A very strange OS issue, I'm stumped.

techie81

techie81

[H]ard for [H]ardware
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My brother calls me and says when I boot my computer I get a message that says "operating system not found" on his Sony VAIO laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium. He was at a coffee shop and his computer was working, he shortly after turned his computer off and then a few hours turned it it back on with the missing OS message.

I figure it was the boot selection that was incorrect. Tried that, didn't work.
So I boot up the windows 7 recovery console and run a chkdsk and recovery options to fix the OS. Still doesn't work but now I get a blue screen.

This is what I get:

"Windows did not find any installed, licensed language packs for the system default UI language.

*** STOP: 0x0000012A (0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000046, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000""

I have the option to start in safe mode but all the options result in a blue screen above.

I pop in an ubuntu disk to save their files and the only thing I can see is the recovery partition and a reserved partition that is blank. I finally pop the drive out and stick it in my thermaltake drive reader. My fears were confirmed, I can see the partitions but none of their data.


What do you think is the deal with the 10GB sitting there?
 
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Tried to take ownership of what I could see and it still said access denied.
 
as a last resort.

pull a quick format (i.e destroy the boot record) use something like get data back and recover the files to a second HD. Full format, and restore the files, or use the recovery option, run the updates and restore the difference in files (not as easy as it sounds...lol)

just to be sure, what dose chkdsk have to say about the drive? (probably needs a full sweep with bad sector discovery/recovery) :/
 
Try this from the recovery partition:
Code: 
sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\Windows
 
Snowknight26 said:
Try this from the recovery partition:
Code: 
sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\Windows
Click to expand...

Tried that and got a message that says "Windows Resource Protection could not start the repair service"
 
Boot from the Windows 7 DVD and run the same command, replacing C with the drive letter returned by the following:

Code: 
diskpart
list vol

(Type exit to exit diskpart.)
 
Ok there is
volume 1 C System reserved
volume 2 D no label
volume 3 E recovery - hidden
Click to expand...

Using volume D
 
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I am using the D: drive since that is the largest drive. I start the scan then a few seconds later it says "There is a system repair pending which requires a reboot to complete. Restart Windows and run SFC again". I did that but am receiving the same message.
 
Running
Code: 
type D:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml
will show you the contents of that file and might give you a clue as to what's causing SFC to think there's pending operation preventing it from running. You might want to try renaming that file to something else then trying SFC again.

If you get an error about file not found, do you get a file/folder list of the Windows partition if you type this?
Code: 
D:
dir


What flags did you run chkdsk with? (Just chkdsk D: by itself?)

Have you tried bootrec /fixmbr?
 
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Snowknight26 said:
Running
Code: 
type D:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml
will show you the contents of that file and might give you a clue as to what's causing SFC to think there's pending operation preventing it from running. You might want to try renaming that file to something else then trying SFC again.

If you get an error about file not found, do you get a file/folder list of the Windows partition if you type this?
Code: 
D:
dir


What flags did you run chkdsk with? (Just chkdsk D: by itself?)

Have you tried bootrec /fixmbr?
Click to expand...

I renamed the xml file and the scan seems to be working.

I believe I used the flags /r /f on chkdsk

Will update in a moment. Thanks for the help.
 
Ok the SFC scan says Windows resource protection did not find any integrity violations.

Nothing so far as worked. I tried the bootrec /fixmbr also.
 
Can you upload the following files somewhere? (Alternately, use pastebin.com if the file's contents is small.)

D:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml
D:\Windows\winsxs\poqexec.log
D:\Windows\winsxs\reboot.xml
D:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log

You might wish to zip them before uploading, too.

I have a hunch that a language pack installation was pending and didn't get installed successfully; any subsequent installation attempts would result in the STOP error in your original post. If that is the case, dism should be able to show which updates are pending and revert any changes if necessary.
 
Is there a way to fix this without uploading the files. The computer is unusable, not sure how i would get these files on the internet.
 
Someone tried installing a language pack even though it's Windows 7 Home Premium (non-SP1), which doesn't support language packs... unless, of course, the original MUI was uninstalled somehow.

Export the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MUI\UILanguages\en-US key from another computer then import it by loading the hive (offline registry editing) in WinPE. If you don't have another computer from which to export the settings, you can try these (save as a reg file) but there is no guarantee it'll work.
Code: 
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MUI\UILanguages\en-US]
"LCID"=dword:00000409
"Type"=dword:00000091

Your best bet, however, is to do a repair install.
 
