PANIC! Memory errors... and... other stuff... Now will only boot from

[Frankenfurter]

Ok...

A couple days back (haven't had a lot of time lately) I went to open a desktop shortcut and windows told me it didn't know how to open .lnk files (the same dialogue you get with unknown file types I think). I then got an error popup saying:

The Instruction at 0x[numbers] referenced memory at 0x[numbers]. The memory could not be written.

I tried opening another icon and got another error, then Windows Explorer crashed and I got a couple more (all different numbers, hence not including them). Explorer didn't restart itself so I tried ctrl+alt+del, which failed and threw up a couple more errors and in the end I just held down the power button til my PC shut down.

I then couldn't get back into the OS so I got my installation boot USB flash drive and tried an OS repair. It didn't work properly though because now I can only boot to windows if I do it by boot overriding to the USB flash drive (which doesn't come up with the install options like it should any more).

Boot Error:

Windows Boot Manager failed to start
<instructions to use boot disk to repair>
File: \Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc000000e <I've also had 0xc0000225 and possibly other numbers>

Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.

Anyway, booting into Windows via the USB drive I got the windows built in memory test (3 passes, extended, default) and disk check (didn't seem to be any options) to run. Both report no problems.

I was going to try a fresh re-install of Windows but a) I've only ever installed onto an empty drive so I'm not sure how to do it on a drive with an OS already and b) as I mentioned the boot USB is loading windows instead of the install options so I can't...

What's going on - Virus (I've been pretty careful...)? Registry/Windows install corruption? Hardware failure? Something else?
And... How do I fix it? :S

Please help, I'm totally lost. >,<

[stilkun]

First... take a deep breath and calm down... panicking does not help

First of all, what operating system you are using?

That error message about means the BCD, boot configuration data is corrupted or Windows is unable to locate the files it require to boot up. Did you let the USB windows installation to automatically fix it or used command line to repair?

You can fresh install over Windows 7 as I believe it should rename your old windows, program files and user to Windows.old folder depending on the remaining space you have left. If possible, get a Linux distro live CD, burn it and boot it up so you can plug in external HDD and copies your important data across.

Edit:
Did you run chkdsk /r for windows to check the file system? This will tell you if it has bad sectors on HDD that can corrupt files and data.

There are many various things that can cause the issue related to software such as windows update, faulty driver, virus etc, or hardware. We don't know till we are able to identify the culprit.

[Frankenfurter]

*deep breaths* haha. Don't worry, I'm not in full tilt panic yet. But thanks

OS is Windows 7. I couldn't run chkdsk through command line for some reason (it just flashed something too and closed the prompt before I could read it, no matter what I tried) so I did it through the right-click menu on C: in my computer.

Is the BCD a file/folder I should be able to see? I'm wondering if maybe it wound up on my flash drive instead of the SSD somehow which I guess would explain why my flash drive now loads windows on C: instead of offering install/repair options? If this is feasible how would I check and/or ammend this?

As I can get into Windows through the flash drive I don't think Linux should be necessary will it? (also I'll have no idea what I'm doing >.<) I've got everything important onto an external HDD already and jotted down all the product codes for various programs (no doubt I've missed one or two, but I've done what I can) and ran the disk and memory tests. I can get into the rollback options if that seems a good idea but I'd like to find out why my install USB isn't giving install options first really :S

Cheers for getting back to me!
Frankie

edit: Oh, yeah - I let it do the repair automatically (booted to the flash drive and followed the prompts: select language, keyboard, etc., hit install, choose repair). I've also noticed that when I do boot Windows via the flash drive I now have a D: drive that doesn't exist, says it is system reserved. I thought it must have made a partition on my SSD but the SSD is 120GB and C: is practically that in Windows, so I'm not sure what this extra D: drive is. It's way to big to fit on the install USB, which itself is E: in Windows. >.<

[stilkun]

BCD is a file that contain the OS configuration and the partition where windows is stored so it can boot up the OS files. this is a hidden operating system file so you cannot see it normally unless you set the option to see it visibly.

System reserved is a hidden partition that contains windows recovery environment, it should be showing up unless it has been assigned a drive letter or windows has been installed to another drive.

if you boot without the USB and that error shows up this means that the BCD entry is stored.

Could you run disk management by pressing windows key + r the type diskmgmt.msc and enter then take a screen shot of it?

[Frankenfurter]

Ok I'll give it a shot... will edit post in a mo.

Right.

I did that (realised I can't actually give you a screenshot because I took my computer off network in case it was an infection, but I can tell you it all). Also - D: is part of C:'s disk and is way smaller than I first thought (100MB not 100GB... I know >.<). They all say they are primary partitions.

