Windows 7 won't load or start in Safe Mode

Hi there, please help!

Dell Inspiron 1545 (32bit) - windows won't start, or start in Safe Mode either.  I'm not very techy but have tried all options I know of such as system restore (which won't restore) Command prompt works but then says it can't do what I'm commanding it to do (I tried following instructions given on previous similar posts such as chkdsk & sfc).  The windows repair tool can't identify (and thus repair) the problem... 

Am seriously hoping someone out there can help me save my pc, thanks in advance & best wishes, Kas.

Ps, When windows tries to load a blue screen with writing flashes quickly for a second then screen goes blank...

By all options did you try "Use Last Known Configuration"?

If you can access a command prompt see the below post. It is for Windows 10 but the same holds for 7 other than downloading a recovery disk. You will be copying the registry Hives in the Regback folder to the config folder but only do this if the date of the hives in regback are earlier than your problem and are not zero byte files.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/674092/how-to-fix-inaccessible-boot-device-error/?p=4470647

Hi, yes I did try Use Last Known Config but again to no avail...     

I don't have a recovery disk either, but will look at the link.

Thanks for replying!

As long as you have access to the command prompt using F8 > repair computer you do not need a recovery disk otherwise it can be done using a live linux disk to copy the registry hives.

It might help to know what the Blue Screen of Death says (the one with writing flashes quickly for a second) and to see that from the F8 Advance Boot option menus choose:

[attachment=203972:1.jpg]

Then tell us what the Stop error says and what you see here:

[attachment=203973:bsod.jpg]

Keeping in mind that we can't see what you are seeing tell us more about your situation:

If the system used to work properly what do you think happened to it since the last time it did work properly?

Microsoft releases their monthly patches the second Tuesday of every month (4 days ago) so do you think the system might have gotten a batch up updates and then malfunctioned or have you already installed the Windows updates from Tuesday?

You said:

system restore (which won't restore)

Has System Restore ever worked properly in the past?

Describe exactly what happens when you attempt to use System Restore.

Command prompt works but then says it can't do what I'm commanding it to do (I tried following instructions given on previous similar posts such as chkdsk & sfc)

Describe exactly what commands you are entering and describe exactly what happens when you attempt to use chdksk or SFC.

What is the Service Tag number of your Dell?

What is your installed Windows Edition (Home, Premium, Pro, etc.) and architecture (32 or 64-bit)?

Describe your antivirus/antimalware environment.

Does the system have a working CD/DVD drive?

Systems that come from the factory with Windows preinstalled (that makes it an OEM system) generally do not have genuine bootable Windows installation media.

Do you have a genuine bootable Windows installation CD/DVD that is the same Service Pack as your installed Service Pack (this is not the same as any Recovery CDs that came with your system)?

Do you have another system that you could use to burn a bootable CD/DVD or USB thumb drive if you needed to do so?

Edited by joseibarra, 15 April 2018 - 06:41 AM.

Hi JohnC_21

I followed the instructions to the letter, everything happened as it said it would, it copied the files, I exited and restarted the laptop but all to no avail - it again wouldn't start up & went straight back to the repair or start normally screen...

It won't start normally tho!

Hi Joseibarra.  The BSOD says:  

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

 pssnap. sys

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

If this is the first time you've seen this error screen, restart your computer.  If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed.

If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.

If the problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software.  Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing.

If you need to use Safe Modeto remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Start-up Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical Information:

*** STOP:  0x00000050. (0xFFDFF051, 0x00000000, 0x8D7DE3E8, 0x00000000)

***        pssnap.sys - Address 8D7DE3E8 base at 8D7DD000, Datestampo 51cda56d

Ok, system restore says it has been unable to restore files to an earlier time & that my files, etc have not been changed. To be fair, I have never been able to do a system restore on this laptop anyway, I've tried in the past but it has never worked at all.  And I've never understood why - I've used it a lot on previous pc's.  It's running again now so I can tell you exactly what is says...

In the meantime:  Its windows 7 Premium 32 bit.  I had a new hard drive installed  approx 5 years ago after the old one died.

Service tag(S/N):  DLB84N1

Yes, I think the problem happened around the time you say the latest update was released.  I remember the pc configuring the updates and rebooting, but I'm not completely sure if that is when it stopped working although it was definitely around that time.  When the problem of it not starting arose I then spent a few days doing the obvious things like system restore/F8/etc, etc, etc.

