Microsoft → Windows 7 Won't Boot (SOLVED!)

Going to try and be as detailed as possible, at work atm, and most sites are blocked.

Here is my issue:

Last night I downloaded a program.

Windows 7 showed the normal preview of what the program looks like, similar to when you can see what an image looks like before you actually load it.

I scanned the file with AVG, no threats detected.

I ran the program.

My screen turned black, the computer restarted, and now I get a blue screen 00000X7B whenever Windows loads.

I've tried Safe Mode and tried booting to a Windows XP setup cd.

Same thing happens everytime.

How screwed am I and is there any chance of recovery?

I am going to try and use the Windows 7 Repair Disc if I can get it working off of a USB Drive when I get home but I doubt it will work.

Any suggestions or helpful information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

What was this program?

Here are some tips when dealing with the 0x7B BSOD: »pcsupport.about.com/od/f ··· 007b.htm

Thank you for that link, I will see if I can resolve the issues with any of their recommendations.

I'm hoping I can get some kind of virus scanner going before it tries to boot or that the Windows Startup Repair will fix the issue.

This is a brand new laptop and it's so annoying people in this world are out to just screw other people over.

Just curiously, what was the program you were trying to download? I or others could probably help a little more if we have that piece of information.

What program, what link...

Leave that out and you are trying to hide something critical and i think most wont waste time playing a guessing game.

Seems obvious you tried to download something you should not have (i have NO idea what a preview of a program is like an image? wtf?) got a virus... and are now fed... the window cd aint gona fix that.

Sorry, at work and the phones are busy.

The file was downloaded thru aim from a friend, it was supposed to be a custom patch for WoW.

What I mean by the preview thing is in Windows 7, if you have an image, the icon looks like a small preview of the acutal image.

Well this program, had a preview of a couple of fields and button or two. So it looked like Windows 7 knew that it was a program, not just a bunch of code.

I also scanned the file with AVG and it dectected no threats.

I know that's limited information about the specific file but I was hoping some general based knowledge.

As I mentioned above I have some ideas to try but was just wondering if anyone had run into a similar issue:

Black screen, restart, then BSOD, on a new system just from running a program, and what might have fixed it.

The computer is about 6 months old, it's a Sony Vaio with Windows 7 64-bit.

Okay, were you talking to the friend? Some virus they like to spam peoples buddies lists and just be like Hey this is blah blah.

Imma go with virus, avg is far from the best (something like a 85% detection rate)

I'd get like kaspersky resource CD make it and run it...

Imma say this is not a hardware issue but a virus you may want to hey mods this to security... I'd really not guess you have a hardware issue.

»support.kaspersky.com/vi ··· scuedisk

That resource cd is great, thank you. I'm going to check that out. I suspected it was a virus based on what happened but wasn't sure.

I wanted to find a virus removal program that will scan before windows starts so hopefully this will work.

I see what you're saying I do get emails from friends that they don't send, random letters and junk selling "adult" pills and such so maybe this is something similar.

Guess I can't depend on my virus program anymore.

The best AV in the world can't solve end-user mistakes and/or stupidity. Not saying you're stupid, just making a general statement.

WoW hacks/cracks (probably was a file to set up a private server?) are a popular avenue for infections nowadays.

I suggest you follow all instructions possible and post here: »Security Cleanup

You never can, say it is 100%... well we got spyware, worms, trojans... malware... you can get alot more than a virus.

And yes the pills your friend thinks (hopefully? lol =p ) you need is because they have a virus (making this simple)... When I used to us msn messenger... I'd get the "omg its XYZ naked picture" and it is a .exe file transfer...

Bad sign we went from naked chicks to wow hacks LOL.

But ya here is a site that kinda lists alot of AV's and how good they tested...

»www.av-test.org/certifications

you will see avg is a 4.5 out of 6... not the worst but... if it caught all 100% it would be up at 6+ not that any have a 6.0 (6.0 be more like 99.xx%)

Either way I would try that disk... see if it works...

i tried the Kapersky disk but it couldn't boot to the cd rom drive so idk.

I'm running the startup repair now but it's been on "attempting repairs" for 20 minutes and hasn't updated. Not holding my breath.

it just failed

root cause found:

"A patch is preventing the system from starting"

repair action: System restore
result: failed. error code = 0x1f
time taken = 202973ms

repair action: system files integrity check and repair
result: failed. erro code = 0x490
time taken = 925772ms

everything else above that passed.

Any ideas?

You may need to go into the bios and set the first boot device to CD drive... forgot to mention that... (likely is trying to boot from the HDD first... and seeing as you have a HDD... it is not even looking at the CD drive...)then try to boot again... you may need to hit a key.

This is what the Startup Repair told me which was loaded off of a cd.

