Yes please … I will prepare the other commands if we need them
On standard reboot I’m as far as the “Starting Windows” screen…but all I’m looking at is a pretty Windows logo fluttering in the digital breeze.
That’s as far as I got before. 
Kind of progress
OK could you now from the command prompt run a fresh FRST scan so that I can look at the current state
This’ll be a hoot…getting to command prompts so far has been…challenging…to say the least.
Do you recommend I try to reach a command prompt by hitting F8 on boot or by going via the Win 7 boot disc?
Use the boot disc that should be quicker
Still trying to reach a command prompt.
Boot disc is currently searching for Windows installations…and has been doing so for about 10min.
OK when you get to the command prompt enter the following commands pressing enter after each. This will rebuild the boot data to default and should enable you to then run FRST
bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
c:
cd boot
attrib bcd -s -h -r
ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
bootrec /RebuildBcd
I’ve made it to a Windows load! Don’t ask me how (hadn’t got round to entering all those commands from your previous post) but I’m a long way further than I’ve been for a while.
Admittedly I’m still looking at a predominantly black screen at this precise moment…but I can see Core Temp has loaded, which only loads on Windows startup.
So…assuming I get to a point where I can actually access my drives in a Windows environment…and aside from frantically copying all the files I want to keep to other drives…would you recommend me doing anything else?
Turning off Avast maybe? Even uninstalling it?
Spoke to soon. I got to a desktop…starting copying files…and it froze.
Had no choice but to restart and now I’m back to the hanging loading screen. Basically back to square 1.
Sounds very much like a hard drive problem of some sort or maybe a temperature related problem
Could you run Chkdsk c: /r again from the command prompt and let me know if it sees the drive and boot sector
So…an update.
I tried a few restarts this morning and constantly came to the same issue. Windows would take an age to load but I did at least get to a desktop. Then within about 5 min the whole thing froze again and I had to do a hard restart.
During one of those restarts the system tried to do a chkdsk on my z: drive (a backup drive…nothing to do with the Windows system). The check failed. So I unplugged this drive. And now I’m typing this reply to you using the sick computer, which appears to be not (as) sick anymore.
Could it have been the z: drive causing the problems all along? The freezing after 30min in Windows beforehand and then getting stuck at aswrvrt.sys in Safe boot?
I’m the first to admit I don’t have a detailed knowledge of computer systems…but I know enough to feel that this seems like too much of a coincidence for it to be the root of all the problems.
Yes I have come across several where a second hard drive was messing with the entire boot sequence
I should have thought of that earlier
How is the main drive functioning ?
Currently it’s okay.
I’ve uninstalled Avast completely and also used Shellview to turn off anything that isn’t a Microsoft program. Doing another Spyware scan, just in case. Any other suggestions??
P.S. I can’t get Windows Defender to work. Not sure if that’s related.
When I run I get a message saying it’s turned off. But when I click to turn it back on I just get the blue circle but nothing actually happens. Defender is still off.
Might have found a potential reason for the problems. Not quite sure how I could test it but it makes sense in my head.
After saying my z: drive had no impact on the rest of the computer, I realised that Spybot does actually run from that drive. And I have Spybot running background checks all the time to prevent spy/malware.
So, if the drive is faulty then possibly when Spybot was running a system check in the background, using files/processes from the z: drive, these were failing and then bringing the whole system to a halt.
With that in mind, I’m going to plug the z: drive back in…completely uninstall Spybot…then reinstall it so it runs off the c: drive.
Windows defender has been replaced by MSES and is only spyware and basic anti virus protection
It is always best to run any security programme from the main windows drive
So is there a way I can delete Windows Defender? It’s not something in my uninstall list, so not a simply one-click way to do it.
As for the rest, today I’ve removed and re-installed Spybot (on the c: drive)…removed and re-installed Avast…and completely formatted my z: drive so it’s now empty.
System ran for about 2hrs with no problems…until…another Windows freeze/spinning blue circle/no choice but to hard reset.
So quite literally back to square 1. I just bought a new backup drive, so for now I’ll operate without a z: drive till the new one turns up…and hope the problem doesn’t come back.
Does sound like a problem with the other drive
Unfortunately there is no way to uninstall defender on windows 7, it just sits there
So I’ve removed the z: drive and still Windows is freezing after about 30min.
It doesn’t do it in safe mode, so I can only assume there’s a software conflict somewhere. Done malware, spyware and virus scans…all come up negative.
So unless you have any other ideas I’m just going to cut my losses and do a format/reinstall and hope that fixes the problem.
There is an option if you do not wish to reinstall and that would be a clean boot
This will enable you to check for driver conflicts, however, as it is happening after a period it may be a heating problem
Download Speedfan and install it. Once it’s installed, run the program and post here the information it shows. The information I want you to post is the stuff that is circled in the example picture I have attached.
If you are running on a vista machine, please go to where you installed the program and run the program as administrator.
http://artellos.geekstogo.com/speedfan.png
(this is a screenshot from a vista machine)