Can anybody tell me why Windows 10 needs startup repair on every reboot?

I have a Surface Pro 4, i5/4 gig RAM/120 gig SSD, and a couple of weeks ago I had a weird crash. The Surface was connected to the surface dock, and when I took out the magnetic cable, I could only see the mouse pointer on black background. I tried to reconnect it, but only got the same on the bottom (main) external monitor. So I had to turn it off by holding down the power button for 10-15 seconds.

When it startet up again, it just stood on the "Surface" logo, without any spinning circle. I restarted it again (again by holding down the power button for 10-15 seconds) and the same thing happened. The third time it said "Preparing startup repair", but it stayd on that for half an hour, until I gave up on that too. Finally I booted from a Windows 10 memory stick, went into the repair section and tried Startup repair from there. I had to punch in the Bitlocker key to unlock the OS drive. After a while (maybe ten minutes) it said that it couldn't repair the computer, and what did I want to do? In a rather subdued mood I chose "Boot to Windows 10", not expecting much. But incredibly enough it rebooted and the circle started spinning. So it went into Windows the way it always has. Since that I've had to reboot 3-4 times, for different reasons. The same song and dance has been necessary on every single boot! I decrypted and deactivated Bitlocker because I got so sick and tired of having to punch in that mile long key. Has anybody else seen something similar to this?

If it matters I do have two Windows 10 installations on this Surface, an old one where the IR Hello camera didn't work, and the one I'm currently using. But it's been like that since around March or something, without any problems of this kind before.

 

Sounds like one of these problems.

1. Corrupted O/S causing constant repairs
2. SSD going bad or failing
3. Conflicting W10 installs causing system instablility-need only one with right driver to work not two of the same

 

Thanks for answering!
1. I tried to use the System File Checker, but it doesn't find any errors. But I guess that if I can't get anywhere in another way I'll have to go back to my previous image backup. The annoying thing is that I need to install a few programs again that were installed after the previous image backup, but just before the first of these crashes, but I guess that's the best way if it has to come to that.

2. Didn't really think of this since the pc is so new (bought it last December). But good point, I will run a test on the SSD. I just need to find the best tool for that. I haven't really had the need to test disks thoroughly for some years.

3. That's very unlikely. Dual installations should never cause instability if it's done right, and I've been doing that for around 20 years with different setups. At the moment I have dual OS on 10-12 computers, and only this one has problems. The old installation is used for backup, btw. I always have a separate backup installation on my computers.

 

Kind of difficult to find monitoring software. I have tried the tests in HDDScan, no errors. I have tried Acronis Drive monitor, but it can't read the S.M.A.R.T. parameters for some reason. So I'm a bit at loss as to what I should use.

 

I have had good success detecting drives with HDD Sentinel.

 

CrystalDiskInfo should work. http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

 

KLF, I may resort to paying for that if I can't solve it in another way. Thanks for the tip!

Ethrem, you're right. CrystalDiskInfo works (I've already tried it) and it shows Good 100 %, but it doesn't do any scans. I guess I can't get both things in one free app. Anyway, I guess there would have been something in CDI if there was an error on the SSD, so maybe I just need to bite the bullet and do a full reinstallation one day I have the time.

 

Nothing wrong with the SSD then EasyBCD is worth a try to rebuild the BCD.

http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

 

The trial version works just fine, it only has a nag-screen if you choose to keep it installed. To check condition of one drive, you don't need to pay anything
I have it installed in my fileserver and it has saved me from two hardware failures over time. So far. ...aand it's still a trial version.

 

I have the pro version and it's the best drive utility out there. It was also the first tool to actually properly recognize NVMe SSDs when they came out.

 

KLF, thanks! I installed it, but it only says Performance: Excellent, and Health: Unknown. And then "The status of the SSD is unknown.

Please use the "Report" menu "Send test report to developer" option to help us determining if it is possible to detect and display more information.
Please visit the "Hardware" and "Support -> FAQ" sections on www.hdsentinel.com for details." So it seems it can't read the SSD in the Surface 4 Pro either.

Etherm, thanks! I actually have that installed, and I have tried that. It didn't help the first time, but I did it again (woops...) just now to see if it helps the second time. I am not going to reboot before I have to, though.

 

There is something else, and I don't know if it's related: On saving small files (text files, .doc and so on) it often takes 5-10 seconds after I click save until the program saving it is released again. I can use other programs, but the program saving is locked for this period.