Windows 7 Windows Failed to Start

[Jawad H Sabra]

I have had problems booting up my Toshiba laptop. (Windows 7 Ultimate 32 Bit)
When i would start my computer,


Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Insert you Windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language settings, and then click "Next."
3. Click "Repair your computer."
If you do not have this disc, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.
File: \Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc000000e
Info: An error occured while attempting to read the boot configuration data.

I tried to solve the problem using repaire methods such as :

At the DOS prompt type the following three commands:
bootrec.exe /fixmbr
bootrec.exe /fixboot (may return an 'Eliment not found' message)
bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd

I also deleted the BCD parition or it's related to it which is 100Mb in size ,

but the problem still persists, how can i solve this issue please ?

i have a tried many solutions and none works till now

 

[Saltgrass]

If it would really have been a Hardware or software change, using the Last Known Good option would be a good thing to try.

If you deleted the System Partition, it may have been the only active partition on the system. If you are using diskpart from the command prompt, you might be able to make the Windows OS partition active and then run a Startup Repair.

But it sounds like something may have corrupted the hard drive. Possibly a virus, or a mechanical problem..just hard to say.

You might want to download and burn the Home bootable version of Partition Wizard so you could boot and check the drive to see if anything looks strange. You can also check for the active partitions with it.

 

[Pauli]

Was this a problem with a new computer, or a new installation, or was this something that popped up suddenly?

I would agree with Saltgrass, something may have corrupted your hard drive. Enters the question, do you have warranty? All components sometimes come with failure, meaning the hard drive could have been faulty from the start. Not hinting anything, but it's possible.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

If you have data on the computer that you need to save then you don't want to do a complete reinstall.
You can try a repair install but some of the things you already did may have made it worse.

You really shouldn't have deleted the boot partition.

If you have a Windows Disk that includes Service pack 1 you can just follow these steps....

Repair Install - Windows 7 Forums

If you don't have a disk that includes service pack 1 then you have to uninstall service pack 1 which may not be possible if you can't boot.

How to uninstall Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

If none of these are an option you can create a Ubuntu disk on another computer and boot your computer from it to backup the data you don't want to lose to another drive or disks.

Desktop | Ubuntu

Then you will have to do a complete reinstall of Windows 7 from your original DVD.
This will completely wipe your hard drive.

It really pays in the long run to back up your installation.
I use Acronis True Image but the native on built into Windows 7 will work and allow your to create a bookable Windows DVD for your computer.

Mike

 

[Jawad H Sabra]

Was this a problem with a new computer, or a new installation, or was this something that popped up suddenly?

I would agree with Saltgrass, something may have corrupted your hard drive. Enters the question, do you have warranty? All components sometimes come with failure, meaning the hard drive could have been faulty from the start. Not hinting anything, but it's possible.

Thanks everyone for the replies , Titanic answering your question this is the second copy of windows i install after the problem popped up i thought installing windows again would solve it but it didn't work,

Saltgrass to be honest yes i suspect it would be a hardware problem because it's very unlikely to have virus problem, plus yes i have used diskpart to delete the 100Mb partition and it needed a repair after that, i thought it solved the problem but still the problem came again the next day..but can't o use diskpart to check for the active partition? and can you elaborate more on how to check for a hardware problem with the HD is there a moethod i might not be aware of ?

 

[Jawad H Sabra]

Hi

If you have data on the computer that you need to save then you don't want to do a complete reinstall.
You can try a repair install but some of the things you already did may have made it worse.

You really shouldn't have deleted the boot partition.

If you have a Windows Disk that includes Service pack 1 you can just follow these steps....

Repair Install - Windows 7 Forums

If you don't have a disk that includes service pack 1 then you have to uninstall service pack 1 which may not be possible if you can't boot.

How to uninstall Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

If none of these are an option you can create a Ubuntu disk on another computer and boot your computer from it to backup the data you don't want to lose to another drive or disks.