List at top:
Volume - Layout - Type - File System - Status - Capacity - Free Space - Fault Tolerance - Overhead
(C - Simple - Basic - NTFS - Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition) - 111.69GB - 52.55GB 47% - No - 0%
System Reserved (D - Simple - Basic - NTFS - Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition) - 100MB - 66MB 66% - No - 0%
Win7Install_plusDrivers (E - Simple - Basic - NTFS - Healthy (Active, Primary Partition) - 3.73GB - 80MB 2% - No - 0%

Visual at bottom:
Disk 0 is made up D: then C: (C: is selected by default)
Disk 1 is just E:


Sorry for the silly mistake and thanks for the help >.<

[stilkun]

No worries, anything helps

The C: and D: are partition on disk 0 which is your SSD and Disk 1 is your USB drive.

Based on the information you have given me, it sounds like Windows 7 repair somehow messed up the boot loader and stored it on the USB drive instead of your SSD. So when you select your USB option via the boot menu it look for O/S boot information therefore it doesn't load your Windows 7 install up instead booting up your OS on the SSD.

What do you get if you enter bcdedit /enum ALL in the command prompt?

[Frankenfurter]

Oh sorry, yeah disk 0 is SSD, disk 1 is the USB.

Not being able to copy/paste or print screen really makes you appreciate that functionality when you do have it, I tell you. >.<

This is what it said.

Windows Boot Manager
----------------------
identifier - <bootmgr>
device - partition=E:
path - \bootmgr
description - Windows Boot Manager
locale - en-US
default - <current>
displayorder - <current>
timeout - 30

Windows Boot Loader
--------------------
identifier - <current>
device - partition=C:
path - \windows\system32\winload.exe
description - Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered)
locale - en-US
recoverysequence - fairly long string of letters and numbers, I'm hoping it isn't important cos I have trouble reading stuff like that... let me know if you need it though >.<
recoveryenabled - Yes
osdevice - partition=C:
systemroot - \windows
resumeobject - another long string

Windows Boot Loader
--------------------
identifier - long string
device - ramdisk=[C:]\Recovery\really long string\Winre.wim{really long string}
path - \windows\system32\winload.exe
description - Windows Recovery Environment (recovered)
locale -
osdevice -ramdisk=[C:]\Recovery... fairly sure this is the same as 'device'
systemroot - \windows
winpe - Yes

Resume from Hibernate
----------------------
identifier - a long string
device - partition=C:
path - \Windows\system32\winresume.exe
description - Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered)
locale - en-US
inherit - {resumeloadersettings}
filedevice - partition=C:
filepath - \hiberfil.sys
debugoptionenabled - No

Windows Memory Tester
-----------------------
identifier - {memdiag}
device - partition=e:
path - \boot\memtest.exe
description - Windows Memory Diagnostic
locale - en-US

Device options
--------------
identifier - long string
ramdisksdidevice - partition=C:
ramdisksdipath - \Recovery\long string\boot.sdi

*phew*
I was hoping I'd be able to just pick out the important bits but I honestly just wasn't sure what would be important. As I said I'm hoping the long strings aren't important because there are a lot of them, apologies if they are though and I'll run it again.

As far as I can see though the boot loader is where it's meant to be on C:, is that right? Is the boot manager the problem?

Also... I did the repair in en-UK and everything is listed as en-US (though I'm fairly sure I installed it in en-UK as well :s), could this have caused a problem possibly? edit: actually may have been en-GB, but the UK one anyway, not US.

Thanks again for all your help!
It's very kind of you to give your time like that and I appreciate it.

Frankie

edit:
Thought I'd include the directories on the USB stick as well, there's one called boot but I'm not sure if that's what's making Windows boot or if it's supposed to be there to boot the installer or something?
[] = folder, the others are files loose root (E
Anyway

[] boot
[] efi
[] BiosStuff - contains backup of BIOS settings and an update IIRC
[] MBDrivers - latest (when I installed) drivers for mobo
[] sources
[] support
[] upgrade
autorun.inf
bootmgr
bootmgr.efi
setup.exe

Does this look as it should? (BiosStuff and MBDrivers were put on there by me, but they were on there when I installed Windows however many months ago. I had no problems back then so presumably it's not a problem...)

[Goobley]

I'm not very good at fixing windows errors, however this certainly sounds more like a corrupted software issue than anything else to me. I just keep a USB key with the windows installer and a https://ninite.com/ installer for my commonly used programs on. I store my data on a seperate partition to the OS and cycling the OS and main programs with the USB key takes about 1 hour, and I usually just do it preventatively every 2-3 months (keeps the OS snappy too). I normally just use a Gparted Live USB to format the partition first and check that rest of my (overly complex) partition map is happy.

That being said, the boot loader does appear to be in the right place to me, but again, I'm not an expert on windows. If it is just boot loader/manager problems then a Super Grub Disk or RescaTux might let you in, and would go a way to confirming that bootloading is the issue.

Just a few ideas.

