Resolved Boot Problem/Afraid To Leave Notebook On

I have two notebooks wirelessly connected on a network with an HP Officejet. The problem is on the host computer, running Windows 7 64-Bit and IE9. Originally this computer came with the Home Premium Edition but, after having to to a clean install back in November, I subsequently upgraded to the Ultimate Edition. Both my computers are on a wireless network with an HP Officejet. I don't know if this is relevant but the other remote computer on the network runs XP-Pro and IE8. Customarily I leave the computers up. I believe that my Windows 7 is hijacked since it doesn't boot into the normal Windows.

This morning I found the Windows 7 crashed during the night to where the screen, against a black background, showed that it could not boot. So, I was at system level. I was able to go into Safe Mode. I ran HD Tune, an open source program to scan for defects in my hard drive. It detected that the hard drive was not bootable, though I can't swear to the program's reliability. Under Control Panel, Disk Management showed that the hard drive was OK.

Defrag would not start, but I was able to do Checkdisk for bad sectors. I scheduled Checkdisk to scan the file system upon restart. Afterward I ran System File Checker. It still would not boot, but I was able to start Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool. It did not generate a log, but when it completed the sytem went into the normal Windows. However, I believe that the computer is still hijacked. Tonight I will start shutting down these computers. What could have caused the crash and what more do I need to do?

 

The same thing happened this morning. This time I was there at the computer when it came to the login screen. If froze, then the BSOC appeared briefly. Then I was at system level again. I still suspect a hijack.

 

Arie, thanks. Right now I am online with the XP. The Windows 7 has an antivirus that runs at system level. It did not find anything. When I get it into Safe Mode, I will implement your suggestions.

 

This morning I cannot even get the computer into Safe Mode. Yesterday before turning in I ran the following: Panda Active Scan, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and SuperAntiSpyware. I left the computer up after having started Windows normally. This morning I found the computer at system level again; but I was able to boot to a disc that has on it Hitachi Drive Fitness Test. I am now going to try to run it.

 

The Drive Fitness Test will not run on my HD; but after I exited out I was able to go into Safe Mode. I have my system configured to produce a minidump. Hopefully that is adequate. I did not specifically do a rootkit scan but hoped one of my programs would have found it. Later I will try to post a dump.

 

My User Control Panel shows my other system. Right now I don't see a way to add this one; so I will describe it here:

The computer is an MSI A6200 Series laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit. It has 4 GB memory and two Intel Pentium P6100 running 2 GHz. Also, it has Intel HD Graphics. There is a C and D hard drive. I know the C:\ is an SATA Western Digital WD3200BEVT-22ZCT0, and never did anything (ie Checkdisk, Defrag) on the D:\.

MSI makes the motherboard, A6200 version 001. The unit is powered by a Microsoft AC adapter and CyberPower Battery Backup. It has Intel Display Audio and Realtek HD Audio. Through the Linksys E1000 it is on a wireless network, the host computer with the other system in my User Control Panel. Comcast is my ISP and cable provider. It has an external floppy drive, though I am not sure it boots from there. Monitor is generic PnP.

Right now I am going to follow your instructions to create and post a dump. What I neglected to disclose before was that I have a HijackThis log from yesterday. Also, Monday before I crashed, the last major task I did was, beside video streaming, creating greeting cards and stationery on Works 9.0. Do you think imbedded macros had anything to do with the crash?

 

This is going to take longer than I thought! The Microsoft SDK requires .NET Framework 4.0 which I don't have. If I watch Nikita tonight if won't be on this computer. I should also mention that this morning the system went into normal Windows without going back to system level.

 

The tools would not install without it. One more detail I neglected pertains to the System Restore I did back to Monday, March 18. There is a Windows Defender update I did not apply.

 

My system already had .NET Framework 4 on. It was .NET Framework Extended that installed. Based on your instruction page I uninstalled it. After I powered down I could not bring the computer up again in either normal Windows or Safe Mode. At the first attempt it went into Windows, but after I got up and returned to the computer it went back to system level with the black screen stating that the boot failed. My Windows 7 startup floppy that I made only brought it to a screen with a flashing cursor at the top left. I was able to bring up a screen called Windows Boot Manager which showed in the status field 0xc000000f.

 

Function key F11 brings up the boot menu on this computer. This time, however, it does not show the SATA Hard Drive as a boot option.

 

With one of the recovery discs I made I was able to bring up the option "Repair My Computer." At the command prompt none of the commands I used worked. The option "Startup Repair" did not work either. That was the one and only time any of the discs I own worked. The computer could not detect my Windows installation. "Startup Repair" could not detect my hard drive, according to the diagnostics, and stated that if one was installed it was unresponsive. Function Key F3 is supposed to bring up another recovery process, having Windows hidden in a partition. That did not work either.

 

I will look at the links you provided; I remember seeing diagnostic programs where they tend to write zeros to the drive. Since this is a fairly new installation, I cannot believe that this system is that messed up. If there is any hope in this, last night I was able to boot to a DOS prompt from my startup floppy; but none of my known commands worked.

 

The very first step would be to get into the laptop's BIOS Setup and see if the hard drive is being detected. If it's not, software is not going to be able to see it either. If the hard drive connector(s) appear clean and tight, then the hard drive is probably dead. Since they're mechanical, they do wear out. And sometimes they just up and fail before they should.

If the BIOS did detect the drive, the next step would be to boot up from a UBCD (Ultimate Boot CD) and run Western Digital's "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS" utility. If that test fails, again there is no reason to go any further. Software is not going to "fix" failing hardware.

If it passes the test though, the hard drive (and assoicated circuitry) is probably good. Let us know what you find ...

 

Having been in BIOS enough times, I know that it lists the drive. I don't know if there is any test to run on it in BIOS. Coming out of BIOS I always exited with the default settings saved. Hopefully that resets the proper boot order. I guess the folder of registry backups I made in Windows is not of much use now.

This computer also has a data drive, D:\. I believe it is a physical rather than a virtual hard drive. Do I have to run a fitness test on that?

MSI does not reveal in its documentation how to get into this computer. Having A+ training, I would open it to view the hard drive connection if I knew how to do that. Do you have a source?

This XP system I am using now was new in 2006 and had XP reinstalled at the same time as Windows 7 was reinstalled on the crashed system. From my Windows 7 experience I would not try Windows 8. Does Linox run well on laptops? I hope Microsoft considers extending its XP support since it is not doing such a good job with later OS'.