Hello, I have a Windows 7 Pro 64bit PC that I need some assistance with. The problem started this morning, as far as I am told, the first message on the screen was something about disk volume errors. Rather than leave it for me to look at, the user took it upon himself to reboot. Windows would try to boot, but only end up at a black screen with the mouse cursor. You could move the mouse, but nothing else would respond. This is where I first saw it. CTRL-ALT-DEL would not get the task manager, pressing the power button would not initiate shutdown. I rebooted and tried safe mode and got the same results. I rebooted again, F8 again, and tried Repair Your Computer. It searched for problems and came back saying it could not repair the problem automatically. I was unable to save that message, but have since been back in and copied the results here... Problem signature: Problem Event Name: StartupRepairOffline Problem Signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385 Problem Signature 02: 6.1.7600.16385 Problem Signature 03: unknown Problem Signature 04: 21200940 Problem Signature 05: AutoFailover Problem Signature 06: 10 Problem Signature 07: CorruptVolume OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1 Locale ID: 1033 When I saw the CorruptVolume line I thought it might be referring to an error on one of the hard drives, so I ran CHKDSK /F on all three partitions, they all came back with no problems found. I tried rebooting again, and now, it won't even try to boot Windows anymore, it goes right into Startup Repair, and again, saying it can't fix the problem. If I try safe mode, last known good, or start windows normally, its the same, right into Startup Repair. I went into the advanced options and tried to do a system restore, only one restore point is listed, from 1AM this morning before it did Windows Updates. That fails with an error code of 0x8000ffff. After that I took the machine to my office and used Acronis Trueimage to backup the drives. I've been searching for possible solutions and so far have not had any luck. I found a suggestion to look for backup registry files, which I did find in the \Windows\System32\Config\RegBack folder. I tried restoring those, with the same results. I also found a suggestion to run SFC /SCANNOW /OFFBOOTDIR=<System Drive>:\ /OFFWINDIR=<System Drive>:\Windows which I also did, and it said it found problems but it was unable to fix them and pointed me to a CBS.LOG file which it doesn't seem to have updated with any messages (it was still time stamped 1:16AM). I'm thinking that I might have two separate problems as this point, the first being that Windows won't even try to boot anymore, it just goes right into Startup Repair, and then possibly whatever damage has occurred to Windows from the failed update. Normally at this stage I'd try reinstalling Windows over itself, but Windows 7 doesn't seem to want me to do that. If I try Upgrade, it tells me to boot into Windows and then upgrade. If I choose custom install it tells me it going to rename my existing Windows installation. It wouldn't be the end of the world to have to reinstall from scratch, but some of the software that is on this PC was major pain to setup to begin with and I'd like to avoid having to do a clean install if at all possible. Installed Hardware Intel DP55WG mainboard, Core i5-750 CPU, 4GB G.Skill DDR3-12800, Crucial 64GB SSD SATA, WD 750GB SATA, Liteon SATA, DVD+RW, XFX GeForce GTS 250. Thank you for any assistance you can offer me. --- Edit: I went back to System Recovery and did a bcdedit /set {default} recoveryenabled no, so that it would stop going into the Startup Repair right away. Now, it tries to boot windows but errors out to missing file \Windows\System32\ntoskrnl.exe. I went back into System Recovery and looked for the file, it is there. Since I was in there I tried to run sfc /scannow again, and it tells me it can't run because a system repair is pending. Edit2: Okay I was playing around more and I noticed the ntoskrnl.exe on the recovery drive was the same size/date as the file on the system drive, so I copied it over to see what would happen. The system is back to trying to boot windows, but again, right after the Windows animation its blanks the screen, the mouse cursor comes up, and it stays that way, no response. Edit3: I looked at it again in Startup Repair and copied the most recent log, which seems to indicate a patch is the problem. Running System Restore still errors out with that above error code, 0x8000ffff. That log is .... Startup Repair diagnosis and repair log --------------------------- Last successful boot time: ?8/?3/?2010 9:16:49 AM (GMT) Number of repair attempts: 22 Session details --------------------------- System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0 Windows directory = D:\Windows AutoChk Run = 0 Number of root causes = 1 Test Performed: [SNIP] To keep this already log post a little shorter, I removed these results, but ALL tests completed successfully with code 0x0. Root cause found: --------------------------- A patch is preventing the system from starting. Repair action: System Restore Result: Cancelled Repair action: System Restore Result: Cancelled Repair action: System files integrity check and repair Result: Completed successfully. Error code = 0x0 Time taken = 292377 ms

