Windows 7 won't boot or repair or go into safe mode

[msidea]

I'm working on a friend's computer trying to do her a favor. The computer won't boot. The message I get is:

Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically.

Problem Event Name: StartupRepairOffline
Problem signature 05 AutoFailover
Problem signature 07 Corruptfile

There are also problem signatures 1-4, and 6. I can provide those, but they are a series of numbers.

I did bootrec fixmbr and bootrec fixboot as I saw recommended on a web site, but I'm having no success.

Help is greatly appreciated.

[DELL_deepa]

Sorry for the post

[DELL_deepa]

Hi,

My name is Deepa and I work for the Social Media and Community Team at Dell. Please try to run the hardware diagnostics. Please try to unplug all the USB devices from your system and then try to turn on your system. You can try one more step to boot your system and go into BIOS SET UP and check if the hard drive is getting detected or not.

In order to help you better please reply with the model number.

Please ignore the above reply which was by mistake.

Thanks and Regards
Dell_Deepa_R
Dell Social Media Responder

[msidea]

Thanks Deepa, for trying to help!

I can't get into Windows so I can't access the Start menu. Is there a different way to get to hardware diagnostics?

The computer is a Dell Inspiron N7010. It's a little over a year old.

Thanks again!

[pwillener]

You don't start Windows to run the startup diagnostics.

Press F12 just when you see the Dell logo, then run the Dell diagnostics.

Another option is to hold the Ctrl key down when you power on the machine; this will start the built-in self-test.

[msidea]

Thank you for the information! I'm not familiar with Windows 7 at all so was unaware of the F12 function, only with F8.

I ran the hardware diagnostics, and all tests were passed. I'm running the Memory ones just for good measure.

I'm guessing that my only choice at this point is a complete reinstall which would wipe all the information on the hard drive. So I'm wondering: I have a CD of Windows XP. If I install that in addition to Windows 7, would I be able to access all the information on the hard drive? I would think so, but I'm not a techie. Or is my best bet to have the information extracted by placing the drive in another computer?

I'd appreciate any advice.

[msidea]

PS Since I'm in that menu, I have continued to run diagnostics of anything that seemed relevant. The last one was Symptom Diagnostics where I chose the "Cannot boot the OS" option. No errors were found there either.

[sach2]

Hi,

Since the error is corrupt file get back to that screen where it tells you it can't fix the error and gives you the option to view problem details. Then you should have some option to use Advanced Tools or if you just have two buttons "Drivers" and "Next" hit the next button. You should get a screen with 5 options, Choose Command Prompt. Run the two following commands to try to repair the corruption. Then restart and see if you get the same error.

chkdsk c: /r
chkdsk d: /r