Can't run sfc /scannow on slaved drive

[Haole Boy]

Aloha,

I'm fighting a black screen of death on a customer's computer (Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit). I'd like to run 'sfc /scannow' on the drive, but can't get it to work. I always get the following error:

Windows Resource Protection could not start the repair service

An sfc /scannow without any other parameters (i.e. scans my c: drive) works just fine, so it's something with the slaved drive.

I have the drive in a dock station connected via an eSATA cable. The Windows system is on drive e:\

DISKPART> list volume

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     D                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1         System Rese  NTFS   Partition    100 MB  Healthy    System
  Volume 2     C   C_drive      NTFS   Partition    931 GB  Healthy    Boot
  Volume 3     K   RECOVERY     NTFS   Partition      9 GB  Healthy
  Volume 4     E   OS           NTFS   Partition    688 GB  Healthy
  Volume 5     G                       Removable       0 B  No Media
  Volume 6     H                       Removable       0 B  No Media
  Volume 7     I                       Removable       0 B  No Media
  Volume 8     J                       Removable       0 B  No Media

The command and output looks like this:

C:\Windows\system32>sfc /scannow /OFFBOOTDIR=e:\ /OFFWINDIR=e:\windows

Windows Resource Protection could not start the repair service.

I've tried this using the 'offline' tools in the latest release of D7, and also at a command prompt. Same result.

FYI - A little background info. Someone "helped" my customer by re-installing Windows 7 (to fix the black screen of death) without saving his data. Fortunately there was a windows.old so I can get to his data. I've been following the Microsoft article on restoring from windows.old, so it's quite possible that I've done something wrong while doing this, but I am back where my customer originally reported the problem - the black screen of death so I think I've done the restore "successfully".

Any help would be appreciated.

Mahalo,

Harry Z.

 

[BillMoney]

have you tried booting to safe mode w/ command prompt to run sfc?

Have you tried a Windows PE environment or DaRT?

 

[Haole Boy]

Booting to any 'safe mode' gets the same KSOD - mouse cursor that I can move around the screen, but no response to any keyboard input.

I tried running D7 from a Win7 PE boot environment and got the same Windows Resource Protection error.

I've also tried the "Last Known Good" configuration with no change.

Also tried low resolution video mode with no luck.

Startup repair tells me that the system booted successfully so there's nothing for it to fix.

So... I'm hoping the sfc can find / fix something _IF_ I can get it to run...

Mahalo for your reply,

Harry Z.

 

[BillMoney]

Could also try a repair install from a windows 7 os disc, might fix some issues

 

[Larry Sabo]

Could also try a repair install from a windows 7 os disc, might fix some issues

How would he do that, since it has KSOD and won't boot into Windows from which to run the in-place upgrade (repair install)?

 

[lcoughey]

Did you get a full sector-by-sector clone of the drive with ddrescue or a hardware tool like DeepSpar or PC3000 Data Extractor? (this will help ensure that you have a backup copy of the data and let you know if the drive is starting to fail)

If the drive is healthy, you can then just wipe and reload the OS, applications and copy the data back from the clone.

If the drive is not healthy, you can replace the drive with a new drive, then reload the OS, applications and copy the data back from the clone.

My guess is the BSOD is because the drive is starting to fail...if I'm wrong, you have lost nothing, but gained a solid backup. If I'm right, I've saved you from wasting a lot of time with a great chance of destroying any chance to save your client's data without the use of a professional data recovery lab.

 

[Tekguy]

I'm having a similar issue not being able to get SFC /SCANNOW to run using the same offbootdir command you described on a computer I'm currently working on. I get a message about a pending repair needs to be completed first which never happens obviously.

I've come to the conclusion that when Windows gets bedraggled SFC won't run no matter what you do.

 

[Patch22]

My guess is the BSOD is because the drive is starting to fail...if I'm wrong, you have lost nothing, but gained a solid backup. If I'm right, I've saved you from wasting a lot of time with a great chance of destroying any chance to save your client's data without the use of a professional data recovery lab.

I'd second this...does sound like potential drive problems. Back it up and test it.

Also, I've yet to have SFC fix anything useful. If Windows has recently been re-installed and the same fault has returned then odds are this looks like a hard drive problem.

 

[Haole Boy]

I'm having a similar issue not being able to get SFC /SCANNOW to run using the same offbootdir command you described on a computer I'm currently working on. I get a message about a pending repair needs to be completed first which never happens obviously.

Tekguy: Search for sfc /scannow and pending.xml. There are many hits that will guide you on how to fix this particular problem with sfc.

 

[Haole Boy]

Did you get a full sector-by-sector clone of the drive with ddrescue or a hardware tool like DeepSpar or PC3000 Data Extractor? (this will help ensure that you have a backup copy of the data and let you know if the drive is starting to fail)

If the drive is healthy, you can then just wipe and reload the OS, applications and copy the data back from the clone.

lcoughey: I used Drive Snapshot to capture an image of the drive AFTER my customer's friend re-installed Windows (that's when I first got the machine). There is a Windows.old directory that seems to have my customer's documents - although there are two folders named 'Desktop' and not one named 'Documents'. Very strange...

I can reload Windows and restore his documents, but I was hoping to save my customer the pain of having to re-install all his applications. And I'm guessing the he has no idea where the installation media are for his apps.

I've examined the drive using gSmartControl and it looks good.

I'll probably give up on getting sfc to run at this point and just reload Windows. I hate doing that...

Mahalo to everyone for their responses.

Harry Z.