Windows 7 crashes on boot.
- Thread starter bmart1706
- Start date
Hi bmart1706, welcome to the Forum.
You could try running Start up Repair, to do that follow this Forum tutorial.
Startup Repair - Windows 7 Help Forums
You could try running Start up Repair, to do that follow this Forum tutorial.
Startup Repair - Windows 7 Help Forums
My Computer
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
- Self built using existing case
- OS
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit sp1
- CPU
- Intel i5 3570 3.4Ghz Ivy Bridge SKT 1155 quad core
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte Z77-HD3 SKT 1155 2xSata 3, 4x USB 3.0
- Memory
- G-Skill Rip Jaws 16Gb (8x2) DDR3 -1600 PC3 12800 CL 10 red
- Graphics Card(s)
- Gigabyte NVIDIA GT610 1Gb DDR3 810/1200 PCI-E 2.0 Silent
- Sound Card
- NVIDIA High Definition & Realtech High Definition Audio
- Monitor(s) Displays
- 2 x Philips 226V4L 16:9 aspect ratio
- Screen Resolution
- 1920 x 1080 HD
- Hard Drives
- Samsung 840 Pro 256gb SSD, SATA 3.
Hitachi Touro Portable 1tb, USB 3.0 HDD used for image b/ups.
- PSU
- Corsair VS450
- Case
- Codeng
- Cooling
- PSU fan & CPU fan
- Keyboard
- Logitech
- Mouse
- Logitech Wireless trackball M570
- Internet Speed
- Wireless 3G. 3mg down & 550kb up.
- Antivirus
- Bitdefender Internet Security 2020
- Browser
- Opera (Current Version) & Firefox
- Other Info
- MS Office 2013 Pro. Davis weather station software. MGE Nova 600 avr UPS.
Can you get into Safe Mode? If so, then run MSCONFIG. Go to the Services tab. Check the box to hide all Microsoft services. Now disable all services that still show on the screen. Now reboot.
If you can now get into Windows the normal way without it crashing, the culprit was one (or more) of the non-Microsoft services.
To see which one (and to prevent it from crashing your computer), go into MSCONFIG and enable one non-Microsoft service. Then reboot. If no crash, go into MSCONFIG and enable another non-Microsoft service. Then reboot. Continue doing this till you find out which one causes the crash. Then go back into Safe Mode, run MSCONFIG, and disable that service. (And make a note of the name of that service, for future reference.)
You have now found the culprit. To make sure that there are no other culprits, if you have not finished re-enabling all of the non-Microsoft services, continue the above till either (1) you have re-enabled all remaining services, or (2) you have found more culprits.
After going through all of this, you should uninstall the software that is associated with the offending service(s).
If you can now get into Windows the normal way without it crashing, the culprit was one (or more) of the non-Microsoft services.
To see which one (and to prevent it from crashing your computer), go into MSCONFIG and enable one non-Microsoft service. Then reboot. If no crash, go into MSCONFIG and enable another non-Microsoft service. Then reboot. Continue doing this till you find out which one causes the crash. Then go back into Safe Mode, run MSCONFIG, and disable that service. (And make a note of the name of that service, for future reference.)
You have now found the culprit. To make sure that there are no other culprits, if you have not finished re-enabling all of the non-Microsoft services, continue the above till either (1) you have re-enabled all remaining services, or (2) you have found more culprits.
After going through all of this, you should uninstall the software that is associated with the offending service(s).
My Computer
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
- Dell
- OS
- Linux Mint 18.2 xfce 64-bit (VMWare host) / Windows 8.1 Pro 32-bit (VMWare guest)
- CPU
- Haswell
- Memory
- 4 GB
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Acer 23"
- Screen Resolution
- 1920 x 1080
- Hard Drives
- Two hard drives, 1TB each: One for Linux, one for my data.
- Keyboard
- IBM Model M
- Antivirus
- Sophos (Linux), Trend Micro (Windows)
- Browser
- Firefox, Opera
- Other Info
- I use Samba to share my data drive with the other computers at my house and with my guest session in VMWare Workstation Player.
If your computer is a desktop computer, open the case and make sure that everything is plugged in securely. Also, to make sure that all connections are good, unplug your drive cables and then reconnect them, one cable at a time. Do the same with the memory -- remove then reinsert your memory sticks, one stick at a time.
Unplugging and reconnecting scrapes the connection a bit; if there is any corrosion on the plug or connector, doing this will clean the corrosion off of the plug or connector. In other words, you will have a better connection after doing this.
If there is any dust inside the computer, blow it out with a can of compressed air.
Test the CMOS battery with a battery tester or a multimeter. Replace if necessary. If you don't have a battery tester, replace the CMOS battery if the computer is more than a couple of years old.
