BIOS won't boot Windows 7 repair disc from DVD RW drive.

[Dennis Edwards]

Hi. I'm running Windows 7 Home Edition on an ancient Dell Optiplex 755, and I recently started having blue screen shutdowns . Sometimes the shutdowns are separated by hours, sometimes by days.

My barely rudimentary googling and troubleshooting skills led me to confirm that I have no uninstalled Windows driver updates.

Next on the advice list I ran Driver Hub, which updated several old drivers, but to no avail, as the blue screens continued.

Next advice was that I create a Windows 7 repair disc DVD, and boot from that. I made the disc (I think?), inserted it, and confirmed that Windows Explorer recognizes it. When I rebooted, it went straight to a normal Windows boot. So I opened BIOS and re-ordered the boot drive list, but I noticed that it says listed drives without a boot priority number in front of them, i.e., "1" (first to boot), "2" (second to boot), etc., won't boot. Sure enough, "Onboard and External USB CD Drives," despite my moving it to the top of the list has no boot priority number in front of it. So apparently Windows Explorer recognizes the drive but BIOS doesn't.

????

Suggestions? Of course I'd also welcome any suggestions that go straight to fixing the blue screens. Either way, thanks in advance.

 

[TerryLaze]

To fix the bluescreen you need to provide a lot more info, for now it's like a patient telling his doctor that he has some pain some of the times at one part of their body or an other...not much to go by.

If you don't create the DVD correctly and just copy files to it then it won't be bootable but just have the files on it. You should tell us exactly how you made the DVD. Also if you have a usb stick use that since it can be reused in case it doesn't work the first time.

If you follow this guide it will show you how to make a USB, it will format and create the boot files on it.

How To Repair Windows 7 From USB Flash Drive (Repair Without Installation DVD Disc)

One of the best features of Windows 7 is that it lets you create a repair disc so that you can use it when you encounter problems with the installation.

www.intowindows.com

 

[Dennis Edwards]

Hi. Thanks for the reply and advice. I got BIOS to recognize my DVD Windows 7 repair disc (I had to click the space bar on the DVD RW line in the startup sequence menu). The repair boot found and fixed some unspecified Windows startup problems. I don't know if that fixed whatever has been causing the blue screens . I guess time will tell.

As for the "a lot more info" you say I should provide about the blue screens, I have this post-restart blue screen notice:


Problemsignature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.2
Locale ID: 103

Additionalinformation about the problem:
BCCode: 7a
BCP1: FFFFF6FC50012CC8
BCP2: FFFFFFFFC00000C0
BCP3: 000020009200B880
BCP4: FFFFF8A002599BF8
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 768_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\060523-37206-01.dmp
C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-38017-0.sysdata.xml

Does any of that help? There are ten files (from I presume 10 blue screen incidents over about that past month) in my Windows\Minidump file, but I don't know how to open them or extract what information they hold.

Thanks again.

 

[Dennis Edwards]

Well, I just had another blue screen, so I guess whatever the problem is, the repair disc didn't fix it. The text was cut off on each end of the blue screen, so it's hard to read any of it, but I think it said something about "in page kernel," if that means anything.

Is there anything on my computer I can post here that will help diagnose the problem? The dump alert I got when I rebooted pointed me to two kinds of files, a long xml file that was Greek to me (I opened it in OpenOfficeCalc), and also a mini-dump file which I don't know how to open. Would any of that be useful, and if so, what's the best way for me to post it here?

Thanks again.

 

[Dennis Edwards]

Hi. I'm running Windows 7 Home Edition 64-bit on a Dell Optiplex 755. For the past month I've been getting blue screens on an average of about every couple of days. Following troubleshooting tips I found online, here's what I've done and observed:

1. I have no new hardware attached to the computer.
2. I checked Windows Update and found no uninstalled drivers.
3. I ran Driver Hub, which updated several old drivers. Blue screens continued.
4. I created and ran a Windows 7 repair disc. (Thanks to TerryLaze who helped me find why I previously couldn't get BIOS to recognize the repair disc.) The repair boot found and repaired startup issues, but again, the blue screens continue.
5. Here's the notice I received after one of the blue screens:

Problem signature:​

Problem Event Name: BlueScreen​

OS Version:6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.2​

Locale ID: 103​

​

Additional information about the problem:​

BCCode: 7a​

BCP1:FFFFF6FC50012CC8​

BCP2: FFFFFFFFC00000C0​

BCP3:000020009200B880​

BCP4: FFFFF8A002599BF8​

OS Version:6_1_7601​

Service Pack: 1_0​

Product: 768_1​

​

Files that help describe the problem:​

C:\Windows\Minidump\060523-37206-01.dmp​

C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-38017-0.sysdata.xml​

I located the .dmp files, but don't know how to open them. I opened the .xml file, but don't know what it means. It's a very long file of text. Would it help if I posted it here, and if so, in what format? (I opened it in Open Office Calc.) If the .dmp files would be informative, how should I copy and post them? Any other information I can post that would help diagnose the problem? I'm obviously very much a tech novice, so I apologize for my ignorance. Thanks in advance for any help.


