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PC Fails to Boot


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#1
taylored

taylored

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Before I start, beware that this is going to be a pretty long explanation.

I built my PC about two years ago now, and besides for a simple fix at the very beginning of its use (pushing in the video card a little bit more, something even Geek Squad couldn't figure out), it hasn't had any serious problems.

That being said, almost a week ago now I found my computer being turned off from the PSU switch after letting my brother use it the previous night.
I flipped the switch, and attempted to start Vista regularly. However, the Vista loading screen froze and the BSOD flashed for a split second and the PC restarted, this loop went on for all of 30 minutes until I intervened. I disabled the Automatic restarting so I could read the BSOD's error and I was given the message: PFN_LIST_CORRUPT. After doing some searching I found that RAM is a likely culprit of this message, so I pulled out my 3 sticks (2x2GB and 1x1GB) and cleaned out the RAM slots as well as the entire inside of the case with a dust blaster. I replaced everything, turned on the power and found that the computer not only wouldn't work, but it was on a loop of turning off and on without even displaying anything on the screen. I turned off the PC, took out the sticks of RAM and left one in, resulting in 3 beeps from my MB. I tried all combinations of my RAM and found no changes. After even more searching I went for the hail mary and tried clearing the CMOS, and putting in the 2 identical RAM sticks. This surprisingly worked in booting the computer to the Vista Boot Options page, where I tried all 5 boot configurations (3 types of Safe Mode, Last Known Good Configuration and Regular). After a couple days of letting the PC rest I decided to download and burn a Vista Recovery Disk. I ran it once, it said it found errors to repair, attempted to repair. I then restarted the computer and again it froze at the Vista loading screen and BSOD. Same loop. I then did the same sequence 3 more times including going into the CMD and running Bootrec.exe /fixboot, /fixmbr and /rebuildbcd, all to no avail. After several attempts Startup Repair recognized that it couldn't fix the problem and displayed the message "Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically". This is the point that I'm at right now. The problem details are:

Problem Event Name: StartupRepairV2
Problem Signature 01: ExternalMedia
Problem Signature 02: 6.0.6000.16386.6.0.6001.18000
Problem Signature 03: 5
Problem Signature 04: 458758
Problem Signature 05: CorruptVolume
Problem Signature 06: BadDriver
Problem Signature 07: 0
Problem Signature 08: 3
Problem Signature 10: 0
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

I do not have the original Vista Ultimate Disc that I installed it with 2 years ago (My Vista is genuine I assure you, I've looked all over my house for that goddamned disc but it apparently disappeared) so I can't boot it or repair it from that disk. I've tried the System Restore option in the Vista Repair menu but it curiously displays that there are no backups of my system (weird because within the last 2 weeks I downloaded some updates and backed up my system right before I updated). I've ran the Memory Diagnostic and it displays that there are no problems found in the memory. Also, I have serious doubt that its due to malware or viruses, as I run firewalls as well as 2 antivirus programs alongside Microsoft Security Essentials.

I have absolutely no idea what to do at this point. If anyone has any idea of what I can do to fix this problem your help would be really appreciated.

Edited by taylored, 30 June 2011 - 01:02 AM.

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#2
smean

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have you tryed starting in safe mode another thing i would try is to remove the battery and power lead for 10 minutes which will reset the bios menu if this fails is there anybody you can borrow a vista disk off to use the startup repair option,,please let me know how it goes
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#3
taylored

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I've tried all the different options of starting in safe mode and it's a PC so I removed the power cord for about 15 minutes and there's still not success in booting.
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