windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe is corrupt

Halo Diehards

Honorable
Jan 17, 2014
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10,695
I've recently cleared my computer of viruses after repeatedly getting hard drive failure errors, then Windows wouldn't boot up. I ran repair a number of times and got it to boot up using repair tools on the installation CD. While it was up, I did quite a number of tests on the hard drive, which all came up that it was fine. I downloaded and installed Windows updates, and upon restart Windows wouldn't boot up again.

Now I'm trying to use the installation CD to get Windows to boot up again but it's not working. When I viewed diagnostic and repair details from Startup Repair, it said "Boot status indicates that the OS booted successfully" until the bottom, where it said windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe is corrupt.

It doesn't say that every time, though, sometimes it says "Startup Repair has tried several times but still cannot determine the cause of the problem" all throughout, then the last one might say "Boot status indicates that the OS booted successfully", when obviously it didn't.

Anybody know a way I can fix this?
 

Halo Diehards

Honorable
Jan 17, 2014
144
1
10,695
Pretty sure the issue here is I did not follow the manual, which told me to do certain settings in BIOS before installing Windows. If anyone gets this error, it's possible your problem is similar (it was my first build).