Question Windows 10 Not Booting - A recently served boot binary is corrupt

[Thisisnotharry]

I turned off my PC after gaming yesterday and turned it on just a few minutes ago to find it not booting. It just says "Preparing Automatic Repair" and sometimes goes to the "Startup Repair could not fix your PC", other times it gets stuck in a black screen boot loop. Yesterday there was quite an intense thunderstorm over my area, but I don't think it affected anything at the time. Could this be an effect of the thunderstorm? If so, how can I fix it? If not, what is this error caused by and how can I fix it WITHOUT reinstalling Windows. If I need to reinstall Windows it will be my last choice and I won't be very happy about it as I've got years worth of pictures & old games on there.

The error located in the log file at D:\Windows\System32\Logfiles\Srt\SrtTrail.txt says ERROR LOCATED - A BOOT BINARY IS CORRUPT

 

[USAFRet]

and I won't be very happy about it as I've got years worth of pictures & old games on there.

That is specifically why backups are preached around here.

Your data should never ever be at the mercy of a single drive or system. Ever.


The problem?
Could be a lot of things.
Dead/dying drive, faulty motherboard, bad cable, corrupt data, etc, etc.

 

[Thisisnotharry]

That is specifically why backups are preached around here.

Your data should never ever be at the mercy of a single drive or system. Ever.

I hate to be rude but it's a little bit late for that now isn't it? But I will be sure to backup weekly when I get my PC working again, thanks for the tip.

What do you think the most common problem for this is, I don't really wanna make a hole in my wallet to buy a new motherboard & cables.

 

[USAFRet]

I hate to be rude but it's a little bit late for that now isn't it? But I will be sure to backup weekly when I get my PC working again, thanks for the tip.

What do you think the most common problem for this is, I don't really wanna make a hole in my wallet to buy a new motherboard & cables.

There is no single 'common problem'.

What resources do you have for some diagnostics?
Another PC, possibly?
Connect the drive to some other system, and see if it can be read.



Backups, like car insurance, are what you do before the BadThing happens.
We've all lost data. Smart people make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

[Thisisnotharry]

Yes, the drive can be read

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, the drive can be read

Details, please....read how, exactly?

 

[Thisisnotharry]

I can access all the files when I connect it to another PC - just can't boot on my main.

 

[USAFRet]

I can access all the files when I connect it to another PC - just can't boot on my main.

So...

Copy all your files off to some other drive.

Put this drive back into its original system.
Boot from a Win 10 USB, and start the install.
Just start it, not go all the way through.

Does this drive seem viable for an install?

 

[Thisisnotharry]

Okay, but wouldn't some apps need to write things to the registry during the initial installation process therefore if the files weren't sent to the registry it would cause problems later down the line?

 

[USAFRet]

Okay, but wouldn't some apps need to write things to the registry during the initial installation process therefore if the files weren't sent to the registry it would cause problems later down the line?

If doing a full OS reinstall, yes..applications will need to be reinstalled as well.

That above test is just to verify the drive/cable/motherboard.
We're not yet at the point of doing an OS install.

 

[Thisisnotharry]

Yeah it lets me select it for an OS reinstall.

 

[USAFRet]

Yeah it lets me select it for an OS reinstall.

At this point, you may want to consider a full wipe and reinstall.

Even if you were able to reconstruct the boot partition, there may be (probably is) other data on that drive that has been corrupted.

What size/make/model drive is it?
How old?

 

[Thisisnotharry]

I think I've just found the problem.

I went onto Advanced Options and clicked command prompt.
Then I typed notepad, clicked save as and found that the system's C:\ drive is my 1TB hard drive where Windows isn't located. The Windows operating system drive is marked as D:\ how can I change this, I didn't make any configuration to the letters, or is that normal when you are in the recovery environment?

I will attach a picture.

 

[Thisisnotharry]

 

[USAFRet]

With the system running, please show a screencap of the Disk Management window.
"drive letters" in File Explorer are mostly irrelevant.

 

[Thisisnotharry]

I did what you said and performed a clean installation of windows and now the problem is gone, thanks.