Computer failure: Windows could not start because...

[Iganog8]

I run a computer repair business and I have 2 machines(Both E machines) with this error. They are all Windows Vista. I have determined this error happened from a automatic update (from Microsoft!!!!) that was installed.
If you have a Vista DVD you can fix the error easily by using the Startup repair function on the DVD. This error will happen again if you update your computer. There were many updates installed and I am not sure which one corrupts the system. I just disabled automatic installs until I find out more information!!!
I hope this helps and if anybody knows more about this please post a reply!!

I hate Vista!!!

[LD50%]

Call me paranoid, no really, do it.............erm....... ok......... don't...............



BUT, I had this, I thought my HD was toast, I thought my RAM was corrupted, I thought optical drive was faulty, BUT, none of them were.................

Wiped with Dariks boot and Nuke (free and open) and boom, all's well in OS land again, can I pinpoint your fault? Nope, but save some time I can..............feel the nuke.

Disclaimer: The above can seriously wipe your drives, this can result in leprosy, rabies, and gout. Enter at you own lawyers risk...............

[Paladwyn]

I run a computer repair business and I have 2 machines(Both E machines) with this error. They are all Windows Vista. I have determined this error happened from a automatic update (from Microsoft!!!!) that was installed.
If you have a Vista DVD you can fix the error easily by using the Startup repair function on the DVD. This error will happen again if you update your computer. There were many updates installed and I am not sure which one corrupts the system. I just disabled automatic installs until I find out more information!!!
I hope this helps and if anybody knows more about this please post a reply!!

I hate Vista!!!

The reason for the automatic updates causing this error is due to the updates writing to the hive when the crash ocurred. What caused the crash is another reason there, it could be an emachine problem...an issue with a driver or update that the emachines are using, causing the crash during the update and therefore corrupting the hive.

This problem is and was FAR from a Vista only problem, this occurred to me a few times when I had Win2k installed, which was due to the motherboard having an issue, it was rare...happened about 3 or 4 times in 6 years. In the 4 years I was working in a computer repair shop, then owned the store, I've seen this problem many..many...many times.

The problem is, his wasn't caused by an update...his problem is most likely related to the problem with the CD/DVD rom issue. Like was mentioned earlier, he would be able to fix this problem..but since he CANNOT boot he can't even get to the repairs.

The problem is most likely related. OH, just read below about the install error... New plan.

THIS is due to it not reading the file to the processor right. This is due to either a bad disc, bad drive, bad path to the motherboard. Could be bad memory, or processor.

Looks like it's time to start eliminating a few things. If you tried a new disc, drive and cable, then try new ram (if you don't have ram..try pulling one stick out at a time, if there is more than one stick). If all this fails...then dig a hole...a very deep hole.

[Paladwyn]

Call me paranoid, no really, do it.............erm....... ok......... don't...............



BUT, I had this, I thought my HD was toast, I thought my RAM was corrupted, I thought optical drive was faulty, BUT, none of them were.................

Wiped with Dariks boot and Nuke (free and open) and boom, all's well in OS land again, can I pinpoint your fault? Nope, but save some time I can..............feel the nuke.

Disclaimer: The above can seriously wipe your drives, this can result in leprosy, rabies, and gout. Enter at you own lawyers risk...............

Is this program like a low level format?

[LD50%]

Call me paranoid, no really, do it.............erm....... ok......... don't...............



BUT, I had this, I thought my HD was toast, I thought my RAM was corrupted, I thought optical drive was faulty, BUT, none of them were.................

Wiped with Dariks boot and Nuke (free and open) and boom, all's well in OS land again, can I pinpoint your fault? Nope, but save some time I can..............feel the nuke.

Disclaimer: The above can seriously wipe your drives, this can result in leprosy, rabies, and gout. Enter at you own lawyers risk...............

Is this program like a low level format?

The lowest!

