Windows Not Booting

[CrypticQuery]

I came home today and attempted to boot up my main rig, but to no avail.  The BIOS loads perfectly fine, though once the BIOS splash disappears nothing else happens.  The fans continue to run, though there is nothing where there should be the "Starting Windows" logo.  I'm booting from my HDD, which gave no indication of potential failure when I used the computer this morning.  I tried re-seating it but that didn't seem to do much.  I threw in my Windows installation disc and booted from the optical drive and that went straight to the install Windows option.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Arashikage]

I'd recommend reseeding the hard drive but to a different connection, or try using your Windows CD to repair the installation.

 

EDIT: check the power cable too, sometimes those get loose and screw with you.

[CrypticQuery]

Thanks for the recommendations.

 

I checked all connections going to the HDD and reseated it as well; no luck there.  I have an OEM version of Windows 7; evidently its recovery options cannot be used with the version of Windows I am trying to repair. 

 

As a note, I performed a hard-shutdown the last time I used the computer successfully. 

[sroberson]

That immediately makes me think of a corrupted OS.  I did that to my computer at work a couple times after it failed to wake up from sleep - killed Windows 7 every time.  There is such a thing as a Repair Install where you pop a Windows 7 disk in and run an update; think it is like the repair function that existed for Windows XP where they simply replaced the system files.  I do believe I tried this once though and it didn't work...results may vary!  (should be the slogan of Windows in general).  On the bright side, all of your files should still be safe and sound to recover, which I would just to make sure you don't happen to lose anything special in a freak accident.  

 

You can download a copy of Windows 7 and burn it to a disk from the MSDN Subscriber Downloads

[Fenrir-X]

Here is a link, maybe there is something helpfull in there.

http://tips4pc.com/articles/computer%20troubleshooting/computer_has_a_black_screen_and.htm

 

Back in 2011 i had the same problem after installing windows updates and hard resetting. It that case it appears that updates screwed up my windows files thus i had to backup everything and re-install windows.(wth microsoft)

 

This year i bought a new video card and started experiencing the same problem, as it turned out the video card wasn't getting enough energy so i had to buy a better power supply.

 

I don't know if you have the same problem i had but i hope this helps.

P.S. Whoa! Sly Cooper, nice.

[CrypticQuery]

Thanks for the info, sroberson.  I have an OEM-builders version of Windows 7, so it seems that a clean install is my only option.  Perhaps I'll purchase a USB to SATA converter to see how many files I can retrieve off of the drive before reinstallation.  I have backups of everything important, save for my most recent files.  I'll take a mental note to avoid hard-resets/shutdowns like the plague in the future.

 

I appreciate the link and sharing of your personal experiences, Fenrir.  Aside from welcoming you to the site, I can say that it's always good to see another Sly Cooper fan.

[Fenrir-X]

Thanks for the welcome, and i hope that your problem is not something more complex or costly. 

[DZComposer]

The "Repair your computer" option IS available from the OEM disc. If it is not showing up, then your HDD partition is likely boned.

[CrypticQuery]

The "Repair your computer" option IS available from the OEM disc. If it is not showing up, then your HDD partition is likely boned.

 

It does show up, but the version of it is evidently not compatible with the version of Windows I have installed.  I picked up a SATA to USB adapter to see what I can retrieve from the drive, aside from the backups I already have, before I reinstall Windows.