W7 won't boot

[Oddjob]

Hello all

Got a problem with son's laptop. Today of all days.

He has a Packard Bell laptop [i3]. All has been going fine today until a crash. Hard rebooted laptop but it refuses to boot fully.

It gets to the basic desktop but has nothing else. No icons, no task bar, ctrl+alt+del doesn't work (no task manager appears) and no response to ctrl+shift+esc.

I was thinking I would try to get into task manager and instruct the machine to run explorer.exe but I can't bring up task manager.

The only thing onscreen is a basic desktop background with a moving mouse cursor pointer. Left or right click with the mouse has no effect.

Choosing safe mode on boot up doesn't work either. In booting into safe mode the machine works its way through loading many files, gets to loading up Windows/system32/drivers/CLASSPNP.sys but then stops, says "please wait" and goes no further.

We can't get the machine to do anything.

Son has tried to create a recovery disk from a different W7 machine in the house but that doesn't help. The only extra thing it did was to ask what keyboard language to use. A language is selected but then it just sits there and doesn't go any further.


When the laptop was bought a couple of years ago it came without any OS disks etc. (no surprise). We followed the instructions and created 3 Packard Bell recovery DVDs.

Son is concerned that, if he tries to use those disks now to fix the laptop, all his data and programs on the C: drive will be erased/lost.

So my questions are ...

1. does anyone have any idea what's gone wrong here and how to get this machine to boot?

2. if he loads up those 3 Packard Bell recovery DVDs will his worst fears be realised? Will he lose all the data and programs on the hard drive?

All suggestions most gratefully received.

[zep516]

Hi oddjob,
Looks like you pretty much exhausted most avenues here, the inability to get into Safe Mode is a real problem here because we can't try anything like a System Restore or a repair or anything.

2. if he loads up those 3 Packard Bell recovery DVDs will his worst fears be realised? Will he lose all the data and programs on the hard drive?

All you data would be lost doing that.

Try to boot to Safe Mode a few more times never know it might go.

Choosing safe mode on boot up doesn't work either. In booting into safe mode the machine works its way through loading many files, gets to loading up Windows/system32/drivers/CLASSPNP.sys but then stops, says "please wait" and goes no further.

That problem above indicates a Driver issue on the machine. The CLASSPNP.sys driver is loading ok, it's the next driver that is causing the issue. Not a 100% sure how to determine exactly what driver it is, but that may be the entire issue at hand.

Can you borrow a Windows 7 retail operating disk from anyone? That would be my advice for now, using that disk you could do a repair install as outlined HERE Or even just a Repair My Computer that options present on the install disk. That option is also available from the Safe Mode advanced boot menu that you unfortunately can't get to!

[DonnaB]

The CLASSPNP.sys driver is loading ok

Is there an order in which the drivers load? I have been working on my sons laptop over the weekend and I have had to boot to Safe Mode everytime to do anything and CLASSPNP.sys is the very last driver that loads before it does continue on to boot into the Advanced Boot Options menu.

[Oddjob]

Thanks zep, DonnaB, for your replies.

I thought that might be the case with those PB recovery disks, zep, which is why we don't want to resort to using those.

I emailed a friend - a computer lecturer - to ask if he has any ideas and I asked him if he has a spare W7 disk we could use to reinstall or repair the OS somehow. That was too late in the evening for any quick reply.

The issue about the order the drivers load occurred to me too, Donna, but I asked myself, even if I knew that order, could that help me? I thought not so moved on to trying to find a solution.

Googling safe mode stalling on CLASSPNP.sys I see there are many other people with the same problem.

Nearly all the solutions suggested involve using some sort of program disk (which we haven't got, of course) and/or going into safe mode which is the very problems itself!


I worked till quite late into the night before I found what MIGHT be a solution, albeit an very odd one.

I went to bed with son's laptop booting up but at the stage where it is in some sort of "self scan" to fix problems. It said the process would take some time and may involve several reboots so I couldn't wait for it to finish. I was too tired by then.

Back later.

[Oddjob]

It's morning here in the UK now.

Son has just got up. Laptop was still switched on and the "self scan" report said it couldn't fix the problem. It seems to have found a corrupt registry entry somewhere but It didn't tell me where.

It gave me several other options, including system restore but, when I clicked on that, it came back and told me there were no SRPs to go back to. Son says that's not right as the computer is set up to take SRPs automatically, in the usual way.

Can you suggest any registry fix I can use given that his machine may not boot up fully?

Is there some sort of magical boot disk I can create which will help the computer to boot up?

Is there any way I can get into the DOS command prompt and maybe do something from there?


Yes, you can tell I am getting desperate here.

Anything you or anyone else on H2G can suggest would be most appreciated.



EDIT > Son's laptop is booting up seemingly OK now BUT SOOOOO SLOOOOOOWLY.......

I've seen some slow boot ups in my time but this is ridiculous.

At the moment we have the desktop picture, usual task bar at the foot of the screen with very few icons and task manager showing about 8 processes loaded & running.

When I clicked on the start menu it came up (eventually) but it's empty looking.

We are leaving well alone for the time being to see what develops.


If the laptop ever manages to boot up fully before next Christmas I will have to think what we do next and make a plan.

My initial view is use SRP, if we can find one, go back about a week, possibly followed by command prompt "sfc /scannow" routine.


