Laptop Will Not Startup - Boot Failure

Hello NR Members:
My Vista/32 laptop won't start-up to Windows. Automatic Repair cannot fix problem. The problem occurred after someone turned off the laptop by pressing the "On" button to force shutdown.

Message says:
Root Cause Found:
Boot Critical File C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\compbatt.sys is corrupt

Repair Acitve: File Repair
Result: Failed Error Code = 0x2

I apologize in advance if this thread is not new--did search for similar issue. I greatly appreciate any advice or assistance you can provide.

Thank you in advance for your time and effort.

PC Rek

 

Reformat.
Its easy and will fix it.

 

Not so fast with the reformat. Have you tried a system restore? Boot from the Vista install DVD (assuming you have one) and try a system restore first.

Or try this, again you'll need a Vista install DVD -

Read this http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial147.html and then do this dir /s /a "c:\compbatt.sys"

If it finds a file that isn't the one in system32\drivers then copy it over the original. Also search the Vista DVD there maybe one on there.

Something else worth a shot is to copy the same file from another Vista machine and put it on a USB stick and see if you can access that from the command prompt in the Vista DVD and copy it across.

 

Thomas and Ravenmorpheus, thank you for responding!

I have not tried anything, yet. I have been searching the Net for answers to problem. I recently received my Gateway 172S-FX and made one recovery disk and one "driver"(?) disk through the Recovery Center. I don't know if the laptop came with a Vista Install dvd. I'll check when I get a chance.

If I used the recovery disk, would this be considered "reformatting" the PC?

If I have the Vista Install dvd, I'll try that first. Then the copyover, and then the reformatting.

Any chance my problem is more serious than a corrupted driver? I read some similar posts talking about bad hard drives!?!!?!

Thank you both again!

PCR

 

It's possible I guess. More like the forced shutdown just corrupted the compbatt.sys file.

And yes I believe the recovery disk would reformat but to a point where your computer was working so if you've not changed anything since you made the recovery disk then you won't losing anything, such as installed apps.

But it's probably quicker to solve the issue by other means - reformatting/clean installing takes a whole lot longer and imo should be a last resort...

 

Hi RavenMorpheus and Thomas:

The original problem, not allowing laptop to boot to Vista due to compbatt.sys being corrupted, as per the Automatic Startup Repair program.

I initially tried System Restore and Complete PC Restore, using Recovery Disk, to no avail. The system could not find the recovery disk in the DVD drive. Said not available.

I also copied the compbatt.sys (composite battery) file to x:\windows\system32 in Command Prompt Mode. And also to c:\windows\system32\DRIVERS (wasn't sure which one).

To get to Command Prompt, the system would not recognize me as an Administrator, so I logged it with my user profile and password. Would this affect anything?

After doing that, the Automatic Startup Repair no longer identifies the file as being corrupted, but now says it does not know what is causing the problem.

Memory Diagnostics Tool showed no problems.

This is a new Gateway P172S-FX laptop, 3GB Ram, Vista Home Premium, 160GB 7200RPM HD. Very little on HD, so I don't mind process that may delete information.

I could not find Vista Install Disk. The package may not have included one? Although I burned two different recovery disks, is it possible I missed not burning the Vista Install Disk?

Running out of ideas and mental capacity!

As always, I appreciate your advice, time and effort.

 

Have you got a restore to factory settings option somewhere, or a backup partition on the computer. Most laptops without a Vista install disk come with a backup partition that you can use to restore the computer to factory settings with.

If that doesn't work you need to get hold of a Vista install DVD and do a clean install. And no you wouldn't have missed burning a Vista install DVD as you can't do that afaik.

If it's brand new give the tech support line a call from either Gateway or the place you purchased it from, it's under warranty (or I would assume it is) so they should offer some sort of repair service for you.

Only thing I can think of I'm afraid.

 

Dear Ravenmorpheus:

Thank you very much for your advice and support! I learned quite a bit in the last 12 hours, thanks to you and other forum participants/experts. It truly is a nice/helpful community.

I was finally able to get the Recovery Disk to load and have since performed a complete full factory restore. I understand your qualms about having to go to this last case scenario!

The laptop is up and running. I fear turning it off and starting it up again. I wait until later today.

Thank you again. BTW, I like your name--do you play City of Heroes?

PCR

 

No probs. I work a night shift on a BlackBerry 24hr helpdesk so I have plenty of time

City of Heroes - er no, never heard of it.

 

I had a similar problem on my daughter's Amilo Li1718 yesterday.
It went into a process demanding a repair but when I abandoned the process (talk of over-writing personal data files or some such which frightened me off) and tried to re-boot, the Laptop didn't even appear to boot - no display at all and the machine would not then shutdown. Tried various suggestions (such as removing battery and power lead and holding down the power button for 20-30 secs) but to all intents and purposes, the machine is dead, apart from the power lamp, and I don't know where to go with it now.

HELP !

 

If the system's still under warranty, contact the manufacturer first. otherwise, use the recovery partition if you can access it; otherwise, a clean reinstallation is probably the easiest way to get it back up and running. If you've got stuff on the hard drive that would be lost by reformatting and you'd like to recover it first, take the hdd out of the computer, put it into an external enclosure (they can be had for about $30 to $40) and attach it to another computer. The drive should be accessible as just another USB drive, and you'll be able to copy off what you want.

 

Warranty expired last week !

Problem is that it "switches on" but nothing appears on the screen - this is just black !

No apparent disk activity either.