Windows Fails to Load, cannot verify the digital signature for file

[secno]

Hello,

A Dell laptop hand-me-down fails to boot. Windows XP was upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit. OS disc(s) are not available. I tried using a Windows 7 Upgrade 32bit DVD boot disc to attempt a system repair. Now, the winload.exe seems to lack a digital signature. Is there a way to make this laptop boot again?

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I first started with:
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
Repair your computer

Status: 0xc000000e
Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.
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I ran this article:
Use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows
bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
c:
cd boot
attrib bcd -s -h -r
ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
bootrec /RebuildBcd
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Now, I have:
File: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Status: 0xc0000428
Info: Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file
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Thank you for any help!

 

[gregrocker]

Work through these steps for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start.