Thanks!
As it happens, persistence helped in this situation, after several attempts the options eventually loaded and I was able to load command prompt. I had an i/o error at step 12 but continued anyway. The troubleshoot worked and the computer booted. I'm currently backing everything up now before handling the new hard drive issue.
thanks again :)
Hi, I have an issue where anything I do leads me to the startup repair screen. Even if I get into safe mode, it shows the safe mode background but still has the startup repair screen. Sometimes startup repair finishes and reboots and sometimes it freezes at "windows is loading files".
Also I put the hard drive in another computer and it yielded to he same results.
Anyway, I used a recovery disk and was able to get the system recovery options (although I have no disk image or restore point). I tried this command prompt method and went through all the steps and then rebooted. It didn't work.
BEFORE I did the cmd method, I had my main C: with all the program and user data. I also had an A: partition with other things. But seeing as the method didnt work, I took some other advise which was to type notepad in cmd and then press 'save as' which allowed me to look at my directory, which is now a mess.
NOW, It seems like my A: turned into my C:, while my original C: has disappeared. All i have is a mysterious D: that says its 100% full yet it is empty when I go into the folder. Im thinking this is my missing original C:.
My suspicion is that this 'windows startup repair cmd method' has somehow wiped my drive because before it was definitely there.
Now I am using Easeus recovery (through a usb drive) to see if I can extract anything from the D:.
Can anyone tell me why my A: got turned into the C: and why my original C: has turned into a corrupted D:? Im pretty sure it happened because I used this command prompt startup repair 'fix'.
Thanks
my friend dual-booted 8 and 7 and he has no idea what he did!
my problem is it had a bitlocked drive in my windows 7 and it was inaccessible in 8 and couldn't start its 7 so I tried this tutorial and fixed the boot; when I started its 7 the bitlocked drive was formatted and empty
I wanted to know does this process affect bitlocker and overwrites its ,I don't know, information and cause it to be formatted automatically or the data is lost at some other point
Well since no one has decided to help, I'll put an alternative method for those who just want to extract all their data from their hard drive before playing around with this command prompt method which ended up wiping out my drive.
1. Follow this method to extract your data easily: Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console
2. Now, say your hard drive hasn't failed and is still capable of being used. I'd recommend using your installation CD to reformat your hard drive now that you have recovered the data you need. If you are desperate to not reformat it, THEN try the method in the first post in the thread.
3. Say something wrong happened when you used the method provided in the first post, and startup repair still pops up. IF your data was somehow wiped (which happened to me, and thus destroyed my hard drive). From another computer download 'Easeus data recovery' (recommended) or any other data recovery data software you see fit and copy the setup files into a USB. Repeat step 1 and go to command prompt like before on the pc with the failed hard drive. Open up notepad. Go to your USB and then install the data recovery software and then scan your hard drive. If you're fortunate, all the data will be recovered. Then, if needed, buy a new hard drive. These days, it's not that expensive.
I know this is slightly deviating in regards to the startup repair issue, but in the end, all we want is to extract our important data. Once you've got it, it's best just reformatting the hard drive instead of wasting hours trying to fix the startup repair loop.
Last edited by Brink; 20 Apr 2013 at 10:50. Reason: updated with link from here for the same
I feared the worst when I was stuck in the repair loop and couldn't do a system restore. Followed the guide to the letter and it was easy as anything to do. Able to get onto my laptop and back up all the important stuff before I investigate the root of the problem.
THANK YOU
This information has saved me much stress and (probably money). I will be forever thankful for your selfless act of creating this guide.
Hi guys,
I believe no one had this problem yet.
After following all steps my computer restarted and windows seemed to start perfectly, however, I get the message that “Windows Explorer couldn’t find D:\...\Desktop” and enters on another loop where I’m unable to do anything.
I believe none of the drivers are loaded, I can’t connect to internet or any network, I can’t use my mouse. So everything I actually “can” do is via keyboard.
If I try to open the widows explorer it freezes after a few seconds. All this under normal or safe mode.
But the main problem I think is if I start on safe mode with command prompt, none of the commands are recognized! So I can’t use the backup I created on the steps to revert it back to the previous loop problem.
Any suggestions?
Including how to create a copy of some important files (not that many, apart from some photos) before reinstalling windows, but I would be really happy if I could save the time and trouble of reinstalling all softwares I use.
Thanks a lot!
I followed the steps to manually replace the Windows 7 Registry Hives and it work!!! Thanks a million.
A note to add, during the "startup repair is checking your problems" running, it ran forever and even by clicking cancel, it said it can't be stopped or something similar.
So the next time I restarted PC again, once the box "startup repair is checking your problems" appeared, I QUICKLY click cancel and only then it came out with different pop up box messages and eventually I got the options "View advanced options for system recovery and support" which allow me to follow through the steps in this forum, which work!
Btw, at first I couldn't find my system drive in C: or D:, but my PC really only have these 2 partitions, and just as I thought my C drive has corrupted, then I tried E:, and it's there! I don't understand, but anyway, it works.
The only hiccups is that at first, after follow through the step on replacing the Windows 7 Registry Hives, during 1st attempt of restart, it still failed. Then I went into BIOS (press F2 during start up) to change the harddisk configuration back from IDE to AHCI. (I changed it from AHCI to IDE when follow through another tutorial I found on other forum before I found this tutorial in this forum) and VOILA!
Hello Sir Brink. Long time, no read. I forgot to Update what happened to the Dell Inspiron that had the Deadly Repair Infinite Loop.
First, I had to remove the Hard Drive and it was quite challenging. You almost needed a Masters in Electronic Engineering to do it because Dell decided that you shouldn't mess with a PC that they made and sold it to you. In other words, it's not really yours and you must pay hard dough for a Stupid 3 year warranty.
After removing and connecting the HD to another PC, I used numerous recovery softwares to see if I would get lucky. I used DiskDigger, Recuva, Glary Undelete, Pandora Recovery, FreeUndelete, Undelete 360, Avir, EaseUS Data Recovery and Orion File Recovery. Of all those, I fared better with Glary Undelete (Excellent) and Undelete 360. Recuva was OK but not the best, Pandora was also OK and DiskDigger is quite good but it has one little defect: it names all the recovered files Sectornnnn.
After I finished using all those programs aforementioned, I put the HD back into the Dell Laptop. Then I followed the instructions from the Repair Infinite Loop Tutorial. When I rebooted the Laptop, the dreaded Loop was still with me. The only difference was that this time, I couldn't see the System Restore Points that I had before. Since I already "recovered" what I needed, I decided to do the Dell Recovery with the DVD's I created to bring it to Factory New, like Dell sold it to me. Now it's working, the Bluetooth (the main culprit for all this mess) works without any need to update it. It also has a Driver for the Samsung Galaxy S3 (the other culprit) so there's no need to use the Bluetooth to transfer files from the Android to the PC and vice versa.
Thanks for your suggestions and sorry that it took me this long to update my situation. Thanks to everyone that commented here. Take care.....
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