Sunday 10 August 2014

How to Fix 'Startup Repair Cannot Repair this Computer Automatically'?

Windows users comes with a problem of unbootable PC and they will end up with fresh installation of Windows. However, startup repair is introduced to repair your inaccessible PC without Windows reinstallation. It can thoroughly scans your computer and diagnose the problem as well as repair it and makes your PC bootable again.

However, at times, startup repair might unable to repair your computer and stuck in never ending loop, also known as ‘Startup Repair loop’. Users will see the error message mentioned below when such situation strikes to their PC (need to click on ‘view details’ to see the complete error message):

Problem signature:
Problem Event name : StartupRepairOffline
Problem Signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 02: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 03: unknown
Problem Signature 04: -1
Problem Signature 05: ExternalMedia
Problem Signature 06: 1
Problem Signature 07: NoOSInstalled
POS Version: 6.1.7600.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033


Most importantly, Windows will suggest no alternatives to fix this problem and some people will simply give up reinstall Windows.

Reasons
There can be various reasons due to which startup repair might failed to repair computers:
  1. Power Outage
    Sudden power outage can cause corrupt file systems that are needed to boot the system as well as repair your computer. As startup repair will look for those files to get the detailed problem info, it’ll eventually fail as those files were gone missing or damaged due to power outage.
  2. Missing boot manager
    Sometime, Windows may give you freezes or complete hangs and asks you to force restart it. As soon as you restart your PC, Windows might give you the error message ‘Boot manager is missing or corrupt’. Running startup repair wouldn’t help either and comes with the same error message stated at the top.
  3. Damaged or failing boot media
    sometimes, the bootable media itself gone corrupt and make your bootable files corrupt or damaged. Moreover, it prevents startup repair to replace those corrupt files and make the PC working again. As soon as you choose to run startup repair, it may eventually fails and gives you the said error message.
  4. There may be various other reasons due to which startup repair might not repair your computer, such as corrupt file system, registry damages or virus infections.

Move forward to see the solutions and repair your computer manually.

Solutions
You may need Windows setup disc provided to you while purchasing your PC. You can ask for it from colleagues or borrow from friends, if you don’t have any. You’ll need to look for suitable solutions that may apply to your particular case and follow the steps accordingly.

#1. Perform CHKDSK operation
  •  As asked previously, insert windows installation or setup disc into the drive and restart your PC. As soon as the system starts, start tapping F10 or ‘Space’ button to boot system using the bootable disc.
  • Press ‘Enter’ when the message ‘Press any key to boot from CD or DVD’ appears on your screen.
  • Select the desired parameters like language, time, currency, keyboard input method etc. and click ‘Next’
  • Choose to ‘Repair Your Computer’ when the message appears and click ‘Next’
  • Select the copy of Windows you want to repair, that is the C:\ drive of your computer. Click ‘Next’ to proceed.
  • ‘System Recovery Options’ screen will appears containing list of recovery and repair options. Click on the ‘Command Prompt’ option listed at the very bottom.
  • Enter the following command as soon as the black box appears:

    chkdsk C: /f /r
Where C:\ is the drive containing bootable copy of Windows and you want it to repair.
Once the task completes, system will automatically reboots and allows you to access your computer as you normally do.

#2. Repair Missing Boot Manager
Boot manager may have missing or damaged files due to virus injections, hard drive or operating system upgrades, bad or failing hard drives, outdated BIOS etc. Good news is, you can easily repair using few simple commands and make your system working again without even running ‘Startup Repair’ tool.
  • Follow steps from ‘a’ to ‘f’ mentioned in the ‘solution #1’.
  • Once you are at the command prompt screen, enter the below given commands to repair boot manager

    bootrec /fixmbr
    bootrec /fixboot

  • Once the above command completed, again enter the following:

    sfc /scannow /offbootdir=d:\/offwindir=D:\windows

Once the command completed its intended task, system will reboot automatically and wipes out the problem you are facing previously.

#3. Rebuild or Repair BCD
Corrupt Boot Configuration Data (BCD) can make your system inaccessible or unbootable as well as prevent startup repair tool to repair your computer. To repair or rebuild BCD, follow the steps mentioned below:
  • Again, follow steps from ‘a’ to ‘f’ under the ‘solution #1’
  • At the command prompt window, type the below command and hit enter

    bootrec /rebuildBCD
  • Type ‘Yes’ and hit enter when asked and bootrec.exe tool will add a new entry to the BCD store. A confirmation dialog will appear confirming that the entry was successful.

    If you don’t see any such confirmation message, most probably bootrec.exe cannot able to locate missing BCD store and you’ll need to manually recreate it. To add this entry manually, type the below given commands in the order they are given

    bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
    run c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
    Bootrec /rebuildbcd

Type ‘Exit’ and hit enter to step out from the command prompt and restart your computer.
Keep in mind that if none of the above solution seems helpful in your case, you might need to reinstall a fresh copy of Windows to access your computer as you previously do.

If you’ve already faced the problem in past and get over from it using different methods, feel free to share it with us.