Startup Repair Loop on boot + Can't install Windows

Okay so I'm trying to fix my friend's laptop and I'm having a difficult time figuring it out. Apparently he was using it like normal and out of nowhere it froze up and upon booting it back up it goes straight to "Startup Repair" and basically none of the options do anything. Another friend of mine had this exact problem but a System Restore sorted it out. This time that isn't working. It says some file from the Restore point couldn't be expanded. I've tried chkdsk /r, sfc /scannow, among many other things. None of it actually finishes. I also cannot boot into safe mode. Just nothing seems to work. So, I said it looks like I will not be able to fix this and he said to just go ahead with a reformat and reinstallation of Windows 7.

Tried formatting the disk and it gave me an error. Deleted the partition and remade it and that seemed to work. The installation started up, the files all copied but it got to 96% and gave me this error: "Windows cannot access the installation sources."

If I had to take a guess, this actually seems to be more of a hardware issue. Possibly a corrupt hard drive, but I really don't know. I've tried researching this and I just end up with nothing useful every time. Does anyone have any ideas as to what the problem could be?

 

It sounds like a corrupt HD to me. What was the error during trying to format?

 

"Windows cannot access the installation sources." suggests there's a problem with the DVD disc or drive.

 

Well that's what I was already thinking, but this occurs during step 2 after the files have already been copied to the hard drive.

I'm not sure, I didn't write it down. Probably should have. I tried it again and didn't get that particular error but still got the other one during installation. I'm going to try another disc and see if I get errors still. If so, it's clearly the hard drive, right?

 

I had searched around and most people with that error fixed the problem by doing a full format on the partition. It is unclear if the Win7 CD/DVD does a full format when preparing the partition. (In your case you deleted the partition and let Windows create one from unallocated space and format it automatically--I'm not sure if it does a full format or a quick format)

Because you are using a laptop you don't want to format the entire HD since there may be a hidden partition with recovery data. You only want to format the partition that Windows will be installed on.

If it were me, I would try a HD manufacturer's diagnostic on the HD particularly the LONG/Extended test to see if it can find bad sectors and fix them or mark them bad. You would need the bootable CD version and write it to a blank CD as an image file using imgburn or similar burning software.

Seagate's tool says it works on any brand but getting the tool that is put out for your actual brand HD would be best.

 

Well the hard drive is made by Samsung, but the Samsung diagnostic tools wouldn't boot up correctly. The SeaGate SeaTools works fine and the long test detected errors, but I don't see how to fix them. It just says the test failed and shows me the log, I don't see an option anywhere to fix it.

 

I haven't run the Seagate diagnostic on a different brand so it may not offer to repair errors on a Samsung drive. [I usually buy WD drives and their diagnostic only works on WD drives but upon finding errors it offers to fix them. Surprisingly, it has resurrected very troubled drives for a few years of trouble free use. I don't trust them for OS but for data they are fine.]

I just downloaded ESTool 3.0 and it booted fine for me. http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/utilities/ES_Tool.html Maybe try that version. [It looks like you run the drive diagnostic and if it finds errors it runs the surface scan. I'm not sure if it then offers to fix errors or not http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/downloads/support_in_es.html]

If you have another CD lying around or a CDRW I'd give the Samsung utility 3.0 a shot it may be able to do more to correct errors than just a format.

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I believe any full format of a partition reads and marks bad sectors. Unfortunately, I can't think of a bootable partition program that I know for sure does a full format to NTFS.

 

That one doesn't work either.

It gives me this error:

Cannot open CD driver MYDVD. SHCDX33E cannot load!
Disk C has label TURBODSK
your ram drive is loaded at C:
File not found. - 'L:\*.*'
Out of memory error.
Bad command or filename - "run.bat".

 

I think it may be a problem with the laptop having a SATA CDROM. This should work http://www.mediafire.com/file/i8b11i3537u5gxa/estool.iso. Boot from it and type run or type estool and hit <enter>. It is just the ESTOOL.exe on a bootable freedos disk.

 

Well, that boots up and shows me the disclaimer, and when I hit 'Y' to proceed, it flashes this:

[Auto Detection]
Detect v:8086 d:3b29 Controller...

>> Now Detecting...


And then reboots.

 

Hmm, this isn't working very well.

I don't want to waste any more CDs on that Samsung Tool. I'll look around for a partitioning disc that might be able to mark bad sectors so they aren't used. Partition Wizard has a free bootable disc but I'm not sure how it formats. I believe any partitioning program that fully formats when it partitions marks bad sectors as bad so they are not used by the OS. So I hope that using a third party to create the partition and format it might work where the Win7 Cd doesn't.

 

Honestly, I think this hard drive is just done working. The laptop is only a few months old so that's a little strange, but I'm pretty sure the manufacturer can replace it. Also I have an old laptop that has a working hard drive in it already, so I can swap that out for now. I tried going through Windows setup again and now it won't even detect the drive at all, so that seems like a pretty clear indicator that something is really wrong.

 

I didn't realize it was that new. I would let the manufacturer deal with it.

I looked at Gparted but it just does a very quick format. TestDisk can't format. Since the Samsung utility would need a workaround like putting it on USB that may be more trouble than you want to deal with considering the drive no longer contains any personal data and is definitely showing a number of bad sectors.

I think your friend would be wise to let the manufacturer sort it out. Even if we were able to get an install the question remains why the HD seems to have such persistent or accumulating errors.

Have him/her call tech support and if they think it is just the HD they may send one out rather than requiring the whole laptop be returned for service.