Solved Windows 7 will not load a login screen

[PaladinStL]

Hi!
This is my first post, so I'm hoping for the best.
I've searched everywhere, and I can't find an answer, so I'm really stumped.

Here's the problem:
After my Dell N5110 went into hibernation, it will not complete its start-up sequence.
It loads files, gets to a blue screen, and the mouse works, but it will not load the login screen. To restart the computer from this screen, I have to turn it off; [Ctrl]-[Alt]- does not work

The computer also does this if I press [F8] and do the any of the following options: "Repair your computer," "Safe Mode," "Safe Mode with Command Prompt," "Last know good Configuration," or "Debug Mode"

I have also tried:
Pressing [F2] and restoring the bios to its default settings,
Running my system repair disk and my system restore disk
Running "Start-up Repair" when I first turn on the machine.

All of the above result in exact same blue-screen/mouse.

I have an original Windows 7 Professional disk that I bought for my desk top. Using this I am able to get the menu for installing Windows 7, but the repair option hangs looking for a Windows 7 installation.

When I go into the Bios setup, it seems to recognize the hard drive, at least to the extent that the information displayed is accurate.

I have had no other problems with the computer up to this point, and it is 3 years old.

Thanks for your time in reading this and any help you can provide. Let me know if you need more information.

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Hi PaladinStL and Welcome to sevenforums, I hope you'll enjoy your stay here!

You said that the computer boots to a blue screen, are you talking about a BSOD or just blue screen without text?

If it is a BSOD then we would need to get the error message that it generates! Usually there should be a single line near the top in all caps and at the bottom there should be a STOP with error codes that begin with "0x".

If not then you might have to take out the CMOS battery. Though I would leave this as a last resort and it depends on how technical and precise you are.

I hope this helps and puts you on the right path!

Cheers!
Boris

 

[PaladinStL]

Boris,

Thanks for the reply!

It is not the BSOD. There is notwriting on the screen, and it looks like simple “wallpaper”.

How difficult is it to take out the CMOS battery? Is it something that could be done just byfollowing detailed directions, or do you need special tools and experience?

How would I know if the HD is dead?

Thanks again, Boris and Happy Holidays.

Paladin in St. Louis

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Oh okay :/

Hmm well it really depends on the laptop model and such but yes you should be able to do it.

Actually here is a clip for you to watch that will give you an image on how to perform a disassemble:



But remember if you feel like that it is too much or that it looks too messy, you can always just bring it to a computer repair shop, surely there are nice ones in St. Louis!

Cheers!
Boris

 

[PaladinStL]

Boris,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Yes, I think taking out the CMOS is a bit beyond my comfort zone.

How about the possibility that the HD is defunct?

Anything else I might try?

Thanks again, Boris

Paladin in St. Louis

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Boris,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Yes, I think taking out the CMOS is a bit beyond my comfort zone.

How about the possibility that the HD is defunct?

Anything else I might try?

Thanks again, Boris

Paladin in St. Louis

Hi Paladin,

Using a Windows 7 Installation or System Repair Disc
1. Insert the Windows 7 installation disc, slipstream Windows 7 SP1 installation disc, or System Repair Disc into the CD/DVD drive and restart the computer.
WARNING: Check to make sure that you set the BIOS to have the CD or DVD drive listed first in the boot order.

2. If prompted, press any key to boot from the Windows 7 installation DVD. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You will only have about 8 seconds to press this key.

​

3. Select your language preferences and click on Next. (See screeshot below).

​

4. Click on Repair your computer. (See screenshot below)

​

5. Select which operating system you want to restore and the click on Next. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If Windows 7 is not listed here, or it is blank, then it is ok. Click on Next anyway.

