Windows 7 system recovery issues

[crotty99]

Hey guys,

So my my computer started throwing up a BSOD error message upon startup which forces it into an endless loop of startup and reboot. This even occurs when trying to launch safe mode. To get around this I have decided to do a system restore using the windows 7 disc and a backup point I made when I first ran the computer. The backup is currently sitting on an external hard drive. However I can not get the system restore tool to find the backup point. It tells me:

"the selected backup could not be found. System restore is looking for a restore point that is on your backup. Choose a different restore point"

Note, the backup that windows made for me is not an image. It's a folder labelled with my pc's name and contains a folder called "backup set 2010-02-22 221022" and a .bin file called "mediaID." Within the backup set folder there are two extracted folders called "backup files 1" and "backup files 2"

Any help getting my computer to find the backup files and restore itself would be greatly appreciated. It's currently driving me crazy!

[Rik_]

Backup and system restore are 2 different things and work in different ways. A backup should contain most if not all files within windows whereas a system restore is more like a "save state"!

Have a look at the microsoft website for more info!

[crotty99]

I see, I guess that option is out of the equation then..I'll keep working on it.

As a side note, do you know how to fix the bsod associated with the Irql not less or equal error message? I have done a google search but most require that you can at least boot for some amount of time. All my troubleshooting needs to be done through the install cd or the bios. I'm quite lost!

Thanks for your reply.

[Rik_]

Did it have AVG free on it by any chance?

[crotty99]

It did actually, yes.

[Rik_]

AVG free had a bad update that took out quite a few windows 7 computers including my own laptop. I got my laptop going again by doing a system restore via startup repair.
Hope that info is of use to you!

[crotty99]

Interesting to know, unfortunately my system restore only givess me one restore point option and that gives me the error message described in the first post. I guess my system was not creating restore points automatically for some reason.

Atleast you have narrowed the cause down. Is there anyway to remove a program via the cmd prompt on the windows cd?

Thanks so much for your responses.

[crotty99]

I managed to boot the computer using a usb Linux OS (Fedora). Any way to remove a program on my windows drive, such as avg, using linux?

[Rik_]

AVG have a recovery cd image on their site along with instructions about getting the system going again, google will find it!

[khakilang]

I managed to boot the computer using a usb Linux OS (Fedora). Any way to remove a program on my windows drive, such as avg, using linux?

Linux cannot remove Window program because of different platform all together. You need to go to control panel and select Add/Remove software or click on Uninstall in the Program task bar. But of course you can manually remove the program but that would be very risky. Why not use it to test your RAM or hard disk to check whether it is a hardware problem.

[crotty99]

Update:

So after trying all methods mentioned above, the system is still bugging out (although not as badly). I have confirmed it to be a software error and not a hardware error, however the specifics of the error still elude me. I have decided to remove my hdd, backup important files, put the hdd back in and reinstall windows.

Thank you so much for all your help. Greatly appreciate that you are willing to take time out of your day to help me!

[Rik_]

No problem and good luck! :)