[Buckalou]

Hey guys I am having a problem when starting up my computer with Windows 7 64 bit operating system. This problem has been on and off but it occurs like this. What happens is I will boot up my computer and I will get past the welcome screen, my desktop icons load along with my wallpaper but nothing in the lower right hand corner of the screen loads (by where the time is displayed). Then when I go to click an icon on my desktop my computer freezes just stays stuck I can't control alt delete or do anything and my cursor becomes like unusable. Now usually this problem is on and off but today it happened to me like 4 times in a row. So I just went into safemode which worked fine and then restarted and I luckily got it to work but I am concerned and I have no idea what this could be. I did run, msconfi and checked what is on startup and nothing odd seemed to be there, I ran Malawarebytes to check for spyware, etc nothing came up. At the moment I am scanning C to attempt to find and recover bad sectors, but if this does not work I am at a loss. I don't want to shut off my computer because I am afraid that I won't be able to get it to start again. Also My C drive is pretty fresh I don't have a lot of things on it reformatted and wiped everything when I went from XP to Windows 7 which was a few months ago or so. Any would would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot

Edited by Buckalou, 29 January 2010 - 12:43 PM.

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If you upgraded from XP to 7 on the same PC, one or more of the drivers or applications may not be compatible. You can run a compatibility utility here, though ideally you're supposed to run it before taking the decision to upgrade:

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

http://www.microsoft...;displaylang=en

[phillipcorcoran]

If you upgraded from XP to 7 on the same PC, one or more of the drivers or applications may not be compatible. You can run a compatibility utility here, though ideally you're supposed to run it before taking the decision to upgrade:

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

http://www.microsoft...;displaylang=en

[Buckalou]

If you upgraded from XP to 7 on the same PC, one or more of the drivers or applications may not be compatible. You can run a compatibility utility here, though ideally you're supposed to run it before taking the decision to upgrade:

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

http://www.microsoft...;displaylang=en

What do you mean from the same PC? Pretty much on my old computer with windows XP I got a virus on my C drive and I had to reformat my computer so I reformatted and got windows 7. So it had nothing left over with windows xp, it was a clean install.

[Buckalou]

Can any admin or anyone possible help? still suck.. thank you very much

[Buckalou]

bump...still lost and have no clue how to solve it please help geeks!

[rshaffer61]

Depending on the virus a simple format may not have gotten rid if it all.
Did you delete the partition and the set it up again then format and then finally install Win 7?
Try the next two steps and let us know the results at the end of each.

Go to
Start and then to Run
Type in Chkdsk /r Note the space between k and /
Click Enter ...It will probably ask if you want to do this on the next reboot...click Y
If the window doesn't shutdown on its own then reboot the system manually. On reboot the system will start the chkdsk operation
This one will take longer then chkdsk /f

Note... there are 5 stages...
It may appear to hang at a certain percent for a hour or more or even back up and go over the same area...this is normal...
DO NOT SHUT YOUR COMPUTER DOWN WHILE CHKDSK IS RUNNING OR YOU CAN HAVE SEVERE PROBLEMS
This can take several hours to complete.
When completed it will boot the system back into windows.

Let me know if this fixes the problem

If this does not help then do the following

Go Start and then to Run ("Start Search" in Vista),
Type in: sfc /scannow
Click OK (Enter in Vista).
Have Windows CD/DVD handy.
If System File Checker (sfc) finds any errors, it may ask you for the CD/DVD.
If sfc does not find any errors in Windows XP, it will simply quit, without any message.
In Vista you will receive the following message: "Windows resource protection did not find any integrity violations".

For Vista users ONLY: Navigate to C:\Windows\Logs\CBS folder. You'll see CBS.log file.
Usually, it's pretty big file, so upload it to Flyupload, and post download link.


If you don't have Windows CD....
This applies mostly to Windows XP, since Vista rarely requires use of its DVD while running "sfc"
Note This method will not necessarily work as well, as when using Windows CD, because not always ALL system files are backed up on your hard drive. Also, backed up files may be corrupted as well.

Go Start and then Run
type in regedit and click OK


Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

You will see various entries Values on the right hand side.

