# Cannot startup computer (bluescreen)



## Companion Cube (Jan 7, 2011)

My friend recently got a new laptop with windows 7 installed, he is pretty unexperienced when it comes to computers. When his computer started installing automatic updates he thought it was a virus and shut down his computer :normal: Now his computer can't get to the log on page and just bluescreens. I've tried everything to get this thing to work again including, booting in safe mode, running a windows 7 recovery disk, I tried running Windows PE but couldn't get his computer to boot from it I think I may have screwed up the making of the .iso which i mounted to the dvd. I have tried system restores and the ultimate boot disk to no avail. Is there anything you guys can think of to help me with this? I've kind of given up.... Any reliable disk cloning tool that i can run from bootup to back up the whole HD would be appreciated also (i'm thinking of just fresh installing but he NEEDS some of the documents on his pc). Thanks a bunch I hope you guys can help me out :4-dontkno


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## reventon (Oct 16, 2009)

Hi,

A few things you can try if you haven't already.

Startup Repair - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Startup-Repair-frequently-asked-questions

If that doesn't work, then from the same Recovery Options open a command prompt window and run the following commands.


```
[font=lucida console]
diskpart

list volume 

[COLOR=#0066cc][I]This is so you can be sure what drive letter the recovery console is seeing the operating system drive as.[/I][/COLOR]

exit

dism.exe /image:[B]<drive letter>[/B]:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions [COLOR=#0066cc]

[I]Obviously swap [/i][B]<drive letter>[/B][i] with whatever drive letter you found previously.

After you get the message: "The operation completed sucessfully" run the next one.[/I][/COLOR]

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=[B]<drive letter>[/B]:\ /offwindir=[B]<drive letter>[/B]:\Windows 
[/font]
```
Hopefully that allows you to boot into normal mode. If not, then we will look at other measures.


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## Companion Cube (Jan 7, 2011)

I have tried startup repair already so I decided to run those commands. After putting in 

dism.exe /image:c:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions

I get:
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.1.7600.16385
Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Error: 87

The cleanup-image option is unknown.
For more information, refer to the help by running DISM.exe /?
The DISM log file can be found at X:\windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log


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## reventon (Oct 16, 2009)

Doublecheck that drive letter - I got a similar error when I used the wrong drive letter.

Also - what edition of Windows 7 does the laptop have? I was using Professional to test... Home Premium may not have that feature.


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## Companion Cube (Jan 7, 2011)

It's an education department computer so we do not know what edition it is. Is there a command we can run to find out? Also when running the same check on the D drive letter I get a long list of options that pop up (too many to list) which starts off with

Active- Mark the selected partition as active.
ADD - Add a mirror to a simple volume.
ASSIGN - Assign a drive letter of mount point to the selected volume.

Although there were two items on the list I found interesting:

Recover - Refreshes the state of all disks in the selected pack. Attempts recovery on disk in the invalid pack, and resynchronizes mirrored volumes and RAID5 volumes that have stale plex or parit data.

and

Repair - Repair a RAID-5 volume with a failed member.


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## Companion Cube (Jan 7, 2011)

When running the listpart function through command prompt I get:
Volume 0 F Repair disk <(it's label, the other volumes have this blank)
Volume 1 C NTFS Partition 50GB Healthy
Volume 2 D NTFS Partition 156GB Healthy
Volume 3 E NTFS Partition 26gb Healthy

Also the computer will not boot into any mode without bluescreening, not even safemode


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## reventon (Oct 16, 2009)

From the command prompt, type *notepad* press enter. Then go File -> Open and use the open file dialog to browse the computer and figure out which one of those drives is the OS drive.

Still looking into how to figure out what edition you have.


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## Companion Cube (Jan 7, 2011)

The OS drive is (C


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## reventon (Oct 16, 2009)

Ok, I can't figure out what has gone wrong running that command in your case, so lets go for the alternate fix instead.

Back up the data and reinstall.



> One way you can back up data is by using Ubuntu. This is completely free, and has the advantage that it can be run off a USB stick or a CD - saving you having to install it on your hard drive.
> 
> You can get it from here: http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download
> 
> ...


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## Companion Cube (Jan 7, 2011)

I have tried this method already by booting into a bootable ubuntu usb. I found that I couldn't access any of my files as i could not find them on my drive (although I know that they are there) The first place I looked was under the User folder but I could not find my user account listed.


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## Jonathan_King (Apr 3, 2010)

Try booting to the Windows repair disc or installation DVD, and opening another command prompt.

```
cd /d c:
dir /a users
```
What does it say?


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## Companion Cube (Jan 7, 2011)

I get (row furthest to the right)

Administrator
All Users [C:\ProgramData]
db.lif
Default
Default User [C:\Users\Default]
desktop.ini
LocalAdmin
Public


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## reventon (Oct 16, 2009)

That "LocalAdmin" folder is not there on my system - have you looked inside there?


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## Companion Cube (Jan 7, 2011)

Can I explore the folder through command? It's just that I recently got rid of ubuntu from my usb, although I don't mind reinstalling ubuntu on there if it's impossible to view the folders using the command prompt


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## reventon (Oct 16, 2009)

Assuming the active directory is still *C:\*...

*cd Users\LocalAdmin*

*dir*

I am sure you can work out how to navigate from that. It's *cd ..* if you need to go up a level.


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## reventon (Oct 16, 2009)

Or you could just use the same Notepad trick I mentioned above (type *notepad* then use the File Open dialog box to browse).


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## Companion Cube (Jan 7, 2011)

There is nothing in there, all I get is a string of empty folders that goes like this:
C:\Users\LocalAdmin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\MSDN\8.0


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## Companion Cube (Jan 7, 2011)

The Users folder is only 140mb.......


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## reventon (Oct 16, 2009)

Companion Cube said:


> Volume 0 F Repair disk <(it's label, the other volumes have this blank)
> Volume 1 C NTFS Partition 50GB Healthy
> Volume 2 D NTFS Partition 156GB Healthy
> Volume 3 E NTFS Partition 26gb Healthy


Given the laptop has other partitions - have you tried looking on them for user data?


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## Companion Cube (Jan 7, 2011)

Tried looking through them and found the user data in some convoluted file path, It was not in the C: drive but the D: drive, under a folder with random letters and numbers. It's currently backing up now through the notepad save/open interface. Although i'm not sure since it's just displaying a blue loading ring, it's copying about 30gb so i'm going to leave it on for awhile and hope it copies successfully. If not I will boot from Ubuntu and try copying through there. Is it a good idea to format and re-install an operating system or is there still hope? I imagine it is impossible to brick a new laptop just by interrupting an installation?

Also thanks for all the help so far, appreciate it 

EDIT: It copied successfully :bgrin:


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## reventon (Oct 16, 2009)

Companion Cube said:


> Is it a good idea to format and re-install an operating system or is there still hope? I imagine it is impossible to brick a new laptop just by interrupting an installation?


Now that you have the data safe, just re-install. It's the easiest and fastest option, and it shouldn't be too disruptive given it was a near-new install anyway.

As for the second question - anything is possible, however I am waiting to see if there are other "hidden" problems that your friend might have missed (due to his inexperience).

Run hard drive diagnostics when you get the chance - HD Diagnostic


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