I know this is a well worn topic (I’ve read lots of posts about it) but I can’t get any of the solutions to work. If anyone can find the time to help I’ll be very grateful. I’ve tried Essexboy’s solution from some time ago using Rufus, FRST etc but I couldn’t get to a Startup Repair Console (possibly the wrong ISO image?).
I’ve got an Acer laptop running Windows 7 32 bit. It used to run Vista but I upgraded about 7 months ago. Two days ago it refused to boot. It won’t reboot in any form of safe mode and the repair options take me to a black screen with a white mouse pointer. I’ve created ISO images (using Imgburn) of repair disks (is repair the right word? but I can’t get those to work. When I boot from a disk (or USB) I see the “starting Windows” screen briefly followed by the black screen and mouse pointer. The closest I’ve got to any sort of success was with an ISO I downloaded from Microsoft on to a USB. It shows the Windows loading screen for several minutes but then returns to the black screen.
I’ve tried taking the hard drive out of the laptop, putting it into a caddy and reading it from another machine. The other machine recognised the sick HDD but couldn’t read anything on it.
Am I looking at a hardware problem or does it sound like software?
I forgot to say that if I boot in safe mode with command prompt it sticks at ASWRVRT.SYS although I know from previous posts it’s usually the driver after that that can cause the problem. Also, the Win 7 disk I’ve got is an upgrade disk, not (I think) a full installation disk. I’ve tried booting from that but again no luck. Finally, one of my daughters did accidentally switch off power to the laptop instead of shutting it down properly - I once had a printer that failed when that happened because something frazzled on one of the boards.
I’ve exhausted my limited knowledge of this sort of thing - any help appreciated!
Have you used the Windows 7 32 bit recover console ISO ?
We can try by using a PE type operating system and see what result we can get from that
Reading your information my first thought would be a corrupted MFT and a chkdsk should cure that
But we will see
Download Peazip to the desktop
Run and install the programme
As it installs this page will show, deselect the AVG ticks
Press decline and it will then install cleanly
[*]Reboot your system using the boot USB you just created. Note : If you do not know how to set your computer to boot from USB follow the steps here
[]As the Programme needs to detect your hardware and load the operating system, I would recommend a nice cup of tea whilst it loads
[]Your system should now display a Reatogo desktop.
[]Locate the flash drive and run FSRT
[]The tool will start to run.
[*]When the tool opens click Yes to disclaimer.
[*]Press Scan button.
[*]It will make a log (FRST.txt) on the flash drive. Please copy and paste it to your reply.
I’ve created the USB ISO as per your instructions (thanks) but how long should it take for the Reatogo screen to appear? I’ve had my cuppa and left the laptop for about one hour but I’ve just got a black screen with a cursor in the top left hand corner. I’ve set the laptop to boot from the USB (in my BIOS I have two USB options - USB key and USB HDD - I’ve opted for USB key). I’ve not had a message along the lines of “press any key to boot from USB” yet.
When the laptop started the USB key flashed very briefly and now the laptop seems very quiet. Neither the laptop HDD nor the USB key seem active.
All very odd! I’ve just taken the USB out of the sick laptop and tried to reboot from the HDD. I can now get to the screen that asks me to choose between Launch Repair and Start Windows Normally (neither work, as before). If I try Safe Mode with Command Prompt it loads the drivers then stops at ASWRVRT.SYS.
Thanks for your help but it looks like the laptop has more problems than I thought. I’ve managed to rescue my files from the HDD but there are other hardware problems.
