Restore to Factory Default Recovery Crashes Before Completing

[Iskra]

I have an HP dx7 laptop, which was experiencing repeated blue screens with many different error codes as well as periodically restarting seemingly at random. Occasionally it would also have the screen go black (looked like it entered sleep mode), which was unrecoverable.

I tried to track down the various drivers and problems suggested by the error codes in the BSOD, but didn't have any success in preventing the blue screens/restarts. Eventually I decided to take the system recovery DVD's from HP, and reformat and reset to factory defaults. I figured at factory default settings if the system was still unstable, it'd point towards a hardware problem as opposed to drivers or other software.

While performing the system recovery, it proceeds all the way to where it says "Setup is preparing your computer for first use" and gets to the step of installing drivers, at which point the system restarts. After booting up it then tells me that the installation has failed, and to reinstall. I've done this 3 times now, and get the same issue each time. I cant provide logs or dump files of the blue screens or other errors, since the HDD has been formatted as part of the system recovery.

I'm not really sure what to do at this point, as it seems to be a hardware issue since Windows 7 wont even install successfully, but I'd like to get a better grasp of what the issue is before I decide to replace parts, or just scrap the laptop altogether.

Thanks.

 

[rubyrubyroo]

Hello Iskra, and welcome to Seven forums

Can you provide more info in your system specs, esp. model number/windows version?


You have internet access from another PC, so you do have other options such as a clean/custom install from an ISO file if necessary. So don't go throwing it away just yet!

It sounds like the recovery may have written to the disk correctly, then a driver issue (possibly a new version of a driver downloaded from MS that is causing some type of conflict. You might be able to read the drive from another computer through an external drive connection (like a USB port type ext. HDD case/connector) or if you have another windows retail/upgrade DVD it might be possible to read the drive offline by booting to the DVD and starting the recovery options console, where you can enter command prompt and possibly access your HDD to retrieve any logs.

Mike

 

[theog]

I would Check the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.
Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.
HD Diagnostic

Also Check your ram.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/715-memory-diagnostics-tool.html?ltr=M
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

 

[Iskra]

Sorry, I should've posted more detailed specs in the first post.

HP Pavillion DV7t-3000
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
Intel Core i7-720QM
1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 230M
8GB DDR3 (2x4GB)
500 GB 7200 RPM SATA HDD
LightScribe Super Multi 8x DVD+/-RW

Sadly I dont remember offhand the manufacturers and exact specs of the RAM/HDD and device manager isnt exactly an option right now. I cant find it listed in the BIOS either, so I guess I'll have to open it up to take a look. I've run the HDD diagnostic in the BIOS, which it passed, but I'll try the ones linked above.

I ran memtest86 back when I started getting the blue screens, since a bad stick of RAM seemed a likely cause, but after 4 passes, all the sticks passed.

 

[Iskra]

So looking through all the documentation that came with the laptop, as well as HP's support site, theres no mention anywhere of the maker of the HDD. Even looking at HP's part replacement site, when entering the specific serial number of the laptop, it just lists several generic HDD's without any additional information. Looking at the list of HDD utilities above, they are all specific to a given maker of HDD's. Is there any recourse here other than to open the machine up and try to determine the maker by physically looking at the drive?

 

[rubyrubyroo]

Try checking in BIOS setup, your documentation should give you the key to press at initial boot-time to enter this environment (usually <F1>, <F2>, <Del>, etc). It might say on the screen when your system starts the boot process, but it can be rather quick! It should auto-detect the drive, although this is not foolproof, and probably even less reliable if the drive has some serious malfunction.

Mike

 

[Iskra]

Alright, so its a Seagate drive. I've run their diagnostic utility from a boot CD and its failed twice saying its found damaged sectors that it couldn't repair, so it seems like I'm looking at buying a new HDD.

Is there anything I should check out before replacing the drive, to make sure the new drive doesnt fail as well from some other root cause?

 

[rubyrubyroo]

Hello again Iskra,

The root cause for damaged sectors is most often just age & quality related, but can also be caused by physical "traumas" like dropping a laptop or shaking an active HDD too forcefully. Occasionally even a strong magnetic can lead to physical damage to the drive's surface. Basically, a HDD needs to remain neatly aligned inside.

So no, I don't believe there is any type of root cause inherent in your computer system that would damage sectors on the hard drive's surface. And, even if they had been "repairable" damaged sectors, I would start looking for a new drive anyway - as that's usually indicative of bad days ahead.

Best of luck!
Mike

 

[Iskra]

Makes sense, I figured that was the case, but wanted to be sure. Thanks for your help, I'll get a new drive and hopefully that should resolve both the inability to load windows, as well as the blue screen issues. Thanks again!

 

[rubyrubyroo]

Your very welcome Iskra.

Please let us know how it goes.

Mike

 

[Iskra]

So I got a Seagate Momentus XT 750GB HDD, and installed it. I ran the Seagate test utility to see if the drive functions properly before I did anything else, and the new drive passed twice, so it seems ok. When I try to boot from the Win7 recovery discs, I get the same crashing trouble as I had with the old drive.

When I tried to boot from the recovery disk, the first time I had the screen go completely black (not even backlight) and couldn't recover from that. The next time, it simply hung right before loading to the start of the recovery wizard. Third time I just got a blue screen halfway through the "windows is loading files" screen.

I'm not sure what additional information I can give, seeing as its literally a completely new drive without any software installed.

 

[rubyrubyroo]

Hello Iskra,

Sorry to hear your still having trouble. It sounds like your previous drive was actually damaged. So it's good that you got a new drive, regardless, or as I mentioned before, it could be a ticking-time-bomb even if all had installed correctly in the first place.