Desktop | Ubuntu

Then you will have to do a complete reinstall of Windows 7 from your original DVD.
This will completely wipe your hard drive.

It really pays in the long run to back up your installation.
I use Acronis True Image but the native on built into Windows 7 will work and allow your to create a bookable Windows DVD for your computer.

Mike

Mike thanks for the informative post, first yes i do have the windows 7 ultimate DVD and i used to it to re-partition the HD and install a new copy, note : i have used delete option while installing windows does this mean it will automatically format ? im gonna try formatting as desperate try,Second , no i am not worried about data that i have to lose i have all of that on another partition i don't think i should mess with other storage partitions should i ? and finally, deleting the boot partition didn't seem to have nor positive neither negative effects on the computer ...

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Since you don't have to worry about losing any data, I'd just go ahead and do a full install of Windows on the partition that Windows is already on.

Yes it will format the partition when you do it.

If the hard drive is damaged in some way you should get some kind of error message during the install.
Make sure that you let Windows search for drivers and update during the installation.

Unless there is a physical problem you should be up and running in a half hour.

Look at these guides first....

Installing and reinstalling Windows 7

How To Clean Install Windows 7 (Part 1 of 3)

How To Reinstall Windows 7 Easily (Step-by-step guide)

Mike

 

[Saltgrass]

If you run diskpart, you can select the disk, then select the partition and use the detail partition command to check if it is active. This is assuming you do not have a UEFI install, which uses an EFI system partition. I will assume you have an understanding of Diskpart and its commands?

But if this is an MBR install, it needs an active partition and a Startup Repair has a very hard time doing that. Normally it will run for hours and not repair the situation.

Are you not able to acquire the Partition Wizard CD or maybe a GParted option to look at the drive?

 

[Saltgrass]

I have gone through replacing a System Reserved partition. This assumes a normal install and no other partition modifications have been made. It will not work on a UEFI install......If you choose not to replace the System Reserved partition, which is probably the best choice, you can make the OS partition active and do the Startup Repair, and it may take several times (2 or 3) to make it work correctly, and running Startup Repair 3 times will repair the Recovery F8 options capability.

But if you want to replace the System Reserved Partition, you can only have 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions and one Extended partition in Windows 7. So, if you already have those, you will not be able to add another. Any questions, ask before you start.

In Diskpart, you can use the first 3 letters instead of typing out the entire word. For instance, par can be used instead of partition.

A command window can be opened from the Select Language page of the Install/Repair. Hit Shift+F10 to open the window and type Diskpart.

With Diskpart open type the following:

list disk

select disk 0 < this will depend on which disk is your boot disk from above.

lis par

Sel par 1 < this will probably be your OS partition if you deleted the System Reserved partition, but make sure.

detail par

Now look at the results. If the partition is active, it will indicate it as such here. (Active: Yes)

If you do not want to recreate the System reserved partition, you can make the partition active by:

active <** See Info below

Then check it again to make sure.

exit
exit

to close the Command window and continue with the repair.

**If you want to replace the System Reserved partition, then do not set the other partition as active. Instead follow these instructions to replace the partition and set it to active, then continue with the repair, and it will take 2 or 3 repair attempts with reboots between.

Note: this procedure worked fine on my system, but replacing a partition might lead to the loss of the OS partition if it was mistakenly overwritten, this is why I do not give the new partition a size.

With Diskpart already open, and using the results from the partition listing above (number and type), enter the following.

create par primary offset=1024

If your drive had no space unallocated, except for the deleted System Reserved Partition, you would not need the Offset. But without the offset, the partition will be put in unallocated space behind the other partitions.

format fs=ntfs label="System Reserved" quick

Active

You can now check the partitions again if you like, but note the partition for the Reserved partition may not show as Partition 1, so don't worry.

When you are ready, type exit twice to leave the command prompt and continue with the repair.