Reight then, my computer won't boot windows 10 or install Windows 7, can't do a system recovery also. Tried to reinstall Windows 7 but it gets so far and tells me that Windows experienced a problem, the CPU led lights up red and just loops with the same problem. Now the problem first occurred when it wouldn't boot Windows 10, got blue screen of death saying: BAD SYSTEM CONF INFO Built this pc myself about 18 months ago and am stumped, any ideas? Thanks
Not sure if this helps but try pressing F9 whilst switching on pc. This will take you to the boot menu. Try re-ordering the boot sequence. Might help. Good luck.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...bugger/bug-check-0x74--bad-system-config-info https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...o/55c24608-4a0c-4d30-b68c-9457ed7c114b?auth=1
One of my PC's did this, and Microsoft are utter **** ******s. Turned out to be a RAM issue, but Windows corrupted itself. Took me flipping ages to diagnose it. Sorry, this is absolutely no help to you.
If the Tom's hardware link hasn't worked and If you have the original Windows OS disk or a recovery disk you should at least ensure the PC boots from the DVD drive rfirst ather than the HDD, then you should be able to reinstall or repair the OS boot sector. Power on the PC and keep pressing the Delete or F2 key until the PC enters the BIOS screen. From there you can alter the start up order. Then put the CD/DVD in the drive and restart the PC. It should start up via the DVD and prompt you to either reinstall windows or repair Windows from the DVD. Be aware the reinstall option may delete all your files unless you had partitioned your HDD (or store files on a separate drive or on the cloud) Repair should attempt to repair the boot sector and allow the PC to function normally. If this doesn't work you may have memory/hardware problems . Don't see how you can use diagnostic software without the OS functional first and you need the original media to fix a corrupted OS If the PC does fire up after the reinstall you can then re-enter BIOS and change the startup order back to HDD >DVD
Thanks for that, yes I have done all of the above. Ordered a new cpu and have got some spare ram I can swap, just hope it's not the motherboard.
Happened to me quite a few years ago with Windows XP. Back then I reformatted the hard drive and started from scratch. Worked for me.
I'm not sure if it's still relevant, but I had the same problem a few years ago, a bbs'er on here suggested I download Knoppix....it's a version of Linux that runs as an OS from the disc itself, cutting windows out of it completely, the beauty of it is it allows you to see the hard disc as it is and save your info by transferring to another disc or USB drive...you can also go online with it, perhaps you can transfer the stuff to cloud storage? (It wasn't available then) My basic problem turned out to be the drive with windows on was failing, but Knoppix saved all my files...for which I shall be eternally grateful.
Hiren Boot CD does a similar thing. It has loads of testing software on it as well as a Mini Windows XP that lets you see the files of the hard drive to save them.
Personally I prefer the backup approach rather than risk losing stuff. Even if you have files photos etc on a separate partition or HDD if you to re-format the HDD then install the original OS from the media disk and you then find you spend hours installing OS updates software and software updates and personalisations. I dont think MS backup is particularly good nor the freebies on the internet. There are many products out there but I swear by Acronis True Image. I have found it easy to use. You select the type of backup you want (incremental, full, and scheduled backups) then select source drive partitions and then target drive (preferably an external USB one at least the size of the drive you are imaging, then Start. This simplicity means you are less likely to forget/ or decide you cant be ar*ed to do regular updates. etc . You can create a bootable DVD and whilst there are cheaper (or free) products out there, they often work right up to the point where you want to reinstall the image. One thing I like (although it may exist on other software) is that a backup full disk image can be viewed and files opened unlike some which create a single archived compressed file. Besides creating a full image of a physical drive (including all the partitions and boot sector etc) which, lets face it , you only need to do if you update software or after critical OS updates, you can select folders and files to create a separate data files backup daily weekly or manually. Overall it is far easier than having to format a drive then manually install the OS from scratch and apply updates. As an endorsement I bought a SSD for a Digital Audio Workstation replacing an old slower HDD and used Acronis to transfer the entire HDD content including the partition structure, OS and data to the new SSD. (I know Kingston SSDs usually come with software to transfer the contents of the old drive to the new one but I was more comfortable using the Acronis). The whole process took 20 minutes to install the SSD ins a spare slot, and about an hour to copy the HDD content to the SSD. I then formatted and partitioned the old HDD to use as data storage. I have done the same in an old laptop replacing a HDD with an SSD putting the HDD in an external USB case and using to backup to.