[HGP]

Was working normally until 2/16/15. Not sure what actually went wrong but it was either caused by, or just coincidentally happened at the same time as, the power adapter suddenly dying.

 

Put it to sleep until we could get a new adapter... then later woke it up, just for one more brief check, or so we thought: to our surprise, Windows immediately set about repairing the disk (or something, afraid I don't remember the message exactly), without option to cancel or go back to sleep, and warned us not to shut it off until it was done. Well, since we couldn't plug it in, the battery ran out first. When we got a new adapter on 2/18, the computer would no longer boot.

 

To complicate matters: the CD/DVD drive is broken (an unrelated problem, I think), so USB is our only way in. And I don't have access to a full Windows 7 install disc, because it didn't come with one. I have tried repeatedly to download an .iso from http://www.microsoft...ftware-recovery but their download system seems to be broken. I was however able to make a Windows 7 recovery USB from another computer.

 

I've been struggling with this continuously for two days, following lots of different tips found online, but with no success... and since I don't really know what I've been doing, it's entirely possible that I've complicated the situation. I know that at one point I made trouble by running startup repair while the USB was plugged into an inappropriate port (exactly as described in the top answer here: http://superuser.com...device-cannot-b ). I don't know if the effects of that mistake are lingering or not.

 

At one point boot was failing at "amdxata.sys missing or corrupt" and I found advice online to simply replace that file with a clean copy, which I did: now boot fails at "aswRvrt.sys missing or corrupt." I also followed advice to manually roll back the registry files in System32\Config, which I did, to no apparent effect. I have also followed instructions to use bootrec.exe to try to repair the startup, which I've done more than once; the responses in the Windows repair environment did seem to change slightly as a result but after a couple rounds of rebooting I seem to have ended up back where I started. I've run chkdsk and the HP Recovery disk test without finding anything significant. I'm afraid I may be forgetting some of the other things I've attempted that may have had an effect on the situation. Sorry! 

 

The current status:

 

All boot options (including "last known good configuration," "safe mode," etc.) result in the same failure:

 File: \Windows\System32\Drivers\aswRvrt.sys

 Status: 0xc0000098

 Info: Windows failed to load because a critical system driver is missing, or corrupt.

 

Booting from the repair USB identifies a Windows installation but then fails during Startup Repair with

 Problem Event Name: StartupRepairOffline

 Problem Signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385

 Problem Signature 02: 6.1.7600.16385

 Problem Signature 03: unknown

 Problem Signature 04: 21200154

 Problem Signature 05: AutoFailover

 Problem Signature 06: 32

 Problem Signature 07: CorruptFile

 OS version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1

 Locale ID: 1033

 

I don't have the impression this is a malware issue so I'm posting it here, but feel free to move this if you think it should go in a different forum.

[Edit: Someone here seems to have done just that. This was originally posted in the Windows 7/Vista forum.]

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

 

I have run FRST64 (as I've seen advised elsewhere around here) and am attaching the results.

Attached Files

•  FRST.txt   31.4KB   467 downloads

Edited by HGP, 21 February 2015 - 03:17 AM.

[Advertisements]

Hi there this will remove the Avast drivers so you will need to reinstall on completion

Download the attached fixlist.txt to the same location as FRST
 fixlist.txt   1.84KB   513 downloads
Start FRST as before and press Fix
On completion try a normal boot

Reinstall Avast : These are all direct links

Download Avast Uninstall Utility to your Desktop.
Download the correct version of Avast
Avast Free
Avast Pro
Avast Internet Security
Avast Premier
Disconnect from the net
Uninstall Avast via control panel

• Run the uninstall tool and accept the reboot to safe mode
• Once complete reboot your system
• Reinstall Avast

----------

[Essexboy]

Hi there this will remove the Avast drivers so you will need to reinstall on completion

Download the attached fixlist.txt to the same location as FRST
 fixlist.txt   1.84KB   513 downloads
Start FRST as before and press Fix
On completion try a normal boot

Reinstall Avast : These are all direct links

Download Avast Uninstall Utility to your Desktop.
Download the correct version of Avast
Avast Free
Avast Pro
Avast Internet Security
Avast Premier
Disconnect from the net
Uninstall Avast via control panel

• Run the uninstall tool and accept the reboot to safe mode
• Once complete reboot your system
• Reinstall Avast

----------

[HGP]

Thanks so much for helping. The fix log is attached - looks like all files successfully deleted except for one "file not found."

 

During the normal boot, first I saw a quick message informing me that it was going to check the integrity of some volume with a very long name, which it did too quickly for me to take in the details, but that seems to have gone fine. Then the windows logo animation played normally. Then it stalled on a black screen with an unresponsive cursor arrow at the center.

 

I booted again and chose safe mode, which has the same result: black screen with a frozen arrow at the center.

 

I booted to the repair USB, which now runs through startup repair without finding any problems.

 

I await your advice! Thank you.

Attached Files

•  Fixlog.txt   3.74KB   597 downloads

Edited by HGP, 21 February 2015 - 02:54 PM.

[Essexboy]

Looks like that was an error on my part and one file was not deleted

Download this fixlist
 fixlist.txt   39bytes   445 downloads
Run as before, once it has completed then reboot to the recovery console and select command prompt
Type in this command followed by enter and then reboot to normal mode :

chkdsk c: /r

Once chkdsk has completed try normal mode
If that fails try safe mode and let me know if there is a file referenced when it stops

[HGP]

I ran the new FRST fix, which successfully moved that one last file.

