Yet another "Windows 7 stuck loading" thread

[Thorson]

A friend of mine asked to see what I could do with his malfunctioning notebook. Boots up and continues to get stuck at the Windows loading screen (Windows 7 glowing icons screen).

System specs:

• 
  HP Pavilion dv7-6143cl (LW181UA#ABA)
  Intel Core i7-2630QM
  8GB (2x4gb) PC3-10600
  Radeon HD 6770M
  Intel HD Graphics 3000
  750GB HDD Toshiba something-r-other

I've done a few things trying to boot into Windows. This is the first time I've posted a computer issue, so I'm not sure what the best way to explain everything i've tried.

• 
  HP recovery wasn't able to fix the problem.
  Windows recovery wasn't able to find any restore point. The startup repair didn't work.
  Windows repair disc didn't have much luck either
  Booting into command prompt from the repair disc, I wasn't able to find any of the drives.
  I pulled the HDD and made an disc image just in case
  I noticed the HDD has had a rough life (Bad sectors, G-sense, etc) Figure it was on it's way out
  Ran a 12 hour test on the hard drive with HD Sentinel and came back no additional errors/bad sectors
  
  <All of below is on the new HDD>
  Installed windows 7 on a new hard drive. Ran fine until I restarted it; same problem.
  Reset BIOS to default
  HP doesn't allow the user to change AHCI to IDE or I would have tried that
  HP doesn't allow much of anything for that matter
  Pulled the CMOS & Notebook battery, held the power button down for 30 sec, BIOS default, corrected time/date
  Ran the windows repair disc again-no luck
  HP recovery startup repair actually got me back into Windows but nothing was updated
  (^guessing it found a restore point that was right after I booted into windows for the first time)
  sfc /scannow finds nothing.
  Went HPs website and downloaded the current BIOS version, reflash went fine. restart-no issue
  Restart again just to be sure-hung on startup
  HP startup recovery worked again
  Went back to HP's website and downloaded Chipset, host controller, etc.
  Restart-same problem.
  
  Removed and replaced ram with some from my personal notebook & pulled bios battery - same problem.

I'm just about out of ideas, but I figured I would ask about it here. Any ideas?

 

[soundguruman]

A friend of mine asked to see what I could do with his malfunctioning notebook. Boots up and continues to get stuck at the Windows loading screen (Windows 7 glowing icons screen).

System specs:

• 
  HP Pavilion dv7-6143cl (LW181UA#ABA)
  Intel Core i7-2630QM
  8GB (2x4gb) PC3-10600
  Radeon HD 6770M
  Intel HD Graphics 3000
  750GB HDD Toshiba something-r-other

I've done a few things trying to boot into Windows. This is the first time I've posted a computer issue, so I'm not sure what the best way to explain everything i've tried.

• 
  HP recovery wasn't able to fix the problem.
  Windows recovery wasn't able to find any restore point. The startup repair didn't work.
  Windows repair disc didn't have much luck either
  Booting into command prompt from the repair disc, I wasn't able to find any of the drives.
  I pulled the HDD and made an disc image just in case
  I noticed the HDD has had a rough life (Bad sectors, G-sense, etc) Figure it was on it's way out
  Ran a 12 hour test on the hard drive with HD Sentinel and came back no additional errors/bad sectors
  
  <All of below is on the new HDD>
  Installed windows 7 on a new hard drive. Ran fine until I restarted it; same problem.
  Reset BIOS to default
  HP doesn't allow the user to change AHCI to IDE or I would have tried that
  HP doesn't allow much of anything for that matter
  Pulled the CMOS & Notebook battery, held the power button down for 30 sec, BIOS default, corrected time/date
  Ran the windows repair disc again-no luck
  HP recovery startup repair actually got me back into Windows but nothing was updated
  (^guessing it found a restore point that was right after I booted into windows for the first time)
  sfc /scannow finds nothing.
  Went HPs website and downloaded the current BIOS version, reflash went fine. restart-no issue
  Restart again just to be sure-hung on startup
  HP startup recovery worked again
  Went back to HP's website and downloaded Chipset, host controller, etc.
  Restart-same problem.
  
  Removed and replaced ram with some from my personal notebook & pulled bios battery - same problem.

I'm just about out of ideas, but I figured I would ask about it here. Any ideas?

Put windows 7 disk in the drive.
Run it, select "upgrade."
This reloads the OS without erasing files.
If this fails, put a new hard drive in, and repeat.

Then after installing on a fresh hard drive...
Connect the OLD drive (as a slave), and drag your files off the old drive to make file recovery and a backup.
Then junk the old drive.

The old drive seems to be corrupted, or the boot sector is corrupted.

As far as loading new bios...that's a mistake you should not have done that.
Bios should only be updated if it is solving some specific problem. Updating it can crash the whole system into the ground.

 

[Thorson]

About the bios update, you're probably correct and I'll remember that next time I feel the need to do so.

I reinstalled Windows on the new HDD I put in there and it worked fine. I went on to install the HP software and drivers, restarting the computer after every individual install and didn't run into any trouble.

It was only until I did the first batch of Windows updates did the problem come back. I only selected the first 11 "important" updates. I managed to get back into Windows by running the startup repair and I see it put me back in right before the Windows Updates. So I guess it's a process of elimination now.

The updates:
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc - Display - Radeon (TM) HD 6770M
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. - Other Hardware - HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor
Intel driver update for Intel(R) WiFi Link 1000 BGN
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2998812)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3004469)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3015428)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3046480)
Update Rollup for ActiveX Killbits for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2562937)
Validity Sensors, Inc. driver update for Validity Sensors (WBF) (PID=0018)
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 for x64-based Systems (KB976932)
Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 - March 2016 (KB890830)




Update:

Narrowed it down to the AMD graphics driver. I don't think it has anything to do with Microsoft's version because neither HP's supplied AMD drivers work, nor AMD's most current version. So, I'm kind of at a loss right now.

 

[soundguruman]

About the bios update, you're probably correct and I'll remember that next time I feel the need to do so.

I reinstalled Windows on the new HDD I put in there and it worked fine. I went on to install the HP software and drivers, restarting the computer after every individual install and didn't run into any trouble.

It was only until I did the first batch of Windows updates did the problem come back. I only selected the first 11 "important" updates. I managed to get back into Windows by running the startup repair and I see it put me back in right before the Windows Updates. So I guess it's a process of elimination now.

The updates:
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc - Display - Radeon (TM) HD 6770M
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. - Other Hardware - HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor
Intel driver update for Intel(R) WiFi Link 1000 BGN
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2998812)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3004469)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3015428)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3046480)
Update Rollup for ActiveX Killbits for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2562937)
Validity Sensors, Inc. driver update for Validity Sensors (WBF) (PID=0018)
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 for x64-based Systems (KB976932)
Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 - March 2016 (KB890830)




Update:

Narrowed it down to the AMD graphics driver. I don't think it has anything to do with Microsoft's version because neither HP's supplied AMD drivers work, nor AMD's most current version. So, I'm kind of at a loss right now.

Not all updates are compatible with all hardware/drivers/ software.
Turn automatic updates OFF.
Check manufacturer for list of incompatible updates.
Use windows built in drivers, instead of AMD drivers if possible.

Use system restore to roll the hard drive back to a time before you installed the incompatible updates.