HELP....Windows hanging up on startup...what next?

Im kinda in a panic here as my trusty M18 is down, and im not great with computers, I am really hoping some one can point me in the right direction.

HISTORY....couple days ago while gaming, my laptop would freeze up in game. Could not alt tab out, nothing. I would have to hold down the power button to turn it off and restart. Eventually it became worse, and then BAM! When i went to restart the laptop windows froze on the startup, it would enter the desktop.

After that i entered the advanced boot options and selected "windows repair".....well it told me windows could NOT repair itself.

I then did an Alienware respawn....taking my M18 back to the "factory state".....ok that worked for a day.

Today the laptop froze up again, and couldnt get it to do anything. I powered it down and restarted....well its back to freezing up AGAIN.

I tried windows repair again...nothing....did ANOTHER respawn.....well it didnt work this time. The respawn work and everything formated BUT when i restarted windows would just freeze up.

Now im scared, cause i have NO clue what to do or try.

Hope some one could point me in the right direction......call alienware?? clean windows install??

Here is some pictures of some things i tried.....


THIS IS WHAT I CANT GET PAST

Spoiler

I TRIED THE WINDOWS REPAIR




I GET THIS




RESPAWN WORKED ONCE BUT THE PROBLEM CAME BACK




WENT INTO SAFE MODE




THEN THIS HAPPENS

After the safe mode it just hangs up again....

Any help would be great.

Alienware M18 with Windows 7 home 64 bit

Thanks so much

 

There are a number of things that might cause something like it. My first thought was screwed up Windows Updates. We can most like rule that out by virtue of the fact that you Respawned and don't have the same set of conditions with the OS now as when the problem started, but you do continue to have the same symptoms. I am inclined to think you have a hardware issue... and if I were going to make an educated guess, I would suspect a failing drive is causing the problem. Does the machine still freeze if you attempt to start in Safe Mode?

It you have not already done so, press F12 at boot and run the Dell ePSA diagnostics and see if your hardware returns any errors. This may pinpoint what is causing the problem.

 

Mr fox...

Thanks so much for the reply.

If I hit f8 and select enter safe mode....It starts to enter safe mode...its says its setting the computer up for first use....then hangs up on the windows flag screen.

Can I check the status of the hard drive?

 

As Mr.Fox has said you should probably start by running some diagnostics on the machine via his instruction. That will check the hardware including the HDD and report back any errors. If that comes up clean I would honestly try restoring from the windows DVD as it is not out of the realm of possibility that something has gotten onto your HDD and corrupted it, I had a very similar incident a few months back and just doing a restore wouldn't cut it, I had to format and wipe the drive clean to get it to come back.

Next step if none of that works may be to start eliminating ram sticks and see if that helps although it does sound much more like a HDD issue. You don't have another HDD you could possible test it with do you?

 

Yes, you sure can. The ePSA test is comprehensive and it will test most of your hardware. Since Safe Mode loads only the basic drivers the OS needs to function, freezing while loading Windows in Safe Mode might be further indication of a hardware problem. It's not 100% certain, but it is a stronger indication that it might be.

Press F12 at boot, select "Diagnostics" and that will launch the ePSA test. The test will inform you of any failures, identify the hardware found to have defects and provide codes that you can use when calling Alienware for warranty support. If you are no longer under warranty, you can still pinpoint the offending hardware and make arrangements to have the part(s) replaced on your own. It is a very useful diagnostic tool. If the test completes initially without identifying a problem, choose the option to perform extended memory tests before exiting the diagnostic program. Other than answering "Y" at the first part of the test to indicate you saw colored lines on your screen, the remainder of the testing will run without any kind of user input until the basic testing is complete.

Spoiler

 

Thanks guys.....

Ok running the extended test....said it would take about 30 minutes.

The initial diagnostic test show no problems.....

 

If the extended tests return no errors, you should probably grab your Windows DVD or USB installation media, delete all partitions on the HDD and reinstall Windows to unallocated disk space. Something may have been corrupted by your Respawn operation. If that does not work, or the Windows installation gives you problems, if you have a spare HDD you might want to give that a try as MogRules suggested. It is possible there is a physical problem with a portion of one of the platters on the HDD that might not show up in the ePSA test. Or, are you running Windows on SSD?

