Stuck Start-up

[sloan448]

I am having a problem with my main Windows 10 hard drive starting up. The start-up process gets stuck and I either get the blank screen where I can only see my mouse cursor or the screen with the Windows logo and the spinning circle. I tried to use ctrl+alt+delete to get in and pushing the on button a few times, two ideas I got off the web, but I can't get into the "repair" screen. I am on my back-up drive right now looking for help. I also tried F8 to go into Safe Mode but that didn't work. How can I fix the start-up problem? Thanks

[Lisa_maree]

Hi

F8 to get into the start menu doesn't apply with Windows 10. To get into the repair you need to crash Windows 10 when it is starting 4 times then it will start into the recovery consul.  If you are running the same version of win 10 on your recovery drive , which is good thinking having it still in the machine by the way . Then you can run

hdsentinal https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_sentinel_professional.php 

and check the health of the non starting drive. If it shows as ok then backup everything important. then you can run  chkdsk /f on the drive may fix some errors. You do this from an administrator command prompt. If it still won't boot then there is system restore, and as a last resort reload windows keeping files.

[sloan448]

Thanks Lisa,
I tried to use the recovery consul and it would almost go into it but the screen for that would flash for just a second and be gone. I am in the process of burning an iso DVD and use that to repair or reinstall windows 10. The main thing is having access to the files on the drive. If the iso DVD doesn't work I am considering getting an external hard drive usb case, putting the drive in there, take the important files off then reinstall Windows 10.

[Lisa_maree]

Hi

Sounds like a good plan , except i would get the case and transfer off the files first. My experience has been when Windows 10 won't load the recovery consul there is something other than software wrong, like bad memory or a failing hard drive. 

[sloan448]

"like bad memory"

Memory is the cause of the problem. I had two 4 gig chips in my computer then about a month ago I decided to upgrade and bought a 8 gig chip, my computer can hold a total of 32 gigs, 4x8 gigs. Well the old RAM and the new don't get along. In the process of elimination I figured out that leaving the one new 8 gig in ran better so I left the two older ones out. I decided to buy another of the new RAM. I got it a few days ago and everything seemed to be going fine until the computer started shutting off by itself or the screen going blank. In the process of rearranging the RAM to make it work the start-up problem happened. Now I have the first new RAM in the computer and am using the back-up hard drive.
When I got the first new RAM I was looking into the compatibility problem. I came across a couple of places that mentioned that display drivers can cause some of these problems. So I ordered a new video card. When I installed the Win 10 upgrade on this hard drive it said that my video card wasn't compatible with Win 10 and I might have problems with it. So now I am waiting to get the new video card and the external hdd case to take care of the problem, I hope.

[patio]

Your plan to get your data is solid...RAM shold ultimately be purchased in matching stiks...course i'm not tellin you anything you haven't already learned...

[J_Brown]

I`ve just mentioned the problem like that in another topic
I have similar problem with my laptop. It is quite old (Core 2 Duo), so could it be caused by the age? It tooks 10 minute to start working after the pressing launch button, and serious software causes overheating. Now I`m even thing on downgrade to Windows 7.

[sloan448]

My computer is 4.5 years since I built it so I was wondering about that also. It has run great until the last week or so.
I got the new video card a couple of days ago and the new external hd case today so I'm ready to go on my days off in a couple of days to see about getting this taken care of.

[sloan448]

Well getting the files off the stubborn hard drive didn't work with the external case. It didn't show any files when I turned it on. The external hard drive case works fine, I tested it with another hard drive. So I am going to try some data recovery software to try and get the files off. I don't know if the OS on this hard drive is so messed up it won't let me see the files or the hard drive is messed up beyond repair. If the file recovery software doesn't work I am going to see if I can reformat the hard drive and at least install Windows 7, that will tell me the hard drive is still good.
On the bright side of things, because of this problem I now have a new awesome video card and solid state hard drive. I like how fast they both are, especially the hard drive.

[patio]

Not sure what you mean....how is the drive reported in the external enclosure usin Disk Management ? ?

[sloan448]

When I turn the external drive on it shows up as another drive but it's not showing any files and takes forever to scan/search the drive. When the search gets to the end it stalls and just sits there.

[patio]

how is the drive reported in the external enclosure usin Disk Management ? ?

[Lisa_maree]

If you download the hd sentinel I said above, in the information tab it will say if the drive is encrypted or locked in the security group both of which would cause the files not to be visible. Also it will tell you if the drive still has some life left .

[sloan448]

Well I tried hd sentinel and it works fine very all my drives except this problem one. The one this thread is about crashes the software. It looks like the hd is toast.

[sloan448]

I tried the Disk Management and the problem drive, in the usb case, crashed it also, didn't show any of my drives.