Failed System Restore

[reef]

Hi. I'm posting on behalf of my little sister. I have searched the forum however nothing seems to fit her problem.

Make: Compaq
Model: 615
Win: 7 Home Premium
Spec: AMD Dual Core Athlon X2 QL-66 2.2GHz, 320GB HDD, 2GB RAM, 15.6" HD LED, DVDRW, ATI HD3200

Whilst browsing the internet (IE8), the broadband service failed, unknown at the time, usually it's a blip by our POS router and service resumes as normal after restarting the computer. However this time it recommended a system restore and since my little sister isnt that clued up she selected yes. The restore sequence started and restarted at the end.

Now thats as far as it got. Now when the system boots we just get a mouse pointer in the middle of a blank screen and nothing else happens. We can move the pointer using the mousepad but do nothing else with it.

Can someone please help and suggest a course of action? BTW I must point out that Win7 is an OEM install and we do not have an original installation disk.

Thanks in advance

 

[A Guy]

Welcome to Seven Forums reef. This may seem odd, but I'm going to suggest using System Restore 1st to try and correct this. You need to boot into safe mode

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/666-advanced-boot-options.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/69585-safe-mode.html

Choose Safe Mode With Command Prompt

When cmd prompt opens, type in

rstrui.exe

and press enter

When System Restore loads, choose Undo my last restoration and click Next.
Review your choices and click Finish.

See if the restore completes and windows loads normally. If so, you are back where you started before this happened. If not, you can attempt another restore point as well. If this doesn't work, we can suggest different methods. A Guy

 

[reef]

Welcome to Seven Forums reef. This may seem odd, but I'm going to suggest using System Restore 1st to try and correct this. You need to boot into safe mode

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/666-advanced-boot-options.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/69585-safe-mode.html

Choose Safe Mode With Command Prompt

When cmd prompt opens, type in

rstrui.exe

and press enter

When System Restore loads, choose Undo my last restoration and click Next.
Review your choices and click Finish.

See if the restore completes and windows loads normally. If so, you are back where you started before this happened. If not, you can attempt another restore point as well. If this doesn't work, we can suggest different methods. A Guy

Thanks for the reply. I have tried to use Safe Mode to boot the computer but it failed to load in a similar way to as described above.

I hoping to have it fixed by today though. I've just spoken with the store that it was purchased from and they've said although they don't cover software issues, if I do the work myself they are prepared to give me access to an unused identical computer so that I can take a system image to fix my little sister's laptop.

 

[karlsnooks]

If your sister's computer is 32-bit then go to any 32-bit Win 7 system.

Make a System Repair Disc.

​

[FONT=&quot]CREATE A SYSTEM REPAIR DISC[/FONT]​

START | type System Repair | Enter key | Create Disc button

​

Powerup you sis's computer.

If her computer is set to boot first from CD, then skip the next step which is immediately after powerup start hitting F2 or whatever key Compaq uses to get into the bios and then change the boot order to boot from CD first.

Now and only now, insert the System Repair Disc you made. Do nothing more.

Shutdown her system immediately.

Powerup her system which will now boot from the System Repair Disc.

Now you can use the startup repair features of Win7.

I'll give you some links here for more info.

Installing a system image from another computer is going to cause you far more grief than joy.

We still have many legitimate possibilities.
Startup Repair
System Recovery Options

 

[gregrocker]

Create a Repair CD which you'll need anyway for when WIn7 won't start, and to reimage if you do indeed make the image as offered. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2083-system-repair-disc-create.html

Now boot the Repair CD, click through to Recovery Tools list to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots to see if Win7 will start. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html?ltr=S

System Restore is automated in Startup Repair, but try running it separately anyway if it fails to start.

Next make sure Win7 partition is marked Active using the Repair Command Line: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71432-partition-mark-active.html

Then run Startup Repair again up to 3 separate times with reboots to try to start it. If not:

Copy out your files first using this method: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/93347-copy-paste-windows-recovery-console.html

You should be able to run Recovery on that model Compaq by tapping the F11 key at bootup.

Be sure to make your Recovery disks when you get back to desktop, and save a Win7 backup image as a primary backup once you have it set up again as you like.

 

[reef]

Hi Guys. Thanks for the responses. I went down to the store we bought the laptop from and burnt a system image from a box-fresh laptop. I think I managed to sell one to a customer whilst I was doing it too.

Just completed the restore on my sis's laptop and it seems to be functioning as normal.

Thanks again.

 

[gregrocker]

In case you missed it, you can run Recovery on that model Compaq by tapping F11 at bootup. Takes 15 minutes.