Windows 10: Automatic repair -> blinking desktop

My daughter has a Dell P20T ultrabook (11" inspiron).
Yesterday when she turned it on it said "Automatic Repair" and eventually got to a blue screen.
We tried just rebooting several times, but it would always 'automatic repair' and end up at the blue screen.
We eventually chose Troubleshooting and 'advanced options' and chose to 'startup repair' which took forever.
When it did finally reboot, we were able to login but the desktop would blink on/off. No desktop icons ever showed up, just an empty blinking desktop with taskbar at the bottom.
I have read where you need to disable 'Windows Error Reporting' in msconfig, but it is blinking so fast (and the cursor has the spinning 'wait' wheel) I can't start anything. I can cntrl-ald-del and click task manager, but it never starts.
I've tried to boot to command line and add a 'disable' dword to the registery for Windows Error Reporting, but the desktop still blinks.
?

:)

 

monitor lost signal during sign in and sign out

click sign out > signing out screen > blink(monitor lost signal) > sign in screen

click sign in > blink(monitor lost signal) > welcome screen > desktop

 

i need to re install to my older version windows 8.1

I think I have the same problem. computer says (preparing automatic repair) for like 2days now. can't get to desktop. nothing I've tried will move it from the thinking, blinking mode.

 

Hi, start by checking your disk.

As you can't do that with your damaged Windows, then download and create Kyhi's boot disk from the top of the Software and Apps section here.

Boot your PC from that and run HD Tune from that disk and post the result (Health tab).

Then run
chkdsk x: /scan
where x: is the drive letter containing your Windows partition (it may not be C: as viewed like this).
Post the result.

Basically there's no point in trying to fix your PC until we know the disk is ok.

 

Here is the data from the health tab of HD Tune:

===================================

HD Tune: ST500LT012-1DG14 Health

ID Current Worst ThresholdData Status
(01) Raw Read Error Rate 114 95 6 66733328 Ok
(03) Spin Up Time 99 99 0 0 Ok
(04) Start/Stop Count 96 96 20 4263 Ok
(05) Reallocated Sector Count 100 100 36 56 Ok
(07) Seek Error Rate 78 60 30 80586126 Ok
(09) Power On Hours Count 98 98 0 1826 Ok
(0A) Spin Retry Count 100 100 97 0 Ok
(0C) Power Cycle Count 99 99 20 1834 Ok
(B8) (unknown attribute) 100 100 99 0 Ok
(BB) (unknown attribute) 89 89 0 11 Ok
(BC) (unknown attribute) 100 99 0 10 Ok
(BD) (unknown attribute) 100 100 0 0 Ok
(BE) Airflow Temperature 68 51 45 571801632 Ok
(BF) G-sense Error Rate 100 100 0 371 Ok
(C0) Power Off Retract Count 100 100 0 220 Ok
(C1) Load Cycle Count 83 83 0 34462 Ok
(C2) Temperature 32 49 0 32 Ok
(C5) Current Pending Sector 100 100 0 0 Ok
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable 100 100 0 0 Ok
(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count 200 200 0 0 Ok
(F0) Head Flying Hours 99 99 0 1584 Ok
(F1) (unknown attribute) 100 253 0 1136377150 Ok
(F2) (unknown attribute) 100 253 0 -970280803 Ok
(FE) (unknown attribute) 1 1 0 180 Ok

Power On Time : 1826
Health Status : Ok

=================================

I also ran chkdsk /scan and it said "Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems. No further action is required."

Is there a way to disable the Windows Error Reporting on C:\ when I boot from the USB? That would be great, I think that is the problem

 

Normally I would suggest:
now please from an elevated (admin) command prompt run (if you can)
sfc /scannow
and post the result.
- but you can't run anything.

Can you boot to Safe Mode?
E.g. from the power button on the login screen, SHIFT left click Restart and navigate through the prompts to Safe Mode. Check to see if you still have access to programs and data.

If you can also boot to a command prompt (similar way to the abov), you can try running SFC /SCANNOW offline:
e.g.
sfc /scannow /offbootdir=x:\ /offwindir=x:\windowsNote that at the command prompt you will need to check the disk letter for your Windows partition (it will most likely NOT be C: and then substitue that letter for x in the above.

