Hi all,
Please help me if you can, as my main desktop is down. Thanks a lot for your time. Please read on. Sorry for the lengthy post.
Problem Summary . The machine has only 1 OS: Windows 7 x64 Professional. If I try to boot normally past the Windows logo screen, I'll receive a BSOD and the system will restart.
Details . Last night I right clicked the Windows Explorer button on the Windows 7 taskbar and noticed the button was malfunctioning. I didn't see any pinned short cuts or recently visited folders while I normally had had 6-8 for each category. There were just the generic "Windows Explorer" and "Unpin this program from the taskbar." So I decided to restart the machine hoping the problem would magically vaporize.
The machine finished POST but right after the Windows 7 logo screen, I got a BSOD (screen below). Then it restarted and recommended me to use Startup Repair. I used Startup Repair but was told that Startup Repair couldn't automatically fix the errors (I allowed it to use System Restore). Then, Startup Repair shutted my computer down. When I turned on the power, the cycle repeated: BSOD after logo screen --> restart --> Startup Repair with no result --> shut down.
Things I have Tried .
Relevant System Info
Screenshots
BSOD
Startup Repair error
Please help me if you can, as my main desktop is down. Thanks a lot for your time. Please read on. Sorry for the lengthy post.
Problem Summary . The machine has only 1 OS: Windows 7 x64 Professional. If I try to boot normally past the Windows logo screen, I'll receive a BSOD and the system will restart.
Details . Last night I right clicked the Windows Explorer button on the Windows 7 taskbar and noticed the button was malfunctioning. I didn't see any pinned short cuts or recently visited folders while I normally had had 6-8 for each category. There were just the generic "Windows Explorer" and "Unpin this program from the taskbar." So I decided to restart the machine hoping the problem would magically vaporize.
The machine finished POST but right after the Windows 7 logo screen, I got a BSOD (screen below). Then it restarted and recommended me to use Startup Repair. I used Startup Repair but was told that Startup Repair couldn't automatically fix the errors (I allowed it to use System Restore). Then, Startup Repair shutted my computer down. When I turned on the power, the cycle repeated: BSOD after logo screen --> restart --> Startup Repair with no result --> shut down.
Things I have Tried .
- Booted with Safe Mode with Networking. I got into Windows and was able to transfer personal files to a backup. I haven't tried other Safe Mode options.
- Ran error checking for my OS drive (right click in safe mode-->properties-->tools-->check now). The check produced and fixed 3 errors. Then I left the computer because something came up. When I returned, I saw Startup Repair telling me it couldn't automatically fixed the errors and wanted to shut the computer down. It seemed disk checking finished, the system restarted but the problem persisted.
- While in Safe Mode with Networking, uninstalled Nvidia GTX 275 driver. Then I restarted but the problem was still there.
- Ran a memory test using a tool provided by Windows: spamming F8, I got to the boot menu, I chose Repair this Computer, then selected Memory test. The test returned no error.
- I tried System Restore using the another option during Repair this Computer (see above). The only point I could return to was before a AVG 9.0 update . Nonetheless, the restore didn't completely successfully . In fact, it returned an error about 10s after it started.
- The reason I uninstalled the Nvidia display driver was I had been getting screen artifacts for a few weeks. I don't overclock my cards and the artifacts appeared while gaming (playing L4D2 which used the non-demanding source engine) as well as normal desktop use. In the past, I had a few troubles updating the display driver. In particular, I noticed my FPS' went down after installing some 190+ driver (can't remember the exact number). I tried to roll back to 186 by uninstalling the 190+ driver and installing 186. But the 186 installer gave an error saying it couldn't detect my hardware. So I was forced to reinstall the 190+ driver. The installer for the 190+ driver returned no error.
- AVG 9.0 finished a full scan right before I started to note the aforementioned malfunctioning of the taskbar.
- I can run check disk again and report the result here, if necessary.
- Similarly, I can run system restore again and report the error message here, if needed.
- Finally, I can upload error log files if someone needs them and tells me how to get them and where to upload them.
Relevant System Info
- Hardware age: all purchased within less than a year
- Windows 7 x64 Professional installed on a SSD
- A pair of internal mechanical hard drives in RAID 1 along with some external USB hard drives
- CPU Core i7 920
- x58 3x SLI EVGA motherboard
- 2 GTX 275 in SLI
- 850W Corsair PSU (theoretically plenty of wattage to power my system)
- Creative Labs sound card
- 6GB triple channel 1600 DDR3 RAM running at 1066
- No overclocking
- Plenty of air cooling
Screenshots
BSOD
Startup Repair error