Win 7 stubborn boot loop when user login is displayed

[KGHN]

Aug2020 this Win7 Clevo laptop woke up in a boot loop. It has been stored, and now given to me in Aug2021. I need to get it going in Windows to support a scanner/printer for which I don't have Linux drivers.
--- I don't want to just wipe it, as it had valuable un-backed-up data when it went down. I'd like to recover that for the prior owner.
--- It has a SSD Win 7 pro 64 SP1 boot drive with 100MB System Reserved flagged as boot (per GParted.) It also has a 1TB data drive.
--- I have its System Repair disc and OEM Win7 disc from the vendor (AVA Direct) and an external optical drive to run them via USB. I have an Arch Linux SystemRescueCD 8.03 USB flash drive that also can boot via the BIOS boot menu. (That's how I'm posting this.)
--- Memtest seems happy, chkdsk /f of the SSD passes. I did bootrec /fixmbr, bootrec /fixboot, and bootrec /rebuildbcd . I have run Startup Repair 4 or 5 times in a row with boot in between. At first it was complaining about unknown Bugcheck 7e error 0x490, but the last couple of times it said the OS was fine.
--- When I boot (safe mode or regular) it gets as far as loading the user account icons, then reboots.
--- I'd love some help, thank you for reading my post.

 

[essenbe]

Hello KGHN and welcome to the forums.

To recover files you have several options

You can copy and paste from the installation DVD/USB
Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console

You could use a Live Linux OS on USB to copy the files over or even maybe your Arch Linux Repair CD.

 

[KGHN]

Thank you, essenbe, for that method to copy unbackedup files. That's sneaky to use the driver load function. Unfortunately, there is at least a Terrabyte of data to salvage, between the two drives. I only have a couple of 128GB flash drives with me. Maybe I can drive into town tomorrow and buy a 1TB external drive to attach.
--- I gather you are implying that a fresh installation of Windows 7 is the way to go to support my scanner/printer use needs, rather than struggling further to get this misbehaving installation back to health.
--- I'm not going to mark this solved yet, as I still would like to know how to fix the Win7. There is lots of expensive software installed whose supporting discs, keys, and registrations would take effort to round up. Also, I do a lot of service for elderly fixed income clients who are still running Win 7; I may face this problem again.
---
--- By the way, if you see 128GB Verbatim flash drives at 4 for $40, be wary. I am really disappointed with these. Some ultra slow, a couple immediately dead. I bought 8, and wish I had chosen a different brand. B&H Photo Video replaced the first dead one, a good vendor. I'll call them again when I get back to my office.

 

[essenbe]

Have you tried to boot into Safe Mode. (Safe Mode)

Safe mode will load only the MS drivers and run in a minimal state.

Here is a list of almost all the things you can try. Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot

Sometimes it is easier to do a clean install than try to fix a computer that won't boot. You can spend days and days sometimes trying to fix one.

 

[essenbe]

By the way, almost anything you want to try has a tutorial on these forums. https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/
We have probably the most tutorials you can find in one place. We also have forums for Windows 10 and Windows 11.

 

[KGHN]

essenbe,
When I boot (safe mode or regular) it gets as far as loading the user account icons, then reboots. Yes, I've been working on this for two days now. I have found several relevant posts on various sites, but nothing has worked yet.
I'm looking at the tutorials (nice reference cache!) and see BCD (Boot Configuration Data) Store - Backup and Restore in Windows How to Backup and Restore Boot Configuration Data (BCD) Store in Windows, and BCDEDIT - How to Use How to Use the BCDEDIT Command Line Tool. Plus many other tutorials about the boot process.
--- I'm able to choose a boot from the boot menu, and it starts to launch. Then the machine quits and restarts, usually after the account icons are presented. That suggests to me that the trouble is *after* the BCD does its job.
--- Long ago we tried Last Known Good Configuration without luck. I think we also tried the most recent restore point. Perhaps I should try an older one.
--- I'm wondering if SFC (System File Checker) can be run from optical disk. When I'm up on optical boot, X: is the optical, C: seems to be a RAMdrive (has \Temp), D: is the huge data drive, and E: is the SSD with Program Files, Windows, and Users. There doesn't seem to be a tutorial for SFC.
---
--- Thanks again for your kind help!

 

[essenbe]

It can be done, but drive letters are different in the recovery environment, most likely what you know as the 'C' drive will not be C when booted from the DVD.

 

[essenbe]

Try this one SFC /SCANNOW : Run in Command Prompt at Boot

In case you are not aware, when you boot from the installation DVD at any time you can hold the SHIFT key and press F10 (both at the same time) to get a command prompt. It will open to X:\Sources

 

[essenbe]

KGHN when you received the 7e code, did it also list a driver name?

