Windows Startup Problem (Not Again!)

[Jingthing]

I thought I did everything right, but now another problem.

Computer,

desktop clone PC, about five months old, Windows 7 legal installed, virus free

Problem,

Windows startup errors.

Sometimes it starts right up.

Other times, it takes two times starting normally, once as many as six times, but usually first or second try.

I have run through the suggested Windows automatic fixit thing. It never fixes it. It has also prompted me to send the problem to Windowsland for a solution; I have, nothing gets changed.

I also ran the windows memory checker diagnostic, returned all OK.

When the error happens, something about a memory dump, for more info it says Bluescreen.

So basically I can't fix this and windows can't either.

Oh, also, it has wiped out any Windows restore settings, so I couldn't try that either. I recently set another one and it's still there, but there has been a pattern of it eventually wiping them out.

I haven't noticed any other data loss or even performance problems with the system other than the startup hassles.

So far, what I have done is to be back up all important data on an external drive as I expect a high probability of total failure in future. To me, the logical next step is to reinstall Windows, but I don't want to do that if I don't have to (so much hassle to reinstall everything, etc.). So my strategy is to wait for failure to start and then reinstall windows (and for all I know that may take years). Any reason that is a bad idea?

I also reckon if/when I do reinstall windows and if the error continues, it is some other problem on the computer. I would guess a defective hard drive. Does that make sense?

Edited March 15, 2011 by Jingthing

[PattayaParent]

At 5 months old it should be under warranty?

Edit: I had a desktop that would always take a few goes to start up properly and it turned out to be a motherboard problem.

Edited March 15, 2011 by PattayaParent

[Jingthing]

At 5 months old it should be under warranty?

Its a clone custom built system and the components are on separate warranties. So if I knew it was a defective hard drive and could prove it, I could probably get a new drive. But if it's a windows problem, that's software. At this point I don't know what the problem really is and like I said, I want to avoid reinstalling windows. I am not so concerned about cost as with strategy, to make this as painless as possible. Edited March 15, 2011 by Jingthing

[snarky66]

memory dump has always meant BSOD.

Needs a clean install; after format the drive.

make a partition for the OS if you want to.

[Jingthing]

memory dump has always meant BSOD.

Needs a clean install; after format the drive.

make a partition for the OS if you want to.

So you suggest just reinstall windows and that will probably fix it?

Is there much risk of running things as I am without a reinstall? As I said, it usually does start on the first or second try, so it isn't really a huge handicap.

[Phil Conners]

Yeah the windows "autofix" things rarely fix anything.

BSOD, Blue Screen Of Death, is very often a matter of dodgy device drivers, so if you recently installed any new hardware bits it might be worth removing that again to see if that's the cause of the problem.

If the problem was always there it get's more difficult to pinpoint. Suggest you go through all the hardware bits in your system and double-check on the internet for new drivers. Not just the windows update but really go to the manufacturers of each bit and see if they have a new driver.

It could be a defective hard drive but that would usually give you some read errors as well.

[Jingthing]

Thanks for that. That's a good clue. It might indeed be driver related. I really didn't install new drivers before the first event, but I did run a printer I hadn't used in a while before it first occurred. Another weird thing, a USB SDHC card reader compatible with Vista but not Win 7 had worked before, but then stopped working and messed up the formatting on multiple cards (became impossible to reformat also). So I bought a new Win 7 reader and was able to reformat. Another messy thing I did before the event (which would be almost impossible to trace) is that I deleted a bunch of stuff on my download directory without really looking closely enough at it. Some of that could be program related (I thought mostly .exe install garbage but now not sure), so if that was what triggered the problem, it seems a reinstall would definitely be needed. The problem didn't always exist, no.

Again, if I let things be if I can't fix with a driver change, and don't bother to reinstall Win7, what risk am I taking? Data loss? Hardware damage?

