Windows 7 Windows unable to start after computer being shut off overnight

[Spurratica]

Hi all,

I believe this may be a hardware issue and not a software issue so im posting it here. I could be wrong though. I recently built a new computer and had loaded on Windows 7. Everything appeared to work fine until i had turned my system off for the night. Upon turning my system on the next morning it boot up to the point of the login screen (But did not actually make it to the login, just a black screen with the loading ring) and then automatically restarted. On restart it tells me windows could not load correctly and then goes into the repair console. I attempted the repair, it asks if it can do a system restore, i agreed and a few moments later i get an error:

"startrep.exe - Application error - The instruction at 0xFa5265C9 referenced memory at 0x00000058. The memory could not be read."

After that it exits what it is doing. I shut down the system, restart it , and i seem to be able to login fine.

I had formated my system and reinstalled windows after it happened the first time. After reinstalling it, it seems to have happened again which is leading me to think its hardware. Possibly the RAM, not sure, maybe some smarter folk then myself can offer advice here?

Whats most confusing is that this error only occurs after being shut off over night. I have had my system off for over 2 hours and didnt recieve this error. Very Odd. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[iskilopedope]

Gt 240 is what I have.

 

[Shrimpanzee]

Well we might have just found the culprit!

I have another graphics card laying around... an 8600GT I believe. I'll throw that in here and see if it solves the problem.

Probably sometime later today.

 

[Shrimpanzee]

Sure enough, switching out the graphics card seems to have solved the issue.

My card is an EVGA Geforce GT 240 512MB, hopefully yours is the same?

I should have done some more research... people seem to be having all sorts of problems with this EVGA card: Customer Reviews Of EVGA 512-P3-1240-LR GeForce GT 240 512MB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

 

[Jos]

Hi Guys,

I have exactly the same problems. this is my computer. mobo ASUS M4A79XTD EVO, AMD AM3 Phenom II X4 945, and GF GT220 1024 MB ASUS HDMI DVI. What should i do? This thing is driving me crazy.
Thks in advance,
Jos.

 

[Jos]

Well we might have just found the culprit!

I have another graphics card laying around... an 8600GT I believe. I'll throw that in here and see if it solves the problem.

Probably sometime later today.

Hi Guys, I''m new in this discussion. If any of you is still in this thread, i can do with some help. should i get another videocard, and if so which one? thks,
Jos

 

[Spurratica]

Nice to hear some people are getting this problem solved. I have an ATI Radeon 4800 series video card. i have swapped it out with an older card and the same problem still persists unfortunately. Still trying to figure out what the problem is. If anyone has some more ideas please throw them my way.

 

[Jos]

Nice to hear some people are getting this problem solved. I have an ATI Radeon 4800 series video card. i have swapped it out with an older card and the same problem still persists unfortunately. Still trying to figure out what the problem is. If anyone has some more ideas please throw them my way.

Actually, it is not so nice is it? Anyway, i will keep on trying to solve this issue as well. If and when i find a solution i will share it with you guys. So far, i am clueless, but i keep exploring. Let's keep sharing our efforts, one day we'll know what the cause was. thks

 

[Jos]

Hi there,

Just wondering, are you still ok after replacing the videocard, and if so, which videocard do you use now?
thks n rgds,
jos

 

[TheMightyEthan]

Hello everyone. I'm having the same problem you guys are describing. I also have an NVidia card, but it's an 8800GTX.

I'm so glad I found this thread. I've been scouring the internet for days looking for a solution. I've reinstalled Windows twice and run memtests overnight with no success. I'm going to try the power switch thing when I turn my computer off tonight, and I'll be happy enough if that works (I can live with a workaround), but I was wondering if anyone had yet solved the problem for real.

My hardware:

ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz Socket AM3
2 x A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
BFG Tech BFGR88768GTXOCE GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[TheMightyEthan]

Well I tried the power switch solution last night, and even with the power switching being turned off all night I still got the BSOD in the morning. However, I did notice this morning that Cool' n' Quiet was turned on in my bios, and that it can cause instability with some memory chips. Since most of the BSODs I'm getting are memory related, I disabled it, hoping that was the issue. I guess I'll find out tomorrow morning.

