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I'm trying Startup Repair on a Windows Vista laptop that won't start up after having reportedly been shut down normally, after what sounded like a Trojan attack. (Not sure what happened to it exactly, but my friend wasn't running antivirus software!)
Startup Repair says "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete," but it's been running for about 9 hours now, and trying to Cancel it yields the message "The current repair operation cannot be cancelled" -- is it still actually doing anything? Would it be worth it to let Startup Repair run any longer?
Thanks
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Sorry for not getting back to this thread at the time. In the case of the laptop I was having trouble with, the hard drive had to be replaced. I don't know whether the HD was the cause of the original problem, or shutting down the Startup Repair process damaged the HD.
don't shut it down,it may affect the hard drive or hurt it. I was just about to ask for help to when my laptop just finished start up repairing, it took at least 12 hours and it finished. So as long as the progress bar is moving let it be or consequences may arise
Whilst I do actually agree that holding the power button down to turn off your computer in a situation like this could harm the hard drive - I'd like to go against the grain and share my experience that happened just now:
I turned my computer on and then got called away for about an hour. When I returned I was saw the startup repair screen (for the first time - I was a bit worried..) - but also a window asking me if I wanted to use system restore to repair my computer - with handy 'OK' or 'Cancel' options. I hadn't installed or messed with any system settings the last time the computer was on and I'd shut it down normally, and I have a lot of work to do so I clicked cancel.
This returned me to the startup repair screen which wouldn't let me cancel (nice feature that). Figuring that it's either a mistake or my computer's wrecked anyway, I turned it off and on again. I stupidly looked away for a couple of seconds and so saw the option screen to either use startup repair or boot normally too late to select 'boot normally', and it went back to the startup repair loop.
That's when I found this forum on my phone - with both warnings against turning off and on, and reports of over 3 days of letting startup repair do its thing. Well I can't not have a computer for 3 days so I turned it off and on again, stayed glued to the screen and selected 'boot normally', and what do you know - it booted fine.
It's an HP system (desktop) which seems to be a common theme, and I'm going to run chkdsk to be on the safe side, but for me taking the risk paid off (having said that don't blame me though if it doesn't for you - there isa risk).
Incidentally after booting I got a popup saying "HPSF.exe hast stopped working....encountered serious error...." etc. Googling that seems to suggest uninstalling HP support assistant, re-booting, and installing the latest version. Might try that as well.
Hope that helps
I just started doing this yesterday. "Attempting repairs..." bar has been going now for about 13 hours. Ridiculous. When do I pull the plug?
Vista home premium on an HP Pavilion dv6000. (The HP is probably the first mistake. These machines have really gone downhill.)
don't shut it down,it may affect the hard drive or hurt it. I was just about to ask for help to when my laptop just finished start up repairing, it took at least 12 hours and it finished. So as long as the progress bar is moving let it be or consequences may arise
Wow! Good thing I read this, my computer has been on start up repair for about 4 hours now.. that's why I decided to research repair times. I guess I'll wait it out so I don't damage the HD. Thanx for the info.
This is absolutely ridiculous. What is it doing? Without some kind of feedback how is the user supposed to know especially considering the "several minutes" statement? And there is no real progress bar is there, the thing just keeps moving but there is not a gradual buildup to a complete solid bar.
Also the only response on this thread that sounds like a Microsoft Rep from A. User/Lorien says the opposite of what the other users say actually happened. I'm sorry but it's just outrageous, I'm holding back from more expressive words.
If it was designed to actually give SOME indication of progress it may be a little bit more tolerable. It's things like this that makes me wish Microsoft ceases to become the dominant standard. In fact, I may just install Ubuntu if this doesn't work. I may have to run XP in a virtual machine but I see no need to run 7 (supposedly better than Vista?) since it's not so widely adopted.
(and, of course, it failed.)
