I was working on the PC a little while ago and noticed some automatic windows updates had downloaded and it wanted to reboot.
It won't reboot at all.
I get a start up repair screen but that fails. If I go to system restore on that screen it tells me there are no restore points.
It won't boot into safe mode and takes me back to the start up repair screen
Command prompt to sfc /scannow also fails as it says a boot repair is pending.
The report says:
Event Name: Start up repair offline
Prob sig 1 6.1.7600.16385
Prob Sig2: 6.1.7600.16385
Prob sig3: Unknown
Prob sig4:21200303
Prob sig5: Autofailover
Prob sig6: 8
Prob Sig 7: No root cause
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256
Local ID: 1033
It also says 'start up repair has tried several times but still cannot determine the cause of the problem'
It's Windows 7 and a lenovo but all I have is a Lenovo drivers disc which does nothing.
Help please, all my work is on it and after googling it seems to be others have had this problem after windows updates and ending up losing everything.
Pat
Last edited by: pda on Fri 17 Aug 12 at 14:10
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"My Ford car won't start ....."
I thought I'd save asking the question about model details, but previous post
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=8865&m=196271
has a dead link, so I have to ask: can you tell us the lenovo model details, please.
You will need to extract your documents from the hard drive using a Linux boot CD to get access to the HD first before you attempt a rescue repair to factory settings. for the rescue, you need to know:
Did you make a lenovo rescue disk after purchase?
If not, is there a "onekey recovery" button on your PC?
If not, download this if applies to you model:
support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS027944
>> it tells me there are no restore points. >>
If you had done this
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=11585&m=257756
you would have known whether restore points existed at that time.
For future reference, it is worth checking every now and again that your computer is actually storing restore points. The points may still be there and accessible from safe mode.
>> It won't boot into safe mode ... >>
What steps are you taking to try to get safe mode started?
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It's the H3 series.
I didn't make a rescue disc
It does have One Key recovery but according to the handbook I have pres F2 while trying to boot to get there.
I know there are restore points, at least there were 6 of them last week.
Start up repair advanced screen gives me various options none of which work, safe mode is one of them.
Command propmpt is another but it won't run check disk thingy as it's something to do with NFTS and locked. It won't run sfc /scannow either .
How do I get a linux boot CD because I don't want to try the One Key option before I've tried to save as much as possible.
Thanks
Pat
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Try booting from a live disk, going to add/remove and uninstall the updates, might help.
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Pat,
If you've got important stuff on there do nothing in haste. You may well make it worse.
The best and safest solution is this;
Beg steal or borrow a disk from somewhere. If you need to buy one, buy a small cheap one unless you have anyother use for it.
Replace the one in your computer with the new one.
Install windows on it. I might install unix, but you're familiar with windows so just do that. If you haven't got windows installation disks, I can send you some. Try to use Vista or W7 if you can.
Get it working.
Put the original disk either into an external caddy, or back int ehside the machien as a second disk.
Reboot again on the NEW disk.
COPY all data from the old disk to somewhere else.
Now you can play around and try to fix the original disk without risking everything.
And that may include formatting it and starting again.
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I had a horrible feeling it was that bad...I'm really out of my depth here now but at least I have the lappy I use for work but I don't keep anything on it.
I have a couple of flash drives with some work stuff on them but not all by any means.
Why would downloading windows updates cause this?
I haven't got any Windows installation discs.
I need to think about what to do carefully and leave it switched off for the moment, I think.
Pat
Last edited by: pda on Fri 17 Aug 12 at 16:58
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It's a shame one of us isn't nearer that could come to take a look. As FM2R says don't do anything in haste.
Who knows what actually happened to stop it booting. This week Microsoft did release a number of patches on so called Patch Tuesday. I updated my work laptop (Windows 7), home PC (also Windows 7) and an XP virtual machine. All rebooted without a problem.
I suppose we could try to work out which updates came out this week to see what ones could be uninstalled. But uninstalling them and putting back the pre-update files isn't going to be simple if you cannot get into Windows.
If this was my machine, first priority would be copying off the files just in case. To do this I'd download a copy of a Linux LiveCD and burn to disk and boot from that. It's not that complicated honest. And then connect a USB drive and copy off all the files. At that point you've secured a copy of the files.