System Restore did not complete successfully.  Your computers system file and settings were not changed 

Details:

System Restore failed to extract the original copy of the directory from the restore point.

  Source:  %systemroot%\registration

  Destination:  ComPlusStaging

                                        .        .             . .        . .           .

You can try System Restore again and choose a different restore point. (done that). If you

continue to see this error, you can try an advanced recovery method.  For more

information, see What Is Recovery?

On command Prompt: Chkdsk

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]

X:\windows\system32>chkdsk

The type of the file system is NTFS.

The volume is in just by another process.  Chkdsk

might report errors when no corruption is present.

Volume label is Boot.

WARNING!       F parameter not specified.

Running CHKDSK is read-only mode.

CHKDSK iOS verifying files. <stage 1 of 3>...

     29 file records processed.

File verification completed.

     0 large file records processed.

     0 bad file records processed.

     0 EA records processed.

     0 reparse records processed.

CHKDSK is verifying indexes. <stage 2 of 3>...

     43 index entries processed.

Index verification completed.

     0 unindexed files scanned.

     0 unindexed files recovered.

CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors  <stage 3 of 3>...

     29 file SDs/SIDs processed.

Security descriptor verification completed.

     7 data files processed

Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.

              3086 KB total disk space

                    4 KB in 9 indexes.

                    0 KB in bad sectors. 

              2485 KB in use by the system. 

              2048 KB occupied by the log file. 

                597 KB available on disk. 

                512 bytes in each allocation unit. 

              6173 total allocation units on disk

              1195 allocation un its available on disk.

Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50.  

X:\windows\system32> 

Command Prompt SFC: just gives all the info on \scannow  \verifyonly  \scanfile  \verifyfile  etc, etc, etc,  I'm way out of my depth here but tried following instruction I'd seen on other posts but with nom joy.

Edited by hamluis, 15 April 2018 - 07:24 AM.

I appreciate the time you've taken to try to help me.  Thanks Jose. 

Antivirus is McAfee, antimalware is Malwarebytes - but uninstalled very recently to reinstall but then this happened!

CD/DVD drives works sometimes!  But I have no disk CD/DVD or anything other than the old laptop.  I use a MacBook & or iPad but neither have a USB port to use or download anything onto.  I do have a USB Flash/pen drive. 

Also, on Startup Repair the problem details are as follows:

Problem Signature:

  Problem Event Name:               StartupRepairOffline

  Problem Signature 01:              6.1.7600.16385

  Problem Signature 02:              6.1.7600.16385

  Problem Signature 03:              unknown

  Problem Signature 04:              21199795

  Problem Signature 05:              AutoFailover

  Problem Signature 06:              16

  Problem Signature 07:              BadPatch

  OS Version:                               6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1

  Locale ID:                                  1033

Startup Repair 

Diagnosis and repair details:

Startup Repair diagnosis and repair log

--------------------------

Last successful boot time: 4/10/2018 7:28:38 PM (GMT)

Number of repair attempts: 16

Session details

---------------------------

System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0

Windows directory = F:\Windows

Autochk Run = 0

Number of root causes = 1

Test performed:

---------------------------

Name: Check for updates

Result: Completed successfully.  Error code = 0x0.              

All further tests then completed successfully with the same error code 0x0

Startup Rep[air has tried several times but still cannot determine the cause of the problem

I am not too knowledgebale about Windows 7 startup issues so maybe with this new information somebody else will have some ideas.

I did some Google searches about the:

Problem Signature 06:              16

Problem Signature 07:              BadPatch

I could not recreate the problem so I could not test any of the ideas I read about to see if they worked - maybe somebody else will have some ideas about that.

For your chkdsk (did you type all that in by hand) if you do not specify any parameters chkdsk will just give you a report and not try to fix anything so you need to enter that command like this on the volume where Windows is installed:

chkdsk  /r

That will take longer to complete but be patients and it will finish eventually.  Your output doesn't report any problems so it will probably not find anything to do and won't hurt.

You may be entering the SFC command improperly - it needs to look like this:

sfc  /scannow

It is rumored that sometimes you need to run the SFC command 2 or 3 times for it to "work" and since it shouldn't take too long that might be good advice.

Edited by joseibarra, 16 April 2018 - 02:30 AM.

 pssnap.sys: Do have Macrium Reflect installed or some other imaging program?

Macrium does ring a bell, but to be honest I have no idea, is there a way I can look?