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General discussion

Laptop installs unknown devices on startup, then crashes

Jan 27, 2015 8:01AM PST

Thank you for reading

My laptop is a samsung running on Windows 7.
Every time I startup my laptop tries to install multiple unknown devices until is finally crashes. My last startup installed 13 unknown devices + 1 "Volume manager" until it couldn't take any more. I have tried uninstalling these devices in 'Safe Mode', but with no luck as the instantly reinstall themselves. I have nothing plugged into my laptop, and have not installed any new pieces of hardware (aside from a RAM upgrade to 8.00GB).
Strange thing about 'Safe Mode' is that the device installation stops after 4 unknown devices. So far, my laptop is functional in Safe Mode (as functional as one can be in Safe Mode).
I would appreciate any and all help and thank you in advance for your assistance.

Teddy

Discussion is locked

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True.
Jan 27, 2015 8:09AM PST

Samsung and many other laptops use a custom version of the OS from their makers. I see folk try to install Windows 7 and fail horribly. Reinstall the OS supplied with the laptop and it should work again.

Bob

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Hi Bob
Jan 27, 2015 8:26AM PST

Thank you for replying

I was not provided a CD when I bought my laptop, and I have not done a manual installation of Windows 7. Is there a particularly good way to do this without a CD or USB disk?

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True.
Jan 27, 2015 8:45AM PST

No CD is provided. Samsung lets us create restore media for use when disaster strikes. Many opt not to do that so what happens next? Folk order the media or just install some Linux. Nod to Linux Mint as it's not as hard as some.

That said, I can't guess how your laptop got into such a state. There are so many discussions about malware, the need for backups and recovery media that I usually don't expand too much on those.
Bob

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What about the recovery partition.
Jan 27, 2015 8:58AM PST

Control panel>recovery might let the OP go back to factory settings but without a backup all files will be lost.
Dafydd.

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As more folk crash or run into this other issue.
Jan 27, 2015 9:04AM PST
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Thank you
Jan 27, 2015 9:09AM PST

Thank you.
I was hoping for a solution not requiring a potential of loss, but I think I know how to backup all the important personal files, and most of my software is provided by the university I attend. Any common mistakes I should look out for?

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Jan 27, 2015 9:39AM PST

Go to "msconfig" and select the Startup tab. Do you see any programs you don't remember installing? Uncheck an item to disable it on startup.

In Advanced Boot Options, enable boot logging with Safe Mode. In Safe Mode, go to C:\Windows and open ntbtlog.txt. Does the file tell you which devices or drivers were not loaded?

Go to Computer Management and select the Device Manager node. Do you see any unknown devices, and if so, what part of the laptop are they listed under?

Before deciding to re-install the OS, try reverting to a restore point using System Restore.