Windows 7 home premium won't boot when updating

[Bucman55]

Last week I got the infamous "Startup repair loop" and I was unable to fix it. This frustrated me and led me to reinstall Windows. After the install, everything seemed to be fine except for the fact that if I downloaded and attempted to install my driver software (AMD Catalyst 15.7.1) windows would not boot up normally. I could however, boot in safe mode which I used to do a system restore to before I installed the driver software. I tried updating windows, but for whatever reason it won't boot normally and when I try to boot it in safe mode I get the "Failure configuring Windows updates. Reverting changes" message and it can never seem to get past that. I've tried re-reinstalling windows, but the same thing happened. The only thing that I can think of now is to buy Windows 10, since I can't do the free upgrade. Any information about fixing this problem would be greatly appreciated.

 

[0xBahaa]

If you're happy with windows 7, then we'll fix it. No need to buy another license.
Could you try this please and tell me the results?
1- Boot into "safemode with networking".
2- Download and run Display Driver Uninstaller (right click, run as admin). Use it to remove the AMD drivers.
3- Try booting into windows 7 normally.
If it still doesn't work, try the following:
4- Boot again into safemode.
5- open "add or remove programs"
6- click "view installed updates". like this picture
7- uninstall the latest updates.
Then try rebooting into normal mode.
.
Side note: I want u to know that display drivers could sometimes cause a huge pain. Let's get the windows up and running first, then we'll see about the display driver

 

[Bucman55]

Ok so I figured out that the video card is somehow responsible as when I boot it up without the video card it boots just fine. It's an AMD Radeon HD 6870, thought that might help.

 

[0xBahaa]

Ok so I figured out that the video card is somehow responsible as when I boot it up without the video card it boots just fine. It's an AMD Radeon HD 6870, thought that might help.

I was pretty sure that it's the culprit.
Did you follow the steps above and remove the drivers?
After that, open "device manager" from start menu, and you should see the AMD card appearing there with a yellow mark beside it.
like this:

Confirm that to me so that we can proceed from there.

 

[Bucman55]

I followed steps 1-3 and it booted fine however, in "Device Manager" under "Display adapters" it only has "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter" with no yellow mark. Did I do something wrong?

 

[0xBahaa]

I followed steps 1-3 and it booted fine however, in "Device Manager" under "Display adapters" it only has "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter" with no yellow mark. Did I do something wrong?

That's OK. As long as it doesn't say "AMD Radeon 6870".
Now, download this driver (the same one that you have):
AMD Catalyst + driver 15.7.1
Right click it > run as admin > install it > finish the installation > reboot.
Then check to see if all goes well. I'm waiting for ur response

 

[Bucman55]

Unfortunately all did not go well. I got the black screen again. I can boot in safe mode though. Before that, one thing changed. I got the windows 10 app on the desktop so I'm thinking maybe I could do the free upgrade to Windows 10 and that could possibly change things but I'm unsure.

 

[0xBahaa]

Unfortunately all did not go well. I got the black screen again. I can boot in safe mode though. Before that, one thing changed. I got the windows 10 app on the desktop so I'm thinking maybe I could do the free upgrade to Windows 10 and that could possibly change things but I'm unsure.

Alright.
First step is to boot into safemode > use DDU > uninstall drivers > reboot into normal mode.
Only update to windows 10 if you want. We can get windows 7 working if you wish.
Anyways, you currently have "windows updates" set to "Automatically install updates". We don't want it that way.
Open start menu > windows update > change settings (at the left).
make it like this: "Check for updates, but let me choose whether to download/install"

then go back and check for available updates..
install all "important" updates, not the "optional" ones now.
Click on important, check all. Go back, click on "optional", uncheck all.
But note that under "important" updates (if u click on it), there may be Windows 10 down there. Uncheck it if u don't want it.
Either way, tell me after u finish installing all "important" windows updates.

 

[Bucman55]

I've already installed all of the updates available, should I uninstall the optional ones? Also there's one thing I neglected to mention, whenever I start up the computer I get a screen saying "Using PCIE gen 2" and right under that it says "couldn't find device". I don't know if that has anything to do with anything, but better safe than sorry.

 

[Bucman55]

Ok scratch that, I just found 17 important updates to download and install which I am doing now. Just a side note I only want to do Windows 10 as a last resort if we can't get Windows 7 working.

 

[0xBahaa]

Ok scratch that, I just found 17 important updates to download and install which I am doing now. Just a side note I only want to do Windows 10 as a last resort if we can't get Windows 7 working.

Nice.
Don't uninstall the optional ones, just let them be.
Now, after installing all updates, reboot the pc.
Download this driver:
AMD catalyst Omega 14.12
and right click > run as admin.
After installation, reboot and report back to me.
Good luck

EDIT:
fixed the download link, sorry about that.

 

[Bucman55]

Ok for whatever reason I couldn't boot up normally after the updates. I might have to do a system restore to an earlier point in time.

EDIT:
Good news, I don't have to do a System Restore although now Windows claims to never have been updated. I'll just check for updates like normal.

EDIT DEUX:
Uh one of the updates is for my Video Card and I don't know for sure if I should install it. For now I'm gonna install all the other updates.

 

[0xBahaa]

Uh one of the updates is for my Video Card and I don't know for sure if I should install it. For now I'm gonna install all the other updates.

Very good, don't udpate the video card this way ever. Always download the latest catalyst from "amd.com" and install it. Just in this case we will not be using the latest one, cuz it's known for having issues with some people.
.
So, what's the status now?
Is the graphics card driver installed? (The last link I gave you)
And is windows booting fine?

 

[Bucman55]

Sorry for the late reply, I installed the driver, but Windows continues to boot to black screen.

 

[0xBahaa]

You're sure that you don't have an intel card there too?
Now try this:
1- Boot into safe mode, and remove all display drivers using DDU.
2- Boot into normal mode and download CCleaner.
3- Install and run CCleaner. Choose "registry" from the left pane, and then find & repair all errors.
4- after it's done, reboot.
5- Install the AMD drivers from the package you downloaded from the last link.
Try that and report back

 

[Bucman55]

Yes I'm sure there's no Intel. As for the rest, that'll take a while because I'll have to downgrade from W 10. Turns out it's more trouble than my current problem.

 

[0xBahaa]

Could you try to install the AMD drivers first?
Let's check to see whether they'll work fine on windows 10.
The 15.7.1 driver should work with it, not the last one I gave you.

 

[Bucman55]

I tried but Windows kept restarting during the installation and it was never able to finish.

 

[0xBahaa]

I tried but Windows kept restarting during the installation and it was never able to finish.

That's strange.
Run DDU there too > reboot > install CCleaner and clean the registry > reboot > install the driver afterwards.
Note: When running DDU, check the "remove C:\AMD or C:\Nvidia folders".

 

[Bucman55]

I think you should know that I'm just got a new video card and it works fine. I installed the driver software and everything works.

 

[0xBahaa]

I think you should know that I'm just got a new video card and it works fine. I installed the driver software and everything works.

So it was a faulty card.
Anyways, I'm glad it was solved