Windows 7 freezing/failing to load

[Grozaa]

Hello, I've experienced serious problems with my computer recently so I want to ask you for help.
First problems started on Saturday, when while trying to start the system, occured the error to insert the disk to boot. I ignored it, and reset the computer, and it worked. However next day I had multiple freezes where I could move cursor but communication with system had no effect, so I had to power off the PC(it happened both when playing games, or browsing internet). The next day I would not be able to even load the system, because it would stop either by boot disk error or it would stay forever on starting windows screen. I called the IT-technician but he couldn't find the solution so he just reinstalled windows. What's interesting, while he installed the system, it would not find the second hard drive(it was visible through the device manager, but the disk would not be given a standard letter). The system would work for a day, but then next freezes started, this time however freezes would last for 1-5 minutes but then it would unfreeze. The next day yet again I would not be able to start the system, however when I put the win7 installation disk and run it and use some "repair tools", after restart it repairs some errors and it works again. What's more, if I run the chkdsk command using disk console, it would not see any problems with the ssd but show errors with the 2nd hard drive (including that the file system is not detected as NTFS but something that starts with U...). While running chkdsk with windows, it would not detect any problems at all. And once I was using browser for like 3 hours with no freeze, but when I switched to event viewer tab, it freezed immediately for a while.

So, to summarise:
a) sometimes it can't detect my disk
b) I experience random freezes while running Windows
c) after 1 or 2 times starting Windows, it denies to run and I need to repair it with the disk

What I already did:
a) 3 times memtest 86+ succesfully
b) smart check disk say that both disk are "good", chkdsk sometimes finds error while running not from the windows

What are my ideas of the problem:
a) Windows problems
b) some application causing problems
c) problems with ssd or hard drive
d)viruses(I scanned using avast, nothing found)
e) some power problems (motherboard/power supply)
f) other many weird factors combined
g) some bad drivers

My specs: Windows 7 64bit Home Premium
1. Intel i5 6600k
2. asus strix GTX970
3. RAM corsair 16GB 2133MHz
4. SSD patriot blast 240GB
5. hard drive WDC WD10EZEX-00WN4A0
6. Be Quiet 600W bronze 80+
7. motherboad MSI Z170A

Applications I use:
1.Google chrome
2. Steam
3. CS:GO
4. GOG Galaxy
5. Witcher 3
6. Battle.net
7. Overwatch
8. OpenOffice
9. Avast
10. putty
+ some managers like geforeexperience, killernetworkmanager, realtek, nahimic

Thanks for reading such a long and exhausting essay and thanks for your support.

 

[zer0c00l587]

A failing hard drive that is developing bad sectors will still pass chkdsk command prompt check due to the reallocation of bad sectors that is done by hard drive itself. My recently failed seagate hard drive showed will show up in bios sometimes but not in windows when clicking on "my computer". My pc became sluggish and froze sometimes but not as frequent as yours however the seagate began developing more and more bad sectors and i trashed it after some backups. Download acronis hard drive software for a diagnostic check, it is free.

 

[Grozaa]

According to the acronis test: smart results good, health 100%, critical events like 1.The file system structure on volume C: has been fixed. or 2.The oldest shadow copy volume C: has been removed in order to preserve disk space for the needs of shadow copy of volume C: below the limit defined by the user. or 3.Making a shadow copy of volume C: it has been lost, because you can not enlarge the shadow copy storage because of the limit introduced by the user.
But what is so weird : hard drive temperature 34C, but ssd high alert, 100C? Both disks are close to each other, is this a wrong read or it it real? When I look into smart parameters of ssd, there are two "temperatures", the first one is absurd (128850984990) and the second is 100.

