Overwhelming Side by Side Errors for all software

[Gravitytr1]

Hello everyone,

For a couple of days now I've been working on a solution for my spontaneous (no spell check because firefox/chrome refuse to launch) Side by Side configuration errors to no avail.

Most programs refuse to launch, giving the usual "[directory for said program] This application has failed to start because its side by side configuration is incorrect."

I cannot uninstall/repair any software using the control panel, and most software even give me errors that they cannot be found and can be "unlisted." SFC via command prompt reported several failed file verifications but, and look at my luck, recieves even more errors when trying to fix them. Hence, I'm back where I started. Sxstrace produces a logfile filled with gibberish characters and not one intelligible word I can look at.

To make things even more fun for me, I was not able to boot windows from a USB flash drive or from a DVD for also unknown reasons. Whenever I try to read W7 disk, Windows informs me that it is an empty disk (The same DVD works fine on a different PC) and whenever I try to burn a disk I also get another error.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Grav

EDIT: To my information and using 4 different AV/Anti-malware for critical scans, there were no malware of any kind. Also, I'm pretty clean/conservative about what I do on my PC, so I don't really need an AV inthe first place.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Did you do the SFC following steps from this tutorial? You might need to run it multiple times, and each time it will fix something.

Your windows 7 is clearly corrupted and SFC is clearly the way to go (other than a repair install or a full reinstall), but booting from a DVD is handled by the BIOS (the motherboard's own firmware) that runs on its own, so it will work regardless of windows 7 condition if the DVD itself is ok. BIOS works even without Windows 7. That's the entire point of it.

Can you go in bios options (also called Setup when the PC is powered on, it will write a line in white text on the black screen to say what key to press to enter BIOS or Setup, it is usually F1, F2, Del or F10 depending on what PC is that) use the keyboard arrows to move around and make sure that the boot order has the CD/DVD drive before the hard drive? Then save and exit BIOS (from the last tab to the right).

Then place the dvd in the reader and restart. Then follow the tutorial linked.

 

[Gravitytr1]

Did you do the SFC following steps from this tutorial? You might need to run it multiple times, and each time it will fix something.

Your windows 7 is clearly corrupted and SFC is clearly the way to go (other than a repair install or a full reinstall), but booting from a DVD is handled by the BIOS (the motherboard's own firmware) that runs on its own, so it will work regardless of windows 7 condition if the DVD itself is ok. BIOS works even without Windows 7. That's the entire point of it.

Can you go in bios options (also called Setup when the PC is powered on, it will write a line in white text on the black screen to say what key to press to enter BIOS or Setup, it is usually F1, F2, Del or F10 depending on what PC is that) use the keyboard arrows to move around and make sure that the boot order has the CD/DVD drive before the hard drive? Then save and exit BIOS (from the last tab to the right).

Then place the dvd in the reader and restart. Then follow the tutorial linked.

Thanks for the quick reply bobafetthotmail!

I think I need to clarify my DVDs issue. The DVD cannot be read via Windows or the BIOS. Windows sees it as a blank disk and the BIOS "has failed to boot via CD/DVD." I was thinking that either my DVD reader is kaput or that the fact the DVD was burned on a Windows XP might be the problem? Unfortunately, I'm halfway accross the globe from home and have no access to any other CD/DVD I might try to see if my DVD drive functions properly.

In regards to the SFC, it doesnt try to fix anything at all. It simply verifies, tells me that there are corruprt files and proceeds to display an error informing me that there was a problem in fixing the files.

When I try to boot from USB I get the following error:
STATUS: 0xc000000e
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Ok, let's avoid the DVD drive.

Do you have access to another Windows 7 PC? If yes, follow these steps to create a USB installation drive with a clean ISO file provided from the links.

SFC may fail to work if it is too screwed up. If run from an installation drive it usually works unless there is a hardware failure.

Speaking of hardware failures, while you wait can you do a check disk? This tutorial. Check both options. Will ask to reboot, do it, might take a while.

If in the final report there are more than 0 bad sectors, the hard drive is failing. That is a prime cause for sudden windows 7 corruption (other than malware anyway).

 

[Gravitytr1]

I followed the first tutorial and I got an error message saying something about bootsec.exe not getting successfully installed. I tried using a different program for preping the USB to boot but that was no use either.

I will try the dskcheck tonight and reply tomorrow.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

You must be trying to make a USB with a x64 iso from a PC that has windows 7 x86, or anyway a non-64 bit windows. That tool is dumb.

You need this file to make it work (yes, it's hosted on my own dropbox). Extract it and place it in the same folder where is the "usb/dvd download tool" you use to make the drive. Yeah it is the "bootsect.exe" that it says it lacks.

Otherwise you can try rufus. That's what most here use.

Since you may miss the results of the check disk (as you are running it overnight), this tutorial explains how to read the results from the logs.

