Windows 7 hangs at starting windows screen

Question

Hi. I got a dell inspiron laptop (specs below) about a month ago. The problem started 10 days ago. When 'starting windows' screen appears with the logos it hangs for 2 hours or so. I figured out If I press some random keys on the keyboard windows starts immediately. Windows will also restart just fine, the problem is starting it. I've seen this problem doesn't happen when booted in safe mode but my laptop has the same problem when booting in safe mode, it just hangs unless I hit some keys. Two more issues, before starting windows screen appears Windows Boot Manager screen appears and it asks me to choose an operating system, the only option being Windows 7. And when windows is in hibernation mode and I log in, there are two short beeps. I restored the system to a point before this happened, but the problem hasn't been solved. I ran Diagnostics and no issues were detected whatsoever. I'd appreaciate the help, what is causing this and how can I solve it? I did not do any backups and have no windows install cd and I assume trying to format windows will get me nowhere since that's likely to hang as well.

Intel(R) Core i7-2670QM CPU @ 2.20GHz

RAM 8GB

64bit

Philip_Yip · Answer

You could try running last good known configuration and startup repair: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/w/microsoft_os/3831.04-diagnosing-windows-start-up-problems.aspx

pb9o · Answer

My sister has the same laptop so I'll borrow her working battery and try if the problem is solved with it. If not at least I would rule out the battery.

pb9o · Answer

Thank you for the suggestion. Before doing that I checked for drivers with errors on device manager, a usb hub and avg 2013 (that couldn't have been removed properly) had exclamation points. I uninstalled and reinstalled usb driver and removed avg with avg remover my computer restarted but for the first time I came across a warning that said battery type and wattage cannot be determined... I disregarded it and continued, expecting windows to start quickly since I've removed the faulty drivers but it hang for about 9 hours (not kidding even a little) and pressing random keys didn't work. I thought it was going to hang indefinitely and did a power down when I started the laptop again the battery warning showed up (I don't know why this happens because the battery icon on the taskbar looks fine, says it's %100 full) and then when windows hung I pressed random keys and it booted.

Next I tried your suggestion I ran last good known configuration and it booted without any problems. But it didn't solve the way windows boots in normal mode. I suspect startup repair will hang and mess up startup files even more so I'm sceptical towards that.

pb9o · Answer

Changing batteries didn't solve Windows hanging on startup. I also started seeing the blue screen of death with iaStor.sys error. I think this is causing Windows to hang. Please tell me how I can fix this. Thank you.

Philip_Yip · Answer

Judging by your symptoms and the iaStor.sys I think your hard drive may be giving up.

Please see my wiki Windows Reinstallation Guide, start on the bottom of page 392 - top of 393 and run the Dell Diagnostics including extended tests.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/f/3524/t/19480753.aspx

If the extended tests don't run on another computer make a bootable diagnostics CD. Boot from this CD on your computer and run the diagnostics (follow the instructions on the bottom of page 393-395).

If the diagnostics fail follow page 396 and attempt data recovery.

pb9o · Answer

Thanks for the answer. I've run an extended Diagnostics a week ago and everything seemed fine. I downloaded Kaspersky's Tdsskiller to see if there is any bootkit virus it seems clean. I'm downloading your reinstallation guide now I'll see if I can do a data recovery later today. I'm afraid Windows will also hang while doing Dell Factory Restore though because any time I attempted Startup Repair the system froze with a blank blue screen of Windows layout, I hope that won't be the case.

Windows General

Windows 7 hangs at starting windows screen

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