Trying to fix netbook with Windows 7 Startup Repair taking forever!

Hi everyone,

Having a bit of a problem with my using Startup Repair to fix my netbook at the moment, and desperately hoping someone might be able to advise, as I´m travelling and could be difficult getting someone to look at it!

I have an Asus EEE PC (1000HA Seashell), which is fairly new (bought new from Amazon in January this year). A couple of days ago, I was playing music on it (saved on the hard drive, has no CD- DVD drive) when the music "stalled ", like a CD skipping - I was unable to power down using the Shut down button, so had to close the lid. The music continued to skip, even though the netbook was closed, for a couple of minutes, so opened the lid (the screen was still lit up), and powered off manually.

When I powered on again, it came up with the loading files/ startup repair screen (saying that Startup Repair was checking the system for problems, and with a blue indicator moving constantly across the screen). Six hours later, it was still on that screen. There was a cancel option, but when I tried clicking on it, it said that the current repair operation couldn´t be cancelled, so manually powered it off overnight. I powered on again this morning, and got the same Startup Repair, and again it´s still on the same screen, 12 hours later. I´m going to leave it running overnight, just in case - I think I read somewhere that Startup Repair needs longer to work if the drives are full - I have 2, the C drive (where all the tecchie stuff is stored, and photos) and the D drive for music and movies. Both are at about 90% capacity.

I´m currently backpacking in Bolivia, so even if I could get to a village where there was someone who had the computer expertise to fix the netbook manually, I wouldn´t sure I´d have the Spanish to be able to explain the problems, I´d rather try and fix it myself if possible. I have some of my photos still on the camera, but most are on the netbook, ready to be backed up onto USB sticks (which of course I haven´t yet done). Desperate not to lose the ones I don´t have backed up anywhere else!!

Apols if this is a bit wordy, it´s my first time posting in a forum, and I figured I´d try and explain the problem as thoroughly as poss from the get-go!!

Any help would be very, very appreciated! Thanks!

 

Hi Sigourney,

There is no need to apologise for the long post. Most of the people don't give us the complete details & we have to prod them for it.

There seems to be some problem with your hard disk, which windows seems to be checking. Since you don't have CD/DVD ROM, the only other option I see to backup your files is to download some sort of linux distro on a USB drive, boot from it & copy the files to another USB drive.

 

Hi guys,

Thanks a million for getting back to me so quickly! When I checked the netbook this morning, it was still on the same screen, trying to repair the computer (allegedly!)

RSInfo, thanks for that - have tried googling Linux Distro, but am a bit puzzled as to what exactly Linux Distro is (some form of software or operating system, or if there are different types) - is there a site you use to download from when you want a Linux Distro, or one that you´d recommend? I can make my way around Windows in a basic fashion, but am fairly clueless about programming and the "behind the scenes" stuff, as you might have guessed!

Tony T, I haven´t been able to start it in safe mode - when I get the option of selecting that, it still brings me through to the Startup Repair programme. When I turned the netbook off and on (manually, still no other way) this morning though, I got a grey screen which asked me to press F2, to take me to the BIOS Setup Utility. Within that, under Boot Device Priority, it told me that because the HDD was in parenthesis, this meant that the device was disabled in the corresponding type menu - not sure if that means anything. Pressing F8 did nothing unfortunately, but after I exited the BIOS setup utility, I went through to the Startup Repair again. This time, it told me there were no problems, and to press Finish to restart the netbook. Did that, and got Startup Repair again!! So while it was still looking for problems rather than repairing them, I was able to press cancel, and eventually found myself at the point where I can select System Restore, which I think takes the computer back to the point when the last restore point was made. Should I try this option, or would that delete the photos etc...? Not too fussed about losing programs, most I can download again, but the photos are the thing I´m really worried about!! Might not work, but didn´t want to select that option till I got your thoughts on it!

Thanks so much for your help!!

 

Linux Distro is short for "Linux Distributions ". There are a lot of Linux flavours & you can choose whatever you like or suits you best.

Try SystemRescueCD or Puppy Linux. Be sure to read FAQ before doing anything especially regarding accessing Windows [NTFS] disks.

 

Here's Ubuntu Guide.

 

Thanks guys!

PeteC, cheers for that - went ahead with System Restore, only to be told that there aren´t any restore points on the computer, which is pure bunkum, as I know there are at least 6 or 7! It asks me to create a restore point using System Protection; when I select that, I´m told ´Your computer is running in a limited diagnostic state. If you use System Restore in this limited state, you cannot undo the restore operation´. I click okay, and get back to the screen asking me to create the restore point - at which point the only other option I have available is ´cancel´! So appears I can´t do anything with System Restore!

