Windows 7 Bitdefender "Cleans" Windows 7 SAM file. Now Windows won't boot. BSOD even on safe mode.

[Vincent Patrick]

I have Windows 7 64 bit with Bitdefender installed. This morning I was playing a game when Bitdefender notification fired-up and said it has quarantined the SAM file and that the system needs to restart to complete "cleaning". I haplessly did what my antivirus instructed and now my PC won't boot. BSOD everytime it reaches the login screen telling me about Security Manager and Hardware Failure. Searching for SAM I discover this is a critical system file. Can't even get to system restore or safe mode due to BSOD. System repair is also useless as it now loops. Everytime I click it it merely refreshes and it's the same page. Help please.

 

[kemical]

Hi,
If you have a Windows 7 install disk then change your boot order so that the machine will boot from the install disk. Boot off the disk but instead of installing hit the repair key instead.
If you don't have a install disk you download a copy here simply for this purpose. (Do remember though that to actually install it on a system you'll also need an activation key. )
http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/

I moved your post over to the bsod section and if the bsod's continue once you get access to windows read this thread on what to do and how to send the dump files in:
http://windowsforum.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help-with-a-bsod-problem.38837/

Dump files are found in a folder marked Minidump which is in the main windows folder. If you can't find it then you might need to set up your machine to produce them:
Go to Start and type in sysdm.cpl and press Enter
Click on the Advanced tab
Click on the Startup and Recovery Settings button
Ensure that Automatically restart is unchecked
Under the Write Debugging Information header select Small memory dump (256 kB) in the dropdown box
Ensure that the Small Dump Directory is listed as %systemroot%\Minidump << where your .dmp files can be
found later.
Click and apply to exit the dialogs.

 

[Trouble]

As far as I can tell most if not all of those links to digital river content have been disabled, at least I can't seem to get them to work.
You can get a Windows 7 ISO from here if you have a product key http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery

As far as the present problem is concerned it seems like you might want to contact BitDefender and see if they have any suggestions as to how you might be able to recover something that has been quarantined