[dwolfeman]

I am in desperate need of some advice and if anyone can help me I would really be grateful.

I am running Vista 32bit Home Premium on a Dell Inspiron E1705 laptop.

I shut my computer off two nights ago as I normally do before I went to bed. It shut down without any issues. Everything was the same as it normally is.

When I went to turn on my computer the next day, it went through the Dell startup screen, then it told me there might be a problem with some hardware or something to that effect, and gave me the option to either “Launch Startup Repair” or “Start Window Normally”, then Windows attempts to start (has the green scrolling bar at the bottom). Either of these options takes me to the same place next which is a screen that states “System Recovery Options”, and asks me to select my keyboard language. So I did and hit “next” to continue to a screen that asks me to sign into my account on the computer, and then it took me to another page that displayed a box of system recovery tools.

Being a little confused about what was happening, I selected the option for “Startup Repair”. When it finished I chose to restart the computer as it noted that if the problem was fixed it would start normally. It didn’t start normally and I went through the same process again when it rebooted. I tried this option many times yesterday, and it isn’t working.

I also have tried a few times the option for “Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool”. It goes through the tests, says nothing about finding a problem, then the computer restarts to the same situation.

I have tried many different options, including starting in all the Safe Modes, starting in different screen resolutions, starting from the last known good configuration point, system repair, start windows normally, etc. It takes me back to the same screen every time.

I have tried to use the option for “System Restore”, which stated that it could not find a previous restore point, when I am almost certain that I have created one in the past.

I tried the option to go to the command prompt, where I tried a few commands. The first command was “sfc /scannow”. The response was something to the effect of the command could not run because another repair attempt was already in progress. The second command was “Bootrec.exe /fixMBR”, with the response being it had completed successfully. The third command was “Bootrec.exe /fixBoot”, again with the response being that it had completed successfully. None of this has worked, as it still takes me to the system recovery options upon turning the computer on.

I got the installation DVD out, booted from the dvd, and tried to repair it that way. It gives basically the same options as I tried before, but I went through them again anyway, and still have the same problem.

I used the F12 key to get into the boot menu, and used the “Diagnostics” option. This automatically started a “PSA+ Pre-Boot System Assessment”, and everything checked out. I ran a memory test on the computer from this same option, and all the tests passed. I ran the extended hardware test overnight last night and I will get to those results below. It also seems like I tried a few more options throughout the day yesterday but these are the ones I can remember for sure.

I took down some information after some of the tests I ran and will post it at the bottom hoping to shed some light on the problem I having. But right now I am lost on what to try next. It has been a while since I have backed up my information to my external hard drive, and there is a lot of stuff on this computer that would be devastating to lose.

I don’t mind the idea of a fresh install or wiping the system clean if that is what it needs, if I can get my files off the computer before that happens. Does anyone know of anyway to retrieve these files? Is it even possible?

Any help anyone can give would be much appreciated. I have looked online for answers but all the suggestions have been a dead end for me. The computer starts to come on, starts to boot, but then goes to this same screen about system recovery options every time. I can not recall anything that I would have download the last time the computer was on or anything that I have done different than normal from other times over the 2-3 years I have had this computer. It just out of the blue did this yesterday.

Thanks!!! The results of some of the tests are below. From what I can tell, the problem may be with either of these files:
Boot Critical File C:\windows\system32\drivers\wdf01000.sys is corrupt
Boot critical file C:\wdfldr.sys is corrupt

TEST RESULTS:

I do not remember which test this was exactly, maybe the “PSA+ Pre-Boot System Assessment”?

Problem Signature:
Problem Event Name: StartupRepairV2
Problem Signature 01: SystemDisk
Problem Signature 02: 6.0.6000.16386.6.0.6001.18000
Problem Signature 03: 6
Problem Signature 04: 393225
Problem Signature 05: Corrupt Volume
Problem Signature 06: NoRootCause
Problem Signature 07: 0
Problem Signature 08: 2
Problem Signature 09: WrpRepair
Problem Signature 10: 0
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

This was a result from the System Repair Test

Startup Repair Diagnosis and Repair Log

Last Successful Boot Time: 7/9/2009 11:27:31 AM (GMT)
Number of repair attempts: 7