If that doesn't work I'll go for plan Z: just not turn my computer off for extended periods of time.

 

[TorrentG]

When pcs have cold boot problems but are fine otherwise, that means that the memory is not being supplied enough voltage for its requirements. When the memory heats up, the issue becomes masked well enough so that they run without issue.

Use CPU-Z to find out your exact RAM modules in use. Then visit the manufacturer's site for proper voltage (VDIMM), timings and frequency. Set the motherboard bios manually with these values. Save.

----------

I can analyze your crash dumps if you want. They're in C:\Windows\Minidump

Copy the files in there to any other folder. Then zip them and attach the zip to a post.

-----------

I looked up your modules. Set the VDIMM in the bios to 1.7v.

 

[TheMightyEthan]

Thank you for responding.

I read elsewhere that the errors I'm getting could be due to low RAM voltage, so I set the DRAM Voltage to 1.71, but that did not fix the problem. Is VDIMM different from the DRAM voltage?

Also, I only have the crashdump from yesterday, because I reinstalled Windows the day before in a vain attempt to fix the problem, and I had to run a system restore this morning to fix an unrelated problem. I've attached that one though.

*Edit* - Oh my god, if this works you're my hero. I had been unable to find a program that would tell me what voltage was actually being applied to the RAM, even though I used programs that were supposed to tell you that. CPU-Z tells me, however, that the voltage being applied is 1.50, which is definitely below the 1.55-1.75 range specified by A-Data.

Off to the bios!

*Edit 2* - Okay, I was too hasty. I went to the bios and couldn't find a VDIMM option, so I changed the DRAM voltage back to 1.71V (1.7 isn't an option), and CPU-Z still says 1.5, so I'm thinking that CPU-Z wasn't reading what I thought it was reading.

 

[TheMightyEthan]

Okay, so yesterday when I was in the bios looking for the VDIMM setting, I noticed that a setting called Cool' n' Quiet was enabled, and that its description said it could cause instability with some memory chips. Since I was experiencing BSODs related to memory, I thought it was worth a try to turn it off.

Last night I shut my computer off as normal, and this morning when I turned it on I did not get a BSOD. However, Windows still failed to boot, it simply sat at the "Starting Windows" screen forever (I let it sit fore about 10 minutes before a hard reset). I know that it wasn't entirely frozen because the Windows logo was still pulsating and changing shape like it normally does when booting. After the hard reset Windows booted fine with no issues.

Perhaps that was an unrelated, one-time boot failure? Guess I'll find out tomorrow morning.

 

[TorrentG]

Try removing Avast in safe mode:

AV Uninstallers - Windows 7 Forums

 

[TheMightyEthan]

Okay, I will.

How did you know I had Avast? And what should I use instead?

 

[TorrentG]

It's sort of like the Matrix only this time, we don't have Neo.

MSE is the recommendation.

 

[TheMightyEthan]

Do I have to remove it in safe mode? Removing it in Windows normally won't work?

 

[TorrentG]

Now, now. The Matrix doesn't work well for those in opposition. You'll have to go into safe mode to get the job done well. Then notify headquarters while booting to normal mode. Once you arrive there, tell Trinity and then install MSE.

 

[TheMightyEthan]

Okay, I'll let you know in the morning if this works or the problem persists.

 

[TheMightyEthan]

Well this morning it behaved just like yesterday, it just sat at the boot screen forever. I watched and the activity light quit after approximately a normal boot time, but it never left the boot screen. Just like yesterday though, it was still running because the Windows logo was still animated. After a hard reset it booted just fine.

I uninstalled Avast from within Safe Mode yesterday, using that tool you linked. Is it possible that Avast is not the problem, or is it more likely that Avast just wasn't completely removed?

Thanks again for all your help.