 

[KGHN]

essenbe, That's a good tip about getting to a command prompt from the installation disc. Thanks! I hope to post my luck with SFC /SCANNOW tonight or tomorrow. KGHN

 

[essenbe]

Good luck

 

[KGHN]

It said "Root cause found": Unknown Bugcheck: Bugcheck 7e. Parameters=0xffffffffc0000094,0xfffff8800f6614ac,0xffffff8800a0d1408,0xfffff8800z0d0c70.
and error 0x490. I didn't see anything I recognized as a driver.
...Also...
Startup repair online
Signature 01 6.1.7600.16385; 02 6.1.7600.16385; 03 unknown; 04 21198040; 05 AutoFailover; 06 2; 07 NoRootCause; OS 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1 locale 1033
---
I searched on a lot of those items but didn't reach enlightenment.

- - - Updated - - -

The tutorial on SFC is helpful, and I think indicates that the C: drive I'm seeing, when booted from optical, is the System Reserved partition on the SSD. Unfortunately, when I tried it, SFC /SCANNOW says there is a "system repair pending" and that I should reboot Windows before running SFC. I'm trying to run SFC so that Windows *can* reboot. I have borrowed a genuine Microsoft Win Pro 7 64 bit DVD. I'm hoping there is a way to "reinstall" Win 7 without losing my data or programs. I also haven't tried prior restore points yet, so that's a hope.

 

[essenbe]

It said "Root cause found": Unknown Bugcheck: Bugcheck 7e. Parameters=0xffffffffc0000094,0xfffff8800f6614ac,0xffffff8800a0d1408,0xfffff8800z0d0c70.
and error 0x490. I didn't see anything I recognized as a driver.
...Also...
Startup repair online
Signature 01 6.1.7600.16385; 02 6.1.7600.16385; 03 unknown; 04 21198040; 05 AutoFailover; 06 2; 07 NoRootCause; OS 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1 locale 1033
---
I searched on a lot of those items but didn't reach enlightenment.

- - - Updated - - -

The tutorial on SFC is helpful, and I think indicates that the C: drive I'm seeing, when booted from optical, is the System Reserved partition on the SSD. Unfortunately, when I tried it, SFC /SCANNOW says there is a "system repair pending" and that I should reboot Windows before running SFC. I'm trying to run SFC so that Windows *can* reboot. I have borrowed a genuine Microsoft Win Pro 7 64 bit DVD. I'm hoping there is a way to "reinstall" Win 7 without losing my data or programs. I also haven't tried prior restore points yet, so that's a hope.

If you can boot into Windows you can do a repair install ( Repair Install ) which will repair Windows and will leave all the programs and data in place. There is always some risk in doing that, but I've never had an issue. However it can only be done from within Windows.

 

[essenbe]

@KGHN I might suggest you include Macrium backup imaging software (free) in your tool bag. It can be a life saver. You can install it and create a recovery USB and image a hard drive from the recovery USB. It will then restore the entire drive or OS .

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect | Tutorials

 

[Megahertz07]

Welcome to the Forum
For what I see, the problem may be a corrupted profile.
Does the computer only have one user to log in?
Is the \Users folder on the C: drive or it has been moved to D:\users (HDD)?

There is a trick to enable built in Administrator account.
We can try that after you answer the questions above.

 

[KGHN]

Hello Megahertz07, thanks for jumping in. I believe \Users is on the SSD with \Program Files and \Windows. Normally that's C:, but when I'm booted on an optical it's E:. I *think* System Reserved is C: when I'm booted on an optical. That C: has \Temp and a hidden \boot folder. (System Reserved is sda1, NTFS, and flagged boot per GParted.)
--- I see two users, Maintenance with-password administrator account, and Jane no-password limited account. Guest is turned off, I think. My recollection is that originally Jane was the only visible account and was administrator-without-password, and I created Maintenance for administration and demoted Jane to a limited account for the user's daily surfing.
--- Today I tried to run SFC /SCANNOW from the Win7 preinstall OEM optical disc but it refused: "There is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete. Restart Windows and run sfc again." Of course, Windows won't start, so that is a frustration.
--- I also tried the three latest restore points via the machine's own System Repair disc, stepping back in time. They "completed successfully" but Windows fails to start when the restart is requested.
--- Keeping more careful notes today, when I try to launch Safe Mode or Safe Mode With Command Prompt, it gets as far as displaying the (two) login icons (not quite long enough to use them) before restarting at the BIOS boot screen. When I try to start Windows normally, I get the "flag" windows logo briefly, then it restarts. It's not getting as far as the login screen with a normal start.
--- I don't imagine it's related, but the "Q" key doesn't work - I have to Ctrl+Shift+u71 to generate a q. My user never complained about that before the boot loop problem started.
--- This part of Tennessee has *lots* of thunderstorms and power dibbles. The machine *was* on an APC battery backup when the problem started.

