Windows 7 won't restart (startup repair and retore don't work)

I had an MBR infection on my sony vaio laptop (OS=Windows 7 Professional), so followed the below instructions provided in the malware removal section:
- created a windows 7 Recovery Environment disc
- booted into bios to boot from the cd
- in the RE, typed Bootrec.exe /fixmbr
- tried to boot back into normal mode

Now the computer won't start. When I tried to restart it, first the vaio logo comes up then the windows logo screen then there's a quick flash of a blue screen (can't read what it says) then it goes back through those screens.

I can still boot from cd to the system recovery options. Ran startup repair -- says startup repair cannot repair this computer automatically:

Startup Repair -- Problem Signature
Problem Event Name: StartupRepairOffline
Problem Signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 02: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 03 unknown
Problem Signature 04: 21200358
Problem Signature 05: AutoFailover
Problem Signature 06: 8
Problem Signature 07: BadPatch
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Tried to restore from several different restore points and get the following message:
System Restore did not complete successfully. Your computer's system files and settings were not changed.
Details:
An unspecified error occurred during System Restore. (0x8000ffff)

Tried to re-image and it says Windows cannot find a system image on this computer (I don't have one saved elsewhere either).

Not sure what to do to get the computer started.

 

Try F8 at startup during the Vaio screen to get to Safe Mode options and choose Disable restart on Error. See if it lets you read the blue screen.

 

Here's what the blue screen says:

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check for viruses on your computer. Remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.

Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0xFFFFF880009A9928, 0xFFFFFFFFC000000D,
0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000)

 

I would run the chkdsk from the Win7 RE and see if that helps.
Start from the CD when it searches and finds your Win7 installation take note of the drive letter it uses (usually C: but it can be different). Hit the next button to get to the list of advanced options and select command prompt.
Type chkdsk C: /r (use the correct letter you noted in place of C if different)

Then try to boot without the CD.

Edit: You can just use the /f switch for chkdsk as it will be faster and you don't really need to search for bad sectors. So the command would be chkdsk C: /f where C is the letter you noted.

 

no luck...at the end of chkdsk it said Windows has checked the file system and found no problems...Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50.

anything else I can try before calling Sony?

 

I'm not sure what to suggest. This problem occurred after writing an mbr to your PC. You could write a generic mbr to see if it works but if your computer has recovery options that are accessed by using certain keys upon startup those keys may not work with a generic mbr.

You mentioned in your other post that you had just done a clean install of Windows--how did you do the install? Did you use recovery discs or did you use the recovery partition or retail discs?

 

the 1st clean install I did was from the recovery partition (the comupter was still booting up and working at the time, thought it would get rid of the MBR infection, which it didn't...can't remember how I go to it).

I just found a button on my laptop (assist) that takes me right in to clean install and I'm back up (and still infected it seems, so will go back to that thread).

Thanks for all of your help!

 

Great!

You might want to take a look at your Sony software to see if it gives you the option to write recovery DVDs. I believe all PC manufacturers have to allow you one set of discs besides the recovery partition. They would be handy to have available should your problems persist.