win 7 has stopped booting .. what are my options ?

[ozthecoz]

HI,

I have an advent verona netbook which had win7 installed from new.

recently it was becoming very sluggish, this was followed by it not responding at all and all i could do was boot into safe mode.

Now it will only boot to the recovery options (startup repair) and regardless of what i click (attempt to fix error / reinstall windows / etc ) the computer just hangs, freezes or does not respond at all to key / mouse presses.

So what are my options ?

The computer has no disk drive and came with no install disks etc - so thats not an option.

I can enter command prompt from the start up repair so my inital thought was f disk and try to install my copy of vista on it which ive put on a memory stick - but even when i boot from the memory stick i get the options to install vista but then its just the same freezing / hanging and doing nothing .

Is there a way i can completely wipe the computer ?

Any help much appreciated as im at a complete loss now

Dave

 

[gregrocker]

Burn a Win7 Repair CD to run Startup Repair which doesn't depend on OS files: System Repair Disc - Create. You can write ISO to flash stick using Win2Flash.

Make sure Win7's 100mb System Reserved is still marked Active so it will repair: Partition - Mark as Active.

If it won't start after running 3 separate Startup Repairs with reboots, mark Win7 partition itself Active to run Startup Repair x3 again to write the System Boot files directly to it as the 100mb boot partition may have become corrupt.

System Restore should be automated in Startup Repair, but run it next anyway.

You referred to a choice on your System Recovery Options list to Reinstall Win7, which means you have a Recovery Partition from which you should have made Recovery Disks. You can order these disks from manufacturer's Tech Support for a nominal fee if you didn't make them earlier.

You can also clean reinstall with the Product Key on your COA sticker following these steps: Reinstalling Windows 7

Copy out your files with Repair CD or DVD using this method: Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console. If you can find the install.wim file in the Recovery partition which won't run, you can also mount it to run Factory Recovery.

 

[ozthecoz]

many thanks for your reply.

Well ive tried the methods suggested and some others and still got now further

What ive tried -

Burn a Windows 7 Repair CD to run Startup Repair which doesn't depend on OS files: System Repair Disc - Create. You can write ISO to flash stick using Win2Flash.

It gives you the options but then does nothing - just hangs / freezes

Make sure Windows 7's 100mb System Reserved is still marked Active so it will repair: Partition - Mark as Active.

Followed the instructions in the link to enter Diskpart but after i have typed DISKPART in elevated Cmd Prompt i get the Computer : Miniwin message and then just eternal blinking of the cursor - it never actually goes into diskpart mode soo too speak.

I have also used the method on this site to make a bootable windows Vista disk on usb (using genuine vista disk i own) and it gets to the Vista background / splash screen but goes no further - so no options to install etc.

I have downloaded a dodgy copy of win 7 and stuck that on a bootable usb and that gets to the install windows splash screen but goes no further.

Even tried to install ubuntu but cant get very far with that either lol

So - this leads me to - could it be a hardware problem rather than software and if so how do i find out with no access to windows ?

 

[ozthecoz]

any further advice before i sling it through the window ?

 

[ozthecoz]

Ooooh - progress of sorts lol

Got the following message on blue screen:

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

blah blah

STOP: 0X000000ED (0x869C8E20, 0xC0000185, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

Does this mean anythin g to anybody ?

 

[mrdemon]

Well have you tryed loading the windows 7 boot CD go into dos box and use Bootrec.exe options
The Bootrec.exe tool supports the following options. Use the option that is appropriate for your situation.

Note If rebuilding the BCD does not resolve the startup issue, you can export and delete the BCD, and then run this option again. By doing this, you make sure that the BCD is completely rebuilt. To do this, type the following commands at the Windows RE command prompt:
bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
c:
cd boot
attrib bcd -s -h -r
ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
bootrec /RebuildBcd
/FixMbr
The /FixMbr option writes a Windows 7 or Windows Vista-compatible MBR to the system partition. This option does not overwrite the existing partition table. Use this option when you must resolve MBR corruption issues, or when you have to remove non-standard code from the MBR.
/FixBoot
The /FixBoot option writes a new boot sector to the system partition by using a boot sector that is compatible with Windows Vista or Windows 7.
Use this option if one of the following conditions is true:
The boot sector has been replaced with a non-standard Windows Vista or Windows 7 boot sector.
The boot sector is damaged.
An earlier Windows operating system has been installed after Windows Vista or Windows 7 was installed. In this scenario, the computer starts by using Windows NT Loader (NTLDR) instead of Windows Boot Manager (Bootmgr.exe).

 

[DocBrown]

I showed this in another thread for older computers without modern DVD drives. But I'm thinking it would be a good $20 to $40 investment for netbook owners for emergency problems.

USB 2.0 Slim8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive

Newegg.com - Rosewill USB 2.0 Slim8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive for Mac and PC Model ROD-EX003 Gloss Red - External CD / DVD / Blu-Ray Drives

 

[ozthecoz]

cheers doc brown - may have to get one of those if i ever get my netbook working again grrrrr.

Mr Demon - cheers for the info

I have got to the bootrec /rebuildbcd stage and get the message

"Scanning all disks for windows instalations.
Please wait, since this may take a while..."

How long should this take ? At the mo its been going 10 minutes + with cursor flashing underneath last line but nothing seems to be happening - the blue light on the computer that flashes when its doing something isnt flashing etc

 

[mrdemon]

Should be taking that long.

Have you tried finding your hard drive and taking it out and placing it in the computer, then do a scan-disk on it.

I recently had a friend with a similar problem and had too get a whole new drive, all is well with it now.

Also do you have the original Vista Disks. Maybe reinstalling Vista too factory then installing Win 7 may solve this.

 

[ozthecoz]

Update - in the end i removed the disk - placed it in my other computer and managed to re format it completely and then re install windows - so whilst i didnt solve the problem i have sorted it lol.

Only problem is with it being a complete fresh install of windows im missing drivers for things like the wirelesss card - w2here can i find these ? can i use generic drivers etc ?

 

[IamSparticles]

Generally, the netbook manufacturer would have drivers available for download on their web site, or at least links to the component manufacturers. But I can't find anything on the Advent web site for your model. You may have to do some research to find out what components it has and locate the drivers yourself.