Perplexing boot issue - What could I be missing here?

[SilverLeaf]

Looking for second opinions here. This one's driving me nuts.

Dell AIO Inspiron One w/ Win 7 came in with a failure to boot issue...won't boot past the Windows 7 splash screen, then goes immediately into "Startup Repair"....which fails to find a solution. Safe Mode has the same issues.

Here's what I've done:

Hardware diagnostic - Drive is good (SMART is ok, passes self-tests). Temps/cooling is good. CPU stress test was good. Memory (here's where things get odd) Memtest86+ immediately throws hundreds of errors (tested both sockets individually as well). However, the Dell on-board memory diagnostic and Windows memory diagnostic are fine. Replace memory with known good....and it also caused Memtest86+ to throw errors. At this point, I suspected a glitch/bug in Memtetst86+ or possibly bad logic (memory controller or something). But, everything seems to work fine from a live environment (Win7 PE, Linux).

Offline malware scan was clean

Offline sfc found and repaired an issue, but still wont boot.

chkdsk /r - no errors found

Verified AHCI/ATA settings and drivers correct

System Restore (only one restore point available) and Last known Good both fail to resolve issue

At this point, we opt for a N&P. Use Data Grab from D7 to back-up. Browsing installed apps, I notice multiple AV products and lots of "registry maintenance" utilities....which serves to reinforce my suspicion the this is a Windows issue, and not hardware.

Restored factory image, and I'm back to square one....won't boot past the Windows Splash.

Any ideas?

 

[Altster]

See if it is still under warranty with Dell. If it is see if you can get into a chat mode with one of their techs and report to him your findings. I've had the exact same issues using memtest v4.20+ vs onboard memory diagsnostics. I was able to get the unit repaired under warranty by Dell - they even came to our shop and did the work!

Go to support.dell.com and do a lookup on the TAG# (usually found on the bottom of the computer - AND - in the BIOS setup screen).

 

[knc]

I have used Steve Gibson's Spinrite to repair issues like that before..

Another test would be to install a temp drive and try again..

 

[NYJimbo]

If you haven't tried it boot in low res video mode and in disable driver enforcement mode.

Just thinking it could be video memory or something weird that might work in low res or allowing for bad/misatched drivers.

 

[SilverLeaf]

See if it is still under warranty with Dell. If it is see if you can get into a chat mode with one of their techs and report to him your findings. I've had the exact same issues using memtest v4.20+ vs onboard memory diagsnostics. I was able to get the unit repaired under warranty by Dell - they even came to our shop and did the work!

Go to support.dell.com and do a lookup on the TAG# (usually found on the bottom of the computer - AND - in the BIOS setup screen).

Thanks. I checked the Service Tag during diagnostics, and it's about 11 months out of warranty. Do you recall the nature of the problem that Dell repaired?

If you haven't tried it boot in low res video mode and in disable driver enforcement mode.

Just thinking it could be video memory or something weird that might work in low res or allowing for bad/misatched drivers.

Good idea, I hadn't tried that yet. Unfortunately, no luck with either option. You did get me thinking though, and just for grins I tried adjusting the Frame Buffer Size in the BIOS (was set to "Auto"), but no luck there either.

 

[nlinecomputers]

What happens if you install from a standard Win 7 disk and not the filled with Dell bloatware factory image?

 

[SilverLeaf]

What happens if you install from a standard Win 7 disk and not the filled with Dell bloatware factory image?

I'm headed there next. Actually, one of the selling features of this model was that it was relatively "bloatware-free". I'm sure it still has some though

 

[mr m]

I just had the same issue on a Dell Inspiron One 2320. Win 7 kept attempting the startup repair but it wouldn't work. This went on for 2 days.

The client was on the phone will Dell support for 1 hour. They thought it was a video problem and told her to call a local tech. She said the Dell tech had her go into the BIOS so the first thing I did was load the defaults in case she inadvertently changed a setting.

The PC booted on the next try! I called her today and the system is running like a top 3 days later.

 

[SilverLeaf]

I just had the same issue on a Dell Inspiron One 2320. Win 7 kept attempting the startup repair but it wouldn't work. This went on for 2 days.

The client was on the phone will Dell support for 1 hour. They thought it was a video problem and told her to call a local tech. She said the Dell tech had her go into the BIOS so the first thing I did was load the defaults in case she inadvertently changed a setting.

The PC booted on the next try! I called her today and the system is running like a top 3 days later.

Thanks for the suggestion. I did reset the BIOS to defaults early on, but it made no difference.

I am, however, having some success using the installation DVD (as suggested by nlinecomputers) instead of the recovery partition. It was finicky, but I think it may work. So far, so good. I left it installing more updates at the shop. I'll know more tomorrow.

I suspect that there is probably a low level hardware issue somewhere, possibly triggered by one of the Dell factory drivers, as NYJimbo alluded to.

 

[EvolutionElectronics]

I had purchased one of these last year for my boss and it failed within a month with memory issues, I believe it was the motherboard, we returned it right away.

 

[brandonkick]

Sounds like you have a hard drive or a memory slot issue.

SMART is all but worthless. I'd have tried swapping in a known good drive and installing 7 from a DVD.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

Just curious here, how many of you actually use windows startup repair?

Its my experience that its usually a complete waste of your time and even if it does manage to fix something it seems like it only fixes an aspect of something and then you need to do it again and then it fixes another aspect and so forth and so on. Seems more reliable just to jump in there and try to some bcd restoration steps.

Honestly I wish they would remove the ability for it to automatically enter startup repair.

 

[SilverLeaf]

Just curious here, how many of you actually use windows startup repair?

Its my experience that its usually a complete waste of your time and even if it does manage to fix something it seems like it only fixes an aspect of something and then you need to do it again and then it fixes another aspect and so forth and so on. Seems more reliable just to jump in there and try to some bcd restoration steps.

Honestly I wish they would remove the ability for it to automatically enter startup repair.

Yeah, startup repair is usually unproductive, but sometimes it does work, and, if nothing else, might provide some clue to the problem in the error report that it asks to send when it fails. Also, it provides easy access to the advanced recovery options, where you can access the command prompt to run various checks, like offline sfc.

 

[hmig89]

Just curious here, how many of you actually use windows startup repair?

Its my experience that its usually a complete waste of your time and even if it does manage to fix something it seems like it only fixes an aspect of something and then you need to do it again and then it fixes another aspect and so forth and so on. Seems more reliable just to jump in there and try to some bcd restoration steps.

Honestly I wish they would remove the ability for it to automatically enter startup repair.

I hse start up repair as a first option mainly to fix the MBR. If a customer has installed another OS

 

[Ktex]

I always ask the customer if they have done a start up repair, most say they have. There are always some that will not do it for fear of "further damage".

 

[Larry Sabo]

For reasons I don't understand, I've often found startup repair run from the installation DVD will successfully repair whereas the one run from the sick PC will fail.