What's The Best Tool To Help With System/Restore/Fix etc... ?

abrogard · 06 Oct 2018

My computer wouldn't boot this morning.

Wouldn't switch on at all. Took it apart and moved it to a bench where I could get at it and it started up there alright - but with an error message from windows: boot config files corrupt or missing - put in an install media, run 'repair'.

It said that could have been caused by a recent hardware change or something. Moving your machine and then replugging your hard drives in to perhaps different SATA ports isn't enough to crash Windows like this is it? It couldn't have been something I accidentally did like that, could it?

So I put in a win19 usb stick and booted from it and ran repair but it was no help. Finished up trying to do restore but even the restore failed.

So I booted from Kyhi's boot usb and tried it but couldn't see anything that would help. Nothing marked 'repair win10 boot config' or like that.

So back to Win10 install, pick another restore point... failed again.

And here's the thing: I'm all the time having to reboot and reset the BIOS to boot from a usb stick.

Is there something I can run that will allow me try all kinds of different things and reboot automatically back to where we were when something fails?

Or perhaps I could config that in BIOS? Just had the thought. Maybe there's a default boot option there for USB. I didn't think to look for it. I'm now at a faraway computer and can't check. Might as well let the post stand - it might elicit some great way of dealing with this...

I thought I had a Windows image on that computer but it didn't find one.
I had restore points but so far they're not working.. some fault stops them installing.... I suspect a disk busy crashing, flaking off allover, making corrupt files everywhere...

I had Macrium on it and asked macrium to make an image and tried to configure it for backing up and whatever but I think I got an error message about the image (without explanation) . But the idea is there - how can check the macrium thing? If I boot into it with Kyhi for instance, and find the macrium .exe will macrium run?

and surely the best platform to do all this would be the web, really, if the machine will see it? If it sees the web couldn't I point it to some microsoft site that would find the problem and fix it?

All dumb questions? Surely not.... give me a ray of light....

:)

dalchina · 07 Oct 2018

It's good that you are aware of and have to had some useful support nd maintenance tools- Kyhi's disk and Macrium Reflect.

The appropriate maintenance actions depend on a given scenario, and sometimes are very limited, given the user's situation, the scenario, or the information available.

System restore: This is not uncommonly but not always disabled after any upgrade or upgrade repair. It also fails quite often when a restore is attempted, giving an error message and making no changes.

Macrium Reflect: routine disk imaging (base+ differentials in free version) is strongly advised, manually or scheduled options. However, unlike System Restore everything on the selected partitions- including user data- is restored, losing recent changes.

Other options: Rollback RX (free version should be good). This is a sort of posh version of system restore as I understand it. However I seem to recall it had to be uninstalled if upgrading- needs to be checked for Win 10.

So I booted from Kyhi's boot usb and tried it but couldn't see anything that would help. Nothing marked 'repair win10 boot config' or like that.

This is too simplistic. Macrium Reflect (on that disk) includes a utility 'Fix boot' which embraces a number of repairs on boot and startup, saving the use of a range of more arcane commands like Fixboot, Bootrec etc. However, like anything else, it's not a panacea.

An in-place upgrade repair install which keep all programs, data and most settings is an invaluable tool, renewing basic system settings and all OS system files. Only available if you can boot normally. A Win10 iso or bootable disk of the same base build and base language is needed.

Takeshi18 · 07 Oct 2018

Win RE

zbook · 07 Oct 2018

For BIOS, Windows PE or RE please use a camera or smart phone camera to take pictures and post images into the thread.

With Kyhi boot rescue you can test the hardware and evaluate the logs.

Not all software can be downloaded and installed or perform as in a normal boot while using Kyhi boot rescue.

Open a browser and run HD Tune: (free edition)
Post images into the thread for results on these tabs:
a) Health (SMART)
b) Benchmark
c) Full error scan
Use the snipping tool to create images > save to desktop > upload into the thread

How to Upload and Post Screenshots and Files at Ten Forums | Windows 10 Tutorials

Run Sea Tools for Windows
long generic test
https://www.seagate.com/support/down...ls-win-master/
Post an image of the results into the thread

Failure to boot can be caused by problems with the boot files, operating system, registry, drivers, hardware, etc.

There is no full proof method to recover from boot failure but there are multiple troubleshooting steps that can be used including startup repair, system restore, command prompt (chkdsk, bootrec, regback, scannow, etc.), macrium boot repair, formatting and reinstalling the boot sector, etc.

Logs can be troubleshooted and sometimes they display problems that could cause boot failure.

abrogard · 07 Oct 2018

I was too hasty with Kyhi.

If I'd taken the trouble to look it has a Macrium icon and when I clicked on it Macrium found my Macrium image and it's currently working away restoring that.

Slow process, isn't it? On my machine anyway...

Edit: days later:

Image restores wouldn't work.

Had to run chkdsk /r

I got a restore of the image after that. She's up there now. All good.

Thank god for Macrium !