Given that you've logged in as normal, but your desktop is blank, you might wish to consider whether you have either
a. access to your files
and
b. a backup of those files

Depending on what you find, you may need to attempt an in-place upgrade repair install. However, at this stage it's far from clear what state your PC is in.

Do you have any disk images? We constantly urge people to routinely use disk imaging (Eg. Macrium Reflect (free) + external storage for disk image sets). If you have a disk image, you can restore your PC to how it was when you created the image without technical help. Imaging can help even if your disk fails or your PC becomes unbootable, infected by ransomware, unfixable... barring other hardware problems of course.

 

I booted to a cmd prompt (not sure if it was elevated or not) and ran sfc /scannow:

==================================================

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.

===================================================


I also tried to "Reset This PC" keeping personal files, but it failed. Arg

 

Please boot your computer with Windows 10 Setup Media and from Windows Recovery Environment start the Command Prompt.

Please type below command into Command Prompt and press Enter key.

The following command scans integrity of all protected Windows system files and repairs files with problems when possible.

Code: Sfc /Scannow /OFFBOOTDIR=D:\ /OFFWINDIR=D:\Windows[/quote]

Please replace partition letter D: with Windows installed partition letter. When computer boots into Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) environment the drive letter assign to Windows partition may not be C: drive letter because Windows 7, 8 , 8.1 and 10 creates a separate system partition when it's installed from scratch. The system partition contains boot files WinRE assigns the system partition the C: drive letter and the Windows installed partition will be assign any other drive letter usually D: drive letter is assign to Windows installed partition. The Bcdedit /enum | find "osdevice" command can be use to find out the drive letter of the Windows installed partition the output of the Bcdedit command is similar to this osdevice partition=D:. The drive letter after partition= is the drive letter of the Windows partition.



Please boot your computer with Windows Setup Media and from Windows Recovery Environment start the Command Prompt.

Please type below command into Command Prompt and press Enter key.

Following command will fixes errors on the disk and locates bad sectors and recovers readable information.


Code: Chkdsk D: /r[/quote]

Please replace partition letter D: with Windows installed partition letter. When computer boots into Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) environment the drive letter assign to Windows partition may not be C: drive letter because Windows 7, 8 , 8.1 and 10 creates a separate system partition when it's installed from scratch. The system partition contains boot files WinRE assigns the system partition the C: drive letter and the Windows installed partition will be assign any other drive letter usually D: drive letter is assign to Windows installed partition. The Bcdedit /enum | find "osdevice" command can be use to find out the drive letter of the Windows installed partition the output of the Bcdedit command is similar to this osdevice partition=D:. The drive letter after partition= is the drive letter of the Windows partition.


When commands finish executing restart your computer and if the issue not resolved follow below instructions.


Windows Vista/ 7/8/8.1/10 keep a regular backup of the registry handy in case you need to overwrite a corrupted registry. By default, the RegIdleBackup task runs every 10 days, so that’s as far back as you would lose if you replaced the current registry with the automatically backed-up files. You can find the backed-up registry files in \Windows\System32\config\RegBack folder.


Please boot your computer with Windows Setup Media and from Windows Recovery Environment start the Command Prompt.

Please type below command into Command Prompt and press Enter key.

Code: Dir C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack[/quote]
Above command will list files stored within RegBack folder and there file size, make sure files are not zero size if they are do not follow below instructions.





Please replace partition letter C: with Windows installed partition letter. When computer boots into Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) environment the drive letter assign to Windows partition may not be C: drive letter because Windows 7, 8 , 8.1 and 10 creates a separate system partition when it's installed from scratch. The system partition contains boot files WinRE assigns the system partition the C: drive letter and the Windows installed partition will be assign any other drive letter usually D: drive letter is assign to Windows installed partition. The Bcdedit /enum | find "osdevice" command can be use to find out the drive letter of the Windows installed partition the output of the Bcdedit command is similar to this osdevice partition=D:. The drive letter after partition= is the drive letter of the Windows partition.

Please type below commands into Command Prompt and for each command you have typed press Enter key.



