Windows won't boot after update

[martynmoore]

I shut down this evening after some intense video editing. On shutdown my machine said it was installing two updates.

I realised I was also in the middle of a Dropbox upload, so waited until the machine shutdown then restarted it.

It will not boot into windows. It boots through the bios screen and then about five seconds after the Starting Windows message, the animation freezes, I get a blue screen and message that is way too fast to read and then it goes into an endless Startup repair cycle.

I have tried Startup Repair and it won't fix it. I have also started from the W7 disc and tried a System Restore. They all failed.

I'm really stuck and in deep trouble. Any help will be much appreciated.

 

[tom_gr7]

I'd give pcs a call tomorrow dude.

Hope that you get it sorted.

tom

 

[martynmoore]

Thanks, Tom. Will try to get some rest and hope tomorrow brings good news.

 

[Wozza63]

Hmm I would say it's like my current laptop problem but the windows logo doesn't even show up for me, not even the BIOS just a blank screen, I think that the update may have corrupted a file at some point I'm not 100% sure but make sure to give PCS a ring tomorrow

 

[martynmoore]

Feel like crying...

I need to go out to do more filming this morning, so will post a quick round-up.

Last night I accidentally switched off my video editing PC during a Dropbox upload. As it shutdown it made two Windows updates. I let it power down, then turned it back on to complete my Dropbox upload.

The first thing I noticed that was unusual was the message "Loading Asus Express Gate" before the BIOS splash. I've never seen that before.

Then the BIOS splash screen appeared. Normally it flashes OFF for a second before returning for a moment and then goes into booting Windows.

Last night it didn't flash off, it went straight into booting Windows. After about three or four seconds of seeing the Starting Windows message, just as the little spheres start to animate, they freeze. The machine goes into Startup Repair mode.

Startup Repair says it can't fix the problem.

I have tried all the System Restore points and they all fail.

I have tried all the repair options offered by the Win7 disc supplied with the machine, all to no avail.

Oh, and the other weird thing that happened yesterday is that the machine went to sleep during the afternoon and wouldn't wake up properly. I had to manually power off and got a message saying something like "overclocking failed" but it seemed to recover from the error and restarted normally. This might or might not be related.

My OS and apps all run on a dedicated SSD drive, with two separate drives for data. Can I reinstall the OS without affecting programs like Adobe CS5? I have many user preferences configured.

I'm feeling a bit panicky, due to today's filming and a backlog of editing. I will call PCS after lunch but will check here first in case anybody has any suggestions.

I'd be really grateful for any help you can give me.

 

[PCRepair]

This has been rectified by changing the BIOS setting for the SATA mode to AHCI which somehow got reset to IDE. This does happen sometimes and should be checked if anyone has this issue.