Vista Startup Repair Can Not Repair This Computer Automatically. Part 4 of 4. Solution to Recover My Hard Drive Data.

Wow, you stayed with me till the bitter end. This is the last part of the "Vista Startup Repair Can Not Repair This Computer Automatically" problem. My Vista laptop got fixed exactly along these lines. What about yours? Read on...



If your Windows Vista is booting into Vista System Recovery and your Startup Repair Tool fails with the message "Startup Repair Can Not Repair This Computer Automatically", then you will find a treat here by reading on. You'll find several possibilities to restore your Vista system and recover your Hard Drive Data. One of them just might work for you!

After two (2) of the Blue Screen of Death crashes, my Vista will not boot properly. My laptop consistently refuses to boot Vista and goes into Vista System Recovery mode. This is preventing me from recovering my hard drive data or using Vista in general.

I tried all possible options there and found out that the hard drive seems in good shape and the laptop memory seems in good shape. But the Vista Startup Repair Tool which is an option in Vista Startup Recovery mode failed to fix the Vista system and therefore my laptop will not boot to Vista.

I looked into the details of the Startup Repair log I found after  I got the "Startup Repair Can Not Repair This Computer Automatically" message. The Startup Repair log reported that "Boot critical file c:\windows\system32\drivers\euqvfx.sys is corrupt" and that the attempted file repair failed.

Curiously, I did find an article at http://ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=1372 . This looked like some great and simple advice on how to fix driver files manually after Startup Repair failed with the dreaded "Startup Repair Can Not Repair This Computer Automatically" message!

Following ocmodshop.com advice I changed directory from X:\windows to c:\windows

cd c:\windows

and searched for OTHER (spare?) copies of euqvfx.sys in ALL subdirectories with the option "/d". If you follow this step, you need to replace euqvfx.sys with the system file that your scan found corrupt.

dir euqvfx.sys /d

Well.. surprise! dir command finished but NO other copies were found, and the single euqvfx.sys in c:\windows\system32\drivers\ had size 0 (ZERO).

I searched the X: disk as well, nothing, no euqvfx.sys found!

Hmm, how important can this file be for boot if it has no spare copies? And is not present at all on the Recovery Partition X:?

So I decided bravely  to simply delete the file:

del c:\windows\system32\drivers\euqvfx.sys

And guess what, after a reboot, sfc /scannnow ran to completion successfully and I was later also able to boot into Vista proper. My files are ALL restored back in places where I left them, and I have normal access to everything! Even now, after three days (probably many more as you read this), typing this on the same laptop, I see NO problems whatsoever with my system. My problem solved! My hard drive data recovered!

To summarize Part 1 to Part 4, You have seen that when Vista computer crashes with several Blue Screens of Death it does cause trouble with system boot and Vista in general. You've seen that the system might repeatedly boot into Vista System Recovery. You've seen that checking the disk and memory might show nothing is wrong. You have seen two ways of using Vista Startup Repair Tool, automatic and manual. Even if automatic Startup Repair fails, you still have a chance. In case of a corrupt file, you can replace that file, or, like I did, remove it (take a deep breath before you to that!)!

My problem solved. Maybe this will help you too?

Let me know what are the symptoms of the problem you have. Did you find the solution above helpful? Mind you, if you repeat what I did or do something similar, you are on your own. I can not accept any responsibility for the potential damage.... But since you can not start Vista anyways, how much damage can there be....? Well, before doing any deletions and such, I suggest to at least copy the data you need from the C: drive and the D: drive to the DVD or CD drive in your laptop. You should have no problem doing that if you know how to work the command line tool.

The above solution may not help you. Still, realize, going into vista System Recovery options screen is not the end of the world. A good computer repair shop in your town can very likely help you recover hard disk data first before fixing or reinstalling the Windows system. Professional help will, however, cost quite some money. But it may save you a lot of time and frustration.

Good luck!

Let me know in the comment if you had any of the symptoms I described here and in the previous 3 posts. Also please let me know whether any of the possible solutions were helpful to you.

Just leave me a comment, will you?

Vista Startup Repair Tool Saves The Day? Part 3 of 4.

