Need Help - Windows 7 Won't Boot

Discussion in 'Operating Systems' started by Quad X, Sep 12, 2016.

  1. Quad X

    Quad X Guest

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    Hi, first off, apologies if this is the wrong forum.

    So back in around October or November I bought a new computer. My old desktop had been sitting in my room and not plugged in since then. This weekend I hooked it up in another room with just a monitor and a keyboard and tried to boot into Windows.

    Whenever it gets to "starting windows" that is as far as it gets. The system just hangs at that point. I know this system was working all those months ago, so I'm not sure what is going on here. But to give you some background, I did unplug the primary hard drive and put it into an external enclosure that usb-connects to another PC so that I could grab files off the drive before trying to hook the hold system back up again.

    What I've tried thus far:

    Rebooting the computer and going to the recovery options. I tried both safe mode and safe mode with command prompt, neither works. The system just hangs after it loads a bunch of system files.

    I also tried "last known good configuration" which seemed to hang at a black screen. No dice.

    Of course, my next solution was to grab the Windows 7 repair disc. This did not work either. I managed to get my old desktop to detect the disc and launch from it but after it says "Windows is loading files..." and the bar gets to the end, the system freezes yet again. What the heck is going on? Is there something physically wrong with the computer that is preventing Windows from going any further?

    Lastly, I tried inserting the actual windows 7 64-bit disc, which did not work either.

    Any suggestions? Am I SOL? I tried to look up online if there was a way to repair the windows 7 hard drive from another PC but doesn't look like there's much I can do but back up the software on it to my new computer, which I am doing right now as we speak.

    I was thinking I could reformat the drive while connected to my new computer and then reinstall windows 7 on it... but the problem with that is, this new computer has different hardware, so if I do that and then stick the drive back in the old computer that will cause problems I'm sure. If I could just boot from one of the discs then maybe I could repair it that way, but as I said above the system refuses to boot into the recovery disc.

    Specs of the old PC:

    Videocard: AMD Radeon R7 250

    Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 925

    Mainboard: ASUS M4A78-E

    Memory: DDR2 / 6GB

    Sony DVD RW drive

    Soundcard: Sound Blaster Live! 24-Bit

    PSU: ANTEC 650W
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2016
  2. Extraordinary

    Extraordinary Guest

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    I'd try another SATA port for the HDD first

    If it still hangs, try booting the Win 7 DVD/USB with the HDD disconnected, if it gets further than before, it looks like a HDD / Cable / port issue

    If it does work with the HDD disconnected, you could stick the HDD into another machine, delete all partitions, then stick it back into that machine and see if you can get 7 installed on it again booting from DVD/USB
     
  3. primetime^

    primetime^ Master Guru

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    yep you could ALSO try installing from usb like the rest of us for the past 10 years or so....(No offense) cause it could be an issue with your dvd drive as well. Obviously it sounds like the data on the hard drive was corrupted some how...But could still be some what fixable with a successful reinstall.

    Thing is it COULD be a lot of things.....like the hard drive was near the end last time you shut it down. Keep trouble shooting and you get it sorted it.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2016
  4. Quad X

    Quad X Guest

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    I should have mentioned before that I did try another port.. When I first tried it I had it in SATA5, but I've since moved it to SATA2. I'm still not having any luck. I also had read to try AHCI in the bios settings rather than ide but that doesn't seem to make any difference.

    I just did as you suggested and booted without the drive connected but right after the repair disc finishes "windows is loading filles..." the computer just hangs on a black screen, nothing happens. :( So I guess it has nothing to do with the drive after all, something else is going on.

    Do you think the disc might be faulty as well based on the above? I burned it a long time ago. If you think it's worth a try, I can try to create a "repair disc" on a bootable USB drive.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2016

  5. primetime^

    primetime^ Master Guru

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    Your best bet is to download Win7 and install it to a usb flash drive and go from there. You need a lot more than a rescue disk over time anyway.

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7
    https://rufus.akeo.ie/
    High speed USB 3 or 2 flash drive (8GB)
    Also if you hate doing updates http://www.howtogeek.com/255540/the...eed-how-to-slipstream-the-convenience-rollup/

    If it wont fully boot using the usb flash drive we need to start looking much closer at your motherboard/cpu/ram or power supply.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2016
  6. Quad X

    Quad X Guest

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    Ok, so I tried the USB drive, which works but when you try either windows setup, or if I hit F8 and get the menu of options and try safe mode, the computer still freezes. I tried both safe mode and last known good configuration.

    In the instances where I did not try safe mode, I'd get to the "starting windows" and then it'd freeze. When trying safe mode with the USB drive, it hangs on "disk.sys" when loading the drivers. So this is no different than my repair disc, which tells me there's nothing wrong with my repair disc, it's either the hard drive or the computer... But I know the hard drive works because I had it hooked up to this computer I'm using right now.

    I also tried changing sata cables and plugging the hard drive into SATA1 then trying to boot from the hard drive, which had no effect whatsoever. Which I expected, but hey I'm desperate so thought I'd try it anyway.

    So I'm at a loss. I'm afraid that if I format the hard drive and hook it back up, there's still going to be a problem with the computer. What do you suggest? The other day I did a backup of my files to my storage drive on this PC, so if we did format the drive I won't lose anything.
     
  7. primetime^

    primetime^ Master Guru

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    its certainly worth a try (formatting)...but it could also be the motherboard being unstable.....see if under clocking the cpu speed and or memory has any effect. theres really only so many things it could be...did you use the download iso from Microsoft? If you did i cant see that being the problem. Could even be as simple a bad stick of ram..see if removing half the ram has any effect.
     
  8. mbk1969

    mbk1969 Ancient Guru

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    May be some part (like memory plank) just gets loose when you moved the case to another room. You can try disassemble all parts and assemble them back.
     
  9. Quad X

    Quad X Guest

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    Hey guys,

    just wanted to thank you for your suggestions and trying to help.

    So I removed two sticks of ram and the computer booted up just fine.

    After that, I thought, why don't I try putting them back in and see how it fares. Despite having some trouble getting those suckers back in there, I managed to get 'em in there and tried booting the machine again.

    Lo and behold, it was able to boot. So I'm guessing one of the ram sticks was just not seated properly. Otherwise, I don't know what went on there. I was thinking maybe one of the sticks was faulty, but I was able to put both back in and the computer recognized the sticks, so I'm back in business.
     

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