Windows 7 no longer booting?

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RealityClash

192 posts

Master Geek

#107372 10-Aug-2012 12:05

Hey guys,

Several days ago I was looking into OC'ing my 2500K and after reading through a few guides and getting some advise from people I went into my MB's BIOS and modified sveral settings then tried to restart my system but upon rebooting I found that I could no longer load up Windows 7 which is installed on my main HDD.

Whenever I tried booting into Windows 7 I would get the image from the motherboard that gives you the option to load into the BIOS or change boot orders etc then I would get the option to choose which OS I want to load (I've got Windows 8 Release Preview installed on my second HDD), then whenever I choose to load Windows 7 I will just get a black screen and eventually different coloured specs start appearing along the first few rows of pixels. Strangely Windows 8 loads up perfectly fine and I can even access files off my Windows 7 HDD through Windows 8.

So far I have tried loading the "fail-safe defaults", "optimised defaults" as well as my BIOS profile that previously worked. I have even gone into Windows 8 and and flashed the latest BIOS using Gigabyte's @Bios software without any luck.

If anyone has any ideas then please let me know as I'm desperate to use some software such as Sketchup (Which seems to be incompatible with the preview of Windows 8) for an Assignment.

Thanks

Oh and I better add that I'm using a Gigabyte GA-P67X-UD3R-B3 motherboard

gzt

17104 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#671252 12-Aug-2012 00:27

Can you get into windows 7 safe mode safe mode or last known good configuration?

RealityClash

192 posts

Master Geek

#671266 12-Aug-2012 04:13

I've tried that but no luck unfortunately.

mthand

148 posts

Master Geek

#671271 12-Aug-2012 07:13

You haven't mentioned if you cleared the CMOS or not. Might be worthwhile.

Failing that it sounds like you need to insert the full Windows 7 installation disc and boot off that. That should give you the option to repair/recover. OEM disc won't have it.

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#671307 12-Aug-2012 10:08

you didnt happen to change the sata settings did you. If you installed windows 7 using sata connection and sata setting was for ide mode and you have changed it to native sata mode, then Windows wont load up.

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

RealityClash

192 posts

Master Geek

#671563 12-Aug-2012 20:13

Nah I haven't tried clearing the CMOS yet, will probably try that tomorrow. As for changing the sata settings I've tried using all three options (AHCI, IDE and RAID) without any luck.

mthand, so youre saying it might be possible to repair the Windows 7 OS using the disk without actually having to do a "factory rest" on the OS?

mthand

148 posts

Master Geek

#671656 13-Aug-2012 07:00

Yes, that's the theory. Check some Microsoft sites and discussions on using System Recover.

I would also use a HDD utility disc to scan your drive for faults.

If you have to reinstall, Windows 7 will recognise you are installing over an old installation and will put all your files in a folder called Windows.old so you can access them if you need it. It will prompt you for this around when you tell it which partition to use, so keep your eyes peeled

RealityClash

192 posts

Master Geek

#672994 15-Aug-2012 18:56

So I decided it was going to be too much of an effort to pull the CMOS battery (because of a pair of watercooled GPU's sitting right in front of it), So I had a look at trying to repair the system off the installation disc but couldn't seem to find the option for it so ended up just doing a complete reinstall of the OS...