P.S. Thank you essenbe for your endorsement of Macrium backup imaging software. I may need such. By the way, beware, Seagate's external drive backup software may fail when pathnames are too long to fit after they try to copy to Seagate's backup folder. When I diagnosed this several years ago, the backup program wasn't checking, did not notify, and data was lost.

 

[Megahertz07]

Your computer boots fine (bcdedit or bcdboot won't help) but it finds corrupted files when it try to show the users options.

Drive letters are assigned by the OS. If you boot from WinPE on a ODD or USB, the drive letters on the main drive may be different.

You wrote you did a chkdsk x: /f on the SSD. You should do the same on the HDD.

When you boot from WinPE, sfc /scannow won't work. You have to find the assigned letter to the windows partition
diskpart
list volume (take note of the Windows volume letter)
exit

and then run
sfc /scannow /offbootdir=x:\ /offwindir=x:\windows (replace x with the Windows volume letter you fond with list volume)

 

[KGHN]

Megahertz07, I wish I knew better what "WinPE" is. A quick search was not enlightening. I have 3 optical discs: the machine's own system repair disc, the OEM Preinstallation disc that came with the machine, and a borrowed student retail Win Pro 7 64bit Eng Disk Kit DVD. As far as I know, all 3 have SFC and diskpart, and a command prompt available.
--- I tried sfc /scannow with parameters before, but didn't know what drive letters to use, and had no success. My notes are not good, apparently the OEM disc said something about "different platform architecture". I'll try to do better documentation this time. The instructions I was working from said the offbootdir should specify the System Reserved partition's drive letter. I tried that, and also both parameters as E:, the windows partition. But, it's worth trying again, and taking time to write down the responses.
--- I need to reboot from the Linux boot flash drive I'm using to access the forum, to try your suggestion...
--- Thanks again, the internet was out here this morning, I hope to have results by this evening.

 

[Megahertz07]

WinPE is a small OS that is used to boot the installation disk, Macrium reflect etc.
The machine's own system repair disc, the OEM Preinstallation disc that came with the machine, and a borrowed student retail Win Pro 7 64bit Eng Disk Kit DVD all have WinPE

"Different platform architecture" can be you're trying to use WinPE 32 bits on a Windows 64 bits or vice-versa.
It may also be that you booted the WinPE in legacy mode and Windows is EFI or vice-versa (probably not the case)

Windows PE (WinPE) | Microsoft Docs
Windows Preinstallation Environment - Wikipedia

What you mean by --- I need to reboot from the Linux boot flash drive I'm using to access the forum, to try your suggestion...?
You must boot from WinPE ( The machine's own system repair disc, OR the OEM Preinstallation disc that came with the machine, OR the borrowed student retail Win Pro 7 64bit Eng Disk Kit DVD) to run any command to fix Windows

 

[KGHN]

Thank you Megahertz07, that is very helpful about "WinPE". OK, here's my latest story.
--- I booted on the borrowed Win7 retail disc, chose setup, repair your computer. It showed (only) Windows 7 Professional location E:. It gave me a choice of 3 users: HomeGroupUser$, JANE, and Maintenance. It said I needed an administrator account to access a command prompt, so I logged in as Maintenance. (JANE is limited, and I didn't recognize the other one).
--- X:\Sources>diskpart
list volume
Volume 0 C System Rese NTFS Partition 100MB Healthy
Volume 1 E NTFS Partition 488GB Healthy
Volume 2 D New Volume NTFS Partition 931GB Healthy
The "info" column was blank for all 3. Exit.
--- chkdsk c: /f "Windows has checked the file system and found no problems."
--- chkdsk d: /f "Windows has checked the file system and found no problems."
--- chkdsk e: /f "CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the master file table (MFT) bitmap. Windows has made corrections to the file system."
--- 2nd try:
--- chkdsk e: /f "Windows has checked the file system and found no problems."
--- All were identified as NTFS, 0 bad sectors.
--- X:\Sources>sfc /scannow /offbootdir=e:\ /offwindir=e:\windows
"Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations."
shut down/OFF, ON, F8, asked for Safe Mode. I gawked as it displayed the login icons for a good 5 seconds...then it restarted.
--- OFF/ON F7 to boot menu, booted Linux to report in.
---
--- Would your trick to enable the built in Administrator account give us a fresh account to play with? And if so, how to repair the other accounts? (And why would they both go bad at once?)