(SIDE QUESTION ABOUT FORUM ETIQUETTE: This post is somewhat of a followup to one I posted Monday, to which TerryHaze kindly replied that night. The topic has evolved from repair discs to blue screens, plus I suspect the first thread is dead, since it's been almost two days since any replies but my own. But I don't know the etiquette here and I don't want to be perceived as spamming the board, so please tell me if this was too soon to post a followup as a new question. If so, how long is it customary to wait? Thanks. [Update: This thread got merged into the original one, so I guess that answers my etiquette question. Thanks.])

 

[BFG-9000]

Unstable is unstable.

Unlike earlier SFF Dells which had a known problem with very defective Nichicon HM and HN capacitors, the 745 and 755 used United-Chemicon KZG or KZJ capacitors which were less likely to go bad--but are now also 16 years old. The PSUs in these also weren't the best, as Dell moved away from PSUs co-branded with some big-name maker like Delta, to ones contract made for them and only labelled "Dell" by any small PSU manufacturer. And some of those cut corners. Remember, these were made during the time Michael Dell was tossed out as CEO (later the board asked him to come back after firing his replacement Kevin Rollins, who steered Dell to a huge decline in stock value, SEC charges for fraudulent accounting, HP overtake Dell, and the largest layoffs in Dell history. So quality was not exactly Job #1 at the time)

At a minimum, inspect the caps on the motherboard and in the PSU for bulging tops, but be aware these are filled with electrolyte and there are obviously two holes in the seals in the bottom for the legs to exit, so they can dry out and test bad with no outward signs.

Automatic driver installers such as DriverHub will only cause problems, and clearly cannot help if the problem is hardware and not drivers.

If you want to check for stability, the fastest way is IntelBurnTest, but the standard is running Prime95 for at least 24h. All of these tests check different things and I have seen a system that could pass a Memtest-86 variant flawlessly wasn't even stable enough to boot into Windows, so it doesn't hurt to run all of them to rule out hardware.

 

[Dennis Edwards]

Unstable is unstable.

Unlike earlier SFF Dells which had a known problem with very defective Nichicon HM and HN capacitors, the 745 and 755 used United-Chemicon KZG or KZJ capacitors which were less likely to go bad--but are now also 16 years old. The PSUs in these also weren't the best, as Dell moved away from PSUs co-branded with some big-name maker like Delta, to ones contract made for them and only labelled "Dell" by any small PSU manufacturer. And some of those cut corners. Remember, these were made during the time Michael Dell was tossed out as CEO (later the board asked him to come back after firing his replacement Kevin Rollins, who steered Dell to a huge decline in stock value, SEC charges for fraudulent accounting, HP overtake Dell, and the largest layoffs in Dell history. So quality was not exactly Job #1 at the time)

At a minimum, inspect the caps on the motherboard and in the PSU for bulging tops, but be aware these are filled with electrolyte and there are obviously two holes in the seals in the bottom for the legs to exit, so they can dry out and test bad with no outward signs.

Automatic driver installers such as DriverHub will only cause problems, and clearly cannot help if the problem is hardware and not drivers.

If you want to check for stability, the fastest way is IntelBurnTest, but the standard is running Prime95 for at least 24h. All of these tests check different things and I have seen a system that could pass a Memtest-86 variant flawlessly wasn't even stable enough to boot into Windows, so it doesn't hurt to run all of them to rule out hardware.

Thanks for the detailed reply, BFG-9000. Unfortunately, it's probably not an exaggeration to say every word of it went over my head. I'm old and technologically illiterate. The height of my technological achievement is probably changing the boot order in my BIOS. Everything you wrote is Greek to me. But I do thank you sincerely for the effort. I'm sorry it was lost on me.

 

[BFG-9000]

Your Dell is known for needing repairs in order to keep it running.

Software can be used to test if such repairs are needed, and if they detect errors then you 'd know the problem is in hardware and not your drivers or Windows. I suggested the names of two of these.

 

[Dennis Edwards]

Thank you.