Windows 7 System Recovery Options is not compatible--what to do?

Hastibe · Feb 25, 2015

After trying to resume my laptop (Lenovo Y480) from hibernation (do this almost every day), it didn't start-up (just stayed running on a lit, black screen). Powered it off and back on, and nada. Just goes back to a lit, black screen now. Also tried doing a hard reset by unplugging it, taking the battery out, and holding down the power button, but no dice.

I can access BIOS and the boot device options, and it will boot off of the Windows 7 x64 DVD from which I originally installed the OS, but when I try to run system repair, this is the message the DVD gives me:

"This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of windows you are trying to repair. Try using a recovery disc that is compatible with this version of windows."

...Talk about letting me down when I needed it! What can I do to repair my Windows 7 installation (assuming that's the problem)? Any help would be very appreciated!

RaDiKaL_ · Feb 25, 2015

With the laptop turned off, remove its battery for 1min and then put it again, turn on the laptop and press F8 to get into Windows boot options, select boot in safe mode, once in windows safe mode simply restart your laptop, this should break the hibernation cycle.

kr0nic1 · Feb 25, 2015

that message normally comes up when your using a 32bit windows disk on a 64bit Os, or vice versa
you could always download and burn a copy of the dart tools from Microsoft, and use that to do system repair, or you could try a diff windows disk,
if your dealing with non store brought software, its quite common for the 64bit Os to be installed on a 32bit boot disk witch means the system repair wont work as theres 2 diff versions for 32 bit and 64bit same thing can happen if your trying to install raid drivers and your windows disk has the wrong version of the bootloader

Hastibe · Feb 25, 2015

RaDiKaL_ :

Unfortunately, that didn't work--same thing as before, it shows the BIOS page and then immediately goes to a lit, black screen (with a non-flashing white underscore in the top, left-hand side).

Hastibe · Feb 25, 2015

kr0nic1 :

I tried using a legitimate Windows 7 Pro x64 DVD for a Windows 7 Pro x64 installation.

kr0nic1 :

This is making me feel like an idiot, but I can't find any links to download or buy Microsoft DaRT--do you have any suggestions about how I go about getting this?

kr0nic1 :

I was just about to protest that I have a legitimate installation of Windows 7 Pro, but I actually honestly don't know--I got this laptop from a friend with the operating system already installed. I've never had any notifications about it not being genuine, but I'm not sure if it is. If the installation isn't genuine, is my only option for recovery getting the data off of the hard drive via an external enclosure or something and then formatting it and starting over with a fresh install? Ughhhhh...

Hastibe · Feb 26, 2015

Any other ideas, guys? It won't let me boot from anything, but this Windows 7 Pro x64 DVD that I have. Tried using a Windows 7 x64 repair disk, a bootable USB version of it, the Ultimate Boot CD, a Lenovo OneKey Recovery DVD I had created a few years ago, a rescue CD for Macrium Reflect, and, it won't allow booting from any of them. I select to boot from the the device in the boot options menu, and then it just goes to a lit, black screen.

For the Windows 7 Pro x64 DVD, I can select to boot from the DVD drive via EFI; I don't get that option for any of the other DVDs/CDs/USBs. I have enabled USB boot in the UEFI (we don't call it BIOS anymore?) and I've tried disabling UEFI in the UEFI or BIOS or whatever, and that doesn't change anything, as far as I can tell.

Please help? What else should/can I try?

RaDiKaL_ · Feb 26, 2015

Gotta break the hibernation cycle somehow, try booting with a Live OS like Ubuntu, once in Ubuntu look for the hiberfil.sys file and rename it, i.e. hiberfil.sys.bak, restart your laptop, possibly it will give an error on next boot, in the next one however it should boot to Windows or at least allow you to enter Windows Boot options with F8 and choose from there safe mode.

Hastibe · Feb 26, 2015

I'm happy to try that, but I haven't been able to get any boot DVDs/CDs/USBs to work. You think a Live OS Ubuntu one will work?

Hastibe · Feb 26, 2015

Well, go figure that it takes Linux to fix Windows.

The Ubuntu Live OS worked! I can't access my hard drive, though, it gives this error:

"Error mounting /dev/sda2 at /media/ubuntu/Boot: Command-line 'mount-t"ntfs"-o"uhelper-udisks2,nodev,nosuid,uid=999,gid=999,dmask=0077,fmask=0177" "/dev/sdsa2" "/media/ubuntu/Boot'" exited with non-zero exit status 14: Windows is hibernated, refused to mount. Failed to mount '/dev/sda2': Operation not permitted
The NTFS partition is in an unsafe place. Please resume and shutdown Windows fully (no hibernation or fast restarting), or mount the volume read-only with the 'ro' mount option.

Hastibe · Feb 26, 2015

Ran boot-repair, just for the heck of it, no luck: paste.ubuntu.com/10438984

Hastibe · Feb 26, 2015

Okay, actually running boot-repair allows me to mount my hard drive now. BUT, there isn't any hiberfil.sys file on C:. Still just going to a lit, black screen when I try to load Windows. What else can I try in Ubuntu?

RaDiKaL_ · Feb 26, 2015

hmm, really strange, there should be that file...

At this point I only see two options, either find out in other forums how to change windows registry to stop trying to boot from hiberfil.sys (+ how to do it from Linux or at least a Live Mini Windows XP like the one in Hiren's Boot), or with Linux/ Mini Win XP backup all your data and do a fresh install.

Hastibe · Feb 26, 2015

RaDiKaL_ :

Spent the last couple hours figuring out how to edit the Windows registry using chntpw in Unbuntu, and successfully disabled hibernation, but not change. Let me know if you have any other ideas about registry edits I should try?

Hastibe · Feb 26, 2015

Okay, and actually I didn't successfully disable hibernation--chntpw isn't saving the changes I made to the registry. It's suppose to prompt me to save them when I quit, but it isn't. Can't find anything online about what I or the program might be doing wrong--GAH.

UPDATE: okay, got chntpw to save the changes (just had to start it "chntpw -e"), but, no change.

Hastibe · Feb 27, 2015

...And another update: I can also get access to a DOS command prompt via a Windows PE 5.0 boot USB. Just ran a chkdsk--no problems. Running this now: sfc /scannow /offbootdir=e:\ /offwindir=c:\windows -- no issues found.

RaDiKaL_ · Feb 27, 2015

Keep digging in other forums or try microsoft support forum, there must be some command to disable the awake from hibernation attempt, otherwise, reinstall.

Hastibe · Feb 28, 2015

Thanks for the response, but I'm not sure if that's the problem anymore. There is no hiberfil.sys file, after all, and I did successfully edit the registry to disable hibernation (following the "Disable Hibernate Through Regedit" section in http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7564/how-to-manage-hibernate-mode-in-windows-7/) via chntpw in Ubuntu.

FALC0N · Feb 28, 2015

Not sure why you thought it was a hibernation issue. I don't see any evidence of that.

Nobody has mentioned safe mode. Can you boot into safe mode? Also, do you have windows 7 pro installed? I know you said the disk was windows 7 professional, but no mention of the edition installed.

FALC0N · Feb 28, 2015

Nevermind, somebody did mention safe mode. No windows splash screen? Just straight to black?

Hastibe · Feb 28, 2015

FALC0N :

Thanks for your posts, but read the first post dood.

Windows 7 System Recovery Options is not compatible--what to do?

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