Windows 7 Windows 7 is not loading normally or even predictably...

[BaronVnRoterdam]

Hello Everyone,

First of all I apologize my first post isn't an introduction or something useful but I really need help bad.

Here is all (hopefully) relevant info that may help you guys:

Mobo: Asus P6T

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 (stock)

Ram: 6GB DDR3 1333mhz (xmp profile #2)

GPU: Nvidia GTX 260

Internet: Linksys WUSB600N -latest driver-

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate RC Build 7100 (64-bit)

Antivirus: Zonealarm Extreme Security beta 9

System condition: Windows update on and newly updated, antivirus updated and scans run regularly. System was finished in June and there is no dust in my computer. My CPU idles @ 35C and my video card idles @ 42C @ 40% fan speed.

*While in safe mode one of those times I manged to get into it fine I ran my anti virus / anti spyware and malwarebytes anti malware and both found 1 infection. Zone Alarm found a high rated trojan and quarantined it and malbyte found 1 thing and deleted it.

*My friend who is using Windows Vista is having this same problem all the sudden too. He can't get passed the welcome screen normally or even in safe mode.

*I have ran CHKDSK and "Error Checking".

*The Hard drive is not failing as I used western digital's data lifeguard diagnostic and it said the HD was fine.

*I ran CCleaner to fix the registry.

*I have the latest chipset drivers from intel for my motherboard dl'd from asus's website for my OS.

*I have the latest Nvidia drivers from Nvidia's website and even uninstalled and reinstalled.

-----And my story begins------Coffee Alert------

I have been using windows 7 rc 7100 since June with 0 problems. No blue screens, nothing. Until...(dun dun dunnnn...) 2 days ago. I was using my computer like normal, I was on ebay and playing gta 4 and browsing forums (not all at once!) and all the sudden windows notifys me it needs to install 2 updates (1 patch to the actual release candidate(kb972407) and new network adapter drivers provided by Ralink). As I restart I go to restart I get a blue screen and all I could read before the thing dissapeared really quick was "BCC CODE 135".

So I restarted and when I typed in my password my computer hangs at the "Welcome" screen. The blue circle thing spins but nothing happens.

I restart again, this time I boot up safe mode. I type in my password , same thing hangs at welcome screen.

So then I restart once more and this time I try booting up normally. It works! So I use my computer for a little bit.

I restart again, try to login normally again and this time it goes passed welcome and I get the "BLACK SCREEN OF DEATH"!. Which basically was my desktop all black with my cursor being able to move but no reaction from my keyboard (not even sticky keys worked).

So I restart once more and go into safe mode this time it actually loads! So I perform a system restore to the 24th.

I restart my computer and login normally and it works, then windows decides to re-install those 2 windows updates that caused me those problems in the first place and I am back to square one.

So I restart again and boot into safe mode I disable all things from starting up (using msconfig) with windows and in the services section disable "Windows Event Log" and restart.

So I login and get to my desktop woo hoo!! I think all is well and upon logging in windows tells me it has another updated for me to install (I am dreading this as the last 2 got me stuck here) but I feel adventurous and install it then I do another restart and I login sucessfully!(making this the2nd time in a row since problems started).

I think I finally got it and to make sure I restart.

So I login normally and it hangs at the welcome screen and I dont even get the black screen of death.

I restart once more and try safemode and it does the same thing.

Feeling overwhelmed I think maybe it is a video card driver possibly (I say this because before I disabled event log I had an error for my nvidia drivers like stop @ 32 or something like that) and I load windows into "Low Resolution Video" mode and here I am talking to you guys. Before posting I tried uninstalling my video card drivers and reinstalling the most updated one from Nvidia's site for windows 7 64-bit and that didn't help.

So I have come to the conclusion that I need help from anyone at this point LOL. Everytime windows decides to boot up fine I can't ever seem to re-create it. It's like its a hit or miss thing.

Any help what so ever will be greatly appreciated because I am stuck. I can always re-install my OS but I feel like its fine because it lets me boot to windows sometimes and EVERYTHING works. I get no errors or blue screens it just doesn't stay working for long.

 

[BaronVnRoterdam]

Update:

After posting my message earlier I decided to go into windows update and delete KB972407. After that I restarted and it went straight to desktop. I then restarted 4 more times and all were successful.

I thought I had finally won so I decided to do a shutdown this time and once the pc was shutdown I unplugged all power cables and then hit the power button to make sure all electricity was out of the system.

