Windows 7 Failed to Start

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M1GarandFan

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Oct 20, 2013
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So, the computer that I built about two months ago for some family will not start up past the BIOS splash screen, the screen goes black for a little while and then I keep getting a screen that you would normally get after a crash (white block text with the options to start windows normally or launch repair). At the top of the screen it says "windows failed to start a recent hardware or software change might be the cause". Ive tried to boot up normally, I've let the repair tool run for around 8 hours straight with no improvement, reset BIOS, tried to run the Windows 7 disk repair tool, to boot up in safe mode, boot up with command prompt, re-seating the components, and probably a few other things not listed here all to no avail. My mind is starting to tell me "hard drive issues" but I'm not sure.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what might be wrong with the computer or on how to fix it? Any help is appreciated :)
 
Solution
permanoob
Yeah sounds like straight up bad hard drive to me. I'm sure you'll be able to boot off of a live Linux disc, and possibly be able to recover some files from it. Doesn't sound like it's completely hosed. I would try another drive and a quick Windows installation on it to rule out other hardware for sure, but I'd be going straight for bad hard drive on this one.
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permanoob

permanoob

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Sep 22, 2011
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Yeah sounds like straight up bad hard drive to me. I'm sure you'll be able to boot off of a live Linux disc, and possibly be able to recover some files from it. Doesn't sound like it's completely hosed. I would try another drive and a quick Windows installation on it to rule out other hardware for sure, but I'd be going straight for bad hard drive on this one.
 
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M1GarandFan

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Oct 20, 2013
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I don't have another hard drive on hand, but I tried to reformat the current problem drive via Windows 7 installation disk. It doesn't even allow me to get that far into the installation process, it just permanently says "setup is starting..." for around 2 minutes and then I hear the disk drive power down (seems almost like it gives up) and then it just remains on that screen indefinitely. Not even being able to access the drive screen on the disk makes me almost sure it's the hard drive. Any thoughts?
 
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