Laptop won't start Safe nor Normal...

I'm trying to solve a problem on my daughter's Windows 7 64-bit laptop - it reaches the Windows logo but won't start in Normal or Safe Mode - it just hangs just after the "pretty" Windows logo and never reaches the desktop. I've tried using the Startup Repair Tool, and going back to a restore point without success.

I've attached the FRST.txt log file, but I didn't spot any obvious nasties that I can see - any advice on what approach to try next would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Many thanks, chaslang, for taking time to look at this - much appreciated.

As for why I was guessing (hoping?) it was malware, that's because I'm running out of options to explain the bizarre behaviour - I've had PCs for years, but I've never had one that would not start in Safe Mode eventually. If it's not malware, then at least that narrows the likely culprit to Windows itself - not ideal, but a step forward.

I've run FRST with the "fixlist" and I have attached the log. I've switched off and restarted the laptop several times since and not been able to get Windows to start - one of these off-on attempts even asked me to chose an operating system (it only has one) ... the laptop is currently sitting at the pretty 4-colour logo claiming to be starting Windows - it's been that way for 20+ minutes so I'll be reaching for the power off button shortly.

Thanks again for you time and smarts.

 

The more I look around, the more I think this is a pure Windows problem... have found plenty of other people who have had issues, nearly all of which have ended up needing a re-install (sigh).

Thanks again for your quick assistance.

 

Much appreciated - the restore points just seem to freeze, so I'm heading down the "recover what data I can and attempt a repair install".

Thanks again for the expert advice and eliminating one possible cause of the grief.

 

Just closing off this thread in case the info helps anyone else..

I was eventually able to get a command prompt via the Startup Repair and ran a full "chkdsk /r /f" which took hours but claimed to fix a bad sector in "authui.dll" - next I ran "sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\windows" which also chugged a while and said it had done some fixes (log not available, sorry). I then used xcopy to backup the c:\users directory to an external drive (more hours), and finally I rebooted the laptop - and Windows did start... so all good for now at least.