Windows 7 Wont Boot Splash background load and crash

[win7ken]

Posted this on another forum, but help went dead today. Hopefully the Win 7 specific folks can help an old guy out:

Been fighting to fix my Windows 7 SP1 wont boot issue for a few week. Im pretty savvy, but time to throw in the towel and aske the experts.

Symptoms.
- Wont boot into Windows regular or any version of Safe Modes.
- Ran Startup repair too many times.
- Tried SFC a few times from the command prompt off the Install/repair disk get a protection notice.
- Ran SFC with the offwindir and offbootdir switches as below and get the disk protection error.
- Ran chkdsk /f /r on all drives/partitions a few times.
- Drive letters mixed up Should be System is C:, D: is Apps, E: is Data, OS changes is often F:, but really should be C:
- Files are there, and Ive cloned the original disk to a HD, in case there were surface/sector issue on the original HD. The crash after splash followed to the new HD.
- Occurred in mid-late Feb.
- Shut down for the night and boot issue the next day/time booted.
- Safemode seems to crash while on the disk.sys file.
- Usually a quick unreadable BSOD, but did once show something like a "fatal system error knowndll" or something like that.
- I don't have a restore point so last good configuration is no good either.

Guesses:
Corrupt system file(s)?
Bad Partches/KB load?
Somehow I think I either had a bad disk and a key file got corrupted, or a bad patch loaded.
Remove some patches to restore old files?


Sucks that you have to be IN Windows to effectively run SFC...or even be able to in place 'upgrade'

Do consider that I cannot get into Windows, if there are any proposed solutions which requirement to in it either full load or safe mode, is currently a no go.

I do have some bootable PE and linux type utility disks available, like Hirens Boot CD and UBCD4WIN, as well as the Windows Repair disk and the Full installation (and repair) disk.

Need some help, advice or things to try.

Apologies if I am blowing any protocols - This is my first post

 

[win7ken]

Anyone?

Attached some logs if they help.

One recovery attempt not said the last good log on was 2/26/18, if that helps with diagnosing the log files.

 

[axe0]

Hi win7ken,

Sorry for the delay, do you still need help?

 

[win7ken]

I'm somewhere in the middle of a reinstall of sorts.

My old files and profile is available, and some of the apps are there in the new profile, so not a total wipe. The old profile, not all the apps are available in the reload/ wim re-load.

But curious if you see anything in the logs or suggestions?

I still have the old HD with the troubled issue. I cloned it to a new HD which had the same issues.

Main problem is that any tools, tips, or suggestions which require me to be into Windows is a no go.

See anything in the logs, which might have suggested something to recover the original HD I have shelved?

 

[axe0]

Could you provide a link of the other thread you created.

If you see any error codes, what are they?

 

[win7ken]

The post was on another forum (Bleeping Comouter) and is exactly the same post here. Posted here since there was no reply there either.

In any case the one time I was able to capture the BSOD flash up, was a warning something like this:

"Stop c000021a Fatal System Error Verification of a knowndll failed. System Process Terminited unexpectedly with a status of 0xc0000221 (0x0bc129a0) 0x00000000 System has been shut down"

This is from my scribbled notes, so may not be exact.

Can't boot into Windows or any flavor of safe mode.

Snagged the attached logs off of the HD which still has the failed OS. Cloned the HD to a new HD where the issue followed.

 

[axe0]

I assumed you were getting help as you said 'help went dead today' so I was interested to know what they suggested.
Linking to the thread (Windows 7 wont boot. Spash and crash/reset - Windows Crashes, BSOD, and Hangs Help and Support) just in case it would be needed.

You say you can't boot into safe mode, if that would be due to Windows then you either have a very corrupted system or you have some very bad luck that a few of the critical onces are corrupted.
However, the error codes you posted are typically a result of bad hardware, mainly the RAM. If you need your system, and you can do some things you need to in a Linux environment, then I recommend to store a Linux environment on a bootable USB and boot from the USB. It may not be the safest, because if a problem occurs within the Linux environment it is most definitely a hardware problem. If no problem occurs, it is most definitely not the RAM, and possibly also not some other hardware but more likely the drive where Windows is on.

If you don't need your system, I would recommend to reseat the RAM and try each RAM stick separately in each slot until you either found the problem or until there is no definitive result.

 

[win7ken]

Thanks. Pretty confident that the RAM is good.

I cant discount that maybe the original HD went bad and corrupted some key files.

I can still read it when in a PE or Linux boot environment, but windows wont boot off of it.

I cloned it, but still it would not boot off the cloned drive.

Currently have the old drive back in and Startup Repair is running the longest that it ever has on it without failing. Currently been running for a couple of hours. A change from past attempts.

If I can get one good boot off of it, with the old full configuration, then I will clone it immediately.

If it fails again, this one unique tip I ran across looks interesting to try:

"This is for documenting purposes:

To fix the problem,
Go into Windows Recovery by inserting the Windows 7 CD and boot from CD
Then choose Repair (no effect as repair will fail, but wait for it to complete, then...) > select Advance, command prompt
Then get the previous registry backup using the following command:
Code:
xcopy c:\windows\system32\config\regback c:\windows\system32\config
Restart and select Repair my computer again! It'll work and ask for Restart! Restart and it's cool to go!

Note that this is for failed Windows Update problems. E.g. is when system hung during critical Windows Update."

 

[axe0]

Which of the options did you use to test the RAM?

 

[win7ken]

The mem test on the Win7 recovery CD and one on Hirens.

There may have been a HD issue which corrupted key files if anything.

No glitches on the many live PE and Linux sessions Ive run on the computer since then in an effort to resolve the boot issue.

It crashes predicably so far into the boot process after the splash screen but never gets to the login screen.

 

[axe0]

Please download an ISO from Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums and mount it to a USB, it's a Win10PE with preinstalled software of which a few of them are hard drive tests (HDTune, SeaGateTools, GSmartControl and a few others).

Diagnostics Test

 HDD TEST

   Note

Please run HDTune first, in the order posted!

Run HDTune to

• check the health,
• scan for errors, no quick scan but full scan
• run a benchmark.

It may take some time, but please take the time you need to perform it properly.
When above is done please make screenshots of the following

• the health,
• the error scan,
• the benchmark incl. following
  • transfer rate,
  • access time,
  • burst rate,
  • cpu usage.

Run SeaTools DOS to check the integrity of your HDD. SeaTools for DOS and Windows - How to Use - Windows 7 Help Forums
Run the long test.

   Note

Do not run SeaTools on an SSD as the results will be invalid.

Make a photo of the result and post it.

Run chkdsk
Disk Check - Windows 7 Help Forums
Use option TWO with parameter /r
Upload the chkdsk log :ar: Check Disk (chkdsk) - Read Event Viewer Log - Windows 7 Help Forums

 

[win7ken]

No need to run the tests on the old disk. It became apparent in the last day or so. Chkdsk errors.

Got the data/image/clone to another disk.

Was able to run Winnt Setup and get windows working again, without a full wipe, but with new profiles.

I can still see my old profile and am working to get things back to where it was.

Bottom line is that a failing HD corrupted Windows.