Windows 7 Startup problems..

[DulwichFox]

I have been having problems with my PC (windows 7) starting up for sometime..

Usually an F12 choose Repair startup.. Restore.. normally works but now has no longer starts up.

Does start in safe mode..

Does anyone of you good people have a Windows 7 Repair Disk that I could borrow. ??

Much appreciated if someone could oblige ..

Foxy.

[TheArtfulDogger]

If it starts in safe mode then try rolling updates back to a point before the problems started occurring

Can be done in safe mode and should be performed by the system restore function

[Loz]

What make is it, Foxy? If it's a Dell, they might make a repair disk uploadable for you.

[NomDePlume]

Download the image from Microsoft https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows7

[DulwichFox]

Hi Artful.. Loz

Normal Startup just sits there 'Starting Windows'

F12 gives options.

Start using Restore... or Start windows normally.

Start using Restore... gives searching for problems.. then [Restore] or [Cancel] buttons.

[Restore] gives attempting repares. It uses a previous resore point. then [Finish]

If repair was succesful windows will start..

This has been working for a while now.. but no longer works.

I've tried different restore point but still does not work.

My PC is a Sony VAIO with Vista upgraded to Windows 7 (many years back now)

Foxy

[Loz]

Have you tried booting into Safe Mode and doing a system file check?

Boot, open a CMD window and type 'sfc /scannow' (you might need a Win 7 disk to hand).

[DulwichFox]

Have now succesfully restored system 3 times to earlier dates back to 5/1/17 but still will not start up.

Hd this problem a few years back and was sorted by Netquest. Was due to missing files.

The only Windows 7 disk I have is Vista to Windows 7 upgrade.

Fox

[DulwichFox]

Have now given up for tonight.

Will not even start in safe mode now.. with or without command prompt.

Completely screwed.

Foxy

[Jah Lush]

Bite the bullet and upgrade to ten. I didn't like it at first but soon got used to it and now prefer it to anything I've had before.

[DulwichFox]

Jah Lush Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Bite the bullet and upgrade to ten. I didn't like

> it at first but soon got used to it and now prefer

> it to anything I've had before.

All atempts to update my VAIO to windows 10 failed

I have now got it to start in Safe Mode again...

Now I can get to my data I can save it. Think a new machine is on the cards..

Odd that the machine I am using now to type this is XP. (Toshiba Satellite)

It is ancient.. Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux

Foxy

[DulwichFox]

Took to Netquest..

Problem was due to faulty Hard Drive..

Christian Cloned my 320gbt disk onto new Wesetrn Digital 500gbt disk and sorted out partitioning.

All back up with no loss of data or programs. No need to re-install programs.

Great service. Christian is a good man. Knows his stuff.

DulwichFox

[DulwichFox]

Spoke too soon..

Windows Live Mail cannot start due to Corrupt Calendar..

Performed Repair Windows Live Essentials.. has not worked.

Would seem the larger disk may be causing problems with sectors

Will need to go back to Christian..

Foxy

[Loz]

Foxy,

If you had a couple of duff sectors on your disk, then the data transferred from those sectors would have been corrupted.

Might be better to reinstall windows on the new disk and copy your own personal data over.

[DulwichFox]

Loz Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Foxy,

>

> If you had a couple of duff sectors on your disk,

> then the data transferred from those sectors would

> have been corrupted.

>

> Might be better to reinstall windows on the new

> disk and copy your own personal data over.

Christian said there were 3 corruptions which he 'fixed'

Also Windows Update does not work due to The Service not started.

Well the Service is Started.

I stopped the Service Windows Update....

Renamed The SoftwareDistribution folder in C:\Windows ..

Restarted The Servive Windows Update..

This created a new SoftwareDistribution folder

Still no Windows Update..

I do not have a Windows 7 disk and how would I and copy my own personal data over. ??

Christian is not answering his phone this morning.. He was very poorly yesterday so might of taken the day off sick.

Foxy

[Loz]

DulwichFox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I do not have a Windows 7 disk and how would I and

> copy my own personal data over. ??

If you can get your machine up, then you can back up your personal data to a USB drive or similar. Then rebuild your PC and then bring the data back.

But, if you don't have a Win7 disk, you'll probably need Christian to do this part anyway.

[DulwichFox]

Cheers Loz..

Everything is ok except Windows Live Mail and Windows Update..

Foxy..

[Loz]

Have you tried that 'sfc /scannow' command I mentioned earlier?? (though again, you might need a Win7 disk to hand).

It is supposed to fix issues in the Windows software.

[DulwichFox]

Hi Loz..

I did a scan using sfc /scannow with a space between sfc and /scannow as per microsoft advice

on the old disk. Nothing found.

Did the same on new disk and found errors(some of which could not be fixed)

Resulting Log -- C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log could not be opened.. Access Denied

Ran CMD as Administrator and entered 'notepad C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log '

Resulting file 31,965 lines long..

Just not possible to analyze ...

Foxy

[ianr]

A DOS or Windows version of Unix tail utility will get to the file end, if Windows Event Viewer doesn't. This is a functioning very lightweight instance which I've just tried out on a 32MB file: https://sourceforge.net/projects/tailforwin32/

Forget that. Try this. https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/928228/how-to-analyze-the-log-file-entries-that-the-microsoft-windows-resource-checker-sfc.exe-program-generates-in-windows-vista

[Loz]

Sounds like your windows install is not in good condition at all, Foxy. I think a reinstall is your only hope.

[ianr]

> The only Windows 7 disk I have is Vista to Windows 7 upgrade.

I have one of those. I tried booting from it on my W7 machine, and it did lead to an Install option.

PS: actually, that was probably from running its setup.exe via Explorer. And iirc, it did offer an installation that preserved personal files and programs.

But what it does offer on booting, via F8 Advanced Options, is repair and diagnostics utilities.

[DulwichFox]

Thanks All

Currently back with Christian at Netquest.

Foxy

[DulwichFox]

Latest is Christian cannot fix.. He is a Microsoft Partner and worked with Microsoft who also could not resolve.

So I do not feel so bad that I was unable to resolve..

Having a further delve it would seem Windows Live Mail has been decommissioned and no longer works or syncs

with the new Outlook. This means that a new App. needs to be used which does not work with Windows 7.

The alternative is Microsoft Office 365 which is free for one year and then ?5.99ish per month.

Anyone using Windows Live Mail will get the same problem as Microsoft update accounts. ???

They no longer support WLM.

As for the other issue of Updates .. Microsoft could not resolve that either..

Only a new install will fix... But even that cannot be Guaranteed.

The final solution to the mail problem is to use Mailbird. which is currently Free.

Anyone use Mailbird ? is it reliable. ?

Foxy

[Sue]

I don't pretend to understand any of the above, but can't you use Gmail??

[Loz]

Foxy,

Windows Live Mail is just a frontend for the old Hotmail (now outlook.com). There's a number of alternatives: Mailbird is one, Thunderbird (from the people who bought you the Firefox browser) is another.

Personally I use the website/webapp interface, but use the X-notifier plugin to tell me when I have new email, and gives an easy shortcut to the webapp. It's available for Forefox and Chrome (well, and Safari and Opera).