# STARTUP repair out of nowhere



## kRieg. (Apr 11, 2007)

okay i'm running windows 7 64 bit software on my desktop. the PC is 100% clean of malware and/or viruses, there's no junk laying around on the computer and i'm pretty sure of this because i have 24/7 protection with MSE and i keep my computer clean (ccleaner and such). basically, my pc was running nice and smooth.

all of a sudden the computer just shut of on me, restarted itself, then when it came to the login screen, before the fields could pop up start up repair came up. apparently it cannot fix the problem itself because i get the message "startup repair cannot fix this computer automatically"

i've tried to do a restore point, no luck, i did a memory test i the recovery options, no problems found, i inserted the install disk and even tried to repair that way, no luck.
i checked the wiring and everything seems to be fine,

did my hard drive just flop on me ??? :4-dontkno

helps very much appreciated thank you !


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## lorjack (Nov 15, 2007)

So is it working now? What exactly is the current problem other than it shut down for no apparent reason.


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## kRieg. (Apr 11, 2007)

no its not working, sorry if my post wasnt clear. it shut down for no apparent reason, and when proceeded to start back up is when i got the "startup repair" message . i still fail to get successfully to my log-in screen, because i cant get past this error.


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## lorjack (Nov 15, 2007)

How about Safe mode, or last know good config? Startup repair generates a log file that would be very useful if you can access it.

%WINDIR%\System32\LogFiles\Srt\SrtTrail.txt.

It should be located there.


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## kRieg. (Apr 11, 2007)

Both are a no-go 
safe mode brings me to start up repair as if i booted normally

edit - is there any way wiring could be a possibility of why this is happening?


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## lorjack (Nov 15, 2007)

Its possible it could be a physical problem, but I doubt it. This usually happens when there is some system file that gets corrupted and then Vista tries to repair it but can't and then you get the loop. 

Since you tried the other solutions you got two left. Either you can do a complete reinstall of the OS (something that I'd save for last), or you can try and get a live Linux distro and boot to that, that way you'll be able to access that log file I mentioned earlier and post it here so we can look at it. It should identify exactly what the problem is. 

You can use the Ubuntu Live CD to accomplish this. Download | Ubuntu

Do not install Ubuntu, just select the option to let you try Ubuntu.


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## kRieg. (Apr 11, 2007)

To save us some time I think instead of doing a trial of ubuntu, this is the problem. A log-looking sort of window popped up in the startup recovery process and said the tests that were done and such, and the only thing wrong that was said is the 

C:/CI.dll file was corrupted, apparently that's a boot file, so I'm just taking a wild guess that's the problem.

reinstalling the OS is something I'm not really trying to do.. so hopefully theres another way around this. :sigh:


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## vcolev (Jan 15, 2011)

When the repair runs, what does the screen look like? Can you post a picture of the repair screen?

I have ran into acouple of different viruses that are saying that your harddrive is going bad, then when you click the repair it will say it didnt work, then you have to do another thing, then when you click that, it says it can repair it, but you need to purchase a full copy of a certain Microsoft security.


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## lorjack (Nov 15, 2007)

kRieg. said:


> To save us some time I think instead of doing a trial of ubuntu, this is the problem. A log-looking sort of window popped up in the startup recovery process and said the tests that were done and such, and the only thing wrong that was said is the
> 
> C:/CI.dll file was corrupted, apparently that's a boot file, so I'm just taking a wild guess that's the problem.
> 
> reinstalling the OS is something I'm not really trying to do.. so hopefully theres another way around this. :sigh:


Good. In that case lets try this. 

Put the Vista disc back and boot up to it, select the repair computer option then the command prompt option. Type: *sfc /scannow * and see if it will fix the issue on its own.


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## kRieg. (Apr 11, 2007)

lorjack said:


> Good. In that case lets try this.
> 
> Put the Vista disc back and boot up to it, select the repair computer option then the command prompt option. Type: *sfc /scannow * and see if it will fix the issue on its own.


i tried this and it told me it cant do it because startup repair was running and to restart the computer and it would work, unfortunately every time i restart the computer it says the same thing.


