Neighbor's laptop infinitely reboots. Need help getting it running again.

[E-66]

I'm looking for help getting my neighbor's Lenovo 8922 laptop fixed.  She's 82 and isn't much of a computer user other than e-mail.  I don't know exactly what happened, but she said the computer "screeched" at her when she was using it and then she couldn't do anything, so I assume it locked up and she probably just unplugged it.  

I turned it on and once it gets to the logo screen it just goes into an infinite loop of rebooting.  I got into the BIOS and reset it to default values and turned off the logo screen, so I do see that it POSTs, but it never gets to where I can ask Windows to start in Safe Mode or anything else.  I pulled the HDD and put it in my PC and have no trouble viewing the partitions and data on it, so the HDD itself is readable.  I ran an antivirus scan on it but it didn't find anything.  I'm showing my ignorance here, but I didn't know if the antivirus scan could identify potential issues in the boot portion of her HDD when it's hooked up as an extra HDD in my PC?

Anyway, what's my next step?  I consider myself an "advanced home user" and have built multiple PCs, but I'm certainly not at the level of some of the experts on here who either work in the industry or are deeply involved in the field, so I need some help.

Thanks.

Edited August 28, 2022 by E-66

[Tripredacus]

Seems this notebook is extremely old for modern computing, so it would seem to indicate that it has an older version of Windows. Since you don't say what version, this may not be applicable but...

Use F8 at boot time to get the boot menu, and choose disable automatic restart on system failure. That should stop the reboot from occuring. However if this is not working, then you have some other options such as booting off removable media. If this is the same 8922 that searching shows has 1 GB RAM, you can boot a WinPE 3.0 on it, or a Linux live CD. Also if you think that the system is restarting before getting to Windows, you can remove the HDD and turn it on and see if it resets that way. You should go into the BIOS and enable LAN booting just so it can get to that point (you aren't meaning to boot that way).

Also going into the BIOS and resetting to defaults is not something I would recommend. Primarily because the OS may not boot if the SATA type was previously IDE and the default is AHCI. Or on a modern system where CSM was enabled and default is disabled, etc.

[E-66]

Sorry, I should have included more info.

Yeah, it's definitely an older laptop.  2G RAM.  Celeron M.  I've never used it so I don't know how responsive it is when using it.   The sticker on the bottom says it came with Win XP, but I'm pretty sure it has Win 7 32-bit on it now, just by looking at the dates of files and folders, and it has Win 7's boot files, not XP's NTLDR.

I started it w/o the HDD attached and it didn't loop reboot.  This is the message it showed:

======================
Intel UNDI, PXE-2.1 (build 082)

Realtek RTL9139(X)/8130/810X PCI Ethernet Controller Series v2.16 (041244)
 
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM
Operating System not found
=======================

VERY basic BIOS; there's hardly anything to adjust.  No SATA options, nor anything to choose to disable automatic restart on system failure. 

I've used Easy2Boot on a USB stick to install my own OS.  I'm not familiar with WinPE 3.0 or Linux live CD.... what are you suggesting I do with either of them with regard to her PC? 

[jaclaz]

From a PE3 you should be able to (a PE3 normally has SYSTEM privileges):

1) backup (make a copy of) the Registry backing files (just in case):

SAM

SECURITY

SYSTEM

SOFTWARE

NTUSER.DAT

and since Vista

BCD

2) mount in Regedit the SYSTEM as (say) my_system and check hive:

\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl

(it won't be actually "CurrentControlSet", it will be either ControlSet001 or Controlset002, check which one in key \SYSTEM\Select)

The value of AutoReboot should be set to 0 (to avoid automatic rebooting and thus stopping with the BSOD in case of error)

 

If you have a PC running 7 or later you may be able to do the same, but likely you would have permission issues to change the value, you could use something *like* NIrcmd, PSexec, RunAsSystem or RunAsTI:

https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/run-program-as-system-localsystem-account-windows/

https://github.com/jschicht/RunAsTI

to start the regedit with higher privileges.

