Win 7 Start Up Repair Utility

Hi,

As per the description, I understand that after an unexpected shutdown your computer went into no boot state and is stuck in startup repair loop.

Do you have any external device attached to the computer while performing startup repair?

Windows by default creates a separate 100 MB NTFS partition at the start of the drive, reserved for core bootloader files and BCD configuration. An unsafe shutdown, sudden power loss, hard disk failure, or a blue screen of death during writes to the boot partition can leave your system in an inconsistent state, unable to boot and infinitely cycling into the Startup Repair.

Boot sector viruses and other malware that targets the bootloader or the booting chain can cause errors in the bootloader settings and state that result in an infinite loop of Startup Repair. The virus may then block Startup Repair from either launching or carrying out its repairs successfully. A failed Windows Update or Automatic Update can also sometimes leave the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) in an inconsistent or non-working state.

Let’s try these methods below and check if that solves the problem.

Method 1:

Disconnect all external devices If any (Printer, scanner, camera, or any other USB devices) except mouse and keyboard and try to restart your computer.

If you are able to boot the computer after disconnecting all external devices, identify the faulty device by connecting them one by one. If the problem persists proceed with the next method.

Method 2: Go to system recovery option to open command prompt.

You may refer to the article mentioned below for “What are the system recovery options in Windows?”

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/what-are-system-recovery-options#what-are-system-recovery-options=windows-7

After opening Command prompt type the following command & run.

1. bootrec /Fixboot
2. bootrec /FixMBR
3. bootrec /RebuildBCD

You may refer to the article mentioned below for more information about Bootrec.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/927392

Then restart your computer. If that doesn't work then go back to command prompt and then type a command to run check disk which mentioned below.

Chkdsk /f

It checks the file system and file system metadata of a volume for logical and physical errors. If used without parameters, chkdsk displays only the status of the volume and does not fix any errors. If used with the /f, /r, /x, or /b parameters, it fixes errors on the volume.

Hope this information is helpful, please write us back if the issue persists with the information briefs so that we can assist you further.

Thank you,

Morris Subba

Support Engineer

Hi Robert,

I totally agree with you that if all doors are closed go to basic troubleshooting and generally it works. However,

thank you for sharing your experience and resolution on Microsoft Community. We really appreciate your efforts and time which you spent on resolving the issue. This information shared by you will benefit other community members to solve their similar issues.

Do keep posting.

Regards,

Good news to report.  As I mentioned previously when I start the PC a DOS screen would come up listing the 2 disc drives displaying the status as normal and listed as bootable so this led me to think that everything was fine with the disc drives.  However, when trying to use the Windows 7 Start Up Repair Utility I was prompted that it could not repair the computer and listed the root cause as "could not locate hard drive".   Very perplexing.

At this point I decided to take one last look at the Dell BIOS settings.  After drilling down to look at the 2 disc drives which are listed in the BIOS settings as Primary and Secondary SATA drives, I noticed they were not set in the auto mode.  After I selected the auto mode they became listed as Hard Drives.  I saved the BIOS setting changes and rebooted the PC and UREKA!!! Windows 7 started normally and I am back to normal with all my data files intact.

For some unknown reason the power outage/surge changed this BIOS setting for the SATA drives.  So, lesson learned when all else fails go back to the basics.

Thanks much to Morris Subba for his input and assistance.  I hope this information is helpful to anyone else experiencing similar issues.

Robert_4260

Hi Robert,

Thank you for the update.

You may try to follow the suggestion given by Brian-- replied on March 18, 2009on the following thread given below to check if its helps.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_vista-performance/os-wont-boot-and-cannot-restore-get-error-code/633ad30f-10de-4a1d-98b0-45616d7068cb?page=1

Additional Information: You may refer to article mentioned below to check if its helps.

Startup Repair: frequently asked questions : http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/startup-repair-faq#1TC=windows-7

Windows Vista or Windows 7 no longer starts, and the Startup Repair tool does not fix the problem: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/927392

Hope this information is helpful, if the issue persists please write us back with the information in brief so that we can assist you further.

Thank you,

Morris Subba

Support Engineer

Morris, 

Thank you for your reply.

When I go to command prompt I land at x:\Windows.  I have tried to cd to c: and get the response "the system cannot find the drive specified."  Tried to cd to D: and get the response "the device is not ready".  However I should note when I first start the PC before going to the Start Up Recovery, both hard drives are recognized and listed as volumes.

As you recommended I've attempted to run:

bootrec/Fix boot with response "the system cannot find the path specified."

bootrec/Fix MBR with the same response.

bootrec/RebuildBCD with the following response "Total identified Windows  installations: 0"

When I run chkdsk/f I get the following response "The type of the file system is NTFS.  Cannot lock current drive.  Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected."

Same response using defines /r, /x, /b

I'm not sure what the x: drive is but it has 26 Windows directories and 11 files listed.  They all look like Windows system directories.

Please let me know if you have any other suggestions.

Thanks Much,

Robert_4260