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## kRieg. (Apr 11, 2007)

vcolev said:


> When the repair runs, what does the screen look like? Can you post a picture of the repair screen?
> 
> I have ran into acouple of different viruses that are saying that your harddrive is going bad, then when you click the repair it will say it didnt work, then you have to do another thing, then when you click that, it says it can repair it, but you need to purchase a full copy of a certain Microsoft security.


i'd prefer not to purchase a copy of ms, there was nothing wrong with the hd to begin with :sigh:


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## dhanushkapg (Mar 29, 2011)

it may be incompatible hardware driver or software there. check newly installed Drivers.


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## kRieg. (Apr 11, 2007)

dhanushkapg said:


> it may be incompatible hardware driver or software there. check newly installed Drivers.


how is this possible when i cant access my desktop?


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

1. Put the Windows Vista or Windows 7 installation disc in the disc drive, and then start the computer. 
2. Press a key when you are prompted. 
3. Select a language, a time, a currency, a keyboard or an input method, and then click Next. 
4. Click Repair your computer. 
5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next. 
6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt. 
7. Type Bootrec.exe, and then press ENTER. Refer this link for more information
“How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows”
How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows


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## lorjack (Nov 15, 2007)

kRieg. said:


> i tried this and it told me it cant do it because startup repair was running and to restart the computer and it would work, unfortunately every time i restart the computer it says the same thing.


It said that while in the command prompt? Well now....its making it difficult, I don't really see how it could be running at all since you booted from the CD.


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## Aroes (May 13, 2009)

Hello there! Krieg, I believe I have the exact same problem as you! Today, the computer shut off while I wasn't there and I came back to find it on the startup repair screen. The repair was unsuccessful, bla bla bla.. (Windows 7 x64 on custom built desktop, 1tb hard drive, usb peripherals disconnected)

Somehow I only have one system restore point, which proved to be useless anyway. So that didn't work.

Notice the error "Startuprepairoffline" when you look at the details for the startup repair diagnostic. (not the one on the install CD, the one that booted up originally) Anyway, if you search around for that error online, there is another result on this very forum that happens to be from the same month and year as our issue. Strange... 

Anyway, don't bother looking there TOO long, here's the most important thing to remember from there IMO:

To properly run the sfc without any errors, type this into the command prompt from the CD:
sfc/scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows

Be careful though, because my windows installation is on the D drive (though it's only that way in startup repair... Normal? The cause of the problem?) Anyway find which letter you need for your case and replace the "c" with it. 

So that got me to where I am now, meaning sfc did find an error, repaired it, but the problem remains, with one exception. Now the startup repair on the CD "works" (To some extent: It finds an issue and repairs it, but it still doesn't fix the problem.) The diagnostic details say that "the OS files were not found on the disk", so it "repaired the partition table". I'm translating it from French though so its not exact. So yeah thats some useful info if you ask me, and my (meh) theory is that it's booting from the system partition (if that's what its called), you know that invisible partition on all hard drives with stuff i-don't-know-what-it-does?

Right now I'm running a chkdsk (probably useless), which is taking a freakin long time, and I haven't tested (nor barely did any more than glance at-) what spunk.funk suggested. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that will do something. 

I saw on another forum (though I forget which one) that someone else mentioned the dll you were talking about. However I haven't seen anything related to it at all on my computer. I'll keep you updated on that.


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## Aroes (May 13, 2009)

HOLY SH** it's fixed. Lol sorry I've been working on this for like 7 hours straight.
Basically thank you so much spunk.funk, your solution worked very well. To shorten up my quest for the rest of you, I'll try and post what worked exactly.
1:Read my previous post and see if you have the same problem, and do everything I did up to that point
2:Follow spunk.funk's steps up to the 6th one
7:type bootrec.exe /FixMbr ,press enter
8:type bootrec.exe /FixBoot ,press enter
9:type bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd ,press enter
10:if it follows through correctly, reboot and you should be done.
11:if it says there is no OS installed, continue the steps
12:type bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force ,press enter
13:type attrib -h -s C:\boot\BCD ,press enter
14:type del C:\boot\BCD ,press enter
15:type bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd ,press enter
16:it should work now, reboot and check!


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

Hi, it's horses for courses have a good read through this post:-
http://www.techsupportforum.com/for...critical-file-c-ci-dll-is-corrupt-577851.html


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