Windows 7 Boot Problem

[Limited]

Okay so I'm having sone big problems booting my desktop up. When I power up it shows the boot screen, then shows the Starting Windows screen, it spends ages on this screen after about 5 minutes the windows logo appears and then stays on that screen.

I've tried repairing with windows 7 disk, took a whole hour and rebooted and did nothing, earlier somehow ran the disk check. It repaired alot however after reboot still nothing.

I really don't want to reinstall as I have files not backed up.

Note pc was slow and kept not responding when it last worked.

[beele]

I think a format is in order.

You still can save your files though:

- get a linux live cd (download & burn it, or get it via a friend)
- boot into linux
- mount your windows drive
- copy the files to where you want them
- profit
- reinstall win 7

[Dwood]

My pc used to be like that. Then I got a laptop. :P

[Syuusuke]

How old is your hard disk?

[Futzy]

Ya, its sounds like an hdd problem

[Limited]

Got it in November, manger to get logged in after ages, backed up some files. Tried running scan disk told me had to do it after reboot =\. Tried to do a repair install from cd when logged in, told me I had to uninstall iTunes and age of empires 3. Currently running the scandisk after the reboot, very slow though.

So I might have to get new hdd?

[Limited]

Okay I ran a Western Digital diagnostic test on the C: drive, which is the one I believe that is causing the issues.




Test Option: QUICK TEST
Model Number: WDC WD5001AALS-00J7B1
Unit Serial Number: WD-WMATV4294575
Firmware Number: 05.00K05
Capacity: 500.11 GB
SMART Status: PASS
Test Result: FAIL
Test Error Code: 06-Quick Test on drive 1 did not complete! Status code = 07 (Failed read test element), Failure Checkpoint = 97 (Unknown Test) SMART self-test did not complete on drive 1!
Test Time: 20:06:04, June 15, 2010


Not exactly sure what that means

[Dwood]

You probably have bad sectors. My recommendation, go back up all the stuff you want to keep and get a new one.

[Limited]

I'm now running a new test which got further than the one before, 27 minutes into it so far. Also the PC in general isnt experiencing any slow downs like before, although I'm now paranoid to any quick slow downs.

The real test will be when I reboot and see if it takes 20 minutes for the login screen to appear, usually it takes like 1~2 minutes.

Will it be worth reinstalling Windows? I might have to wipe drive and send it back to company, its definitely still in warranty.

[Cojafoji]

Will it be worth reinstalling Windows? I might have to wipe drive and send it back to company, its definitely still in warranty.
No. Also, when a HDD is in doubt, always RMA.

[InnerGoat]

You could run a low level format with WD's tool to mark any bad sectors, assuming thats your problem. That doesn't mean more won't show up~

RMA it unless you're willing to keep an eye on the drive for a while...

[Limited]

Well, going to have to RMA the hard drive.







Attribute Current Raw Overall http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status06.jpg
Raw Read Error Rate
188
28561
Good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status10.jpg
Spin Up Time
230
8491
Very good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status10.jpg
Start/Stop Count
100
395
Very good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status04.jpg
Reallocated Sector Count
200
0
Good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status08.jpg
Seek Error Rate
200
0
Very good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status10.jpg
Power On Hours Count
99
1404
Very good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status10.jpg
Spin Retry Count
100
0
Very good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status10.jpg
Calibration Retry Count
100
0
Very good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status10.jpg
Power Cycle Count
100
372
Very good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status08.jpg
Power Off Retract Count
200
58
Very good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status08.jpg
Load Cycle Count
200
395
Very good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status08.jpg
Reallocated Event Count
200
0
Very good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status08.jpg
Current Pending Sector
196
353
Very good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status10.jpg
Offline Uncorrectable Sector Count
100
0
Very good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status08.jpg
Ultra DMA CRC Error Rate
200
0
Very good http://www.hddstatus.com/images/status10.jpg
Write Error Rate
100
0
Very good

NOTE : your hard disk has 353 pending sectors (this value is very large and your hard disk should be replaced). Those are sectors that couldn't be properly read and that the hard disk logic is waiting for a write operation to try to remap to a spare sector (if available). According to the Reallocated Sector Count attribute, your hard disk seems to have available spare sectors. A simple disk surface scan won't be enough to force the remap operation. You need a read/write surface scan to remap the sector. The best option should be a tool that knows about what should be read from that sector so that it has some option to apply the best fix to the missing data.

