Help! Windows won’t start!! Part 3 – Hardware Failure?
Posted on 12. Oct, 2008 by Mike Halsey in crisis
There are rare occasions when you’ve run the System File Checker or chosen to repair a Windows installation using the Recovery Console or a different method. If this has failed, reinatalling Windows by choosing the upgrade option is next. But you’re still getting a message similar to “Windows cannot start because the following file is missing or corrupt” what do you do?
The next step is to format the drive or partition on which Windows sits and reinstall it from scratch. This is always a pain because of the large number of updates, drivers and software packages that always accompany take time to reinstall too. It’s a chore to reinstall Windows from scratch and I’ll cover how to make it a bit less painful in future articles.
But what happens if Windows still won’t start, if you’re still getting “Windows cannot start because the following file is missing or corrupt“, a blue screen or similar? The bad news is that you’re probably looking at a hardware failure. If your PC hasn’t been plugged into a surge protector or has been repeatedly switched off at the mains as a means to shut it down, then all sorts of electrical surges could have hit it. If this isn’t the case it could just be that it’s getting on a bit, three years is the time when you might expect to see the first signs and after five you should certainly be looking to replace it. If your PC isn’t old then maybe you have a hardware failure that can be repaired under warranty. With a brand new Windows installation on board though and continued problems, it’s almost certainly not going to be the operating system.
So what could it be? If Windows has blue-screened while you’ve been using it, the unpleasant fact is that it could be just about anything. If it can’t start then it would most likely be the hard drive or the motheroard.
So is it worth investigating cases like these? I believe that if your PC is three years old or more, then it’s probably worth upgrading and buying a new machine if you can afford one. If it’s five years old then certainly buy a new PC. If it’s under warranty then try and back up your data and call your support department straight away. But what if it’s in between?
If you know someone knowledgeable about computer hardware then give them a call or a visit, it might well be worth it and they might have spare components they can swap for yours to test them. You might even find that the offending component can be replaced for only £20 to £40 which, if you can get a nice friend to fit it for you which, in exchange for supper or a few beers down the pub, is a bargain.
There is only one other possibility at this point and you’ll know it because you’ll never get as far as even being able to reinstall Windows. Some viruses can wipe the BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) on a PC. This type of attack is now incredibly rare, I’ve only ever had to deal with one, but extremely effective. The BIOS could equally and far more reasonably have become corrupt. The BIOS is the part of your motherboard that tells all your hardware how to communicate with all the other hardware. If it becomes corrupt or wiped then nothing is going to work on your PC at all.
You might be able to fix this by resetting the BIOS, and you’ll need to refer to your motherboard manual for instructions on how to do this. I say might because this will fix a corrupt BIOS but not always an infected one. If this still doesn’t work then you’ll need professional support.
it with others, or 
Touch Up Kit
Jan 29th, 2010
I’ve been searching for this exact information on this subject for a while.