Then again if it was me looking at this I'd take a copy of the whole disk as is so whatever I try to fix it can be put back to try again. In fact I'd probably boot a copy as a virtual machine and practice fixing that one (using snapshots).... but I digress.
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I wonder if there's a hidden system partition. But as said above don't rush to do anything until you know you've secured the data.
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"This week Microsoft did release a number of patches on so called Patch Tuesday. I updated my work laptop (Windows 7), home PC (also Windows 7) and an XP virtual machine. All rebooted without a problem."
I had problems with last week's updates - both my Win7 desktop and laptop were failing to reconfigure after restarting, and then were closing down and reverting to the prior to update status. I installed the updates individually in numbered order and that solved the problem
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It may not be that bad. It may be something really simple. You should just make sure your data is safe before you try to fix it. It might be fixable in 10 seconds makign the precautions worthless.
I can't tell you why updates would cause this. It may not be the update, it might be a corruption, it could be anything. If I had your machine I could tell you, but you might find a new computer cheaper than the flight.
E-Mail me and ket me know your address. Maybe I'll know someone in your area, and if not I can send you disks. I can also talk you through the whole thing on the phone when you have them, as could several others on here if its preferable/more convenient for you.
>>leave it switched off for the moment,
I wouldnt, but your call.
Actually here's the way to go; *** THIS IS A ***GOOD*** IDEA, REALLY!!
Go to Maplins and buy an external drive caddy. Take the disk out of your machien and put it in that caddy (its really really easy and about £20).
Plug that caddy into your laptop.
copy the data off. Easy peasy, happy to talk you through it or send you detailed instructions.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Fri 17 Aug 12 at 17:13
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Pat - sent you an e-mail in reply to yours
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>> Why would downloading windows updates cause this?
>>
1. it may be explained by this sub-thread:
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=11585&m=257923&v=e
2. sometimes, windows updates require a restart during which some PCs hand - due to a problem with the PC or a problem with the update clashing with some stuff on that PC.
>> How do I get a linux boot CD
>>
A live CD does this:
"A live CD, live DVD, or live disc is a complete bootable computer operating system which runs in the computer's memory, rather than loading from the hard disk drive. It allows users to experience and evaluate an operating system without installing it or making any changes to the existing operating system on the computer. Live CDs are unique because they can run on a computer lacking secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive, or with a corrupted hard disk drive or file system, allowing users to rescue data."
If after Mark's help gets your PC up & running, you still want to have a Linux Live CD handy, get an Ubuntu one here:
www.ubuntu.com/download/help/burn-a-cd-on-ubuntu
(note step 5)
and this is how you would use it:
www.howtogeek.com/howto/17044/move-files-from-a-failing-pc-with-an-ubuntu-live-cd/
Rattle and RTJ may advise a different version of Linux.
Last edited by: John H on Fri 17 Aug 12 at 21:43
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No I'd suggest Ubuntu too - not the latest version with the new GUI though.
And I'd suggest a good backup strategy after this. If I remember this PC replaced a failed/failing one.
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Thanks all, I'm now in touch with mark via email and have a set of precise instructions to follow!
I'm going to tackle this on Monday when I'm here alone and will be able to concentrate better on what I'm doing.
I'm quite looking forward to it in a way, there's something far more satisfying in someone guiding me how to do it because I'm learning all the time.
Getting a man in who can is for wimps:)
I'm backed up to the end of May, but I realise now that being too busy to bother to do it weekly just isn't an option.
I'm on an old Dell Lattitude D140, bought years ago for it's very light weight, it's been all over the country with me in the lorry and used on a nightly basis. despite it's weight it's been dropped many times after a hard day when my hands wouldn't grip it, but still it refuses to give up.
I'ts just very, very slow!
It's showing me that it has windows updates to install, but I'm not letting it do that until I have the other one working, just in case, although this is Windows XP.
Pat
Pat
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>>despite it's weight it's been dropped many times<<
I think that it's should be an its PatPat.
:}
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..and it's got a very small and sensitive keyboard so expect many typo's until normal service is resumed!
Pedants be warned:)
Pat
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"I'm backed up to the end of May, but I realise now that being too busy to bother to do it weekly just isn't an option."