The overall fitness for this drive is 28%.
The overall performance for this drive is 97%.
Ran the test from speedfan application and confirmed the figures with the WD DataGuard tool, basically I have already hit 200 bad sectors that have been reallocated, and the max allowed to remove is 200, and I have 353 more bad sectors.

So whats the best way to go about formatting the drive? Its the drive that has windows installed on. Right click > Format in my computer, or stick my windows 7 disk in and go through steps to format and then stop.

Also should I RMA with Western Digital, or the online store I purchased the drive from?

[Syuusuke]

Which online store did you purchase the drive from? Depends on their warranty, doesn't it?

Usually you might want to go with Western Digital unless it's like Newegg.

[Limited]

Ebuyer.co.uk, I'll check to see if it has a 1 year warranty, it might just be 90 day.

E: Heres the item http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150246, it says it has a 5 year warranty, so I'll RMA via ebuyer and hopefully they will send me new one, and then they'll sort it out with WD.

[jcap]

It's a problem with your hardware.

Remove all expansion cards and try to boot again.

So if removing your hardware fixes it, replace one by one, and make sure they fit snugly. I've had too many problems where a card slid out only like a fraction of a millimeter and Windows would freeze on the boot screen, or take forever and the component wouldn't work.

If that doesn't fix it, then it's your hard drive, which it could be if you have that many errors... You could also try running SpinRite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpinRite), which is like guaranteed to get any hard drive with bad sectors working again.

[Limited]

Just a little update, the amount of sectors has gone up to like 1,000 something. I have raised an RMA directly with WD, the company I bought the product from I believe only deals with it for 90 days, then you need to involve the manufacturer.

Did the advanced RMA method, meaning they send me out a replacement within next week, I have 30 days to return the dodgy hard drive, otherwise they charge me for the cost of a new drive (which would cover the one they sent me).

So now just gotta finally backup my files, shed a tear for my old drive and wipe it. Still dont know whether to use My Computer > Format or the Windows 7 disk, disk is probably better although I'm bit worried I'll be forced into reinstalling windows.

[Limited]

Well the replacement drive has arrived. They sent me a 1TB one, wven tho I'm sending back a 500GB, hope I won't have to pay the difference.

One though I had, I'll have to obviously install windows 7 again but my key would be invalid as it's been used so I'd have to ring up MS. I have an upgrade version, although I clean installed onto a new hard drive and then edited registry to think I had upgraded, but MS will need to know why I'm calling they will know it's a clean install will I have to buy new key?

Here's what I found on their site.


We recommend that you install Windows*7 with your current version of Windows running. If you want to format the hard drive, and you are using an upgrade version of Windows*7, you'll need to start your computer using the Windows*7 installation disc or a USB flash drive, click Custom (advanced), and then click Drive options (advanced).

[jcap]

I thought all keys are the same...or at least that was the case up to XP. I haven't used an "upgrade" disc since then. I do know that with the old versions, an upgrade disc was different from a full disc. The only difference is the installer which checks for a previous version.

With XP, I know you were able to use the upgrade disc to do a clean install. During setup, you just had to provide a Windows CD (even an upgrade disc) from a previous version for setup to continue. Once it verified it was Windows, setup continued as normal. I'm not sure how Windows Vista/7 do it, as I've always used a full version disc. If you need a full version, I can provide you with a link to ISO from Microsoft.

[Limited]

I did the registry trick and rearmed it and entered the key and it worked fine. I thought I'd have to ring up Microsoft and verify its legit, and I used it before but had to reactivate due to a new hard drive.


I only have one problem with the install, whenver I reboot or turn Windows off, it runs a scan disk/check disk when it loads. It does turn off correctly, its just annoying when it always checks on startup, any way to fix it?

[Cojafoji]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/56685-check-disk-reset.html