[Channeal]

Hello again,

 

I decided to click on the repair option.... but it only took me to the screen shown in No. 6 in the SevenForums instructions you gave me for Scannow.

 

I tried then clicking on Startup repair, but it told me there were no problems found.

 

The Boot Manager screen still comes up when the computer starts though.

 

Just wondering..... why does it give me the option of either Windows 7 or Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered)?

 

Chris.

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I tried then clicking on Startup repair, but it told me there were no problems found.

 

 

That is a good sign.

 

The Boot Manager screen still comes up when the computer starts though. 

 

Just wondering..... why does it give me the option of either Windows 7 or Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered)?

 

 

Try highlighting the (recovered) option and see if it boots into Windows.

[phillpower2]

I tried then clicking on Startup repair, but it told me there were no problems found.

 

 

That is a good sign.

 

The Boot Manager screen still comes up when the computer starts though. 

 

Just wondering..... why does it give me the option of either Windows 7 or Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered)?

 

 

Try highlighting the (recovered) option and see if it boots into Windows.

[Channeal]

Good evening Phill,

 

 

Try highlighting the (recovered) option and see if it boots into Windows.

 

Hm, that's very interesting! It actually did what I pretty much expected it to do and booted from the clone on my second hard drive. For some reason, it refers to drive C as Windows 7 and the clone on drive D as Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered). What is the 'recovered' bit all about though?

 

There are no rude messages about Windows Security problems on the clone - all seems to be well there and Malwarebytes updated okay there too.

 

Btw, thanks for all the time you have spent on my computer problems today - it is very much appreciated.

 

Chris.

 

EDIT IT has just dawned on me that normally I have to switch the leads inside the computer over in order to be able to boot from the clone!

Edited by Channeal, 24 May 2017 - 12:19 PM.

[phillpower2]

Good evening Chris,

 

Btw, thanks for all the time you have spent on my computer problems today - it is very much appreciated. 

 

 

You are most welcome 

 

What is the 'recovered' bit all about

 

 

 

EDIT IT has just dawned on me that normally I have to switch the leads inside the computer over in order to be able to boot from the clone!

 

 

Can you grab an expanded screenshot of Disk Manager and upload it for us please.

[Channeal]

Okay Phill, here is the Disk Management screenshot as requested. All seems normal there to me though.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Chris.

 

 

 

[phillpower2]

Aye all looks good there.

 

Restart the computer and go into the BIOS, make a note of the boot devices and the order that they are set then post the info here for us please.

[Channeal]

Okay Phill, here is the boot sequence from the BIOS: -
 
1 Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive
2 USB Device (not present0
3 Onboard SATA Hard Drive
   Onboard IDE Hard Drive (not present)
   Onboard USB Floppy Drive (not present)
 
My two drives only ever show as one SATA drive in the BIOS boot sequence (is it called master and slave?) - which I understood to be the reason why I have only ever been able to boot from the second hard drive by switching the leads over. Until now, that is!
 
Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice!
 
Chris

EDIT just realised that the drive set-up on my computer isn't called master and slave. I remember somebody telling me that the master/slave thing only applied to the old IDE drives. Not sure what my set-up is called - but do know that both drives have never shown up in the boot sequence.

Edited by Channeal, 24 May 2017 - 04:27 PM.

[phillpower2]

Hello Chris,

 

Sorry for the delay getting back to you, not been around at all the past couple of days 

 

This is an odd one as from memory I seemed to recall that one HDD was IDE and the other SATA, have I got that right.

[Channeal]

Hello Phill,

 

 

Sorry for the delay getting back to you, not been around at all the past couple of days 

 

No problem at all. I needed a rest from computer problems anyway (though have been doing a much worse task the last couple of days, trying to compile a horrible annual secretarial return for something I am involved in - and it is my absolute worst nightmare of a job!)

 

 

This is an odd one as from memory I seemed to recall that one HDD was IDE and the other SATA, have I got that right.

 

No, they are both SATA. Not sure where you could have got that idea from, but it might be to do with when I was replacing my CD drive and I think was messing around with IDE cables. But no, the drives are both SATA for sure.

 

Chris.

[phillpower2]

No, they are both SATA. Not sure where you could have got that idea from, but it might be to do with when I was replacing my CD drive and I think was messing around with IDE cables. 

 

 

You are spot on as it was the problems that you had with the new IDE DVD drive that I was thinking of, glad you remembered 

 

The behaviour is odd because it has only just begun when you have had the clone on the second HDD for so long, it is what should have happened from the outset though as you effectively have two identical working OS ready to load, if it doesn't bother you having to select the primary OS every time you could leave things as they are, the only alternative is to disable the cloned HDD in the BIOS.

 

NB: Looks like the AIO tool fixed something that you may not have wanted it to.

[Channeal]

Hello again Phill,

 

 

You are spot on as it was the problems that you had with the new IDE DVD drive that I was thinking of, glad you remembered 

 

Yes, glad we sorted that out!

 

 

The behaviour is odd because it has only just begun when you have had the clone on the second HDD for so long, it is what should have happened from the outset though as you effectively have two identical working OS ready to load, if it doesn't bother you having to select the primary OS every time you could leave things as they are, the only alternative is to disable the cloned HDD in the BIOS.

 

Yes, this is very odd. My clone was first created - with your assistance - back in 2014. We tried then to just change the drive letters - but in the end the only way to do it was to swap the leads over (edited). It wouldn't do to disable the cloned HDD in the BIOS as there is another partition on the same drive on which I store all my data, so I need access to the drive.