Any other thoughts?

I'll report back.

[Oddjob]

According to task manager we now have 45 processes running & CPU usage is 0%


Clicking on anything the cursor turns over & over as if waiting for something to happen.

We have only very few icons on the task bar and no desktop icons at all (usually they cover the desktop).

Right clicking desktop and clicking on Start button don't seem to work. Either they are not responding at all or are so slow I can't see it. Cursor is turning over & over, waiting.

Any suggestions as to what on earth is going on now?

[zep516]

EDIT > Son's laptop is booting up seemingly OK now BUT SOOOOO SLOOOOOOWLY.......

Can you get to the Advanced Boot Options Menu now? By pressing F8 at start up, where the option Repair Your Computer is. That might help.

[DonnaB]

Morning zep, Oddjob,

It almost sounds as if he is infected. Does he have MBAM on the computer? Are you able to access his AV at all to run a scan? At this point, DO NOT run any temp file cleaners just in case.

Just a thought.

[Oddjob]

Hi guys

Zep ... option Repair Your Computer.....I think he's already tried that several times without success but I'll check.

DonnaB....I have been wondering about an infection.

If it helps your thinking any further, we have now managed to (somehow) get it into safe mode but it still takes an age to do anything. Even clicking the "X" to close an open window.

Got a cmd prompt...tried running sfc /scannow. The routine couldn't get started.


I have HJT on a USB drive. Maybe I can get that to run in safe mode and have a look.

I will also try MBAM and/or superantispyware from that drive to see what it/they can find.


I will report back but, if you think of anything else in the meantime, do let me know.

Many thanks for your time, help and suggestions.

[abseh1]

This is a lot to read so take your time....there are even more options if needed...failing to boot has so many causes from bad ram to bad HDD's corrupted windows etc etc
(any questions just ask)

First, check your BIOS and hardware

In many cases, having Windows 7 fail to boot may be as simple as having your BIOS set with an incorrect boot order sequence. It can be quite common if you have more than one hard drive installed in your computer (not important to most laptops....but is revelant if you have another "partition or OS on another partition") and your BIOS gets reset. Usually you can access your BIOS seconds after your computer turns on by pressing the Delete button or by pressing a specific function key. Once in the BIOS, check to see that your system drive is listed appropriately in the boot order sequence; you may need to refer to your motherboard manual for help.

Another possible reason for Windows not being detected upon start up is a hardware issue. If your BIOS is unable to detect your system drive, check to make sure all the cables are plugged in properly. If your hard drive is making an odd noise, such as a clicking sound, your hard drive may be broken. Finally, it is possible that the hard drive is having data corruption issues, which has damaged important system data, such as the Master boot record (MBR). If you suspect a faulty hard drive, it may be a good idea to backup and scan your hard drive for errors from another computer and possibly consider buying a replacement. Trying to repair a boot problem on a damaged drive can possibly lead to even more data loss, so backup your data before attempting anything.
Check the BIOS clock for the proper date and time too...set the time as required
Remove any external hardware first...printers etc...use the touch pad and not a mouse

Fixing the Master Boot record (MBR)

Step one: Turn your computer on, booting from either your Windows 7 Installation DVD or Windows 7 System Recovery Disc. Remember, you may need to change the boot order inside your BIOS to have the your DVD drive boot first.

Step two: After the installation or recovery disc loads, if prompted, select your language settings and then continue. If you are using the installation DVD, when prompted by the following screen select Repair your computer.


Step three: The computer will take a moment now to scan itself for any Windows installations, after which you will likely be given a choice to select which installation you wish to repair. Select the appropriate Windows installation from the list and then continue. If by chance a problem is detected in one of your Windows installations at this initial stage, the system may also ask you if it can try to repair the problem automatically. It is up to you if you wish to let the system try to repair itself, but otherwise just select No.

Step four: Once you have reached the System Recovery Options screen, as shown below, you will be faced with a list of choices that can aid you in repairing a damaged Windows 7 operating system. If you wish to try the Startup Repair option first, it is often successful in automatically fixing many different start up issues, but in this article we will be using the Command Prompt option to resolve our problems manually. So, click Command Prompt to continue.


Step five: Now sitting at the command prompt, enter the following command and then press enter:

bootrec.exe /FixMbr

If successful, you should be greeted with the message The operation completed successfully. That's it! Your Master Boot Record has been repaired.

While the above command does fix the MBR, and sometimes that is enough, there still might be an error with the system partition's boot sector and Boot Configuration Data (BCD). This might occur if you have tried to install another operating system alongside Windows 7, such as Windows XP. To write a new boot sector, try the following command:

bootrec.exe /FixBoot

If you are still faced with your Windows 7 installation not being detected during start up, or if you wish to include more than one operating system choice to your list, you can try the following command to rebuild your BCD:

NOTE: If you have only one OS disregard the below info:

bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd

The above command will scan all your disks for other operating systems compatible with Windows 7 and allow you to add them to your system's boot list. If this fails, you may need to backup the old BCD folder* and create a new one in its place with the following commands:

bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup

c:

cd boot

attrib bcd -s -h -r

ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old

bootrec /RebuildBcd

*Some users also find simply deleting the boot folder and retrying the above steps effective at resolving boot issues, but it is not recommended.