Code: Ren C:\windows\system32\config\SAM SAM.BAK Ren C:\windows\system32\config\SYSTEM SYSTEM.BAK Ren C:\windows\system32\config\SECURITY SECURITY.BAK Ren C:\windows\system32\config\DEFAULT DEFAULT.BAK Ren C:\windows\system32\config\SOFTWARE SOFTWARE.BAK Copy C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\SAM C:\windows\system32\config Copy C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\SYSTEM C:\windows\system32\config Copy C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\SECURITY C:\windows\system32\config Copy C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\DEFAULT C:\windows\system32\config Copy C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\SOFTWARE C:\windows\system32\config[/quote]
This procedure assumes that Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10 is installed to the C:\ partition. Make sure to replace C:\ drive letter to the appropriate Windows OS installed partition drive letter if it is a different location.


Above commands renames the registry files at their existing location, and then copies the registry files from the RegBack folder to the C:\Windows\System32\Config folder.

 

I tried

Code: Sfc /Scannow /OFFBOOTDIR=C:\ /OFFWINDIR=C:\Windows[/quote] and it said

Code: Beginning system scan. This process will take some time. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included inthe CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.Log. Note that logging is curently not supported in offline servicing scenarios.[/quote] attached is the CBS.LOG file

I then typed

Code: chkdsk c: /r[/quote] and it said

Code: Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems. No further action is required. Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50.[/quote] I then rebooted and the desktop (background and taskbar, but no icons) still blinked.

I then renamed the SAM, SYSTEM, SECURITY, DEFAULT, and SOFTWARE reg files and copied over the default ones.
When I rebooted, the desktop still blinked.

Further research says this could be related to Windows Error Reporting. I can't get to msconfig to turn off the service, but I did manage to add a "Disabled" dword to the Windows Error Reporting key. But when I rebooted, the desktop STILL blinked.

I am sad

 

The Install.wim is the source of where these corrupted or missing Windows system files located.

The following command can be executed to extract corrupted or missing Windows Component Store files from Install.wim file which is stored at Sources folder on the Windows 10 Setup Media.

Code: DISM /image:C:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:WIM:X:\Sources\Install.wim:1 /LimitAccess[/quote]
Replace C:\ drive letter with Windows 10 installed partition drive letter.

Replace the X:\Sources folder path with a folder path where Install.wim image file is stored.

The /Index parameter tells DISM utility to retrieve the corrupted or missing files from which edition of Windows OS. The Install.wim file can contain more than one edition of the Windows OS. You can execute following command to found out index number of your Windows OS edition that you want to repair.

Code: Dism /Get-WimInfo /Wimfile:"X:\sources\install.wim"[/quote]
Replace the X:\Sources folder path with a folder path where Install.wim image file is stored. As you can see there is two editions of Windows 10 and all have index number.






After above commands finish executing, execute following command.

Code: Sfc /Scannow /OFFBOOTDIR=C:\ /OFFWINDIR=C:\Windows[/quote]
Please replace partition letter C: with Windows installed partition letter. When computer boots into Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) environment the drive letter assign to Windows partition may not be C: drive letter because Windows 7, 8 , 8.1 and 10 creates a separate system partition when it's installed from scratch. The system partition contains boot files WinRE assigns the system partition the C: drive letter and the Windows installed partition will be assign any other drive letter usually D: drive letter is assign to Windows installed partition. The Bcdedit /enum | find "osdevice" command can be use to find out the drive letter of the Windows installed partition the output of the Bcdedit command is similar to this osdevice partition=D:. The drive letter after partition= is the drive letter of the Windows partition.

 

I do not have an Install.WIM on this system.
I booted to a command prompt and typed
Code: dir /s /a *.WIM[/quote] and all I got was these files:
On the C:\ drive- boot.wim, windowsdefenderapplicationguard.wim, bootos.wim
On the D:\ drive - Winre.wim
On the X:\ drive - none

No Install.wim

I do have:

C:\ESD\Windows\Sources\Install.ESD

could I use that?

 

Are you booting your computer with Windows 10 installation media?

 

I do not have 'media', this was upgraded from Win8.
I hold shift when restarting to get to the command prompt, or boot from USB with Kyhi's Boot Disk (see above).
I added (after you posted):
I do have:

C:\ESD\Windows\Sources\Install.ESD

could I use that?

also: I don't know if this is important, but the OS version is 10.0.15063.0

 

Where is that Install.esd file came from if you want you can but that Install.esd image file looks out of place.

You can always use Windows 10 Media Creation Tool to create a Windows 10 Installation Media (DVD/USB).

 

Looks like you are using Windows 10 Creators Update if you are then you will need to use install.wim or install.esd file for Windows 10 Creators Update version.