Edited March 15, 2011 by Jingthing

[Supernova]

First, you need to find out what's causing the blue-screen. The next time you get a BSOD, pay close attention to the technical information shown at the bottom half of the screen. A file name (*.dll or *.sys) is usually given which can be very helpful in diagnosing the problem.

Use BlueScreenView to view crash information stored in dump files.

[manarak]

Have you tried booting in safe mode?

Have you tried replacing the memory bars?

Have you tried booting from another hard disk?

If at this point it still fails, it is the motherboard.

[Jingthing]

First, you need to find out what's causing the blue-screen. The next time you get a BSOD, pay close attention to the technical information shown at the bottom half of the screen. A file name (*.dll or *.sys) is usually given which can be very helpful in diagnosing the problem.

Use BlueScreenView to view crash information stored in dump files.

Yes I installed that and can view that info. It's Greek to me! I can see the five dumps shown are all "Unexpected Kernel Mode Trap", 3 are Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL and the other two are NT Kernel & Sytem (all listed under Microsoft Win).

Oh, more info, on the second window of the program, all the dumps involve one or both of these

ntkrnlpa.exe

halmacpi.dll

So does that means ?? and what should I do ??

Edited March 15, 2011 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

Have you tried booting in safe mode?

Have you tried replacing the memory bars?

Have you tried booting from another hard disk?

If at this point it still fails, it is the motherboard.

Safe mode?

Not tried, assume it would work as I can boot in normal mode after a try or two usually!

Memory bars? You mean stick in new memory. Why? I tested in windows and they said all OK.

Another disk? No, don't get that as Win 7 is installed on one disk already. I have yet to not be able to boot somehow. I reckon if I eventually can't, I can just reinstall Windows with the original disk at that point.

Edited March 15, 2011 by Jingthing

[Darrel]

It probably has to do with the USB devices you installed. Remove all devices connected to the machine except the monitor, mouse and keyboard (use a wired keyboard and mouse if possible) and see if it starts. If it does then plug in the devices one by one and restart each time, until you find the one that fails. Remove the device that fails either via add/remove programmes or from the device manager, depending on what it is. If it wont start with everything unplugged then boot to safe mode and try and uninstall all the devices that you recently installed.

The files you deleted in your downloads folder will surely not be the problem.

Do you know whether SP1 installed itself before this problem started? It hasnt been out long.

[Supernova]

I can see the five dumps shown are all "Unexpected Kernel Mode Trap", 3 are Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL and the other two are NT Kernel & Sytem (all listed under Microsoft Win).

Oh, more info, on the second window of the program, all the dumps involve one or both of these

ntkrnlpa.exe

halmacpi.dll

So does that means ?? and what should I do ??

UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP

Click here if you're getting STOP: 0x0000007F

You may also want to check your temps -- make sure the processor isn't overheating.

[dddave]

A problem with the power supply wouldn't be out of the question.

[Rice_King]

Use BlueScreenView to view crash information stored in dump files.

I have tried Blue Screen View but prefer WhoCrashed (free home edition). To me, WhoCrashed seems to provide a more comprehensible description in plain English of the crash dumps.

[Darrel]

A problem with the power supply wouldn't be out of the question.

Indeed, and it could also be memory, processor, motherboard. To test any of those is not a minor job though.

Removing the USB devices is a simple quick and free test that should be tried before anything else. Especially as the OP said he has been adding things recently.

[gosompoi]

First, you need to find out what's causing the blue-screen. The next time you get a BSOD, pay close attention to the technical information shown at the bottom half of the screen. A file name (*.dll or *.sys) is usually given which can be very helpful in diagnosing the problem.

Use BlueScreenView to view crash information stored in dump files.

Yes I installed that and can view that info. It's Greek to me! I can see the five dumps shown are all "Unexpected Kernel Mode Trap", 3 are Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL and the other two are NT Kernel & Sytem (all listed under Microsoft Win).

Oh, more info, on the second window of the program, all the dumps involve one or both of these

ntkrnlpa.exe

halmacpi.dll

So does that means ?? and what should I do ??