Get yourself a Clickfree external hard drive: it has a dongle on that, once you plug it into the USB port of your computer, automatically backs it up each time you plug the drive back in. If you leave the drive plugged in, it just chugs away in the background doing backups whenever it finds your files have changed. OTOH, if you haven't backed up in a while, it reminds you to plug the drive in again.
You can use the same drive on two computers, too, once you buy a large enough one.
Or, if you already have an external hard drive, you can get a Clickfree adapter to plug in between it and the PC that does the same job.
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Or an easier/cheaper option is to run a simple command like ROBOCOPY on a regular basis and keep the USB drive plugged in. ROBOCOPY is free.
If your drive to backup is C:\DOCUMENTS and it it to go to say E:\DOCUMENTS then the command would be something like:
ROBOCOPY C:\DOCUMENTS E:\DOCUMENTS /E
That would copy from one to the others including directories (and empty ones). If you want you can add /MIR to mirror the directory so deletes also replicated.
If you use Windows scheduler then sticking that in a batch file and running it will sort you. And because it is a simple copy the target folder is simple a copy. No archive file of a proprietary nature etc.
Note this only copies new or updated files once run the first time so it's fairly quick after the first run.
You could also use something like SYNCTOY from Microsoft. I prefer to keep it simple.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 20 Aug 12 at 15:29
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>> It won't reboot at all.
Funny you should mention that. The PC that caused me grief recently ( www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?f=6&t=11389 ) suddenly refused to boot last week, and I assumed it was playing up again. After the standard repair options failed*, cue another Windows 7 re-install/update session (no I hadn't got round to creating a slip-streamed install disk).
But now I'm wondering now whether it had come down with the same illness as Pat's machine.
* actually I didn't try a System Restore - not exactly sure why now, but probably because I was assuming it was a hardware rather than software problem
Last edited by: Focus on Mon 20 Aug 12 at 13:52
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>> But now I'm wondering now whether it had come down with the same illness as
>> Pat's machine.
>>
Some similar boot fails after the August updates reported to be "cured" after disconnecting external devices and re-booting.
Last edited by: John H on Mon 20 Aug 12 at 14:48
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It's been an eventful few days here, but all is well again now!
I have had some excellent help and advice via email from No FM2R, who has guided me through every step of the way, and without that the end result could have been a lot worse.
I did as I was told and left the PC switched off and on Saturday went to Maplins and bought a caddy. We got the disc out and I managed to get all the important stuff off it apart from my email storage folders and somehow, this years holiday pics have gone missing.
I followed instructionsctions yesterday morning for using the Lenovo One key recovery programme and it booted into that straight away.
The downside is that it totally wipes the drive back to when it was bought new, but for me, just to get it started was something.
I then had a scary few hours while it seemed to be downloading updates forever and I expected to find the problem occur again, but it didn't. The rest of yesterday and today has been trying to get back to where I was last Friday morning, and I've just about got there, I think.
In future, I will make regular back ups!
I couldn't have done this without the advice, help and support you all on here though and thanks to Mark and others, who explained to me why I had to do things a certain way, I've actually learned an awful lot.
Now I'm going for a good old flounce because it appears no-one has even missed me:(
If Lud wasn't on holiday he would have done;)
Pat
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Well done! I was starting to get a little concerned at your absence today...
Now, about those backups...........
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All to easy to forget to do regular backups. Which is why I'd set something up to automatically do it.
I sync my main folders on the Mac to folders on my NAS on a fairly regular basis. But as it's a Mac I have a permanently attached USB drive for use of Time Machine to do backups. Not only does it keep multiple versions of files but you can even restore a machine from a Time Machine backup.... another reason to like the way Mac OS X works out of the box.
Shame you couldn't find the emails or holiday photos. No point telling you where you should have looked now as it's too late. But do check out where emails go so you can back them up to.
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>> I then had a scary few hours while it seemed to be downloading updates forever
>> and I expected to find the problem occur again, but it didn't. The rest of
>> yesterday and today has been trying to get back to where I was last Friday
>> morning, and I've just about got there, I think.
>>
>>
Now is the ideal time to make an image of the disk, so that you have a clean starting point with all the updates included.
see
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=11389&m=253034&v=e
and
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=11126&m=246517&v=e
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Indeed it is. I am sure Pat can sort this out. I have used Clonezilla before now and it's easy for someone understanding a little about computers. And free.
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PC won't boot after update - John H