The one we want is called: SourcePath

It probably has an entry pointing to your CD-ROM drive, usually D and that is why it is asking for the XP CD.
All we need to do is change it to: C:
Now, double click the SourcePatch setting and a new box will pop up.
Change the drive letter from your CD drive to your root drive, usually C:
Close Registry Editor.

Now restart your computer and try sfc /scannow again!


Thanks to Broni for the instructions



Revised and Simplified:


Do you have a valid XP CD?

If so, place it in your CD ROM drive and follow the instructions below:

• Click on Start and select Run... type sfc /scannow (note the space) (Let this run undisturbed until the window with the blue progress bar goes away)

SFC - Which stands for System File Checker,
retrieves the correct version of the file from %Systemroot%\System32\Dllcache or the Windows installation source files, and then replaces the incorrect file.
If you want to see what was replaced, right-click My Computer and click on Manage. In the new window that appears, expand the Event Viewer (by clicking on the + symbol next to it) and then click on System.

[Buckalou]

I noticed you said virus are you positive this is a virus? Also I did NOT have this problem when I had windows XP installed and I did a partition and everything, this was a completely fresh install of Windows 7 with nothing from XP left over. I am currently running Windows 7 and I did check disc and that did not solve the problem. What are the directions for sfc using windows 7? I am currently running sfc scan now will it ask for a disc if I am using 7? I followed directions on how to run the sfc scan and nothing came up so what is the next step or do I need to post a log file of some sort?

Thank you

Edited by Buckalou, 01 February 2010 - 04:23 PM.

[rshaffer61]

At the moment I am scanning C to attempt to find and recover bad sectors,

Why do you think you have bad sectors?
Has your hard drive shown signs of a problem?
We might as well do this completely and check it also.

Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

Thanks to Broni for the instructions

[rshaffer61]

When done with the above then do the following.

If you have more than one RAM module installed, try starting computer with one RAM stick at a time.

NOTE Keep in mind, the manual check listed above is always superior to the software check, listed below. DO NOT proceed with memtest, if you can go with option A

B. If you have only one RAM stick installed...
...run memtest...

1. Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)
2. Unzip downloaded memtest86+-2.11.iso.zip file.
3. Inside, you'll find memtest86+-2.11.iso file.
4. Download, and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/
5. Insert blank CD into your CD drive.
6. Open ImgBurn, and click on Write image file to disc
7. Click on Browse for a file... icon:



8. Locate memtest86+-2.11.iso file, and click Open button.
9. Click on ImgBurn green arrow to start burning bootable memtest86 CD:



10. Once the CD is created, boot from it, and memtest will automatically start to run. You may have to change the boot sequence in your BIOS to make it work right.

To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS
Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the DEL button
This will enter you into the Bios\Cmos area.
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to CDrom.
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.


The running program will look something like this depending on the size and number of ram modules installed:




It's recommended to run 5-6 passes. Each pass contains very same 8 tests.

This will show the progress of the test. It can take a while. Be patient, or leave it running overnight.



The following image is the test results area:



The most important item here is the “errors” line. If you see ANY errors, even one, most likely, you have bad RAM.

[Buckalou]

I'm not sure if I have bad sectors I just thought it was either the hard drive or possibly operating system itself. What are "signs" of bad sectors? I mean my computer runs fast and everything- the only problem is when I start it up. Once and if I get it to start up everything is very fast being that my hard drive was wiped and doesn't have a lot of stuff on it. I did the SFC scan and it hit 100% and just closed with no message or anything.

[rshaffer61]

Failure to boot is a good sign of a hard drive problem or a software problem. Right now I want to check all the hardware first.

[Buckalou]

I currently have three sticks of RAM in my computer at the moment is there anyway to test the memory without taking any of them out? Or do I have to do it one at a time?

Edit: I noticed Windows 7 has a built in memory diagnostic tool that will test memory when I restart the computer. Is this tool accurate?

Edited by Buckalou, 02 February 2010 - 09:28 AM.

[rshaffer61]

Yep it will work. I just want to let you know that if it does find a problem you will still have to retest each stick on its own to find the one that is bad. You can run the test on all three if you wish but be ready in case it does come back with errors.

[Buckalou]

Ok thank you very much I will try the memory test and get back to you as soon as possible and let you know the results and we will work on it from there I greatly appreciate your help.