You mean I should change the BIOS boot startup to be HD first?

It wouldn't load the Startup Repair off the CD if I did that.

Last night I ran a virus scanner from a boot cd and it caught the file and labeled it as a trojan horse "Generic15.skx".

Tried Googling that but it didn't come up with much.

I deleted the files and tried rebooting, it got further into Win 7 than it did before.

It got to "Welcome" with a spinning circle and I let it stay there for a good 15-20 minutes then the circle stopped and it stayed there so I just called it a night and will try some more tonight.

I tried using the System Restore feature for the Startup Repair but it failed giving me these error codes:

Root Cause found:

"A patch is preventing the system from starting"

Repair Action: System restore
Result: Failed. Error Code = 0x1f
Time Taken = 202973ms

Repair Action: System files integrity check and repair
Result: Failed. Error Code = 0x490
Time Taken = 925772ms

If you can get that far, have you tried going into safe mode then?

Things to try out:

#1. Run a chkdsk /f. You've had some abrupt restarts between BSOD's and probably cold booting a machine. Make sure you're not being held up unnecessarily by having some bad sectors or a busted file table as a result. You should run this every time you cold boot, or at least every few times.

#2. If you can get into safe mode, look into trying to do a system restore so you can get into windows. See if you can get some virus removal/scans going as well.

#3. Assuming you can get back into Windows, run an "SFC /scannow" from the run box to ensure the integrity of your system files.

It's still likely that you'll just need to get in far enough to save your shit and re-install, but in case you're able to salvage your OS, those are the steps I recommend.

If you have the ability I would do this first before all others. Look up Gratis Software's Unhackme and Warrior boot cd. Make a Warrior boot cd and run the scan from the cd on boot, it should find any low hidden rootkits and possibly a MBR rootkit, which is what this sounds like. From then once you can get into windows, install unhackme and run it, clean the files that it says are dangerous, but be carefull, some files that it shows are perfectly fine, just watch for ones that are labeled with random numbers and characters (more than likely a virus file). Then run a malwarebytes scan followed by a superantispyware scan.. If you can get into windows and do all that. I think you'll be fine then.. If you have questions on how to run the software or issues let me know by PM or on here.

Awesome, thank you.

I will give this a shot tonight as my next step.

I believe that some type of virus or rootkit like you said is still present.

The AVG Boot CD did find the file I downloaded and did mark it as a Trojan. It deleted it but it didn't detect anything else anywhere and that worried me. Sure enough it wouldn't boot all the way.

I'll def give this a try tonight and will update either way.

Archivis, I will try your steps as well if I am finally able to get back into Windows.

Tried Trinity Virus Boot Scan, took forever to run two separate scans.

3 files were found.

Tried botting Windows again and this time got:

IRQL not less than or equal

Stop code looked like 0X01 but it went to fast to be sure.

You may want to try downloading a Linux distro (like Puppy) and do a virus scan from there. Also, you can do a file system check in terminal mode. Further to that, if that doesn't work, you can at least grab your personal files and put them onto a USB stick and do a reinstall, though I have heard that a virus can survive that.

really sounds like you should not trust files from people on AIM. Best bet and quickest fix would be to get your files off the drive by using ubuntu live cd and then reinstalling the os after that. Then don't download programs that don't come from reputable sites.

As soon as possible, you should change your WoW password and any password hints.

Looks like you are in a big problem. Firstly, do not trust the Anti virus like Avast. They can't detect any critical issue. Come to the point, have you tried to restore your system. If you can, there might not be a problem. If you get few minutes before auto restarting, you may chose a restart point before the day.

Good news, finally.

Here's what I did:

Made a Hiren 13.1 Rescue Boot CD.

Booted to that and deleted the partitions with one of the included utilities.

Recreated the partitions.

Rebooting here actually booted up the recovery partition!

The recovery process took over an hour to complete but when I rebooted I got "Missing Operating System"

Used Windows Startup Repair and went to a command prompt and followed a Mircosoft Document on using bootrec to detect my installation of Windows and add it to the bcd store (whatever that is).

It found my copy of Windows!

Rebooted, and the recover process of installing everything that came with the computer took over 2 hours.

I was holding my breath the entire time.

Finally rebooted and it worked, couldn't believe it.

Shut the computer down and booted it back up, it's been working since Saturday night.

So happy.

Never ever again.

Thank you to all for your suggestions and ideas, I really really appreciate it.

I shall be smarter with what I download from this day forward.

Got an Authenticator, should be good there but that's a good idea, I'll do that as well.

Bet your face was blue!

Thanks for posting back and letting us know what you did to fix it.

I left your last comment in the quote as a reminder to others to not trust downloads, attachments, etc. even from friends. Or, as Ronnie would say, "Trust but Verify."