 

[Gravitytr1]

Good morning,

Okay, so things got a little better yesterday. I managed to install Windows by launching the installer via Windows (Thank God I didn't receive any errors) and I have a new copy of Windows on my D partition (I have a 250GB HDD split into a C and D.) Is there a way to easily copy/move information from my old copy of Windows to my new one instead of trying to repair my old Windows?

Thanks for the Bootsec.exe. I extracted it into the root directory (where my boot program is) of my USB boot drive but I still got the error in BIOS. I will try Rufus soon.

Unfortunately, when I scheduled a chkdsk for last night, my PC just did a normal restart. Windows is both a curse and a gift, but when it rains it pours. I will try again tonight and use the log tutorial you talked about.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Is there a way to easily copy/move information from my old copy of Windows to my new one instead of trying to repair my old Windows?

You can move data (documents/images/music) but not programs, that is you will need to reinstall all your programs then copy over the program settings/game saves if you know where they are located. Desktop and Documents are inside C:\Users\<name of your local account>

You should be able to run SFC scannow on the other partition from it though, and it should work as the install seems clean (you need to specify the drive to scan). Although I would trust more a USB installation disk to do it.
Open an elevated command prompt and type sfc /scannow /offbootdir=d:\ /offwindir=d:\windows and press enter (because when you are booting the second installation it will see the system drive as C:\ and the other as D).

I extracted it into the root directory (where my boot program is) of my USB boot drive but I still got the error in BIOS.

It needs to be in the same folder where the USB/DVD download tool executable file is, rightclick on the shortcut on the desktop and select (open file location) to get there.

 

[Gravitytr1]

Yeah, I moved most of the files I needed including Appdata. Someone should program an app of some kind to ease the process though.

I tried doing the SFC in your latest post but it told me that; The arguements passed to sfc are invalid. The offline windows directory specidied points to the online system.

So I changed the D to C and it told me that it "was unable to fix some of them [the corrupt files]."

I will continue my work on the USB and reply with results.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Run SFC up to three times with the same procedure.

When you manage to make a working USB, do a SFC from it for three times in a row.

If it fails I'd do a repair install, this tutorial.

don't forget the disk check.

 

[Gravitytr1]

The HDD is breaking down for some reason. This is the 3rd HDD in 2 years for a 2 year old Toshiba. Why is this happening to all my HDDs? They're different brands. I can easily go and waste money on another HDD, but I don't want to have the same issue in the future. I've never had any problems with HDDs prior to this laptop.

I tried using Rufus to fix the USB but it still failed to boot and gave me the same error message. The partition is active and NTFS with more than enough space, so this is another problem that is driving me crazy.

EDIT: My DVD reader is also broken (It cannot read DVDs for some reason, even though it was working fine prior to this) so if I do get another HDD, how can I install Windows on it if I cannot get my USB to boot?

 

[bobafetthotmail]

I suspect some hardware failure in the laptop (not normal so much stuff breaking down/malfunctioning and rufus USBs not working).
And anyway if the DVD drive does not work, the HDD is dying and the USB does not boot, there is little else I can tell you to do.

You could try updating the BIOS (or reflashing the same version if it's already the latest), although it's risky if you do it from windows (doing it from the BIOS own panel if possible is safer, while still somewhat risky, follow their instructions from the manufacturer's site).

But I'd say to seek a physical technician (that can look at and possibly fix the hardware) or buy a new laptop. Just stay away from Acer.

 

[Gravitytr1]

Thanks for all your assistance.


Will chkdisk be able to fix my HDD?


As for Acer, I'm not a fan of their laptops either, but why do you dislike them.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Depends, if it is a SMART error (SMART is the hardware error report system) you can only replace it.
What was the error? What program told there was an error?

Run a checkdisk anyway, both options checked (can be done form any PC, it is actually better to do it from another PC). If it finds "bad sectors", the drive is dying and there is nothing you (anyone) can do about it.

As for Acer, their laptops (and even some desktops) are very very common patients in the PC repair shop I work in.

 

[gregrocker]

Try resetting your BIOS to defaults: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

Set SATA controller to AHCI, HDD first to boot, Save changes and exit.

Now try booting the Win7 DVD or flash stick from Steps 1 and 2 of Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 which steps are the same for retail. If the DVD drive won't function then replace it. If the flash stick won't boot then try aother.

If these fail back up your data and any bookmarks or other program data needed from the important backup steps in the first half of the tutorial. Then wipe the HD using Diskpart Clean Command accessing DISKPART At PC Startup.

If you can't access the installer's Command Line to run Clean command, then download and burn to CD with Windows Image Burner or write to flash stick with Universal USB Installer free Partition Wizard CD ISO which will boot itself to Partition Wizard Wipe Disk Video Help. If this fails try downloading and burning to CD the HD maker's HD Diagnostic which also boots itself to test the HD and then use the Quick Erase utility.

Once the HD is wiped more than half of installation failures and many boot failures are solved, so if necessary I'd move it to another PC to wipe it.

Report back results and exact point of failure and any verbatim error message.