Windows 7 Boot issues

[Azunai]

Hey there,

I've run into a rather annoying problem. This morning, out of the blue, my Windows 7 quit booting. That is, the computer starts up just fine, but upon Windows' loading it hangs and reboots itself, prompting a hard disk check or booting as normal. I haven't been able to do the check yet as I had to leave for work, but the standard system restore as well as safe mode both fail. Safe mode shows the loading of the files, and hangs upon one of them (haven't been able to write down the file name yet) and reboots, essentially doing the same thing as a normal boot. Here's some things I want to try:

1) Install a seperate OS on one of my external HDDs, in order to at least recover my precious files that aren't backed up (thankfully not a lot, but still). Then try and fix the problem. My question on this one is, can you install a seperate Windows next to Windows 7 on an (external) drive just like that?

2) Alternatively, after a quick search just now I came upon this: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-system/windows-7-reboot-loop-safe-mode-doesnt-work/2d3ba36c-33c8-4869-95ab-49fbbe7d6579?page=1
It seems like a similar problem, and I want to try those solutions, but my question is, how do I get into the file system if I can't get into Windows? Would I be able to do these things using just command prompt or..?

Any comments, insights or suggestions would be helpful :-)

[Liberator]

Do you have more than one internal drive.

I had something on my system where the internal disk priorities had been changed in the BIOS, this meant my boot disk was now the second SATA instance, upon booting the machine would get as far as starting to load the OS and then reboot because it looked for the OS on the wrong hardware path. Because the second SATA disk was now primary, it skipped over it because there was no OS and got to the right device, then tried looking at the first device for the OS.

Only happened the once and it was when I was building the system up, but I just did something in the BIOS to make the boot disk the primary again, or possibly removed the other disk from the boot order.

[Sn00ks]

Create a USB boot device or maybe use Ultimate Boot CD to give you some sort of command line access to check stuff?
 
Have you tried booting off the W7 DVD, assuming you have one?

[TeaLeaf]

I'd try unplugging all USB devices and then reboot.  A recent windows update caused boot issues for several of us with W7 and unplugging USB devices before booting solved the problem.

[Azunai]

I have the DVD, it's at home with my parents however so it'll be some time before I have the chance to pick it up.

I only have one internal drive, with a single partition, so boot order should be fine. The system is definetly recognizing Windows as it comes up with the flag animation and all that. It just stops at the end of that, then proceeds to reboot.

Is it at all possible to install a fresh copy of Windows on an external USB HDD, and can you do so without having to format it, i.e. can I keep files etc. on the drive? We have a spare copy of Home Premium, that was my dad's but he upgraded to Ultimate (with a new key). Can I use that HP copy next to my own, or is that one already 'used up', if it even works like that?

EDIT: I'll try that when I get home, thanks TL :-)

[Tutonic]

I think you can install W7 to a portable hard-drive, but it won't run very fast. I'd only do that as a temporary measure if I were you. You can install it alongside your original installation - just tell the BIOS which drive to boot from when you're done.

IIRC, you can bring up a command prompt from the W7 DVD - that should let you replace damaged files if that's what you want to do.

At work I'd use a WinPE disc for stuff like this. They're a little fiddly to create, but once you've got one they're super useful. Instructions on how to create one are here.

[Azunai]

Alright, got home and tried everything in here that I could without the dvd. Which isn't a whole lot. I did take note of the file it hangs on, which is classpnp.sys
I did a google and it turns out that this is a pretty well known issue for a while now and so far, the only solution I have found is the worst one: formatting and reinstalling Windows. Problem was apparently known since RC1 but remains unsolved as of yet. Or at least up to the forum posts I found,which all date from spring/summer 2010.

I found one option out there that *might* work. Someone said something about replacing the specific file with one from a "healthy" computer. The problem for me though is that even if I could get a healthy copy of it (say if some of you uploaded yours) I don't know how to get it from some kind of carrier to the proper folder using just command line. I dont think command line can detect cds or external hdds? And even so I'm not sure it loads into the right folder. The command line starts in X:\ and if I switch to C:\ it's empty.

[GhostMjr]

I'd be weary that your hdd is beginning to fail. Several of my drives have behaved this way before dying completely. Go to a computer store grab a new hdd install acronis true image clone ur current drive onto a new one.

[ArithonUK]

Things to do.

Knowing which file(s) are failing or missing would be useful. If it all flashes by too quick to read, video it with a digital camera then pause the playback to read the "fine print".
Boot from the OS CD and run a CHKDSK from the command line. If you get errors, you may be able to copy back the damaged files. I would advise renaming the originals so they stay in place and "paper over the cracks" in your HD.
It is likely, as Ghost said, that the HD is on it's way out. My normal course of action at this point on a PC with no mirror-drive, would be to buy a new HD, format it as new working machine, then re-attach old disc as secondary and restore my files then wipe it. Return the dying disc under warranty (where applicable). If it is under a year old, get a replacement then set up a SATA mirror (if your BIOS supports it) using the new drive as the start-point.
That way if either fails again, you won't be caught with your digital pants down.

[Azunai]

As I said, the problem lies with classpnp.sys, and apparently it is quite a common problem, without a solution so far (other than a format). Although I'm not clear on whether it signals an imminent HDD death, it seems to be a problem with Windows 7 rather than the HDD. It would be a shame if not, since my HDD is just over a year old (warranty probably expired, have to check).

First I'm going to see if replacing said file with the original (which people have told me is on the W7 dvd and might fix it) will fix the problem. DVD is at my parents' place though so can't get to it atm.

There isn't much that I want to save that I cannot reinstall. My music, TV series, photographs and documents folder is on a set of synchronised external HDDs. The only thing I want to really save is my collection of movies, which I put on my internal disk to save space on the external ones. Oh the irony.

If/when I get through this, I'll be sure to set up a backup drive though, like you say. I'll look into this SATA mirroring that you mention, not sure what it is exactly, though I have a hunch ;-)

[Tutonic]

Azunai - if you PM me your email address, I can send you a copy of classpnp.sys

[Azunai]

Kind offer but the problem is I don't think there's a way for me to get it onto my PC unless Command Line can access USB sticks (can it?) ;-) I have no other PC around either, that I could plug that HDD into for example. All I have is my iPad, which is pretty much useless in this situation.

It's not a real biggy, parents going on holiday this weekend, driving past my work tomorrow to drop off the W7 dvd, since it's on the route anyway.

[Tutonic]

It's not actually on the DVD - I just looked. It must be zipped up in an archive somewhere.

I'm pretty sure you can access a USB stick from the recovery command prompt, it's just a case of finding the right drive letter. I've got a spare W7 DVD at work, I'll fire it up later and see if I can figure out exactly what you need to do.

[Azunai]

In that case I would definetly appreciate a copy of the file, if you have it. Not sure if there's a difference but I'm running Home Premium 64 bit. I'll PM my address.

[Azunai]

Well, that file replacing sadly didn't work. I've tried some other things like restore BIOS to default settings, but no dice. So going to do a fresh format and reinstall using an additional hard drive.

Two final questions then, regarding RAID 1 setup.

Do I have to setup RAID prior to installing OS, i.e. can I only do it on formatted drives, or can I set it up after installing an OS?
And secondly, do the drives have to be same make and model?

thanks for the help :-D