Several Windows 10 Issues

LC14199 · 04 Jan 2016

Hey guys, sorry for the kinda dodgy heading as I didn't exactly know how to summarise all the problems I'm having haha.

Firstly there's a BSOD with the following error: IRQL_not_less_or_equal, (I know about this, this is networking related, it only happens occasionally, this need not be worried about here. Thought I would mention it for the sake of knowing however)

Secondly during the boot process BEFORE the login screen, a black screen will be seen, the windows boot sound will be played, and a 5-15 seconds later it will show the password entering screen.

Thirdly, after login, or before login (depending on if the PC is left alone), the system will black screen and completely freeze with no response to anything, even pressing the caps lock key does not make the light come on for caps. I can get into safemode, but after a while it will black screen and freeze as mentioned above. I've tried to run MBAM and this has triggered the black screen.

List of things I've tried:
System Restore - All restore points were wiped (presumably by malware)

MBAM - Causes black screen in safe mode (and the system won't stay on long enough to let me run MBAM in normal mode, the black screen occurs much faster in normal mode).

Booting into CMD - Attempted to run sfc /scannow, system black screened not long after.

Windows startup repair - Couldn't find an issue.

So I'm thoroughly stumped on what to do here fellas. The system specs are hard to obtain since I cannot keep the system booted long enough to get the required information. At the moment I'm definitely thinking the black screen issue may be HDD related, but I don't have a USB > SATA adapter to retrieve the files off the HDD and run a chkdsk. Is there anything else I can try? Also due to the fact that I can't keep the system online for more than 10 minutes at the MOST (If I'm extremely lucky), getting log files is rather difficult.

Cheers,
LC

EDIT: Also, I've considered a system wipe, but the person I am cleaning this computer for has photos and other files that she would like to keep. If at all possible, this is an absolute last resort.

simrick · 04 Jan 2016

Hi LC14199 and welcome to Tenforums.

Sorry to hear you're having so many problems. To get your files off the hard drive, you could load a live Linux (Ubuntu) distro, and grab them that way. Boot using the Linux DVD, and select to try Ubuntu without installing it. This will bring you to a desktop, and you can copy all your existing files over to an external drive.

I assume you upgraded from W8.1 (that's what I see in your system specs). Did you have issues upgrading or did it go smoothly? Or, are these issues a result of the upgrade? Once you get the photos/files off the system, I would do a clean install. You won't have to enter a keycode, as W8.x has it embedded in the BIOS.

You can grab the latest W10 ISO here:
Tech Bench
.

p.s. System Restore must be manually turned back on after upgrading to Windows 10.

simrick · 04 Jan 2016

There's also a custom WinPE rescue disk available from one of our members which will boot the system and allow you to grab your files as well:
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable PE Rescue Disk

It also contains MBAM in case you want to run it.

LC14199 · 05 Jan 2016

I'll just clear this up right now, this is NOT my PC. I do not own it. My home PC runs 8.1, but this toshiba laptop originally had 7, and upgraded to 10. The only issue with Ubuntu is the fact that it's a large download, and would take a fair while, and I also do not have a flash drive or HDD large enough to copy 63.5 GB worth of files from her user directory.

However, I will give this PE ISO a shot, and hope that the internet speed remains consistent. If it contains MBAM pre-installed, I may be able to run a full scan without the system crashing, and perhaps find the cause of the problem.

Cheers,
LC

simrick · 05 Jan 2016

LC14199 said:

I'll just clear this up right now, this is NOT my PC. I do not own it. My home PC runs 8.1, but this toshiba laptop originally had 7, and upgraded to 10. The only issue with Ubuntu is the fact that it's a large download, and would take a fair while, and I also do not have a flash drive or HDD large enough to copy 63.5 GB worth of files from her user directory.

However, I will give this PE ISO a shot, and hope that the internet speed remains consistent. If it contains MBAM pre-installed, I may be able to run a full scan without the system crashing, and perhaps find the cause of the problem.

