Windows not starting up - stuck at boot screen loop

Hello everyone

My laptop fails to boot.

I did a force shutdown yesterday, and since then, it's refusing to start up.

Selecting Windows repair because it failed to shut down properly, doesn't go anywhere either because after selecting the language for startup repair, there is a screen which asks me to select the OS but I don't see anything listed.

Can someone please help me with this? This is a Dell xps m1530 running Windows 7 ultimate, 32 bit.

Need my laptop back up and running asap.. :-(

Thanks in advance. Cheers..

 

The only thing i can think of right now is to boot into safe mode and run a check disk.

boot into safe mode by tapping the F8 key as soon as windows starts to boot, then select safe mode.

then: The How-To Geek Guide to Using Check Disk in Windows 7 or Vista

 

Sounds like its a known issue when 7 or 2008r2 is power cycled on boot up or shutdown.

There is a very complicated command line fix which i can link you if needed.

But the simplest fix is a repair install.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

Are you sure your hard drive isn't fried? I've lost two hard drives. The first time was when I did a forced shut down. When I booted up the laptop it went to the Windows screen and never anywhere else. You might try running a BIOS on it to see if this isn't your problem.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I am not sure if the hard drive is fried or it's on it's way to getting fried - though my paranoia about the HDD failing / laptop failing is more than ever now (the laptop is 5 years old now). It's the first time it has happened though.

I spent close to 7 hours trying to fix it and finally it seemed to 'repair' when I used the original backup Windows 7 installation disc and did a repair.

Then it restarted and I could boot normally into the laptop. I haven't checked the error logs yet....

I would like to run some tests or diagnostics - any suggestions for that? Just to see if there is anything wrong or being abnormal with the laptop?

Thanks again. Cheers...

 

download HD tune from my sig below and run a full sector scan.
only 2 bad sectors and your drives buggered as it will just get worse.

 

Thanks.

I have HD Tune on my laptop. I will run the full sector scan later today.

Anything else I need to run / test / look for?

Cheers.

 

if hd tune doesnt find anything try the trial of hd sentinel which is a great bit of software Download Hard Disk Sentinel

not a lot else you can check until we determine that the hd is to blame or not.

 

Thanks again.

I will check HD Tune and HD sentinel and see what comes up. I'll get back later tonight or tomorrow morning!!

Cheers.

 

Checked both hd tune and hd sentinel - both said the hard drive is healthy.

Hd sentinel did say there were some bad sectors on the surface, and that the data there was remapped.

Btw, since I managed to get the laptop start this morning, I thought I'll get a complete pc backup done.. but it failed, with an error message saying some problem with either source or destination drives and asked me to do chkdsk /r which I did.. no problem. :-( what gives?

I'm running the backup again now to see if it's fine..

Any ideas on what's happening?

Thanks.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

Update:

The second run of complete PC backup failed as well, with the same error message! :-(

Ran chkdsk again and "Windows found no problem".

Error code: 0x8078012D

"The operation failed due to a device error encountered with either the source or the destination. If the source or destination volume is on a disk, run CHKDSK /R on the source or destination volume, and then retry the operation.
Details: The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error."

I am going to try the 'answer' here.

Windows 7 backup fails with Error code: 0x8078012D - Microsoft Community

I remember long back that I had the problem with the security suite preventing the windows complete PC backup from completing. I will try to run the chkdsk /r again and restart and then disable the antivirus and run the backup again.

Let me see how it goes!

 

all i know is i had 2 bad sectors on my 320gb western digital drive and it was a total nightmare. would not boot on numorous occassions. kept freezing when doing clean install. wouldnt boot into safe mode. after 8 os installs it finally worked but then every program froze on start up and a hard boot was needed.

all i can say is good luck getting it fully working

 

Well, the complete PC Backup failed again - but this time with a different error message:

"Windows backup failed while trying to read from the shadow copy on one of the volumes being backed up. Please check in the event logs for any relevant errors.

Error code: 0x81000037"

What's with this one? I don't see any 'relevant errors' in the event logs!

Is this really a case of the bad sectors with the hard disk?

 

I've checked for these "reparse points" or "junction points" solution, but everything is fine there too.

But while browsing through, I saw this... Could this be the problem?

Windows 7 backup error code 0x81000037 "Shadow files cannot be - Microsoft Community
(see the second 'answer')

My C: drive has about 18 GB left of 70.2... Also I noticed that the system restore didn't seem to work on that drive - no restore points created while the other drives (D and F) had restore points created fine.

 

Hi people,

Any solution to the backup problem, please?

P.S. I know this thread was started for a different problem, but the issue cropped up along with the original problem and I didn't want to start a new thread.

Thanks.

 

Update:

The complete backup keeps failing.

So I decided to try doing the system image instead (with the C (OS), D (Recovery) and F (Data) drives). It worked without any problem.

What is the difference between a complete PC backup and the System Image? And why does the System Image work but not the complete PC backup?

How come there is no I/O error or similar now, with the system image creation?

Also, if the System Image creation works, then does it mean it is making an image of the system at the current state - meaning, the current state with whatever the problem is with the complete PC backup? And restoring to this system image at a later point will bring back the issue with the complete PC backup (assuming I manage to fix it in the meantime)?

Thanks again.

 

i cant answer much of the above as i just dont know the answers but physical drives do need space free so if you only have 18gb left that could be a factor.
checking google theres talk of at least 10% should be left free.
just thought,have you tried a defragmentation lately. was wondering if that failed.

 

Hi again MrDJ,

I haven't defragmented the disk in quiet some time (at least 3-4 months). I will try that today.

Meanwhile, after creating the system image of all the drives I have in the laptop (basically a complete backup image and not just the OS drive), I decided to run a "Complete PC Backup" but excluding the C (OS) drive.... I just backed up the user files, bla bla and the other two drives (D, recovery and F, data).

And it worked fine.. the backup was completed fine.

So it's something to do with the C (OS) partition, right?

Is it just a case of bad sectors at the surface or is it something some programs are involved with? From the web, all mention is on some programs like Java or internet security suites etc... But I can't seem to figure which program that's affecting my backups. Also, the only major program I installed on my laptop was Matlab 2012 and Office 2013 which I got through my university.

Edit: I remember using Virtual Clone Drive to mount the Office ISO image for installation!!!! I don't know if that's messing up in some way thought I have uninstalled that VCD program now...

I have tried running the backup with NIS turned off but it had not worked either. So I guess its nothing to do with NIS.....

Anyway.. I'll keep looking for answers because I'd like to fix this and also make sure this is not the beginning of something more serious..

Anyone - please let me know any more info Thanks a lot.