Win 7 suddenly won't restart

[bpreston]

I attempted to reboot today, but I can't. I'm told to go through the startup repair sequence, which appears to successfully load files, then I see a brief set of arrows suggesting something is going on, but then the screen goes blank and stays that way. Won't start normally either. I'm running Avast Internet Security on Win 7--both set to update automatically.

What should I try next?
Thanks,
Brian

 

[DocBrown]

Try tapping the F8 key during Boot-Up, see if you can get into Safe-Mode. Let it load completely to the desktop. Then try power down to re-start & see what happens.

 

[bpreston]

F8 doesn't get to a safe mode on this machine. It starts with an ASUS bios screen all the time, even when hitting F8. I still get to the startup repair option. At that point, I've also selected 'start normally' and continued to hit F8, but don't get to safe mode that way either. It hangs on the Starting Windows screen.

Might there be another keystroke on this box to get directly to Safe Mode? I'll post to an ASUS help forum as well to see if there's a way to bypass this start screen.

 

[severedsolo]

HI bpreston,

If you can't get to Safe Mode using F8, then spam F5 until you get a menu asking you which OS to boot. On a single boot system you should only have one option.
Then press F8 to get to the advanced options and select Safe Mode from there.

Hope it helps

 

[bpreston]

Thanks. I got into safe mode, did some of the checks there. Troubleshooting found no problems and the process suggested trying recovery. I noted the last recovery point was the automatic system update on 3/16. I ran recovery and noticed it went through the first part of the process quickly, but shutting down was very, very slow. Then it hung on restart at the starting windows screen. Makes me wonder if others have had problems since the 3/16 update.

I forced a shutdown and started once again, this time trying 'repair your computer' from the F8 screen. I did get the startup repair screen to open. It bumped along for a while, then asked me if I wanted to use system restore. I said yes again. Then another restart request, and the system would not shut down, again. I forced another shut down and started over at the repair your computer option. Ran Startup Repair from the prompt once again.

This time it ran for a longer time without suggesting a system restore. I am noticing that the dialog box suggested that the system might restart several times during the process--I am hoping this might happen...since it hasn't been able to actually shut down normally at any point so far.

Looking at the repair details, one message failed: System files integrity check and repair, faile, error code = 0x490.
Back to system restore, I scanned for affected programs from the 3/16/11 date and none were found. So I attempted another restart. It would not shut down.
Forced it again. Restarted into Safe Mode, tried to shut down from there. Got to shutdown and it wouldn't finish. Rebooted and couldn't start in safe mode this time. I went to a 3/13 restore point to try again--the 3/16 restore had not worked. It ran the restore, went through to restart, and locked up at the Starting Windows screen.

Next?

 

[DocBrown]

Have you tried to run System File Checker in Safe Mode ?

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html?ltr=S

 

[bpreston]

Tried to start in safe mode with command prompt. Could not start. Trying again in vanilla safe mode.

 

[bpreston]

Now when I try to start in vanilla safe mode, I get only a cursor arrow on the screen. Won't get beyond that point. Also tried last known good configuration. This time it went to the starting windows screen but didn't get beyond that point. Next?

 

[DocBrown]

Can you get into regular Safe Mode ?

then

Start :ar: cmd.exe :ar: then the :ar: sfc /scannow

 

[bpreston]

At this point, selecting safe mode doesn't complete. I see a list of files that seem to load, but when that finished, I get a cursor arrow in the middle of the screen and nothing else happens. I can move the cursor, but it's on a black screen.

 

[DocBrown]

Do you have a win7 install DVD to run a repair install from booting up that ?

 

[bpreston]

Yes. I think I'm up to that point. Is the repair install straightforward in the instructions?

 

[DocBrown]

Read through this tutorial

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

 

[bpreston]

This is a bit scary. I found instructions on an MS Win7 site. Put in the DVD, saw the 'press any key to boot from CD or DVD' and saw the loading files display. Then it went to the Starting Windows screen, made it to the splash image, and has stopped. It's not bringing up the install screen where I can select a repair install.

 

[DocBrown]

Can you see the Repair on the Win7 Install screen ?

View attachment 144644

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/668-system-recovery-options.html

 

[bpreston]

I think I just read that if I have an OEM system builder pack DVD, this might not work. That's what I have--provided by Tiger Direct when I built the system from scratch 18 months ago. Is this why I'm not getting into the right screens?

 

[DocBrown]

I think you are right, I just read that also.

We will have to look for some other options.

 

[DocBrown]

Do you have any friends that might have a win7 Home Premium 64 bit Install DVD ?

Here was a way to create an OEM recovery/repair disc, but it probably won't work because of your boot problems

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2083-system-repair-disc-create.html

 

[bpreston]

Following your instructions, and using my WinXP machine, I was able to follow the instructions to create the repair disk with bit torrent, etc. IMGBurn reported the disk was successfully burned and verified. However, using it doesn't get me to the repair screen. I get the ASUS Express Gate screen, then the option to boot from the CD, then Windows is loading files comes up and finishes--seems to be going well. Screen shows a bit of the next step --windows loading, but it doesn't finish and goes black.

If I try to boot in safe mode, I now see the list of files loading, then a cursor, but nothing comes up on screen.

Now I'm concerned that I can't even use the OEM system builder disk to do a complete reinstall. I'm asking around for another Win7 disk.

 

[bpreston]

DocBrown, love your graphic. Your message was blocked by a pop-up blocker and I lost it. Here's an update. I used the F5>F8 and let the machine run a few times using the repair option. I noticed after walking away and leaving the blank screen for a few hours, the repair dialog box came up. I ran the repair and it came back with no errors. Still could not boot properly. then used the Win7 recovery disk and let it go into blank screens for a while until it too, gave me some recovery options. Right now, I have a system recovery options box--it's not the same recovery screen the tutorial shows at all. But it defaults to: Use recovery tools that can help fix problems......, Then it says If your operating system isn't listed, click Load Drivers and then installl drivers for your hard disks. This shows after several minutes of searching for a windows operating system. The system it finds is the Win y recovery disk in the D drive, not my C drive. If I click on load drivers, I'm asked to insert the installation media for the device and click OK to select the driver. However, the drive is a seagate barracuda 7200.10 750 G, and I don't recall having any driver disk--I think it was plug and play. Or was it? My bios sees the drive properly, as I recall when checking bios setting on startup.

If I click on OK with no media (I have nowhere to put the media if I'm running off the recovery disk in D--no floppy and onlyh one DVD) I see a system32 folder with lots of sub folders. The menu shows other drives: System Reserved (c, Local Disk D, CD Drive E (and the repair Win 7 disk you helped me create), my removable disk F, where files are backed up, and a Boot (X) drive, including drivers and a Driver Store folder.

I am leaving this in place right now since I'm not sure what to try next.

Does this suggest my HD is corrupt and driver files for my C Drive are corrupted? If I look at the C drive listed here as reserved, it's 99.9 MB with 70 free, and nothing shows. D has everything that is actually on what's normally called C, so I'm thinking the C here is some system hidden designation.

Hope this is helpful. At least something is evolving in a better direction tonight. I'll check back tomorrow evening once again. Thanks for all your help and patience.