Windows 7 64-bit boot problems (hangs on logo, crashes on logo, startup repair does nothing)

Jack Nitro

Baseband Member
Messages
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So recently Windows decided to crap on my day by failing to start up in pretty much every way possible. I've tried about a thousand different fixes, most concerning a windows 7 repair disk I made when I first got the pc, each one either outright failing or uncovering a new problem. I tried running startup repair, chkdsk, system restore, and I've looked at numerous threads for advice (This thread being the most recent). So at this point, I'm running off of ubuntu and out of ideas. My pc didn't come with a windows installation disc and I don't have a disc big enough to burn a new install, but I do have the serial. Any suggestions?

It might also be worth noting that when I tried using system restore, the two most recent restore points were made by windows update (they both gave the description "critical update"). I've been approaching this with the assumption that an update has been causing the problem, for what it's worth. I've noticed quite a few people complaining about the same problem after certain updates, but who knows. If anyone has any ideas that don't involve formatting my HDD, please indulge me.

EDIT: In Linux, I get the following error message when I attempt to mount the internal drive partition containing the operating system:

Screenshot_at_2012_06_02_22_33_42.png
 
Well you can get the media directly from Microsoft.

How to replace Microsoft software or hardware, order service packs, and replace product manuals

But know that all these methods will result in you losing your current data and taking the system back to a brand new install of Windows. I am not sure what you are looking to do here. Fix your install or just get Windows back on. If you are not afraid to lose your stuff, or since you are in Ubuntu already back it up so you can put it back on a fresh install, then do a factory reset on the system.

But it comes down to what you want to do. Since you have media and cant boot the only thing I can suggest is to try a Restore Point. One should have been created at the time the updates were installed and should get your system operational again.
 
I did try a restore point, but the Problem remained. Losing my data really isn't an option, either.

Now the recovery software is saying that the OS is "Unknown" rather than windows 7 (recovered).

I guess I am going to have to format and reinstall Windows. The good news is, I have a hard drive large enough to back up the ~200GB of data on C:. The bad news, I'm still getting the "Error mounting: mount exited with exit code 13: ntfs_attr_pread_i: ntfs_pread failed: Input/output error" from linux when I try to mount it. I'm happy to say that its probably not a hardware fault, seeing as another partition of the same drive is mounting no problem. Still, I'm going to need to find a way to recover my files from C: before I wipe it. If anyone has alternatives or suggestions, please post.

EDIT: THIS POST seems like it could be a solution to my problem, at least at the moment. The problem is, I don't understand it. Somebody want to put it in layman's terms for me?

EDIT: OK, I've gotten the partition to open in Linux, though it took about 5-10 minutes between clicking on it and Nautilus showing its contents.
Screenshot_at_2012_06_04_16_19_32.png

Where should I go from here? Not sure if I can just drag and drop everything, or if I need to use a software to backup/recover these files.
 
OK, before I proceed with that even, I want to see just once more If i can repair the contents of the disk. when I try to run the repair function on KDE Partition Manger, I get the following error:
Code:
Check and repair partition ‘/dev/sda2' (279.45 GiB, ntfs) 
Job: Check file system on partition ‘/dev/sda2' 
Command: ntfsresize -P -i -f -v /dev/sda2 
ntfsresize v2.0.0 (libntfs 10:0:0)
pread: Input/output error
Failed to calculate number of free clusters: Input/output error.
ERROR(5): Opening '/dev/sda2' as NTFS failed: Input/output error
NTFS is inconsistent. Run chkdsk /f on Windows then reboot it TWICE!
The usage of the /f parameter is very IMPORTANT! No modification was
and will be made to NTFS by this software until it gets repaired. 
Check file system on partition ‘/dev/sda2': Error
Check and repair partition ‘/dev/sda2' (279.45 GiB, ntfs): Error
Similar to the error initially given by Linux. I'l LOVE to run Chkdsk, but every time I try to run "chkdsk c: /f" or "chkdsk c: /r /f" through the repair disk, It gives me the following error:
Code:
X:\Windows\system32>chkdsk c: /f
Cannot open volume for direct access.
X:\Windows\system32>_

So how can I run chkdsk /f?? HELP ME
 
Try a different drive letter instead of C: while in recovery; sometimes recovery doesn't assign C to the system drive (it could be assigning it to the boot partition instead). I'd suggest trying D: instead maybe.
 
Try a different drive letter instead of C: while in recovery; sometimes recovery doesn't assign C to the system drive (it could be assigning it to the boot partition instead). I'd suggest trying D: instead maybe.

You were right about the drive letter; I needed to change it to x: (or just leave it out). Of course, with my luck I only found a new problem:

Code:
X:\windows\system32>chkdsk x: /r /f
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Cannot lock current drive.
Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected.

X:\windows\system32>_

...okay, so how do I enable disk writing??!
 
You can't do X:. X: is the RAM-disk / recovery "drive". You'll need to try a different letter.
 
Are you saying that x: is the recovery dvd? why would it display as NTFS? The dvd is in UDF format.
 
X: is the temporary space created for the recovery partition. It's not necessarily the DVD drive; it's a RAM-disk (storage stored in memory for temporary use).
 
Well, all of the drive letters I've tried other than the ones for my Expansion Drive and the DVD Drive give the same "cannot access volume" error. In fact, I ran DISKPART>list volume and it didn't even list any of my internal HDD partitions.

So I guess I'll need to go back to the formatting plan. But I still need to get my data from the drive. Any software you suggest?

EDIT: I'm going to try to use linux's dd command
 
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