot to safemode with the driver installed, is there some way I can get a log of what is causing the crash? Right now all I'm seeing is Win7 loading screen -> crash to black screen. I feel like more information would be helpful.

 

[gregrocker]

There are also tons of performance updates that might apply to your GPU, the PCI controller, etc. so it isn't just the Display driver you should be trying first from Windows Update.

Have you enabled Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3) and run all rounds of Important and Optional Windows Updates until there are no more offered? This should be the first thing done after a Clean Reinstall. Otherwise it isn't being done correctly. I would start over or System Restore to before any drivers were injected which Win7 might not want.

Please do the following so we can look at your boot log and important log activity:

1. Download Process Monitor. Unzip the file and open Procmon.exe with administrative privileges:
2. Stop Process Monitor from logging all the current events by clicking on “File/Capture Events.” Now go to “Options,” where you will find the crucial entry: “Enable Boot Logging.” Enable it, click on “Generate profiling events” and click “OK.”
3. Now reboot your PC. After the startup process is done, launch Process Monitor again and click on “Yes” once you see the following message:
4. Save the boot log wherever you want (on your desktop, for example). Process Monitor now generates a huge list of basically each and every boot event.
5. Upload the bootlog.pml file here

Also along with the bootlog.pml do upload the operational logs
Go to Eventviewer >Applications and Service Logs > Microsoft > Windows > Diagnostics-Performance > Operational .... Right click and "Save all Events As" .... save it in .evtx format..

 

[wlhaywood]

I system restored to the clean Win7 install from last night and am currently going through applying all Windows Updates. I'll download Procmon now.

 

[wlhaywood]

Alright, so I installed all Important and Optional updates with the Automatic Driver Delivery enabled. After doing that and restarting, the computer crashes again during the Win7 loading screen just like before.

I'm back in safe mode now. The Procmon bootlog.pml is like 500+ MB so I'm working on compressing/uploading that now.

 

[wlhaywood]

Here are the 3 Bootlog .pml files compressed with 7z. My upload speed is quite slow so I had to download 7zip and compress them to have it upload in any reasonable amount of time. Its still ~40 MB while compressed so I had to upload it to zippyshare instead of just attaching it.

Zippyshare.com - Bootlog.7z

I followed the directions and had Event Logging disabled, so I'm not really sure why the files are so huge. Is that normal?

Edit: When I go to device manager, it detects the GPU and list it as GTX 760. This is in safe mode with the automatically installed Win7 driver.

Also, here is the .evtx file. It would not attach so I had to use Zippyshare again:
http://www64.zippyshare.com/v/61061492/file.html

 

[gregrocker]

We'll look at the log when we have time. We are volunteers here. You can also study and google the fails yourself.

How about the operational logs?

You can also study these as described in Troubleshooting steps in signature pic below. I resolve repeat errors by Googling the text to see how others did it. The steps will turn up most problems.

 

[wlhaywood]

Yeah, I understand that you guys are volunteering your time and I really appreciate it. Thank you so much and please don't think I'm impatient or something

The Operational log link is in my edit of the post. Forgot to include it the first time.

I will study the troubleshooting link, thanks.