 

Follow this: Enter the CMD

"CMD" prompt: "SFC /SCANNOW" (must run Command Prompt under "System Administrator". This will verify and repair protected windows operating system files. In some cases after running this command prompt it will not be able to repair certain files, in this case enter " DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth" (There is a space before each "/" ).

If there is does not correct the issues then follow as fox stated.

 

Again...thanks guys!

Ok, I did the extended memory tests....took the past hour. It says ALL TESTS PASSED.

I found the 2 disks that came with the laptop...1 is the windows 7 home premium and the other is the M18 r2 resource DVD.

I take I need to insert the windows disk...???....then is what I need to do self explanatory? Is there a link for what I am doing?

I'm gonna read over what Mike said....is this safe for a noob like myself?

Thanks so much for the patience

 

Well, it is good news that the extended ePSA tests all passed. So, it is less likely that you are having a hardware issue.

What Mike is suggest is really good advice, but you are going to have to get into Windows or boot the Safe Mode with Command Prompt option to use it. Or, use that as one of the repair options booting from your Windows DVD. You can also try using the Windows 7 DVD for an automated repair operation. Once the DVD loads and you see the option to repair, see if the option to repair the problem preventing your system from starting normally will complete successfully using the DVD. If not, look for the option that includes a command prompt to see if Mike's suggestions will work.

If nothing else works and you decide to go with the clean install, see the opening post in this thread for tips if you have not done this before:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...es-sata-iii-ssd-upgrade-raid0-discussion.html

It will be important to delete all partition and install Windows to unallocated disk space. Windows will create the partitions that it needs, so you do not need to do any of that manually.

 

I am really sorry you are having a problem with you computer but the guys here are good and will do what they can to put you on the right track.

With the windows install - Windows disk first and let it do a clean install. Then install the drivers. There is a separate sticky thread on this forum about the driver order.

Your problem sounds a lot like something that happened to me 18 months ago. My problem ended up being the hard drive itself but the symptoms sound similar and with me my computer passed every test I knew of but then would fail after about an hour of me starting to do a clean install.

Best of luck

 

Mr fox....

I think I was able to bring up the command prompt option.....





If this is correct, would you suggest trying what Mike said? Is it a real quick kinda thing, or just go for the disk install

Thanks

 

Also what can you do Your computer is already broken. Having said that if you have a second drive installed make sure you are not trying to install Windows on to it. If you are unsure - remove the second drive before you start.

 

Thanks guys for all the help so far.

The wife just got home, so now i have to pretend to listen to her day and problems. Facepalm.

I will get back on this tomorrow morning.

Again thanks....btw I do love my wife, she just talks alot lol

 

Yes. It could save you some time if it works.

The fact that Respawning worked and then in a few days your problem started over again suggests a recurring issue. That makes me suspect of a failing HDD. It could also be a software problem, (even an antivirus software problem,) bad driver, Windows Update or some sort of malware that got reinstalled. If you are able to get things working again with Mike's suggestions or end up doing a clean install, disable Windows Update. Give it a few days without installing any kind of updates and don't ever let Windows have the freedom to automatically install updates.

If you run into errors, crashing, slow and unresponsive system or freezing trying to do any of this you are probably going to need a replacement drive before you can get the computer working again. If you are still under warranty, get Alienware to send you a replacement HDD. If not, it might be a good time to upgrade to SSD.

Your wife is more important... this can definitely wait. Have a good night.

I suspect that it will turn out to be the case here as well. Mechanical hard drive failures are by far the most common computer hardware failure of any that I have ever encountered. It is a very common problem and seems to be getting more and more common over that past couple of years. QC seems to have tanked and I suspect that may have something to do with SSD capturing a significant part of their business.

 

Mr fox....

If I remember correctly ....after the successful respawn....I noticed the little flag with the red x in the lower right corner saying I needed to update....well I did and it successfully restarted ....but an hour later when I went to game the computer froze up loading the game....

