Solved Laptop in constant initial boot splash screen

[es336td]

My wife's Dell Inspiron was giving her fits. Most of it, I assumed was Windows was trying to install updates. I installed what was there and then started doing maintenance. I ran Jet Clean, SpyBot, and then updated AVG Free. I then ran a full scan; she hadn't run one since June. I discovered 10 Trojans and had them removed. I was doing all of this while running on battery power. It was getting low, so I went upstairs to get the power adapter. When I came down, the battery was done... red light came on, it beeped and shut down. I attempted to power back on. Now it goes through the Dell splash screen with the F2 & F12 options, then acts like the power was cut and does it again... a continuous loop. It's been doing it for the past half hour. I do not have the restore disks and cannot seem to get to the place where I can restore to another point, prior to today. Any ideas as to what can be done to fix it?

 

[Mellon Head]

You could try going into safe mode by pressing the F8 key repeatedly as you boot. Then you can do a system restore if it will boot up.

It is possible that the spyware removal was unfinished when the system shut down and now the boot sector on the hard disk is damaged. In that case you'll need to repair the boot sector with a Windows disk, and use the repair options, if possible. There are tutorials here on how to do that:

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

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

 

[es336td]

I press F8 repeatedly once I power on. It thinks about it for a while (the splash screen stays there slightly longer), then it goes through the loop again. Can't find a way around it.

Also, I never created a boot disk. I have a desktop, and two other laptops with XP. The laptop I'm on now is a Dell Inspiron 1720 with Vista... no other Windows 7 computers in the house.

 

[Mellon Head]

A recovery disk wouldn't help you at this point, I don't think. You need an actual Windows 7 retail disk or ISO to do startup repair, or a repair install. You can download an actual MS ISO disk and use that to try to fix your computer, as long as you have a valid activation key for your laptop. See the "Warning" section on the Repair Install link that I posted for details on how to get a Windows ISO file and burn it to a disk using the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool.

 

[es336td]

I have found the drivers disk that came with the laptop, but NOTHING for Windows 7. So I take it I need to download. But then... I have no key... how can I figure out what that is? I can get to the service tag via set up, but that's about it. Any ideas? Worst case... can I do the factory reset?

 

[Mellon Head]

You mean no Windows activation key? How did you activate it? You should have a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) for your laptop. It had to have come with one. The activation key is printed on it.

It should be stuck to the bottom of the laptop (most of them are), or it might be attached to the sleeve the driver disk came in. Look around, you'll need that key if you have to reinstall.

 

[es336td]

You mean no Windows activation key? How did you activate it? You should have a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) for your laptop. It had to have come with one. The activation key is printed on it.

It should be stuck to the bottom of the laptop (most of them are), or it might be attached to the sleeve the driver disk came in. Look around, you'll need that key if you have to reinstall.

It was 4 years ago... have no clue. It's not on the bottom of the laptop. I have a Drivers and Utilities disk. One the back of the sealed envelope is something that appears to be the key but not quite. XX-XXXXXX-XXXXX-XXXX doesn't appear to be the right configuration. I am at the point now, where I would love to do the factory restore, but F8 does nothing. Severely frustrated.

 

[The Howling Wolves]

This link may help or one of those listed.

How To Find Your Windows 7 Product Key

THW

 

[es336td]

This link may help or one of those listed.

How To Find Your Windows 7 Product Key

THW

I checked out the link, and have used Belarc advisor in the past. One question... the laptop that has 7 and needs to be revived is in a continuous loop. Can I create a Vista startup disk with one of the tools listed and still find the key? I currently cannot boot, and F8 to restore to factory does not work.

 

[es336td]

This link may help or one of those listed.

How To Find Your Windows 7 Product Key

THW

I checked out the link, and have used Belarc advisor in the past. One question... the laptop that has 7 and needs to be revived is in a continuous loop. Can I create a Vista startup disk with one of the tools listed and still find the key? I currently cannot boot, and F8 to restore to factory does not work.

As I said... this tool needs to be run in Windows. I cannot boot, so it looks like I'm screwed. Is there a way to force the F8 factory reset?

 

[The Howling Wolves]

Here's links for restoration...
https://www.google.com/search?q=how...4&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

Check a few of them to see if any of them help your situation.
Good luck and post back.
THW

 

[matts6887]

It looks like your only option left may be to contact Dell and try and get a windows 7 disk;unless someone else out there knows of a way to get the iso image burned to a disc.

 

[Golden]

Use the method outlined by Mellon Head in post #4 to create a Windows 7 disk from an ISO....that will allow you to do the repair required.

 

[es336td]

Figured it out. If I had just paid attention to everyone's responses, I could have been done. I downloaded the Windows 7 .iso image and created a DVD. I booted from the DVD and selected repair. It fixed it. You don't have to have the key to repair, only if you reinstall. Thanx for all the help.

 

[Golden]

 

[Mellon Head]

Yay!

 

[spacecon]

So now you should make sure to find your W7 key and keep it in a safe place, maybe with your disk.

 

[es336td]

Well... I thought I fixed it. I booted fine twice... I ran a virus scan... SpyBot... and a few other cleaners in between boots. It appeared to be stable, so I was syncing up a briefcase on the desktop with one on my desktop over the network. It was running fine... I have taught my wife to only charge the battery when it gets low. Well, she fell asleep and the battery ran out. It started the loop again. I was able to repair, again, but this time it said something about versions not matching. I was able to bypass that and boot, but have no idea what else to do. I ran BelArc adviser and saved the file, but did not print it out. I feel I can fix it again, but it is a pain to have to do so. Any ideas?

 

[spacecon]

So you were able to boot into Windows? Then why not use system restore to put you back where you were before this happened? Also, if you are going to run your battery down, you need to adjust your advanced power options so that your computer will sleep or hibernate at a safe battery level before you totally run out of power, or else this will continue to happen.

 

[es336td]

Yes, I was able to get into Windows and rebooted twice without the DVD. I tried the system restore, but I can't find a place to create a restore point like I have in Vista. Is that now creating a system image? I wish once they get things where they work, they'd leave it alone.

I thought I had the power settings like that, but I'll have to check again. Thanx.