Windows won't startup, System Repair and System Restore failed.

[flycaster]

Gateway DX4720-03, Windows 7 HP 64-bit.

Living is south FL can be a bitch when the rains come as there often is a ton of accompanying lightening that plays havoc with the electrical system, even though I have surge protectors inside and outside the house. We just had some very heavy rains with lightening and my computer shut down several times, but I could restart it each time...except for the last time when Windows wouldn't startup. At that point, Start Up Repair came into play. Although I routinely backup on an external drive, of course I never did it this month-DUH!

Results from SUR were error free (error code=0x0) on all the parameters tested, however there were the following error codes reported:

"Unspecified change to the system configuration might have caused the problem."

Repair Action: System Restore
Failed: 0x1f

Repair Action: System Files
Failed: x490

There were more options to select for a recovery task, but I didn't try them as they didn't seem to be as salient as the two above..

As System Repair and System Restore failed, please advise what i should next do.

 

[mitchell65]

What's the date of the most recent backup that you have?

 

[flycaster]

I have no idea, but it probably couldn't have been too long ago.

 

[gregrocker]

Try running the two tests which failed manually:

System Restore from the Win7 DVD or Repair CD System Recovery Options.

SFC /SCANNOW Run in Command Prompt at Boot

If this gets no traction, confirm the Active flag is on 100mb System Reserved (preferred if you have it) or C then run Startup Repair - Run up to 3 Separate Times
Partition - Mark as Active (Method Two)

 

[flycaster]

Thanks for your help, Gregg. Reading your advice above this morning proved to me that the repair was getting to be to complicated for me to handle and I was starting to wonder if I should get a "professional" to straighten things out fo r me. However, the admonition to try System Restore three times had me thinking that I'll give SR a three time chance. So, I went over to the problematic computer (that had been turned off overnight after the failure to repair) and started it up with intentions of running SR three times. First I see that it got to "Starting Windows," and then Iobit's monthly Smart Defrag of Boot Time starts running. Wow, I'm thinking that the computer gremlins may have done the repair over night. And so it was, all appears to be working as it should be.

Out of curiosity, how did this fix occur after the reported error messages? I know that I did initially run SR at least twice. Maybe I did run it that third time. But I'm fairly certain that I got the error messages and then closed down the computer at that time??? Also, let's say that things didn't get fixed, do you think that a "professional" could have fixed things? Thanks again.

 

[gregrocker]

Apparently you missed to run System Restore and SFC manually from the Recovery options. You don't need to run them now if it's starting, but were you planning just to ignore them? Why? And why would you reply you need help from a professional when I clearly am a professional?

I'd run SFC /SCANNOW Command and work through the Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7 to check it over good and become familar with Win7 and your PC.

 

[flycaster]

Greg, when I said that I needed a "professional's" help, I was stating that I found the steps needed to resolve the problem were out of my range and that I might have to hire someone to do it for me. I definitely was not implying that I doubted your advice. I know you know your stuff; I just wasn't sure I was capable of following your the steps needed to fulfill your instructions.

Of course, I was delighted this morning when the computer appeared to boot up correctly. However, when I got into it, the were some alert messages within the Action Center that concerned me: No firewall and no Norton! I then selected Window's firewall and turned Windows defender back on, and then called Norton Support (free support as Comcast supplied the Norton) for help as I couldn't turn it back on. Norton told me that Norton files got corrupted and this is a common occurrence under the conditions that I described. Norton was uninstalled and then reinstalled successfully. I then ran SFC/Scannow to check for corrupted system files, none were found.

All seems well. Thanks again for your expert help.