 

I ran chkdsk, which took a long time but didn't find anything wrong to repair or report on drive C.

 

Normal and safe boot both still fail on a black screen with frozen cursor. In safe mode, it does sit still for a few seconds after it gets to the last driver: CLASSPNP.sys. But again, it doesn't actually hang while that's onscreen, it proceeds on to the blank screen & cursor and then hangs.

[Essexboy]

It looks like a repair install, do you have the windows 7 CD ?

If so then follow the steps here http://www.sevenforu...ir-install.html
If you do not have a disc you may be able to get the ISO from MS http://www.microsoft...ftware-recovery

[HGP]

No, as I said in the original post, I unfortunately do not have a Windows 7 CD, and have been unsuccessful in my repeated attempts to download from the MS site. The product key associated with this HP laptop results in a "sorry, that's for pre-installed software; contact the manufacturer" message; the product key for another copy of Windows 7 associated with my desktop computer results in a sort of passive confirmation (i.e. no failure message and the "checking your key" window disappears) but no link and no download, which seems like some kind of bug in their system.

 

As for contacting HP for a Windows 7 install disc, it's not clear to me what that entails or if it's even a real option. Though maybe I just haven't found the right website.

 

Is there any chance that the prior meddling I mentioned in the original post (with aswRvt.sys and with the files in System32\Config) has created the present situation? Do I have any other options that you're aware of? Thanks again for your help.

[Essexboy]

From the command prompt try the following command

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows

 

Again try a reboot on completion

[HGP]

(I am still doing my best to find a copy of an installation disc, but no luck yet.)

 

I ran the sfc /scannow and got this result:

  Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.

  Details are included in the CBS.log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log

 

So  I'm attaching C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. It dates from the morning of 2/16/15, the day that the trouble started, and seems to relate to an incomplete Windows Update attempt? I don't really know what I'm looking at here. Thanks for your continued help.

Attached Files

•  CBS.log   199.48KB   582 downloads

[Essexboy]

Could you try the following and let me know if it opens the recovery manager

To access the HP System Recovery, turn on the computer and immediately press the esc key to display the Startup Menu, and then press the F11 key.

You can use HP Backup and Recovery Manager to restore the entire hard disk image to the original factory-shipped state.
The Recovery Manager will erase all personal files and information, and then install all the original software programs and hardware drivers.

If the computer will not boot into Windows, turn on the computer and immediately press the esc key to display the Startup Menu, and then press the F11 key.

[HGP]

Pressing the esc key immediately does indeed open the "Startup Menu" which offers

  F1 System Information

  F2 System Diagnostics

  F9 Boot Device Options

  F10 BIOS Setup

  ENTER - Continue Startup

 

F11 does nothing here. This is how I've been getting into the BIOS and Boot Device Options to get the thing to boot from a USB stick.

 

At some point in the last few days, I did find myself in the HP Recovery Manager, which had showed up on top of/inside of the Windows Recovery environment. But it didn't offer any Windows repair options short of wiping the drive and restoring "to the original factory-shipped state," as you mentioned. I considered doing that, and recognize that I may have to, but I was (and am) still holding out hope that I won't have to erase all personal files!

 

Also, I'm pretty sure that at the time, the recovery managers I was seeing were actually the result of having run Startup Repair while it was looking at some kind of recovery partition rather than the boot partition (as a result of booting from a USB 3.0 port instead of a USB 2.0 port; see above!) so I'm not sure they were even properly aware of my real Windows installation.

 

In any case, I don't know how to get back there now.

[Essexboy]

According to FRST the OS drive is the active one. The only other alternative I can come up with is to use the Reatogo desktop within OTLPE to back up any data you need

Download Peazip to the desktop
Run and install the programme
As it installs this page will show, deselect the AVG ticks
Press decline and it will then install cleanly



Download the following files to the desktop .. Right click the links and select save as...then select desktop

Rufus

OTLPE_standard

Right click OTLPE on your desktop and select ..Open as archive




Select OTLPE standard



Click Extract, ensure that desktop is selected



Insert the USB stick Then run Rufus

Select the ISO file on the desktop via the ISO icon.

Press Start Burn


Once the USB has burnt then

• Reboot your system using the boot USB you just created.
  Note : If you do not know how to set your computer to boot from USB follow the steps here
• As the Programme needs to detect your hardware and load the operating system, I would recommend a nice cup of tea whilst it loads
• Your system should now display a Reatogo desktop.
• From here you can back up data to another USB

[HGP]

Thanks for this suggestion, but the personal files on the computer are mostly backed up already so I don't think it's really necessary. The reason I was reluctant to do HP's full factory restore was simply because of the significant tedium and potential difficulties of reinstalling and reconfiguring all our programs, fonts, devices, etc. Now, after a week of frustration, I'm much more open to it! But, as I said, I'm not sure how to bring up the HP Recovery Manager again.

 

It does seem like the most promising option is to attempt to repair the installation with a Windows disc, but I'm still having trouble obtaining the .iso. I'll follow up here if anything changes.

[Essexboy]

Have a look here http://support.hp.co...cument/bph07143

[HGP]

Thank you! I hadn't really put in enough time at the HP site. That link is perfect. I've just ordered a copy of the "Recovery Media" bundle which claims to include a USB drive, which should arrive by mail in a few days. Hopefully that will do the trick. I'll follow up here when it's arrived and I've given it a shot.

Edited by HGP, 23 February 2015 - 04:18 PM.