If you followed me from Part 1 of 4, How to Fix a Crashed Computer, you know that after the computer crash the laptop was persistently booted into Vista System Recovery. Is that happening with your computer too?  The System Recovery Options screen came up every time for me and I tried all options available there except one, Windows Vista Startup Repair Tool.




I launched Windows Vista Startup Repair Tool. That looked like the only promising solution. I clicked on Launch Startup Repair. That "Startup Repair is Checking Your System for Errors" phase and especially the "Attemtping Repairs..." phase seemed like it took forever. It took maybe 20 minutes to complete, maybe 30 minutes.

Result?

Dang!

The message ensued: "Startup Repair can not repair this computer automatically."

I did run this repeatedly... with a bad hard disk you never know... But I always got the same message.

I started checking "Show Problem Details" report and I started taking notes. It showed a "corrupt file" problem.

I looked into "Diagnosis and Repair Details" which seems to be the detailed log of what the Startup Repair tried.

By scrolling through a lengthy report I found most of the tests passed with error codes 0x0 which is good. But one test stuck out with a non-zero error code:

System files integrity check and repair. Result: failed. Error Code 0x2, Time taken 762175 ms.

Boot critical file c:\windows\system32\drivers\euqvfx.sys is corrupt.

Repair action: File repair.

Result: Failed.

Error Code: 0x2.

Based on some advice on the internet, I tried running sfc /scannow from the System Repair Command Line. That gave "There is a system repair pending whcih requires reboot to complete. Reboot Windows and run sfc again". Sure enough, after reboot, sfc gave the very same answer... That is contradicting and definitely useless in this case!

I did numerous searches on the web to find out what else I could do. I even inserted the Acer eRecovery DVD Disk, getting ready to reinstall the entire system to factory default. I changed my mind in the last minute. The exercise with inserting a recovery disk while in System Repair was helpful though because I realized the entire file system is available to me.  The C: drive was available, the D: drive was available, and the DVD E: drive was available... so if I just had a good copy of euqfvx.sys, maybe copying it to the C: drive could do the trick.

By the way, the disk name that comes up by default when opening the command line window was called the X: disk, it probably refers to the hidden Vista Recovery Partition. Well at least the solid 8 Gbytes of hard disk space are good for something in a situation like that!

But I had no copy of Vista handy. What now? A Google search for euqvfx returns absolutely NOTHING!

In Part 3 of 4 you have seen how to use Windows Vista Startup Repair Tool inside the Vista System Recovery. You have seen that the dreaded "Startup Repair can not repair this computer automatically." message appeared, repeatedly. You have seen that maybe not all is lost as there was plenty of diagnostic information in the Windows Startup Repair Tool Log. In Part 4 of 4 you will see what else you can do if you get the message Vista Startup Repair Can Not Repair This Computer Automatically. Part 4 will show you the solution that worked like a charm for me!

Vista System Recovery. How To Fix a Crashed Computer and Recover Hard Drive Data. Part 2 of 4.

If your Vista will not boot and goes into Vista System Recovery every time on boot, pay close attention. You may just be able to fix the hard disk, boot normally, and recover your hard drive data after you are finished reading this post. Similar solution may apply for Windows 7 systems.



If your Vista will not boot and goes into Vista System Recovery every time on boot, pay close attention. You may just be able to fix the hard disk, boot normally, and recover your hard drive data after you are finished reading this post.

We talked about the BSOD crash. It was causing my laptop Windows Vista will not boot properly but instead consistently booting into Vista System Recovery. We asked How to fix a crashed computer? What to do when you are persistently booted into your Vista System Recovery and System Recovery Options screen comes up?

I have ACER Aspire 5570Z laptop by the way, with 2 Gigs of RAM and Vista Home Premium.

What to do while in Vista System Recovery?

I tried the option: Restore to an earlier point in time. It did not work as the computer declared there was no restore point available! [What? I thought I made several restore points. In fact everytime I do a Vista Automatic Update the computer creates a restore point. Why was none available?]