[Paladwyn]

Wiped with Dariks boot and Nuke (free and open) and boom, all's well in OS land again, can I pinpoint your fault? Nope, but save some time I can..............feel the nuke.

Disclaimer: The above can seriously wipe your drives, this can result in leprosy, rabies, and gout. Enter at you own lawyers risk...............

Is this program like a low level format?

The lowest!

I've heard that on a drive where there happens to be bad sectors, or weakening ones that a low-level format works the best, by marking the sectors, and any of the ones around them. It is a very small price on the drive's space, but can give it a longer span. Problem is, with IDE drives a bad sector WILL spread, and best to replace the drive before it hits again.

Sometimes just the low-level format can fix weak spots permanently due to how they work. It can be worth a shot, but if your drive is making weird clinking sounds, then not even the lowest format can fix that.

[SlyckTom]

I tried putting in a different hard drive...It lets me skip Driver.cab...and its kinda chugging along. I don't know the consequences of not installing driver.cab, but i guess we'll find out...If I can actually get this stupid thing running, I'll try and install the file manually...

I'm pretty sure this computer is toast. There's a problem somewhere, and I've gone through pretty much all practical steps, and its getting to the point where it's probably not worth saving the computer...

[Psycho Ced]

In the rare chance you have a spare board, I'd say swap it and use all the other parts and see if this helps.

[HalOfBorg]

I had that before. I took the disk to another PC and made a copy - burned SLOW. Worked fine.

[SlyckTom]

So...another update:

I swapped out to a different hard drive, and still couldn't install the "driver.cab" file...so weird.

Anyway, I skipped the driver.cab install, and unlike the other hard drive, Windows XP installed successfully. From there, I was able to manually install driver.cab, and it worked...the monitor and printer drivers installed just fine.

What happened?

Who knows...I made a new bootable CD (edit: using n-light, great program btw), which unlike the original, worked...however the original never gave me problems on any other machine. So odd...

Could there still be an underlying problem? I think so...I put the original optical drives back in, and they work OK in the Windows environment - but forget about them booting. And what's the deal with the hard drives? Why didn't either one allow driver.cab to install? I have no idea, and I hate not having an explanation as to why playing musical chairs ended up quazi-resolving the problem.

In any case, for now the system seems to be working OK. We'll see what happens...

[Paladwyn]

In my opinion, the computer is on life support already...

One more setback like this and it's game over for it. Let him use it until it has too many problems that it's not worth to fix anymore, and inform him to start saving for another computer (or board). It sounds like the hard drive is fine. So I'm guessing it's something more irreplaceable.

As long as it's working now, it should be ok...that is until it crashes again into a non-working state, which could be any time.

[swoosh]

Tom,

If you got a spare power supply try it. I've seen the problem before, it looks like every hardware inside the case is giving up at the same time but it's just lack of power

[HalOfBorg]

Engineering! We need more power!

[SlyckTom]

Tom,

If you got a spare power supply try it. I've seen the problem before, it looks like every hardware inside the case is giving up at the same time but it's just lack of power

I don't have an extra power supply unfortunately, however I can generally tell when a power supply is taking a crap versus hardware failure. This is a classic case of a mobo/processor in its death throws, and to be honest, my friend and I are both gunning to build a new system anyway ....

...and inform him to start saving for another computer (or board).

She's already gun-ho about building one

[anonomously2]

As I've stated before, and it still looks like it, that it would be Mother Board - Bios - Chipset related, ie the Mother board needs to be replaced. Of course if your next action is to just build another system, then you still may want to consider salvaging valuable parts, especially if they are not old, like your Drives and addon cards.

[Paladwyn]

Yeah, anybody that has had problems with booting, check out this thread...we almost covered everything

[IneptVagrant]

Sometimes just the low-level format can fix weak spots permanently due to how they work. It can be worth a shot, but if your drive is making weird clinking sounds, then not even the lowest format can fix that.