 

[zer0c00l587]

1. Try moving one of the disks to a different bay to create more space between them to dissipate heat easier.
2. Download hardware diagnostics from disk manufacturer if possible.
3. Its possible a system restore to fix the shadowy copy volume issue.
4. Also run command prompt and type "sfc /scannow" which may repair the issue if system restore fails.

or see the following link:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/236933/shadow-copy-error/

 

[Grozaa]

1.I'll try that, should I place ssd higher or lower?
2. What do you mean?
3. Those errors started happening like almost from the beggining, I can't really restore it? Windows reinstalled just two days ago

 

[zer0c00l587]

1. Higher or lower should not make a difference as long as space between them is sufficient and cables connect well.
2. Each HDD manufacturer do have software tools to test their hardware which logic dictates should be more apt for the job than 3rd party tools.
3. If possible download emsisoft antimalware free version which runs two engines, one being bitdefender, update and scan, only quarantine and update it frequently since on each update if they any false positives was found that happened to be quarantined can be safely merged back into windows.

 

[Grozaa]

2. Could you advise me safe tools for my hdd/ssd then?
3. I'll download it, scan and see.

 

[zer0c00l587]

https://patriotmemory.com/product/blast-solid-state-drives/

There is firmware update for those drives according to their site if your firmware is 11.0, 11.1, 12.0 or 12.1

However this should be done at last resort after a complete scan with emsisoft is done, and your antivirus if possible. Run each scan separately, not at the same time, after scan quarantine and reboot, then run antivirus scan and do the same. After reboot open command prompt and type "sfc /scannow" ....note without quotes. Let it do its thing and reboot, test and see if the computer is stable. Now reboot again and re-run sfc command and see if any more errors are found, if no errors its possible this was caused malware issues etc which are now fixed.

At this point you should test how stable the computer is and see if the firmware upgrade of the ssd should be done because this is a risky procedure and may in fact be the solution to the shadow copy volume error. In my opinion such important firmware updates should done when computer is at least free from any virus activity that may cause problems updating the firmware safely,

 

[Grozaa]

So if I understood well : run emsisoft scan, reboot, run avast scan, reboot, type sfc /scannow. Ok, but what if after reboot again windows would not load? Try the same way with the disk, run it again and repeat?

 

[zer0c00l587]

In my experience sometimes chkdsk will show no errors but sfc scan might find some and fix properly restoring health windows installations.

Another command or commands are related dism.exe

1. To check for errors type in command prompt:

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

2. To fix corruption type:

Dism /Image:C:\offline /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:c:\test\mount\windows

However i will only attempt this after sfc scan if errors are persistent. Also note your ssd may require a firmware update as indicated by patriot website.

You also mention that your 2nd drive shows errors in chkdsk, in command prompt select by typing the letter of the said drive, eg, if 2nd drive g:, then type said letter of that drive in command prompt and run sfc scan. Its unlikely sfc scan will cause the windows not too boot. You can check both drives this way obviously include both drives in malware and antivirus scans then try command prompt checks. Then finally see if your ssd needs the firmware update.

 

[Grozaa]

Ok, so I did emsisoft quick and malware scans, nothing detected, however now as I turned system again emsisoft warned me that nahimic\NahimicMSISvc32.exe tried to modificate autostart logs, s should I allow, quarantine or what?

 

[zer0c00l587]

I believe that is part of audio on your computer and is safe.

 

[Grozaa]

I have both nahimic and realtek installed, might it make conflict?

 

[zer0c00l587]

Its possible since realtek is usually a comprehensive sound package without need for added software.

 

[Grozaa]

Ok, so after I rebooted, again errors appeared:
1.BOOTMGR image is corrupt. The system cannot boot
2.The file is possibly corrupt. The file header checksum does not match the computed checksum
3. A disk read error occured. press ctrl alt del to restart

Then I tried to run windows CD, it would load files but stop at black screen at starting. I tried using another CD with memtest on and it worked. Then I unplugged SSD and run win CD again, it worked. I cleaned hdd, used diskpart and installed windows on it. By now everything works fine (besides that of course hdd works slower than ssd). So that should be ssd that caused the problem. Tell me your ideas of what happened, if it's SSD damaged I'll give it back (3 years varranty).

 

[zer0c00l587]

I suspect SSD was faulty or the firmware on it needs updating a.s.a.p.

Considering its still under warranty i would have it replaced, hopefully the new replacement will have the updated firmware already. Suspicion leads to believe the firmware was causing windows to write to the ssd correctly leading to corrupted mbr. However when a hardware is still under warranty best to replace it.