 

Then reconnect the hard disk on the original PC, and try booting, two possibilities:
1) no change <- this would mean that the issue is in any of the earlier booting files/code (MBR/PBR/BOOTMGR/BCD/WINLOAD.EXE) but usually (not always) errors in these result in either a black screen or an error message (white on black)

2) you get a BSOD (white on blue) with a STOP ERROR <- post this to further troubleshoot

jaclaz

[E-66]

jaclaz, I want to make sure I understand the goal of what you're suggesting I do.....

Are you asking me to boot from a PE3.0 (not 3.1?) USB while the laptop's HDD is hooked up to my PC (Win7 x64), and then set the specific registry key to turn AutoReboot off.... so that when I put the HDD back in the laptop I might see an error message instead of an infinite reboot loop?  I think that's what you're saying (maybe I should have described myself as a semi-advanced home user earlier).

Do I have to put WinPE on a USB drive all by itself, or can I add it to a current bootable USB drive?  I was just looking at my Easy2Boot USB drive and there's a folder for WinPE, but it's empty (as I assumed it would be), but I assume it's there so WinPE can be added as one of the many things you can use Easy2Boot for?

 

Edited August 26, 2022 by E-66

[jaclaz]

Yep.

Windows NT systems are set (I believe it is a manufacturer default since - possibly - after Windows 2000) to automatically reboot if an error is encountered. (this is profoundly and utterly wrong, a system should STOP in case fo error)

The setting is in the Registry, in CurrentcControlSet, CrashControl.

The 3.0 (or 3.1 or 4.0, etc-, it won't make a difference) PE is only the most simple/common way to edit that key value, the issue with doing that from another "full" OS running is only that (it may depend on the OS's involved, both the "running" system and the "target" one) is with permissions on the specific Registry hive/key (but as said there are tools/methods//workarounds), for all it matters you can use (if you are familiar with it) a Linux system via hivesx or whatever else you can use, even a hex/disk editor from DOS (but this latter would be tricky to say the least).

And yes, Easy2boot allows to add PE's (I seem to remember both as .iso and as partition/disk image).

But even a Windows install DVD is running a (minimal/primitive) PE, so if you can boot from such a DVD (or from it's image) that would be enough (Shift+F10, then run regedit.exe).

You can also use (if you are familiar with command line) the Offline Registry Editor:

http://reboot.pro/index.php?showtopic=18527

http://reboot.pro/index.php?showtopic=11312

usage is well described in one of Misty's guides:

http://mistyprojects.co.uk/documents/offlinereg/offlinereg.htm

Before, you, can use the Offline Registry Viewer:

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/offline_registry_view.html

to make sure the key exists and it is 1 (if it is already 0, the reboot happens earlier) .

Both should work just fine from your installed OS on the offline registry (your neighbour's hard disk temporarily attached).

In any case, your mission (the goal), should you accept it , is to change a single byte value in the Registry of the failed system (any which way you can).

jaclaz

 

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by jaclaz

[E-66]

I used Offline Registry Viewer and verified that AutoReboot was set to 1.
I then used OfflineReg and changed the value to 0.

Put the HDD back in the laptop... and no change, which you said might be a possibility, and would indicate that the issue was likely related to boot files/code.

So, what's next? (and thanks for the continued help)
 

Edit: I started the laptop with a Windows 7 DVD and let it do a repair install.... and it worked.  Took about 10 minutes and I was just about to give up and cancel it because I thought it was stuck, but it finished and told me to restart the PC, and once I did it booted to a message that Windows wasn't shut down properly.  I don't know if that's from the last time she used the laptop over a year ago, or from me unplugging it when it's been stuck in the reboot loop.  Either way, I started it Safe Mode, got to the Desktop, and then rebooted and started it normally and everything seems to be ok..... other than the godawful number of things that it has running automatically at startup that I'm now going through.

So, thanks for the help, but I think I'm good. 

Edited August 29, 2022 by E-66

[jaclaz]

Good, everything is well that ends well. :)

jaclaz