 

I believe the computer set-up has not just been like that since 2014 though...... It was only after creating the clone and seeing how it appeared from the other drive that I realised that it has probably been like that since 2006! The computer actually came with an exact copy of the OS on the second drive - so that without ever being aware of it, I could have at any time since we acquired the computer in early 2006 have swapped the leads over and booted from the other drive. So I think that this has changed something that has always existed.

 

 

NB: Looks like the AIO tool fixed something that you may not have wanted it to

 

I think you are wrong there. This did not happen as a result of running the AIO tool. It was when I inserted the Windows 7 CD that the problem arose. Going back to message #25, I said: -

 

 

There is one odd thing that happened when running the DVD though. Right at the beginning it told me: 'Windows found problems with your computer's startup options. Do you want to apply repairs and restart your computer?'. When I agreed to do this, I was not sure what to do on the screen which followed, so exited with the intention of trying again later. Now though, whenever I start the computer I get the following screen: -

 

It was immediately after that that the boot manager came up (though I did not even realise what had happened and just clicked out of it at first) and has done ever since. It seems that Windows just took it upon itself to decide that the way this computer has been set up for 11 years was wrong and that it needed changing!

 

 

I am still having problems with the services btw: any further thoughts on that? I think you mentioned we might have to edit the registry?

 

Thanks again for all your help,

 

Chris.

Edited by Channeal, 27 May 2017 - 05:22 AM.

[phillpower2]

Hello Chris,

 

I think you are wrong there. This did not happen as a result of running the AIO tool. It was when I inserted the Windows 7 CD that the problem arose. 

 

 

However it came about it would appear to be an unwelcome change

 

The Dell BIOS is notoriously difficult, pernickity and has very little room for user input, your boot sequence does not give you an option to make one or the other HDD the Primary and the other the secondary, the Windows bootloader does not know which drive it should be booting from so is giving you the option of choosing.

 

1 Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive

 

2 USB Device (not present0

3 Onboard SATA Hard Drive

   Onboard IDE Hard Drive (not present)

   Onboard USB Floppy Drive (not present)

 

 

 

Regarding the non starting services issue, the following is the copy/paste answer post by A-Star Computing here

 

1. Open Services.msc
2. Open the properties of the service that wont start
3. Make a note of the last entry at the end of 'Path to executable' i.e. C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe -k LocalServiceAndNoImpersonation (Their example only)
4. In the registry navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Svchost
5. In the right pane open the string that matches the Path to executable entry, then add the exact service name
6. Close regedit and reboot. Now check if the service has started.
7. Repeat for all services with this issue.

 

You are welcome btw 

[Channeal]

Hello Phill,

 

 

The Dell BIOS is notoriously difficult, pernickity and has very little room for user input, your boot sequence does not give you an option to make one or the other HDD the Primary and the other the secondary, the Windows bootloader does not know which drive it should be booting from so is giving you the option of choosing.

 

Am still struggling to understand why Windows was apparently happy for 11 years to boot up from whichever drive had what I assumed was the main lead connected to it - but has now decided that it is going to give me the option to choose which drive to boot from via the bootloader menu, without switching the leads.

 

I am not saying I am not happy with this; it would have been nice if they had made it clear what they had in mind first, but maybe they are right and it is a good thing if it prevents me having to switch over the leads. I am just very puzzled really as to why it has taken Windows 11 years to decide to do this - and rather surprised, as I thought that swapping the leads was the only way to do it !

 

What do you think will happen now if I switch the leads over (am a bit nervous of trying it now )? Will doing so have no effect now, do you think?

 

 

 

 

1. Open Services.msc
2. Open the properties of the service that wont start
3. Make a note of the last entry at the end of 'Path to executable' i.e. C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe -k LocalServiceAndNoImpersonation (Their example only)
4. In the registry navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Svchost
5. In the right pane open the string that matches the Path to executable entry, then add the exact service name
6. Close regedit and reboot. Now check if the service has started.
7. Repeat for all services with this issue.

 

 

Have seen the TechNet link you gave before - but need a bit of clarification please on how to do it.

 

Let's take Windows Management Instrumentation. The path to executable is netsvcs. So I followed the instructions and got to svcs. Clicking on it brings up the 'Edit Multi-String' box. Do I just type 'WindowsManagmentInstrumentation' under the list of other items in the box?

 

Chris.

Edited by Channeal, 27 May 2017 - 07:02 AM.

[phillpower2]

Can't even hazard a guess but keep in mind the vast improvements made between the release of XP and Windows 7.

 

If selecting which HDD to boot from does not bother you I would leave as is, it`s not doing any harm.

 

Can you grab a screenshot of where you are up to with the regedit please + can you check and let us know when the computer is last shown to have updated, there may be no need to use the regedit if the update service is running correctly, hopefully this will be the case as editing the registry is always a last resort.

[Channeal]

Good afternoon Phill,

 

 

Can't even hazard a guess but keep in mind the vast improvements made between the release of XP and Windows 7.

 

If selecting which HDD to boot from does not bother you I would leave as is, it`s not doing any harm.

 

Will do. I guess I am someone who always wants to know the answer - and sometimes computers are like life in general and there is no answer!

 

 

 

Can you grab a screenshot of where you are up to with the regedit please + can you check and let us know when the computer is last shown to have updated, there may be no need to use the regedit if the update service is running correctly, hopefully this will be the case as editing the registry is always a last resort.

 

Okay, here is a screenshot of the registry showing svchost.

 

 

 

The instructions say after having got there to 'In the right pane open the string that matches the path to the executable then add the exact service name' (in this case netsvcs). I don't know how to do this. If I just click on it, it brings up the following box: -

 

 

 

As far as Windows updates are concerned, a 'Malicious Software Removal Tool' update (KB890830) was installed last Tuesday but the services problem unfortunately remains.

 

Chris.

Edited by Channeal, 27 May 2017 - 09:09 AM.