When you have a bsod involve ntkrnlpa.exe halmacpi.dll it is a cpu issue. If it happens at boot up it could be a defective cpu or defective power supply providing poor power until warm to the cpu. If it happens after boot then it is a bad cpu or overheated cpu. Either way it is cpu related. But to be 100% it is the cpu and not memory or hard disk related send me the memory dumps. Please start the Windows Explorer and go to the folder C:\Windows\Minidump. Next, copy the dmp files to your desktop, zip all dmp into 1 zip file and upload the zip file to your rapidshare or someplace like that. Then PM me with a link here, so that I can look at the dumps with the debugger and to to see the cause of the crash.

[manarak]

Have you tried booting in safe mode?

Have you tried replacing the memory bars?

Have you tried booting from another hard disk?

If at this point it still fails, it is the motherboard.

Safe mode?

Not tried, assume it would work as I can boot in normal mode after a try or two usually!

Memory bars? You mean stick in new memory. Why? I tested in windows and they said all OK.

Another disk? No, don't get that as Win 7 is installed on one disk already. I have yet to not be able to boot somehow. I reckon if I eventually can't, I can just reinstall Windows with the original disk at that point.

You should try booting in safe mode.

If it works 100%, then the problem is likely to be a poorly programmed driver.

Memory: A thorough memory test takes several hours.

I don't think windows can do it.

Try to find other compatible memory (take it in another comp for example) and see if it starts ok with that. Then the memory is likely to be faulty.

If you don't have compatible memory, try to use a program called "memtest", you will find it on the net.

Booting: try to boot from a USB stick with a linux version installed on it, for example Ubuntu and see if it works.

But the latest info, i.e. ntkrnlpa.exe and halmacpi.dll, suggests that there is a problem with your CPU (especially halmacpi.dll).

To be certain, you need to look into the minidump files.

1) Download and install this: http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=951X490024&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.microsoft.com%2Fwhdc%2Fdevtools%2Fdebugging%2Finstallx86.mspx

2) Locate your latest memory.dmp file- C:\WINDOWS\ Minidump\Mini081505-01.dmp or whatever

3) open a CMD prompt and cd\program files\debugging tools for windows\

4) type the following stuff:

Code:

c:\program files\debugging tools>kd -z C:\WINDOWS\ Minidump\Mini081505-01.dmp

(it will spew a bunch)

kd> .logopen c:\debuglog.txt

kd> .sympath srv*c:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

kd> .reload;!analyze -v;r;kv;lmnt;.logclose;q

5) You now have a debuglog.txt in c:\, open it in notepad and post the content here

[Daffy D]

All good advice already given.

Unplug everything, including video/sound cards, except your main drive "C" and try again.

Check all connections both power and data. Unplug them all spray with contact cleaner and make sure they seat properly. This includes the memory strips and all connections from the power supply.

As mentioned it could be a faulty power supply.

Good Luck

[newtronbom]

Here is a link to a site where a guy has similar probs to you. There are some experts on the forum, who give him some very good advice and tips, along with links to some handy tools to fix his problem. His probs seem to be memory related and there are similarities to your headache. As one post states, a faulty memory module will cause data corruption (have suffered in past from this myself) which could explain your corrupted "backup file" and several other issues you have. There is a link on the forum below that gives you a tool to test your memory. I too had start up troubles once, because like you, I deleted some .exe files and programs I no longer used, but which one startup program I didn't take into account did rely on. Give the 2 pages on the forum I have linked below a read and I hope it will help you. The help instructions are quite easy to follow too. You could even register with their forum and ask for help. It seems to be a good site. Good luck.

PS: The windows memory check tool is not that good. When I used it, it said there were no memory issues, but when I ran a different tool that I downed from the web, I found I did have a faulty memory module. I am running the 64 bit vers of Win 7 Ultimate now. It is so much better than anything I have tried before. It also handles properly and efficiently, the 8 GBs of DDR3 I have installed. Start up is much faster than before too.

Help forum link

Edited March 18, 2011 by newtronbom