Session Details:
System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0
Windows Directory = C:\Windows
Autochk Run = 0
Number of Root Causes = 1

(then is lists a bunch of different tests it ran that were completed successfully….I didn’t write each test down)

Root Cause Found:
Boot Status Indicates That The OS booted successfully

Session Details:
System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0
Windows Directory = C:\Windows
Autochk Run = 0
Number of Root Causes = 2

(then is lists a bunch of different tests it ran that were completed successfully….I didn’t write each test down)

Root Cause Found:
Boot critical file C:\Windows\System32\drivers\Wdf01000.sys is corrupt

Root Cause Found:
Boot critical file C:\WDFLDR.SYS is corrupt

Session Details:
System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0
Windows Directory = C:\Windows
Autochk Run = 0
Number of Root Causes = 2

(then is lists a bunch of different tests it ran that were completed successfully….I didn’t write each test down)

Root Cause Found:
Boot critical file C:\windows\system32\drivers\wdf01000.sys is corrupt

Repair Action: File Repair
Result: Completed Successfully. Error Code = 0x0
Time Taken = 8673ms

Root Cause Found:
Boot critical file C:\wdfldr.sys is corrupt

Repair Action: File Repair
Result: Failed. Error Code = 0x2
Time Taken = 7722ms

Repair Action: System files integrity check and repair
Result: Completed Successfully. Error Code = 0x0
Time Taken = 676920ms



Update from the overnight test:

Overnight I ran the extended hardware test. It showed no problems. At one point it seemed to "time out", as I think it needed a response from me but I was not around to give it one. Since the test couldn't continue at that point, it must have just timed out and stop. So today I clicked on another option which ran a test for the computer not being able to boot. I left the house and came back to see that this test showed no problems.

This afternoon, when I tried to boot from the reinstallation DVD, I pressed a key to boot from it after being prompted to do so. After nothing happening for about 30-60 seconds, the screen showed a message that said "The file is possibly corrupt. The file header checksum does not match the computed checksum." I had no issues booting from the DVD last night. This just started when I sat back down to work on this today. I am praying that this is not a serious problem, but I am scared to death right now. To clarify what DVD I am using, it is the one that came with the computer from Dell saying it was already installed on my computer, and is the "Reinstallation DVD Windows Vista Home Premium 32BIT".

At this point all I really care about is the data on the computer and the files I need. I can live without the rest, but some of that data would create some big problems if it were lost.

Thanks in advance for anyone help or advice that anyone can give.

[fairnooks]

Hopefully the drive is only logically corrupt in a few critical areas or the problem lies elsewhere in the system. What you need to do is figure out what panel you need to remove to be able to detatch the drive and then hook it up to another system via USB adapter or directly to a SATA controller if that's the type of drive it is.

Then if eveything is physically ok with the drive you will be able to read and copy the data off for safekeeping.

[Mollie]

The below advice is from "CageU80" at TechNet: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/...7-41757a5a591a

I just had this same problem and thought I would post the fix that worked for me. It seems that this problem is because the wdf01000.sys file itself has somehow been corrupted.All you should need to do is obtain a copy of the file from a working install of Vista. It is located in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers. Just copy it to a CD or USB drive. Boot your computer from a Windows Vista repair disc or from your Windows Vista Installation DVD. On the second screen select Repair. Skip the automatic startup repair and click the option to open a command prompt. Now change your directory to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers and rename your wdf01000.sys tosomething like wdf01000.old. Now copy the wdf01000.sys file from your CD or USB drive. Exit the command prompt and reboot the system. You should now be up and running.

NOTE: Make sure the version of Vista you get your file from is the same version. In other
words don't copy the file from a 64bit version to a 32bit version etc. Service Pack doesn't
seem to matter as I copied from and SP1 machine to a RTM machine and it fixed the problem.

Hopefully this will work for you. Good luck! :-)

Mollie

[TerryNet]

Both the above suggestions look good and I'll offer a third.

Boot from a Linux Live CD and copy your files to another hard drive, USB flash drive, CD, etc. While almost any Linux distribution would work I suggest Puppy Linux, as the download is only about 100 MB and it is fairly simple to use.