[GreenEyedLady]

This is my son's gaming PC and I'm not 100% sure what precipitated this issue, maybe an automatic Windows 10 update over night?  Windows will not start now on the computer.  When trying to start, I get these messages:

1. "Preparing Automatic Repair"
2. "Diagnosing your PC"
3. "Your PC did not start correctly.  Press "Restart" to restart your PC which can sometimes fix the problem.  You can also press "Advanced Options" to try other options to repair your PC."
4. Clicking Restart loops back to step 1 and repeats.

I tried "Startup Repair" and got "Startup Repair couldn't repair your PC" and pointed me to this log file: D:\windows\system32\logfiles\srt\SrtTrail.txt

I see the error "Boot critical file d:\windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe is corrupt" in the log file.

Edited by GreenEyedLady, 19 October 2016 - 06:56 PM.

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Make sure your computer is not overheating.

From Windows 10 Recovery Environment open the Command Prompt and type  following command and press Enter key.

Chkdsk  C:  /r 

Replace the C: drive letter with the partition drive letter where Windows installed.

When computer boots into Windows RE environment the drive letter assign to Windows partition may not be C: drive letter because Windows 7, 8 , 8.1 and 10 creates a separate system partition when it's installed from scratch. The system partition contains boot files Windows RE assigns the system partition the C: drive letter and the Windows installed partition will be assign any other drive letter usually D: drive letter is assign to Windows installed partition. The Bcdedit /enum | find "osdevice" command can be use to find out the drive letter of the Windows installed partition the output of the Bcdedit command is similar to this osdevice partition=D:. The drive letter after partition= is the drive letter of the Windows partition.

 

 

Restart your computer to check issue has been resolved or not if not then execute following command.

Sfc /Scannow  /OffBootDir=D:\   /OffWinDir=D:\Windows

Replace the D: drive letter with the partition drive letter where Windows installed.

Restart your computer to check issue has been resolved or not.

Edited by FreeBooter, 19 October 2016 - 07:21 PM.

[FreeBooter]

Make sure your computer is not overheating.

From Windows 10 Recovery Environment open the Command Prompt and type  following command and press Enter key.

Chkdsk  C:  /r 

Replace the C: drive letter with the partition drive letter where Windows installed.

When computer boots into Windows RE environment the drive letter assign to Windows partition may not be C: drive letter because Windows 7, 8 , 8.1 and 10 creates a separate system partition when it's installed from scratch. The system partition contains boot files Windows RE assigns the system partition the C: drive letter and the Windows installed partition will be assign any other drive letter usually D: drive letter is assign to Windows installed partition. The Bcdedit /enum | find "osdevice" command can be use to find out the drive letter of the Windows installed partition the output of the Bcdedit command is similar to this osdevice partition=D:. The drive letter after partition= is the drive letter of the Windows partition.

 

 

Restart your computer to check issue has been resolved or not if not then execute following command.

Sfc /Scannow  /OffBootDir=D:\   /OffWinDir=D:\Windows

Replace the D: drive letter with the partition drive letter where Windows installed.

Restart your computer to check issue has been resolved or not.

Edited by FreeBooter, 19 October 2016 - 07:21 PM.

[GreenEyedLady]

1. I don't think it is overheating.
2. Ran the chkdsk and got "windows has scanned the file system and found no problems".
3. Bcdedit /enum | find "osdevice" shows D:
4. ran the sfc command and got message "there is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete.  restart windows and run sfc again"
5. I rebooted (selected shutdown PC option from the blue screen and then turned PC power back on).
6. This put me back to the "Automatic Repair Your PC did not start correctly" blue screen.
7. repeated the sfc command and got the same message as item 4 above.

[FreeBooter]

Have you executed Sfc command from Windows 10 Setup DVD Windows RE environment?

[GreenEyedLady]

Can you explain what this means - "Windows 10 Setup DVD Windows RE environment" - what is the RE environment?  I do not have a Windows 10 setup DVD.  I have Windows 8 DVD, but my son upgraded to Windows 10 when he was prompted to do it (i.e., no DVD for Windows 10).

[FreeBooter]

Windows RE stands for Windows Recovery Environment

If you have a working computer you can use Windows 10 Media Creation Tool to create bootable DVD or USB flash drive.

[GreenEyedLady]

Thanks! I do have another PC running Windows 10. I will try creating the bootable USB when I get home from work tonight.

[FreeBooter]

Keep us up to date with troubleshooting results please.

 

Good Luck!

[GreenEyedLady]

Just checking to be sure I am following the correct steps:

• I don't have a large enough USB, so I am using the media creation tool to download the ISO on my "good" PC, which I will then burn to a DVD.
• Follow the instructions on the page you provided for "Boot Computer into WinRE with Windows Setup DVD"
• Navigate to the command prompt and run the sfc command.

What do I do after the sfc command?  Can I reboot without the DVD if the sfc in Windows RE was successful?

[FreeBooter]

After you have run the SFC command you can boot your computer normally your computer should not boot into Windows 10 setup DVD as long as you don't press any key when prompt to boot your computer with Windows 10 setup DVD your computer will boot with installed Windows 10.

Edited by FreeBooter, 20 October 2016 - 11:45 PM.

[GreenEyedLady]

I'm still working on this.  Having trouble booting from DVD.  Will acquire a USB today and try that.

[FreeBooter]

Have you configure DVD/CD optical drive as first boot device within BIOS setup utility.

Which stage of booting from Windows 10 DVD fails?

[GreenEyedLady]

I was able to boot from the USB that I created on good "PC".  I am assuming that it is booting from the USB because the Windows startup behaves differently, starting with a purple screen and setup window to select installation language and other preferences.

 

I followed the steps at the page you listed above in the section "Boot Computer into WinRE With Windows Setup DVD" and navigated to the command line option.  I ran the sfc command, but I still get the message "There is a system repair pending which requires a reboot to complete.  Restart Windows and run sfc again".

[GreenEyedLady]

Would "Reset your PC" work?  I only care about keeping files that are under the \USERS folder.  I am ok with losing all installed software.

 

[GreenEyedLady]

Best Answer

FIXED!

 

I ran dism.exe /image:C:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions to eliminate the pending system repair and then the SFC ran without error.  I just rebooted and Windows came up normally.

 

Thank you for the help and patience.