Windows 7 Won't boot; Windows 7, 3 times in a month!

[greiner3]

I've got a fair amount of computer savvy. But when I migrated to 7 last month I guess all that was useless. Anyway, I'm running a newer HP with enough power to handle anything, so far. I installed 7 and then put my apps on and about a week later upon rebooting I get the message that I can't access the OS. A tired couple of hours later convinced me that it was a corrupted boot. I reinstalled everything. Same thing happened 2 weeks later. I did install 7 on top of the existing OS and all the data on D: was fine. About half of the installed apps even worked. I put those back and deleted Windows.old and all was good. This morning it happened again. I come to the OS load and a MS screen comes on saying, "Applying update operation 2 of 232." I can't find any info on this but I had left my machine on over night and you know who might have sent me automatic updates which my machine took as a necessary reboot. I did wake to the old Blue Screen. I want to see if I can delete these updates from within the Command Prompt. This leads me to part two.

I've read up a lot on repairing, redoing and starting over again with a new boot file. I've looked at MS's site and tried their BCD system. I've checked Dan Stolts' blog but he assumes quite a bit of user's knowledge. There is a public BCD program but it's for dual booting and has no parameters, that I can find, for fixing my computer. I was able to get into the system through the 7's install disk. By way of a walk through I got to a command prompt. This was after the system checked for the x amount of times if it was able to auto repair. It was not able to. Using online help and tutors I found my way to the program called Bootrec.exe. I tried, on at a time, all the switches to try to repair the boot record. None of them worked. I was able to get the message that while the boot record was there, it's checksum was different from what it was supposed to be. I then tried MS's BCD program. I tried all of theirs, at least the ones that were appropriate for my situation. None if these helped either. Then I read that the boot record on the install disk could be copied to my C: drive and the bootmgr would see this as the new boot record. I guess it works in theory but not in my machine. I think there were other methods I tried but I can't think of them right now. Oh, I spent a good hour relearning all my old DOS commands so I could move within the, non-existent, right?, DOS shell.

I guess that's all for now. I'm posting this because I'm tired and I really don't relish building up my hard drive for the 4th time in as many weeks. For what it's worth, I've also been hit twice within this time frame by having my login passwords change on me. Google can be a good thing and it sure was in trying to get into my machine, at least the first time it happened. You might say that I've got malware on my machine. I ran several scans in the last few days and while I was researching this today I ran Malewarebyte's pro and the machine is clean.

I can play on this old machine but I really need my good system. I'll get tired of this 5 year old thing soon and jump into re-everything on the good system, soon. I am asking for help because right now I do not want to do that. It's a chore plus I hate being bested by some software glitch. Don't you?

 

[ChatGPT]

It sounds like you've been through a frustrating experience with your Windows 7 system, encountering issues with booting, updates, and potential malware. I'll try to address your concerns and provide some guidance on how you can potentially resolve these issues:

1. Dealing with Windows Update Issues:​

• The message "Applying update operation 2 of 232" indicates that Windows is applying updates during startup. It's possible that this lengthy update process might be causing issues.
• You can try to interrupt the update process by forcefully shutting down your computer and then booting into Safe Mode. This can sometimes help in bypassing problematic updates.
• From Safe Mode, you can then uninstall recent updates that might have caused the issue, either through Control Panel or using the DISM tool in Command Prompt.

2. Repairing the Boot Record:​

• Since you're having trouble with the boot record, you can try a few more steps to repair it:
  • Boot from your Windows 7 installation disc and access the Command Prompt.
  • Use the bootrec command with specific switches like /fixmbr, /fixboot, and /rebuildbcd to attempt repairing the boot record.
  • If the automatic repair doesn't work, you might need to manually rebuild the BCD store.

    3. Addressing Malware Concerns:​

    • While you've run multiple scans and found no malware with Malwarebytes, it's always good to be cautious. Consider running a full system scan with other reputable antivirus programs to ensure your system is clean.
    • Additionally, you can use tools like Windows Defender Offline to perform an offline scan for more thorough malware detection.

    4. Preventing Password Changes:​

• If you suspect unauthorized access leading to password changes, it's crucial to secure your accounts. Enable two-factor authentication for added security and regularly update your passwords to prevent unauthorized access.

  5. Backup and Recovery:​

  • It's important to back up your important data regularly to prevent data loss in case of recurring issues. Consider creating a system image or backing up essential files to an external drive.
  • If all else fails, you might need to consider a fresh installation of Windows 7 or upgrading to a more recent and supported version of Windows for better stability and security.
  By following these steps, you might be able to address the recurring boot issues and ensure the stability of your system. If you encounter any specific errors or need further assistance with any of the steps, feel free to provide more details for additional support.