After doing the above, try again to start the computer.
Unplugging and reconnecting scrapes the connection a bit; if there is any corrosion on the plug or connector, doing this will clean the corrosion off of the plug or connector. In other words, you will have a better connection after doing this.
If there is any dust inside the computer, blow it out with a can of compressed air.
Test the CMOS battery with a battery tester or a multimeter. Replace if necessary. If you don't have a battery tester, replace the CMOS battery if the computer is more than a couple of years old.
After doing the above, try again to start the computer.
My Computer
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
- Dell
- OS
- Linux Mint 18.2 xfce 64-bit (VMWare host) / Windows 8.1 Pro 32-bit (VMWare guest)
- CPU
- Haswell
- Memory
- 4 GB
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Acer 23"
- Screen Resolution
- 1920 x 1080
- Hard Drives
- Two hard drives, 1TB each: One for Linux, one for my data.
- Keyboard
- IBM Model M
- Antivirus
- Sophos (Linux), Trend Micro (Windows)
- Browser
- Firefox, Opera
- Other Info
- I use Samba to share my data drive with the other computers at my house and with my guest session in VMWare Workstation Player.
Yes, it could be. It is also possible that when you went into the computer to swap drives, something came loose. That's why it would be a good idea to check for that possibility.
But in my opinion, the most likely cause of the problem is either a bad hard drive or corrupted Windows boot data on the hard drive. The fact that the other Windows 7 drive works perfectly narrows it down to those two possibilities.
Question about the problematic drive: Did you install Windows 7 on this drive while the drive was in this computer? If not, then the Windows drivers on this drive are likely not compatible with this computer, and at least one of them is crashing the computer. To test, put the problematic drive back into the computer that you installed Windows on. Does it have problems in that computer? If not, then it has to be an incompatible Windows driver. However, if it has problems on both computers, then it is either a bad hard drive, or it has one or more corrupted Windows boot files on it.
But in my opinion, the most likely cause of the problem is either a bad hard drive or corrupted Windows boot data on the hard drive. The fact that the other Windows 7 drive works perfectly narrows it down to those two possibilities.
Question about the problematic drive: Did you install Windows 7 on this drive while the drive was in this computer? If not, then the Windows drivers on this drive are likely not compatible with this computer, and at least one of them is crashing the computer. To test, put the problematic drive back into the computer that you installed Windows on. Does it have problems in that computer? If not, then it has to be an incompatible Windows driver. However, if it has problems on both computers, then it is either a bad hard drive, or it has one or more corrupted Windows boot files on it.
My Computer
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
- Dell
- OS
- Linux Mint 18.2 xfce 64-bit (VMWare host) / Windows 8.1 Pro 32-bit (VMWare guest)
- CPU
- Haswell
- Memory
- 4 GB
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Acer 23"
- Screen Resolution
- 1920 x 1080
- Hard Drives
- Two hard drives, 1TB each: One for Linux, one for my data.
- Keyboard
- IBM Model M
- Antivirus
- Sophos (Linux), Trend Micro (Windows)
- Browser
- Firefox, Opera
- Other Info
- I use Samba to share my data drive with the other computers at my house and with my guest session in VMWare Workstation Player.
If the problematic hard drive has issues with both computers, then either the Windows files are corrupted, or the hard drive is bad.
To test the drive, install it in another computer as the secondary hard drive. Then run chkdsk on it, to check and fix errors. Assuming it is drive D:, open a command prompt and run the following command:
chkdsk /R D: [ENTER]
That may be sufficient to fix the problems.
If that doesn't fix the problems with this drive, you could try to do a clean install of Windows, which would wipe the drive. If Windows successfully installs and there are no more problems, then Windows was corrupted.
To test the drive, install it in another computer as the secondary hard drive. Then run chkdsk on it, to check and fix errors. Assuming it is drive D:, open a command prompt and run the following command:
chkdsk /R D: [ENTER]
That may be sufficient to fix the problems.
If that doesn't fix the problems with this drive, you could try to do a clean install of Windows, which would wipe the drive. If Windows successfully installs and there are no more problems, then Windows was corrupted.
My Computer
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
- Dell
- OS
- Linux Mint 18.2 xfce 64-bit (VMWare host) / Windows 8.1 Pro 32-bit (VMWare guest)
- CPU
- Haswell
- Memory
- 4 GB
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Acer 23"
- Screen Resolution
- 1920 x 1080
- Hard Drives
- Two hard drives, 1TB each: One for Linux, one for my data.
- Keyboard
- IBM Model M
- Antivirus
- Sophos (Linux), Trend Micro (Windows)
- Browser
- Firefox, Opera
- Other Info
- I use Samba to share my data drive with the other computers at my house and with my guest session in VMWare Workstation Player.