Inside Vista System Recovery I went into the command prompt known as cmd.exe when Vista is up fully. The command prompt is available as the last option in System Recovery. I did a thorough Disk Check using dskchk. It showed everything was fine with the hard drive, it found NO errors. Still, something is preventing Vista from booting. I still need to fix the hard disk to fix the crashed computer and recover data on the hard drive.

I ran the memory test that was available as one of the options in Vista System Recovery, and that ran just fine too. So memory is fine and the hard drive is fine. What now?

The remaining options in Vista System Recovery Options looked destructive. They would wipe out my data. Even though I do backup some of my most important data, I knew I would have lost some data on the drive D:, some recent photos and settings of my Firefox. So while I could have gone with the ACER e Recovery Disk 1 and e Recovery Disk 2 that I had, that would mean installing Vista to factory settings and not recover my hard drive data.

This would be like going back in time 2 years. Scary. It would take another day to get it all together to roughly the present state as far as software installations.

So far, Part 1 and Part 2 of this four part Series, we found that, after the bad system crash, none of the options available through F8 worked. Also, all options in Vista System Recovery either failed or failed to find any errors. All options but one.

There is another option in Vista System Recovery  that I was able to run. Vista Startup Repair Tool.

Read more in Part 3 of 4: Vista System Recovery: Vista Startup Repair Tool Saves The Day?

How To Fix A Crashed Computer? Windows Vista Will Not Boot, Part 1 of 4. Need Hard Drive Data Recovery?

It was scary. I thought I was going to lose my precious data and Vista settings on my hard drive! Or pay hundreds for hard drive data recovery service! How would you go about fixing a crashed computer if your Vista or Windows 7 computer will not boot? Read on...




If your Windows Vista Will Not Boot, then you will definitely want to read this post. Information on how to fix a crashed computer when windows vista will not boot is right here. You can use this information to avoid buying a new hard drive and to avoid expensive hard drive data recovery service. Or, worse, losing all or some of your data on your computer or laptop.

It was scary. I thought I was going to lose my precious data and Vista settings on my hard drive! Or pay hundreds for hard drive data recovery service!

I experienced two BSOD (blue screen of death) crashes in a row with my Vista laptop. Not sure why yet but I have an idea. I do get concerned when BSOD crash happens because I feel BSOD causes damage to the disk and you may end up having to try to recover your hard drive data. Especially because this time it was a really bad BSOD crash! Really bad BSOD crash!

After the second BSOD I ended up with a Laptop on which Vista Will Not Boot. It was unlike any boot problem I experienced previously. There was not a black screen as before. The computer would boot okay, to a degree. The symptom was quite simple and kept repeating itself over and over again. I tried ten times at least. Here's the symptoms:

Upon pressing the on button after the second BSOD crash, everything would seem normal, the computer would go through the Power On Self Test (POST) phase showing on the screen for a few seconds. You may not have this show on your computer. You may just see a blank screen for a while instead of the POST report.

Then the hard drive light would go on for a while and ...  BLINK.. the hard drive light would come off and simultaneously, the NUM LOCK and the CAPS LOCK lights would light together, briefly.

A short pause, then Vista would end up in the System Recovery. I needed to enter the Language, then pick the Administrator from the pull-down menu and then enter the Administrator password. The exact boot sequence may be different for you (let me know about it in the comment) but if you too end up with Vista System Recovery, keep reading! You are in the right place! We'll see if we can recover your hard drive data.

First I decided to press F8 upon reboot and picked the variety of startup options there one after the other. All of them. Result? Nada. Zero. Every single option, Safe Start, Safe Start with Networking, etc, all ended up in booting into Vista System Recovery. Windows Vista Will Not Boot.


In this post, Part 1 of the series of 4, you have witnessed an initial attempt at how to fix a crashed computer. You've seen F8 options not helping. You've seen that sometimes, Windows Vista Will Not Boot no matter what and keeps going into Vista System Recovery. Read on. If your Windows Vista will not boot either, you will find out how to get out of the Vista System Recovery prison. You will find out how to fix a crashed computer and recover your hard drive data and operating system when Vista will not boot properly. Part 2 of 4: Vista System Recovery and how to fix a crashed computer.