Now, the disc you are using often can be a source of confusion, as there are repair discs, restore discs and recovery discs, to name a few of the labels often used somewhat loosely depending on the manufacturer. A repair disc would simply give you access to tools to fix a installed version of windows that is having problems. Since you need to actually reinstall windows on this new drive, you'll need a full system recovery disc (rarely included with systems anymore.) One can probably be ordered for $20-$40 from the manufacturer's website, or by contacting them by phone. This installs your system back to the original condition you received it from the factory, so updates, programs, data-files will obviously need to be reloaded.

Other options do indeed exist. If you can find a windows retail or upgrade DVD that matches your version of windows, either borrowed from a friend or from another computer, you can use this to reinstall windows using your Product Key (it is on the COA sticker, and hopefully is still legible - may want to check this now.) If this is not possible you may need to create a installation disc, from a downloaded file.

(NOTE: even if you do have the correct disc, it could be flawed, by a small scratch, or due to a problem during it's original creation process.)

Any chance you can locate a retail/update that matches your licensed version of windows?


Thanks,
Mike
(BTW: I am also assuming from your text that you are set up with the DVD drive booting before the HDD in BIOS Setup– OR you are using the change boot order menu at boot-time. To be sure that the DVD/CD is booting rather than attempting to boot the unformatted, empty HDD.)

 

[Iskra]

Yeah, I'm glad that I replaced the drive even if there's some other issue, since the other one was showing up as damaged. I'm using a recovery disk which I boot from and then it proceeds to reformat the drive, install windows, and reset to factory presets. In practice though, the farthest its gotten is right before where it would begin installing windows. The other times it crashed right after it finished loading files and before the installation started. I've only tried booting from the recovery CD three times, so it might just be a coincidence that it crashed at around that point each time.

 

[rubyrubyroo]

Hmm. That is odd. just out of curiosity, does the recovery disc show any signs of wear and tear (still doesn't rule it out, nor that your optical drive is reading it properly, but if there's obvious scuff marks, it might be the disc) If you did have access to a disc as mentioned above, to try a clean install, you could use it obviously to install windows, but it's may help rule out the physical recovery disc, if it stops at a similar place in the process.

Just a though!?

I'll see what else I can dig up.


Mike

 

[Iskra]

As far as I can see, the disks dont seem to be damaged, but like you said, that doesnt really rule it out. I can try using the XP recovery disks from my desktop to see if that would install properly. Presumably that'd tell us if its the disks/optical drive causing problems.

The serious instability and blue screen/black screen crashes are what prompted me to try recovery on the laptop in the first place, so I'm thinking this might just be the same problem showing up. That would seem to point at something other than the disks/drive, but obviously cant say for sure.

 

[Iskra]

Alright so in the meantime, I decided to re-run memtest86 from a boot CD. For some reason, now its giving me errors. It gave me "unexpected interrupt" errors the first two times I ran it, which forced me to restart. Once it gave me something like 3700 errors in the memory... Now it doesn't detect any errors, but instead gets to about 80% on the first pass, at which point the computer powers off completely. So something seems very wrong here, not sure if its bad RAM or a CPU issue, or possibly it overheating?

I have no idea why it gave me completely different results from when I ran memtest in the past. I'm thinking the next step would be to try to test the individual sticks of ram and see if I still get the errors. I suppose I'll do that tomorrow if I have time. Any suggestions or ideas?

 

[rubyrubyroo]

I was thinking memory, but like you said you had run memtest+ so I was going to ask you if you installed any hardware since the initial factory system, that might be causing a conflict. But your memory recheck was a great idea. I usually run it ~6 runs and let it run overnight. But you'll want to try them one at a time to rule out each stick (in the first DIMM socket, the one closest to the CPU) and of course, make sure they are seated perfectly in the socket and snapped in just right.

If you think there may be excess heat, you may need to clean any dust off the heat sinks & fans with some "canned air." You should be able to get a pretty accurate idea of the heat from inside the BIOS setup environment.

Maybe you have some other compatible ram to try temporarily that would allow you to retry the windows 7 install? Because if it's the DIMM socket(s) then you're looking at replacing the MOBO, so fingers crossed on this!


Mike

This may be of some help: How to Test and Diagnose RAM Issues with Memtest86+

 

[Iskra]

I dont have any ram that I can swap in to complete the win7 install, so I'm going to have to pull out the DIMMs and test them one at a time to see if one/many/all of them have problems. I'll give them 6+ passes when I can pull it off, as right now the computer shuts off at 80% on the first pass. Hopefully when I find the problematic stick/socket that wont happen and I'll be able to run the required passes. I'm hoping its a bad stick and not a bad socket, but we'll see how things go.

 

[rubyrubyroo]

To be thorough, I guess I should be sure:

Are you using any OC settings?
The RAM does match the system specs for memory, correct?
Any recent virus/root-kit infections you know of?
Have you ever updated/flashed the BIOS?

Best of luck with the memory!
Mike

 

[Iskra]

I'm not OC'ing anything, and haven't had a virus or rootkit infection that I know of. I havent changed any setting on the RAM, and it worked fine for a long time, so I dont think its got bad timings or voltages.

I ran memtest86+ on both sticks for about 24 hours now. Its done 12 passes without finding any errors. Is there a significant difference between memtest86 and memtest86+ that one could find errors and the other wouldn't? Also I'm booting from a flash drive for memtest86+ whereas I used a boot CD for memtest86, would that possibly have an effect?

I'm going to go back and try memtest86 from the boot CD, and if that still has the same issues as before, I'll see if I cant run it from a flash drive and see how that works. Then I suppose I'll try memtest86+ from a boot CD just for completeness and see how that goes.