I came back 5 minutes later plugged back in the power cable and then loaded up windows and typed in my password. After I did that it got stuck at the welcome screen, no black screen.

So I went to safe mode and logged into that fine then clicked on "Windows Update" from the "All Programs" menu (because windows update isn't featured in control panel in safe mode like it is in normal mode) and it didn't respond and after a few seconds I got a blue screen of death with error code 0x00000135.

The computer restarted and then after loading BIOS it said that it couldn't find my hard drive.

I then hit the reset button on my computer and rebooted and then logged into windows and here I am again.

Could that blue screen followed by not finding my hard drive indicate hard drive failure? Like I said in my above message I used Western Digitals data lifeguard diagnostic utility and it didn't find any problems. It even says S.M.A.R.T. passed.

If this is imminent hard drive failure please help me find out asap so I have time to backup my data and buy a new HD.

 

[BaronVnRoterdam]

update 2

2shutdowns1stfromreinstallingproblemwindowsupdate1restart

So after getting to my desktop once again I noticed that windows wanted to re-install that update that I had earlier uninstalled so I let it and shut down my pc.

I restarted and windows loaded fine. I even played some Unreal Tournament 2004 for 15 minutes to make sure my system was stable and that went fine.

Next I then restarted my computer and it loaded into windows fine and then I did another restart and then it hanged on the welcome screen.

So I restarted again and it still hanged on the welcome screen.

Then I powered off my computer completely and then logged back in and then it went straight to desktop.

Whats going on LOL? Is windows just tired of all these power on / off cycles? Should I just ignore the not loading problems and just shut down / restart as needed to login to my pc? Also does that BSOD followed by the hard drive not recognized present any problems even though S.M.A.R.T. tests passed?

 

[textureDnB]

can you run some more AV scans?
This doesn't seem malware like but, if you had those few detections it could be the problem.
HDD failure is ALWAYS a possibility regardless of SMART or CHKDSK results especially with a new drive (most drive failures occur within a finite number of hours after first put in service).
The erratic nature of this problem points in alot of directions at once, if I was in your situation I would be trying to decide how big a job a nuke and reinstall would entail. That would at least rule out 99.9% of malware.
Could also have to do with a graphics driver but considering that safe mode is as erratic as normal startup it's less likely.
Finally I've seen a failing PSU cause all sorts of erratic behavior if your familiar with PSU testing you could give that a look but if your not comfortable don't try because you can do some serious damage to both yourself and your machinje.

 

[BaronVnRoterdam]

I can try a fresh reinstall but I will need to get a hold of my friends 1tb external to backup my 1tb hd.

 

[BaronVnRoterdam]

Okay well I am getting my friends external tomorrow at noon but in the mean time is there anything anyone else recommends I should do like windows side? If I can avoid a reinstall of my hard drive that would be awesome.

 

[BaronVnRoterdam]

Well before uninstalling my OS for kicks I decided to uninstall the beta of zone alarm extreme (considering that if I was going to uninstall my OS it was going to be deleted anyway) and as soon as I did that all problems went away. I am back to Avast until ZA comes out with the final product. Thank you texture for being the ONLY guy who was willing to help me.

 

[textureDnB]

Glad you figured it out bro! Thats good info for future reference too thanks for posting back!

 

[Tepid]

Well I did not read everything here so excuse me if I hit something already stated....

"Antivirus: Zonealarm Extreme Security beta 9 " - Personally I have seen numerous different problems over the years with all flavors of ZA and do not recommend it at all.

I do recommend MS Security Essentials. Avast is ok, and far more advisable than ZA or even AVG (which is also crap).

"*I ran CCleaner to fix the registry." - Registry repairs often do more damage than good or nothing at all as to fixing anything, even CCleaner (which I like the software).

Windows Updates - I do not recommend ever installing drivers from WU. I have more times than not seen them cause problems. If you do see an update for a driver, Right Click the update and hide it, then go to manufacturers site and get the updated driver from there.

Don't ask me why this makes a difference, they are supposed to be exactly the same in every way. But it just does.
WU driver updates, do cause problems.

Glad you fixed the issues though.

 

[adduncan]

Sounds the same as the problem I am having

After installing the above mention update my PC decided to hang at the Loading Windows screen. But I can't get into Safe Mode to remove the update, and so end up reinstalling Windows and ignoring that update.

All working fine without it

The PC mentioned here is also running Win7 RC Build 7100, and fortunately is not my every day PC