windows 7 won't boot

My laptop was running okay (attached to an LCD projector) and to my knowledge, it was shut down properly by the person who used it before it was returned to me. When I tried using it when I got home, I got the "window error recovery" message.

It would try to fix it but I would only get as far as the blue screen with flowers of windows 7. usually, this would be where the log-in options would appear, as well as the lenovo veriface sign in option. Neither appears, although the cursor arrow is there and i can move it around.

I've tried doing both the repair and the start normally options from the windows error recovery screen but i keep ending up with the windows 7 blue screen with flowers.

Incidentally, someone plugged a USB on the PC. I use windows defender and it's generally updated regularly.

Will appreciate any help.

 

Are you able to boot into Safe Mode?

Starting your computer in Safe mode

 

Nope. Safe mode won't work either.

Thanks for replying

 

You might be able to fix this with a System Restore performed outside of Windows. Many laptops have the Recovery Environment installed to the hard disk so let's hope yours has.

Power on and immediately start tapping the F8 key quickly till the "Advanced Boot Choices" menu appears. Using the arrow keys on your keyboard, highlight "Repair your Computer" then hit the Enter key to confirm your selection. Follow the on-screen prompts to the "System Recovery Options" menu. Choose "System Restore" and choose an available restore point that pre-dates the problem, but don't go back any further than you need to.

Good luck!

 

You have a problem similar to this person in this thread

Basically, you may end up having to replace the following files:

winlogon.exe
userinit.exe
explorer.exe
lsass.exe
csrss.exe

with fresh clean copies from a clean machine or from your windows 7 disc.

Further instructions on how to obtain these files are in that thread as well

 

thanks earthling and thisisu. will try all the options indicated and everything will hopefully be okay.

incidentally, i didn't create a recovery disk, nor do i have the windows 7 installer. i'm not sure if it came with the box but the box (and everything else that may have been inside aside from the laptop) are no longer at home.

 

What error do you see when attempting to enter Safe Mode?

 

i had someone check out my laptop and i was told that i would need to replace the hard drive since it's unsalvageable already.

thanks for all the help. i'm upset that all my files are now gone. i backed it up, but it was all the way back in march so i'm not sure how much i can recover.

my biggest problem now is that i don't have a windows 7 installer disk (not sure if the laptop came with it or just the serial numbers) so when they replace the hard drive, i'm not sure how i'll be able to install windows 7 without having to buy a new one. any suggestions?

 

Contact Lenovo and explain your situation, they should supply you with a DVD for a relatively low charge of around $10-30 US.

 

Keep the harddrive; you may be able to use a recovery software like powerdatarecovery to try to copy your files to another device. Just because you have some errors on the drive does not mean everything is lost.

Also, how did they test the HD? If the SMART status is still OK you might just have a corrupted Windows install and still be able to use the recovery partition to re-install Windows. Just a thought that it may not be unsalvageable but if it is in bad shape you probably will have to order recovery CD/DVD.

 

Kind of off-topic, but do you trust this person? Usually hard drives start making a clicking sound before they completely die.

 

hi thisisu

it was my uncle who had the laptop checked for me, and i think he was overseeing the entire thing so i'd like to think the opinion can be trusted.

re: the clicking sound, i'm not sure if it did make that cause it wasn't me who was using the laptop when it last functioned properly that's what's making this even sadder -- the fact that i can't be completely sure that i was the one who caused its death.

 

thanks i was told that they were subsequently able to recover some of the data and that they can now re-install the OS. i think that's good enough for me. they'll still replace the hard drive though -- especially since i've bought a replacement already.

 

thanks for the advice they were able to recover the OS from the old hard drive so i guess they can now re-install that to the new hard drive.

thanks though!!!