RSInfo, thanks a million for those links, am reading through them now, and Ubuntu looks like it has a good bluffer´s guide for getting the thing working! Will see if I can use the hostel PC to download it onto a USB stick.

Tried to test the memory using the Windows Memory Diagnostic, and all seemed to be ok - it automatically restarted the computer when finished, and went through to Startup Repair. This time, within a minute or so I got a message saying ´Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically´with the error details:
Problem Signature:
Problem Event Name: StartupRepairOffline
Problem Signature 1: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 2: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 3: unknown
Problem Signature 4: 21201007
Problem Signature 5: AutoFailover
Problem Signature 6: 10
Problem Signature 7: NoBootFailure
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Not sure if that means anything to anyone??? I´m guessing 10 refers to the number of times Startup Repair has tried to run, unsuccessfully, but as for the rest...

When I access the Diagnosis and Repair Details, it tells me that all the tests have completed successfully, with an error code of 0x0, and that the ´Root cause found´is that ´Startup Repair has tried several times but still cannot determine the cause of the problem´.

So the only other options are the System Image Recovery and Command Prompt. With the first, it says it recovers the computer using a system image created earlier - I don´t recall creating one though (unless it was done and stored somewhere automatically) - but I think with this option it deletes everything and restores it to factory settings? The other query I have is - do you know if it´s possible to save my images etc... onto USB sticks using the command prompt? And if so, if it´s possible to save them by folder rather than image (there´s over 10,000 of them!) Some are backed up, but the most recent ones won´t be (about 800-1000 or so of those, I reckon)

Will try the Ubuntu thing, but would ease my mind if I could back-up the photos first, just in case anything was to happen whilst the Ubuntu-fixing thing was in operation!

Thanks again for all your help!!

 

If Ubuntu successfully detects your hard disk, you can copy the data to another USB drive as easily as in Windows as it also has a graphical interface. It can be done either on file to file basis or you can select, copy & paste directories. No problem.

 

That´s defo put my mind at rest, cheers RSInfo!! Just got the USB stick, so going to see if hostel will allow me to download it now (CPU hidden away in reception, only have monitor screen & keyboard here!)

Tried putting chkdsk into the control promt, and it came up with the following (not sure if it will help shed any light, but thought I´d throw it into the mix!)

Chkdsk
The type of the file system is NTFS.
The volume is in use by another process. Chkdsk might report errors when no corruption is present. Volume label is Boot.
WARNING! F parameter not specified.
Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)…
29 file records processed.
File verification completed.
0 large file records processed.
0 bad file records processed.
0 EA records processed.
0 reparse records processed.

CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)…
43 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned.
0 unindexed files recovered.

CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)…
29 file SDs/SIDs processed.
Security descriptor verification completed.
7 data files processed.
Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.
3086 KB in total disk space
4 KB in 9 indexes
0 KB in bad sectors
2485 KB in use by the system
2048 KB occupied by the log file
597 KB available on disk

512 bytes in each allocation unit.
6173 total allocation units on disk
1195 allocation units available on disk
Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50.

 

From what I have gathered from googling your error message "Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50" it seems that the only way is to reinstall the OS.

However, when you create partitions, choose Full Format instead of Quick Format so that Windows can check for bad blocks on hard disk.

 

Thanks for that!

Managed to download Ubuntu and get all the files onto the USB stick. Put that in the netbook, pressed F2 to get to the BIOS setup, and managed to swop the order around so it reads:
1st Boot Device [USB FLASH Drive UT]
2nd Boot Device [HDD: PM-ST9250315AS]
3rd Boot Device [ATAPI CD-ROM]
It also said on the right-hand side:
Specifies the boot sequence from the available devices.
A device enclosed in parenthesis has been disabled in the corresponding type menu.
(so possibly the USB and HDD are disabled?) Couldn´t find a way to enable them, pressed F10 to save the changes and exit, and got the following:
Invalid system disk.
Replace the disk, and then press any key.
Took out the USB and pressed return, and went through to the non-working Startup Repair again!
Pressed finish to shut down the computer, powered on again, got through to BIOS, confirmed that USB selected as top priority, and went through the same rigmarole as before! Do you know what I´m doing wrong, or how I can get the netbook to read the USB first???

Cheers!!

 

Sigourney, copying the files into USB wouldn't do it, you have to make it bootable. Did you read & follow FAQ's on how to do it ?