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Question

Win7 Reboot loop "starting windows"

Oct 8, 2015 1:37PM PDT

My mother's computer has been having problems. It's loud, very slow and loops a reboot after the "starting windows" shows. I've cleaned the hardware (was necessary) to see if it helped but it didn't. I CAN access the bios and have tried recovering via the backup CD/DVD. After booting from the CD, it shows windows loading files and then goes to the recovery. However, it keeps loading and keeps me waiting (for as long as 4 hours +) without going further. This may be because of an unreadable CD though, it's quite old and full of scratches.

The computer itself is about 4 years old, but always ran pretty smooth up until this week. Hadn't installed Win10, so the OS is still Win7, it didn't happen during updates (that I know of), just out of the blue.

Update: Found a good CD, made it through language selection and waiting at "starting setup" now...

Discussion is locked

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Answer
PS:
Oct 8, 2015 1:55PM PDT

I should add that I am able to enter BIOS but booting Safe Mode will NOT work either.

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First I'd try booting from a repair disc.
Oct 8, 2015 2:14PM PDT

If you don't have one, you can make one on any Windows 7 system that is either 32 or 64 bit version matching your mother's. If that doesn't work, you probably need to boot from a live disc (like maybe Mint Linux) and save any data you don't want to lose, then restore to factory settings.
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When you've gotten that system back like you want it, I urge you to get yourself an external hard drive and a good 3rd party backup program. You can set it up to do everything automagically at the time and frequency of your choice. 1 TB external hard drives are about $50 these days and a really good FREE backup program is the Easeus Todo Backup Free. That can save you a lot of time and frustration the next time something like this happens. Sooner or later it happens to all computers for one reason or another.

Good luck.

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Disc
Oct 8, 2015 2:35PM PDT

I am trying a legit reinstallation disc as we speak, as for keeping any data, she saves everything to an external hard drive anyway, so a clean format would be okay. It's getting the whole format done that will be challenging.

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Formatting is easy, but be sure you have the drivers!
Oct 8, 2015 2:57PM PDT

There's a good bit more to reinstalling Windows than just formatting and popping in the install disc. You need to get the right drivers from the computer's manufacturer (whoever that is - you didn't say) and install them in the right order. It's far better to restore to factory settings using the procedure in the user guide - that way you automatically get the right drivers and everything that came with the computer when it was new.
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Good luck.

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Format
Oct 8, 2015 3:01PM PDT

Yeah, wanted to put it in but seems like you can't edit posts.
It's a Packard Bell computer, I've tried both the repair and install options but they end up loading forever without getting where they need to be.

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Edit is done by clicking preview before you post.
Oct 8, 2015 3:06PM PDT

Dafydd.

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Repair & install are NOT same as restore to factory settings
Oct 8, 2015 3:12PM PDT

You're going down the wrong path. Go to the Packard Bell web site and download the user guide for that computer. Then read how to restore to factory settings. My computers are Dell, Toshiba, and HP, so I don't know the Packard Bell procedure, but there should be a procedure to restore to factory settings that will save you a lot of grief and blind alleys.
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Good luck.

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I have a PB desktop.
Oct 8, 2015 3:27PM PDT

From memory it's control panel>recovery>restore to factory settings. Not on it at the moment so can't check.
Dafydd.
Typo edited.

Post was last edited on October 8, 2015 3:30 PM PDT

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Restore
Oct 8, 2015 5:17PM PDT

To do this you'd have to be able to log onto your computer, I know where it is when you can access it. Won't help me if I can't get the computer to boot.

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Restore
Oct 8, 2015 5:18PM PDT

I"ll go and have a look!