Hi, Thanks for posting in Microsoft TechNet forums. Please try a System Restore in Windows RE: How to boot in WinRE ============== 1) Please insert the Windows 7 DVD and reboot the computer. 2) When we are prompted to press a key to boot from the DVD, please press Enter or the space bar. 3) Click "Next" and click "Repair your computer". 4) Please highlight "Windows 7" and click "Next". 5) In the dialog box titled "System Recovery Options", click "System Restore" Meanwhile, please launch a Startup Repair from Windows 7 installation disc: Note: Please ensure that the DVD-ROM is the first booting device. 1) Please insert the Windows 7 DVD and reboot the computer. 2) When we are prompted to press a key to boot from the DVD, please press Enter or the space bar. 3) Choose your language settings, and then click Next. 4) Click Repair your computer. 5) Select the operating system you want to repair, and then click Next. 6) On the System Recovery Options menu, click Startup Repair. Startup Repair might prompt you to make choices as it tries to fix the problem, and if necessary, it might restart your computer as it makes repairs. If Startup Repair still fails, please use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows Vista or Windows 7. Best Regards Dale Qiao TechNet Subscriber Support in forum. If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi, As this thread has been quiet for a while, we assume that the issue has been resolved. At this time, we will mark it as ‘Answered’ as the previous steps should be helpful for many similar scenarios. If the issue still persists, please feel free to reply this post directly so we will be notified to follow it up. You can also choose to unmark the answer as you wish. BTW, we’d love to hear your feedback about the solution. By sharing your experience you can help other community members facing similar problems. Thanks for your understanding and efforts. Best Regards Dale Qiao TechNet Subscriber Support in forum. If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.comPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

"Running System Restore still errors out with that above error code, 0x8000ffff." - Sorry I realize now I didn't indicate that I ran system restore several times, booted from the hard drive, and booted from the DVD. All those attempts failed with the same error code. I tried bootrec.exe, as I found it referenced in another search I did, but it didn't change anything either. System Restore takes me back to the damaged/missing NTOSKRNL.EXE message. After replacing the NTOSKRNL.EXE manually, Windows still goes back to freezing on startup, with a blank screen and a mouse cursor. As I had not heard any suggestions by Monday morning, the customer asked me to reinstall Windows from scratch. On a side note, I see you replied at 3AM that morning, but I didn't get an email alert until today, when you requested I respond. Thanks for trying, Jon Sargeant

Hi Jon, Since you have re-installed the Operating System and the issue disappeared, I would consider the issue as resolved. According to the error code 0x8000ffff during System Restore, I performed some further research and I would like to share my following findings with you, hope it will help other community users: Error code 0x8000ffff during System Restore can be caused by the following factors: · You have an application that is interfering with System Restore. · One or more of the core System Restore files are missing and/or corrupted. · The Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) has been disabled. System Restore depends on VSS volume snapshots being created via Shared Protection Points (SPP). System Restore can not function if snapshot creation via SPP breaks or is disabled or if VSS is in a disabled state. To resolve the problem, please take the following options: 1. System Restore from WinRE. If it fails, continue the steps. 2. Check for the existence of the following files at the %windir%\system32 directory: · Srrstr.dll · Srclient.dll · Srcore.dll · Rstrui.exe 3. Restore core files, this may need to re-register the srcore.dll. However, keep in mind that you will not be able re-register srrstr.dll, srclient.dll and rstrui.exe, as it will produce an error message. Re-register srcore.dll file ================== 1) Launch an elevated command prompt 2) From the command prompt type the following commands: Regsvr32 srcore.dll 3) Click OK on the confirmation dialog box Restore the Core Files ================= 1) Boot to WinRE and run the Startup Repair. 2) If that fails, meaning that System Restore still does not work, boot back to WinRE. 3) Launch the Command Prompt from within the WinRE and then follow these steps: 4) Find the Windows installation drive. The steps that follow assume that Windows Vista is installed to C:\. 5) Run the following 3 commands to copy the files to the\Windows\system32 directory of your Windows Vista installation: c: cd windows\winsxs\backup xcopy *<filename>*.<extension>_* c:\windows\system32\<filename>.<ext> (i.e: xcopy *srcore*.dll_* c:\windows\system32\srcore.dll) 6) Repeat the procedure for other core files of System Restore. 7) Reboot the machine and try again. 4. Check that the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) is not disabled. 5. Check for either of the following registry keys: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore If you find a DisableConfig DWORD set to "1" in either of these keys, export the key and delete it. 6. Try System Restore again. Best Regards Dale Qiao TechNet Subscriber Support in forum. If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.comPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Dale we appreciate your thorough posts. Rebuilding worked for me. My system would not start, restore or repair. I am running Windows 7 32bit.