[Frankenfurter]

Ok, thanks Goobley.

I must admit that I probably only understood half of that but I will have to do some research on it tonight.

I'm a bit confused now if it indeed seems the boot loader is in the right place after all... Why would my USB drive not be opening up the install options? :s

edit: Ninite looks amazing! It's just a shame it wont do all the drivers for me as well. Cheers for that.

[stilkun]

Windows Boot Manager
----------------------
identifier - <bootmgr>
device - partition=E:
path - \bootmgr
description - Windows Boot Manager
locale - en-US
default - <current>
displayorder - <current>
timeout - 30

Windows Memory Tester
-----------------------
identifier - {memdiag}
device - partition=e:
path - \boot\memtest.exe
description - Windows Memory Diagnostic
locale - en-US

Ok... Windows 7 auto repair place the bootmgr on your e: USB drive.

Ok, thanks Goobley.

I must admit that I probably only understood half of that but I will have to do some research on it tonight.

I'm a bit confused now if it indeed seems the boot loader is in the right place after all... Why would my USB drive not be opening up the install options? :s

edit: Ninite looks amazing! It's just a shame it wont do all the drivers for me as well. Cheers for that.

When your computer starts and the drive you select to boot first, the computer will seek on first sector of the drive for boot records/manager to look for partition containing the OS files and boots it up. Therefore it does not load up install files for Windows 7 instead it loads your OS because it found the boot records.

Do you have the original Windows 7 CD/DVD installation? If you do boot from the CD, unplug your USB and run the repair from there. There is boot configuration editor for Windows 7 which is EasyBCD but I haven't used this tools before.

[Frankenfurter]

I do, somewhere, but I don't have a disk drive. xD

I'll have to see if I can find a way to move it to the proper volume (possibly EasyBCD, I'll see if I can get it on another USB stick to install )... Wont be able to do it tonight but I might be able to do it tomorrow, who knows. >.<

Thanks for all your help, stilkun - knowing what the problem is tends to be a big step toward fixing it I tend to find.

[Frankenfurter]

Update:
Good news and bad news.

Good news: Windows now boots! Huzzah!
I borrowed a friend's PC (with a DVD drive), formatted my install usb and put the installer on it again. I then used recovery again, said no to the 'fix startup problems' option it offered me last time and found a repair option that worked. No more booting from a thumb drive!

Bad news: The mysterious D: partition is still there (and I still have no idea what caused the problem in the first place but I'll cross that bridge later >.<).
Furthermore, after running the repair I restarted and booted to the repair options again to have a look - System Recovery Options recognizes the OS now but it's listed as so:

OS - Partition Size - Location
Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered) - 114370MB - (D: ) Local Disk

Whaaaaaat? It should be on (C: )! The partition size works out at just over 111GB, roughly the size of C:, but it clearly thinks it's on D:. Also, this (recovered) addition is worrying me a little even if it does make sense...

I'm wondering if I should just suck it up and reinstall the OS... really not loving the idea of having to reinstall all the drivers and what-not though

Also it wont solve any problems if it was a hardware issue, and in that case I really need to know so I can return the faulty part(s).

Any words of wisdom? >.<

[stilkun]

That is good

The partition D: is 100MB right? Don't worry, that is system reserved which contains the boot information for operating system and Windows Recovery Environment. You can unassigned the letter d: from disk manager as it suppose to be hidden.

System reserved or hidden partition.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/m.../gg441289.aspx

If you boot up from system recovery environment, it will show the system reserve partition c: as this contains Microsoft Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) which it is own separate operating system to recover your O/S and will mark the operating system D:.

When you boot up on normal environment, your operating system will be c: whereas System recovery partition it is WinPE environment containing recovery tools.

Edit:
Let me find out about the 'recovered' part and get back to you with it.

[Frankenfurter]

Thanks stilkun.

As far as I can tell, the '(recovered)' part is harmless. Apparently Windows Repair renames the install for you when it does its thing. It can be renamed from command prompt with bcdedit.

CMD commands for the benefit of any future forum visitors with the same problem:

to backup: bcdedit /export C:\BCDBACKUP
to change name: bcdedit /set {current} description "new name in quotes"
in case it goes wrong: bcdedit /import C:\BCDBACKUP

Even so... I think I might have to do a clean reinstall anyway. I really don't want to (just remembering all the hoops and hurdles to install it, all the drivers, software, etc... making me shudder xD) but since I still don't know what caused the problem in the first place...

I can sort of justify to get rid of stubborn drivers from a returned graphics tablet a while back I suppose... it does sort of bug me that I never completely got rid of them...

Aiyaiyai...

edit: if I just use my install USB and choose 'install' instead of repair it will clear the drive for me, right?
edit edit: Nevermind, Google is my friend on that one. Looks like that'll work fine. http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operat...-part-1_11.htm