Low-level format is FUD. All it does is write 0s to the entire drive.

@SlyckTom, did you try booting from the old Optical drive, with a new cable? Could be bad cables.

[tiny4eva]

Hi slyck.

After reading threw how you have got on so far and have tested by changing hardrives. and the fact you can part install i would replace the ram. driver.cab is a large file and it will have filled your ram a fair bit. Errors from large files during installs are always 95% Ram. Also could be the harddrive but i assume after formatting you did check disk??

Good luck in your mission

[midbc]

was daemon tools installed on this computer by any chance

[SlyckTom]

@SlyckTom, did you try booting from the old Optical drive, with a new cable? Could be bad cables.

Yep...the first thing I did was just install the reformatted hard drive. When that didn't work I tried the new ribbons, no dice, then I installed the new optical drive, and that still didnt work.

This is where logic failed me. NONE of the optical drives (original or new) would boot from the original CD. ONLY when I made a new ISO image using N-Lite, did the computer boot from the optical drive. It's very possible the old optical drives could have booted with the new ISO image, but I never checked. I say logic failed me because I never had a problem booting from the original CD before this event...

Hi slyck.

After reading threw how you have got on so far and have tested by changing hardrives. and the fact you can part install i would replace the ram. driver.cab is a large file and it will have filled your ram a fair bit. Errors from large files during installs are always 95% Ram. Also could be the harddrive but i assume after formatting you did check disk??

Good luck in your mission

Hi! The memory is fairly new, and the POST check didn't pick up anything unusual...I don't think it's the memory...

I should point out that I was able to delete a partition, but couldn't create a new partition on either hard drive...but windows installed (minus driver.cab) anyway. I didn't even bother with check disk, my luck was hanging on by a thread at that point...

was daemon tools installed on this computer by any chance

Nope...

In any case...a word to the wise...stay away from cheap computer parts. Maxtor is a non-issue these days, not sure about AS Rocks...but there's plenty of junk out there...

[Paladwyn]

AS Rock is Asus's econo-line motherboards, they are not quality stuff.

Check the capacitors on the board, check if any are puffed up, or leaking...this was a huge problem with the cheaper boards, but can happen with them all.

But, in my opinion, AS Rocks = AS Sucks.

[SlyckTom]

I didn't see anything out of the ordinary on the mobo...I remember in my younger days charging up capacitors with a power supply...silly kid!

anyway, agreed about the AS Rocks mobo...can't wait to build a new one...

[beowolf]

Just my 5 cents for analysis: please do not setup the hard drives and optical drives as someone suggested with a hard drive sharing the IDE socket with an optical drive, it will seriously slow down your computer, the IDE will only be as fast as the slowest hardware piece on that socket, meaning the CD-ROM drive, so better have something like

IDE0 Master: HDD0
IDE0 Slave: HDD1
IDE1 Master: Burner
IDE1 Slave: CD/DVD Reader

But since you want to setup a new system: I'm not sure if this rule also applies to SATA sockets.
For the driver.cab file: it's very large, 50 MB normally, and one scratch can already prevent the file from being copied. Besides, I've seen CD media which died after three years with plenty of reading errors, quite a bummer, I know...
Concerning the boot issue: if the CD ROM drive you were trying to boot from was a burner it is very likely that with time the drive didn't work properly anymore, or got unable to read discs from other burners, they start to somehow adjust themselves to their own discs, sounds odd, is odd, but happens quite often actually.
Cheers

Beo

[IneptVagrant]

a hard drive sharing the IDE socket with an optical drive, it will seriously slow down your computer, the IDE will only be as fast as the slowest hardware piece on that socket, meaning the CD-ROM drive

More FUD. Won't happen, and doesn't matter. We aren't romans.

***

memory is ez to check with memtest86+, takes 20-30minutes. See http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ for all the testing tools in one bootable CD image.

[beowolf]

What a qualified response IneptVagrant, read up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT_Attachment