​

6. Select the system recovery option you want to do. (See screenshot below)

• Startup Repair
• System Restore
• System Image Recovery
• Windows Memory Diagnostic
• Command Prompt

​

And inside the Command Prompt window do this:

Command Prompt Method:

You can use the command prompt to perform a scan on a drive letter of your choice by running "chkdsk x:" where x is your drive letter. The manual scan options are:

• /F Fixes errors on the disk.
• /V On FAT/FAT32: Displays the full path and name of every file on the disk. On NTFS: Displays cleanup messages if any.
• /R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information (implies /F).
• /L:size NTFS only: Changes the log file size to the specified number of kilobytes. If size is not specified, displays current size.
• /X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary. All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid (implies /F).
• /I NTFS only: Performs a less vigorous check of index entries.
• /C NTFS only: Skips checking of cycles within the folder structure.
• /B NTFS only: Re-evaluates bad clusters on the volume (implies /R)

"CHKDSK x: /F /R" would perform a full scan (including bad sectors) and attempt to fix them.

Cheers!
Boris

 

[PaladinStL]

Boris,

Thanks for the suggestion about using a Windows 7 InstallationDisk. I think I mentioned that I triedusing the repair disk I made for that computer, but I also tried an InstallationDisk. When I did it hung on your step 5,“Searching for Windows Installation”.

Paladin in St. Louis

 

[bigmck]

Your Win 7 disc should certainly boot. How old is your HDD? Even a new one can fail, but the older they are, the more likely they are to fail. About three months ago I had one fail after 14 months. I tried to do a Repair Install with a Win 7 Disk and it would get to where it is booting but would just hang there. I fortunately had another HDD laying around and inserted it to confirm I had a bad HDD. I don't guess you would have an extra HDD around would you?

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Boris,

Thanks for the suggestion about using a Windows 7 InstallationDisk. I think I mentioned that I triedusing the repair disk I made for that computer, but I also tried an InstallationDisk.When I did it hung on your step 5,“Searching for Windows Installation”.

Paladin in St. Louis

Paladin,

Are you saying that you haven't been able to get past step 5?

And presumably you have already tried Safe Mode with CMD(Command Prompt)?

/Boris

 

[PaladinStL]

Boris,


Yes, exactly: I was able to get to the menu for installing Windows 7,but after selecting the repair option, the program hangs while looking for aWindows 7 installation, your step 5.


My HD is about 3.5 years old and that maybe that’s it.


This was interesting to me, at the start of the problem, when I pluggedthe computer in to recharge the battery after hibernation, the login in screendid show up once, and I was able to enter my password, but nothinghappened. The computer had been settingfor a while waiting for me to sign in, so I thought maybe it just needed to berebooted. And that’s when the problembegan.


But here’s the interesting thing, when I entered my password, I got amessage something like “Keyboard Locked”. I’m not sure that’s the exact wording, but that was the meaning. I’ve never seen that before. Does it give you any ideas?


Thanks for all your attention, Boris.


Paladin in St. Louis

 

[bigmck]

If it turns out you need a new HDD, investigate SSD (Solid State Disk). They speed your PC up tremendously and installation is the same as a HDD. It is a good investment and a 120 GB can be had for about $50 from Newegg.com

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Hi Paladin,

Thanks for your patience when dealing with this problem, I can understand how bonkers one can get.

One final thing that I wanted to ask from you was that, have you done the Safe Mode already and if you have, did it stop at a specific driver?

Unfortunately, I'm out of ideas at this point, you can do what bigmck suggested or rather at this point it would be smartest thing to do and I was also going to recommend it.

Remember, installing the OS on a new drive won't delete any of your files on your current HDD. But just to be sure I would start to empty it because for me it sounds as if it's dying and that it won't see the light of day!

Cheers
Boris

 

[PaladinStL]

Thanks to you Boris, and to you to bigmck, for you thoughts and suggestions.
I took the machine to Micro Center; they ran some tests and recommend a new drive, which is the way I went.

Thanks again
Paladin in StL

 

[bigmck]

Thanks to you Boris, and to you to bigmck, for you thoughts and suggestions.
I took the machine to Micro Center; they ran some tests and recommend a new drive, which is the way I went.

Thanks again
Paladin in StL

If you need any help installing Windows 7, let us know.