Thanks guys

 

Run the CMD it will take about 20min, it will verify the integrity of the OS critical operation files. All you need to do is copy and paste: SFC /SCANNOW in your CMD, if it returns with no errors great, this would lead me to believe you have a failing HDD. If it returns with errors that it can not correct then follow the second half that i have posted, and it will resolve your issues.

ePSA will not particularly pick up a failing hard drive since it is well.... starting to fail, not saying it cannot tho. Run the CMD prompt that i mentioned if it does not detect any issues, i would ditch the HDD and not waste my time doing a fresh install on it (assumung you can afford a new one). If it does detect errors and you have to complete the steps i have provided, give the system one more try to see if it presses on without issues, but once the symptoms return, find that handy pellet gun, take the HDD out back and express you inner child, we all know it is better to take it apart then put it back together... right?

off topic, sorry, good luck, and feel the power of what SSD can offer.

HDD is shot dude, ditch it.

A little back story. I owned my first 17x, purchased on Aug09 packed with a 5400RPM WD Scorpio Black HDD. The drive would hang on websites, during programs, etc... after a patient wait it would finally start to respond again and i would press on with what i was doing, fast forward 3 yrs and i purchased the R4, and gave the R1 to my wife. She would seldom complain about the computer hanging during simple usage such as running the internet or simple programs like Micrsoft Word.... Now she was patient as can be, by this time the HDD was on its forth year of life (now its over 4yrs old) and there would be times i would see her just staring at the screen waiting for windows to process her next request.... for 15min!!!! i would just sit quiet because she never complained about it, and i really did not want to back up all her data and purchase a new drive and go through all the fresh install steps... simply because i did not use the computer (is that selfishness, maybe, but again she never complained about it not working correctly, so i figured she was fine with the slow response times).

...Well enough was enough, so i purchased a SSD for her and slapped that in and never looked back, i could not handle it anymore is what it came down to, now she thinks she has a new computer... win, win.

 

Ok opened command prompt....

Typed the scan command and got this.....



Ok then I typed the DISM command.......





I'm sorry but none of this makes sense. Does it tell me that its more likely a hardware or software problem?

Going to do the windows disk now...

Thanks guys

 

Something is definitely goofed up. Just wipe it out and start fresh again. At the first sign of trouble (if any) ditch that HDD and replace it with another one or an SSD.

If you are still under warranty, get Alienware to send you another HDD even if you go with an SSD upgrade. You can use the new HDD for data storage.

You can get some screaming deals on SSD from NewEgg right now. The Corsair Neutron 256GB SSD (what I have) is going for $200 and they have decent pricing on Samsung SSD as well. As a general rule, MLC flash memory is best, but any SSD is going to totally smoke the performance of a HDD. I would recommend the Neutron or Samsung Pro series SSD. (OCZ has filed for bankruptcy, so steer clear of any seemingly "great deals" because they may not be around to take of you later on if you need to use the warranty.) The Neutron series has a 5 year warranty and so do the Sammy Pros.

 

Mcoupe, you have a serious error, i would further assist with the repair, but i do not believe it is worth it since it can be very confusing past that point and the steps are on the experienced side requiring lots of trial and error since i would have to hand walk you through all avenues to the root cause.

...So i would look into a new drive as fox also has stated.

 

Thanks guys!

Yes I'm still under warranty, I purchased the extended warranty for 3 years.

I will go with one of the SSDs recommended, thank you Mr fox.

Tonight while the wife is doing Xmas stuff I will go for the clean install and see what happens.

Mike, no problem, I understand It can be a crazy test of patience and time.

Guys I can't thank you enough. You calmed me down and gave me some direction.

Thanks guys god bless and merry Xmas!

 

Hi there,

I may be wrong but have you considered cleaning the system up. I mean in the sense of dust buildup. It may not be common knowledge but merely blowing into the fans with compressed air does very little to remove the mass of dust that can get accumulated there over time. I dont want to be the one telling you this but you may be experiencing heavy throttling and an eventual system crash.

Also, try replacing your RAM and see if that helps. I have had a similar problem like this before and a simple RAM replacement cured all.

Looks like many of us are having a ty Christmas. :sad: