Self-Testing on a PC running Win 10

  • Thread starter Thread starter WWGD
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    pc Running
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
Sign up Log in
44 replies · 8K views
Physics news on Phys.org
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: jim hardy
WWGD said:
Do you own a Mac, or do you use Linux?

Neither . I would like to learn to use Linux but haven't made that plunge.
Still running an old Asusz laptop i bought in 2012 with Windows 7

It's somewhat of a comfortable old jalopy now, like Hans Solo's Millenium Falcon.

old jim
 
WWGD said:
I have a few more output files if these can be helpful:
1)bootfailure.txt
2)bootstat.dat ( what do you open a .dat with? Dis or dat ? ;).
3)Diagnosticlayout.txt
4)bcdinfo.txt
5)Srttrail.txt
Please let me know
None of these is likely to be helpful if the problem is a bad or intermittent power supply. I think you said earlier that you were going to take it to have somebody look at the computer, and particularly the power supply. If that is the problem, none of the Windows diagnostics test are going to tell you anything useful.
WWGD said:
Came out pretty jumbled with notepad : @K›ç3~èŠÅë”Kab/
It is likely a binary file, not meant to be human readable, but instead to be input data to some other program.
I did a search for "what is bootstat.dat" and this is the first thing that came up:
According to Bleeping Computer, bootstat.dat is a Windows system log file that allows the computer to determine if the last boot was successful or not. Since this file is part of the Windows system itself, it should not be interacted with by normal users and you should simply leave it alone.

WWGD said:
As I understand it, the problem is all the kludges Minisoft uses to be able to be all things to all people.
If you're talking about the fact that the .dat file was unreadable, see the above. It's a fact that Microsoft pulls some lulus from time to time (e.g., Windows Vista and IMO, Windows 8), but Windows didn't scramble that file.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: WWGD
WWGD said:
I have read, heard that motherboards from HP (my PC brand) do not age well. I bought it on 2015, so that may explain it.
And you said earlier, that it was used when you bought it. Do you have any idea when it was manufactured?

Regarding motherboard lifespan, I don't know if there are problems with longevity of HP laptop motherboards, but I don't think this is true of the desktop computers. The computer I'm using right now is an HP Pavilion that I bought in 2013. I have had exactly zero trouble with it, and I use it pretty heavily.
 
Mark44 said:
And you said earlier, that it was used when you bought it. Do you have any idea when it was manufactured?

Regarding motherboard lifespan, I don't know if there are problems with longevity of HP laptop motherboards, but I don't think this is true of the desktop computers. The computer I'm using right now is an HP Pavilion that I bought in 2013. I have had exactly zero trouble with it, and I use it pretty heavily.
Yes, my bad, I had considered trying in a new battery , but I have been running around too much. But I need internet but I don't have access at home ( using phone as hotspot creates a new set of problems) so a desktop is not a viable option now. Thanks for your patience, follow-up.
 
WWGD said:
Root cause found:
---------------------------
Boot critical file c:\efi\microsoft\boot\resources\custom\bootres.dll is corrupt.

I'd search on "corrupted bootres.dll" and see how other folks have fixed it.

My computer finds mine via the search bar, then click "Properties"
upload_2019-3-7_15-36-52.png
and says it's not been modified since the Big Bang.
and clicking "Security" reports that only a 'trusted installer' has permission to write to it. Even System is blocked.

So if yours is corrupted
i'd suspect either malware or disk hardware error .

Maybe your local computer gurus could find an uncorrupted version and replace it ??

old jim
 

Attachments

  • upload_2019-3-7_15-36-52.png
    upload_2019-3-7_15-36-52.png
    8.7 KB · Views: 780
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: WWGD
WWGD said:
Boot critical file c:\efi\microsoft\boot\resources\custom\bootres.dll is corrupt.
Sorry, I missed this line from back in post #27. That was a fairly long list, and I didn't read it carefully.

jim hardy said:
I'd search on "corrupted bootres.dll" and see how other folks have fixed it.
That's a good idea.

jim hardy said:
So if yours is corrupted
i'd suspect either malware or disk hardware error .

Maybe your local computer gurus could find an uncorrupted version and replace it ??
I found this Microsoft site -- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...otresdll/1f44a1c7-2857-474f-8a7a-7eb01a86e005 -- which has a number of good suggestions, one of which is to reinstall the OS. Replacing bootres.dll seems to be a pretty dicey operation -- the replacement needs to be the same version as the one it's replacing, according to the page I linked to.

Here's a link to a page that describes doing a repair upgrade to Win10 -- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-windows/35160fbe-9352-4e70-9887-f40096ec3085
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: WWGD
"My last resort "

Yup, that's the fix for when 'Ctrl-Alt-Del' just won't cut it...
 
To determine whether it's a hardware problem, you might try booting from a source other than the internal HDD, e.g. a CD or a USB drive -- if you continue to encounter the symptom you described, that pretty much rules out the OS.

Regarding the problem as described, I would suspect power supply, RAM, overheating, or maybe a bad power or reset switch.

You can use a free monitoring toolset such as (e.g) cpu-z (https://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/cpu-z_1.87-en.zip) or hwinfo (https://www.hwinfo.com/files/hwi_602.zip) to check the temps.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: WWGD and Mark44