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I figured I would have to. Why do you think I am not able to view my brothers files? I cannot see any of his saved music, photos, words docs?
 
I did and still cannot view anything. If I do a repair install will I have acess to these files?

is there a good way of doing a repair install?
 
Are you able to see ANY files on the drive?

The only files that should not be showing up are ones in his user folder. Most everything else should show up.

If not, it sounds like the partition info may have gotten messed up.

In that case, use getdataback or the free data recovery utility from EASUS. Piriform also has a free data recovery tool I think.

If you have to recover the data with a utility, make sure to recover it to a different drive. If you recover it to the same drive, it will end up overwriting stuf and/or corrupting stuff.

If you try to do a repair install, it could very well wipe any user files, especially if it wants to format the drive.

And, if the partition info did get screwed up, it almost 100% means the drive is dying.
 
How do I do a repair installation if I cannot boot into windows?

AND

Is there a way to see his files from a linux live cd?
 
cyclone3d said:
Are you able to see ANY files on the drive?
Click to expand...

Obviously, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to rename that file mentioned earlier.

techie81 said:
How do I do a repair installation if I cannot boot into windows?
Click to expand...

Using the DVD. Pretend as if you were installing Windows 7 how you normally would but choose Upgrade on this screen:

4a600c0d-e4e4-4bad-aed8-d3e0721a993e_68.jpg


As always, backup the drive if possible incase data loss occurs.
 
Furthermore, using a linux cd I can see my user files on my laptop but on my brothers laptop I cannot see any files. I can just see a administrator and public account under users.
 
Snowknight26 said:
Obviously, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to rename that file mentioned earlier.



Using the DVD. Pretend as if you were installing Windows 7 how you normally would but choose Upgrade on this screen:

4a600c0d-e4e4-4bad-aed8-d3e0721a993e_68.jpg


As always, backup the drive if possible incase data loss occurs.
Click to expand...

When I choose the upgrade option it is telling me that I need to use the dvd inside windows. It will not work outside of windows.
 
I just want to know why I cannot see his files from Ubuntu. I only can see admin and public user accounts. none of their files are visible.
 
An EISA partition with a system image/other recovery tools from the Laptop manufacturer.
 
My brother has decided to take it to a data recovery place, thanks for all the advice. Please let me know if you have any other ideas in the mean time. :(
 
Did running 'dir' return any folders on the drive? If yes, I'd hold off on the data recovery and focus on properly changing file/folder permissions/owners.
 
The only thing I can see is what looks like a default install. Looks like none of my brothers files are on there. I have never seen anything like this before.
 
Ok there is
volume 1 C System reserved
volume 2 D no label
volume 3 E recovery - hidden
Click to expand...

Looking at volume D, the only volume I can view.
 
Well it sounds like it already left for repair.

I just had a laptop that had said no OS found after the person left the computer in shutdown after updates install. Using Win7 Home Premium.

Used a program called HDD Regenerator to find and repair 1 bad sector on the drive at the 30gig mark (160gb HDD). Rebooted the system and windows ran its own chkdisk. Running great now.

The program can run reallly slow though! Took about 12hrs for 160gb. I'd hate to see how long it takes on a 320gb like the one he's using.

You have nothing to lose running the program as it runs independent of OS and filesystem.
 
Sounds like to me that the hard drive is going bad and the partition table got messed up. Download and burn Hirens boot cd. Boot the cd and choose mini xp. You can then run partition find and mount from the HBCD menu to find the partition and mount it as a seperate drive letter. If you can open a picture or something with it then you have permissions. If not then you would have to run data recovery software such as getdataback ntfs or recuva which is a free tool from piriform.
 
kschaffner said:
Sounds like to me that the hard drive is going bad and the partition table got messed up. Download and burn Hirens boot cd. Boot the cd and choose mini xp. You can then run partition find and mount from the HBCD menu to find the partition and mount it as a seperate drive letter. If you can open a picture or something with it then you have permissions. If not then you would have to run data recovery software such as getdataback ntfs or recuva which is a free tool from piriform.
Click to expand...

I have no idea what happened to their drive but recuva is the ONLY thing that has been able to find their files. Unfortunately, it looks like a lot of the files were over written. Big thanks to everyone for their help.
 
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