Cheers,
LC

Oh yes, Ubuntu is large; the custom WinPESE ISO will be a better choice. Last time I used it, MBAM was on there, and it even updated the definitions before running the scan.

There's also the Kaspersky Rescue Media, if you need it. How to use it here. Good luck!

LC14199 · 05 Jan 2016

Thanks Simrick, I'll get back to you on how the PE ISO goes. I'm really hoping that this isn't a hardware problem with a CPU or GPU. If it is, then this won't work either

But all the symptoms I've seen point toward either a corrupt OS file caused by malware infection, or a dying HDD.

simrick · 05 Jan 2016

LC14199 said:

Thanks Simrick, I'll get back to you on how the PE ISO goes. I'm really hoping that this isn't a hardware problem with a CPU or GPU. If it is, then this won't work either

But all the symptoms I've seen point toward either a corrupt OS file caused by malware infection, or a dying HDD.

You're welcome. Let's hope it's a simple infection/corrupt OS and nothing more!

LC14199 · 05 Jan 2016

Well I can confirm it's not an issue with any major components, it hasn't black screened after booting off the USB yet, and it's been over 10 minutes. So I am most likely correct in the assumption of bad OS / malware.

EDIT: Spoke too soon, it has black screened 15 minutes into the MBAM scan on the system drive from the PE USB. I am now concerned that this is a major component that is failing.

EDIT 2: Is it possible that during the MBAM scan of the infected OS drive, that it scanned a file that contained a particularly nasty piece of malware that somehow made the PC black screen even though its operating off a USB? I'm just wondering if this is a remote possibility.

Cheers,
LC

simrick · 05 Jan 2016

LC14199 said:

Well I can confirm it's not an issue with any major components, it hasn't black screened after booting off the USB yet, and it's been over 10 minutes. So I am most likely correct in the assumption of bad OS / malware.

EDIT: Spoke too soon, it has black screened 15 minutes into the MBAM scan on the system drive from the PE USB. I am now concerned that this is a major component that is failing.

mmmmm....not good....

LC14199 said:

EDIT 2: Is it possible that during the MBAM scan of the infected OS drive, that it scanned a file that contained a particularly nasty piece of malware that somehow made the PC black screen even though its operating off a USB? I'm just wondering if this is a remote possibility.

Cheers,
LC

I suppose anything's possible, but highly unlikely. Could be the HDD is failing.
Just FYI, booting to the Ubuntu Live Distro: when you get to the desktop, if your HDD is failing, it will immediately pop up a window advising you of that fact.

I think perhaps you could try SeaTools for DOS, boot and run the long generic test. Here's a manual on it.

EDIT: Can you/did you run an admin command prompt and chkdsk in the Win10PESE environment?

EDIT#2: I recently (just last week) loaded the Kaspersky Rescue Disk on a system believed to be failing because of malware. When the program began, it warned me that it was about to load the filesystem, and because Windows was not shutdown properly, there was a good chance the files would be corrupted, and do I want to continue. Of course, I immediately cancelled that operation, ran a HDD check, and found the HDD had indeed failed. I grabbed an external 1TB drive, copied what I could over to it (I could not get everything at this point), and ordered the new HDD.

You may need to do the same. The problem is, depending on the precise failure, you may or may not be able to get all the data. I have, in the past, connected failed drives using a USB adapter, and run PassMark DiskCheckup on them to identify the exact failure. Sometimes they can be recovered, even put back into service. For example, a reallocated sector count failure can be overcome by a full format and the drive can continue to be used. A heat failure can sometimes be overcome by putting it in the freezer for a couple hours and then grabbing what data you can before it warms up again (Yes, I have done this!). If the MFT (Master File Table) has failed, a recovery program can still grab the data.

I guess, bottom line is, if it's a failed drive, your friend is going to need to pony-up for an adapter, a backup drive and a new drive, if data recovery is paramount.