Question : A Beautiful Disaster, multiple issues on Windows 7 / Vista Ultimate 64bit

Hello everyone,

I was recommended here by a friend who said this would be the best place to go for capable IT assistance, so I'm looking forward to finally having resolution to some ongoing issues. I don't mean to drag this out but I figure it'd be helpful if I was detailed in the problems I've had to help better diagnose the problems.

OK, so early this year (2009) I bought the best computer money could buy (at the time), through a private seller (no IT support available) and have had issues from the start.

See Basic specs below:

Original OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit
Intel i7 Processor Extreme overclocked to 3.72 Ghz
12GB DDR3 RAM
500 Gig Solid State main HD (250 x2 in RAID)
4 TB additional internal HD (2 x 2TB not in RAID)
1x BR, DVD, CD/RW combo drive
1x DVD/CD/RW drive
2x Nvidia Gtx295 in quad SLI
1200 watt power supply

So from the very first day I received this beast, the secondary dvd/cd/rw combo drive didn't work. It opens and closes just fine, but it's as though the computer doesn't even recognize the drive exists. It doesn't show up under my computer and nothing loads when you put a disc in. I've checked the cables inside the computer and they all appear to be attached just as securely as the disc drive above. I've yet to get this working (almost 9 months later)

Next was the more annoying / disturbing problem when I started receiving blue screens. It would always occur during gameplay, so I began trying to troubleshoot the problem. First I thought it to be heat, so I had it set next to an air conditioner on full blast with a heat monitoring program (all the temperatures were far into the safe zone on all CPU's and GPUs). Then I thought it might be an issue with the power supply being connected to a weak outlet, so I gave it a dedicated outlet that was plenty powerful, they still continued. The two most frequent blue screen codes were BCcode 124 & 126, and seemed to happen most often when SLI mode was enabled. I also received on one occasion a BCcode 101.

It used to only occur during gameplay, although at one point it even started to bluescreen when viewing simple videos on youtube (it hasn't done that in quite awhile).

In addition to these frustrations, the boot time would take about 4 or 5 minutes which I thought was too long considering the hardware of the computer. Then I started having issues with the comp not shutting down without a hard shut down. The screen would stay on the log off screen saying "windows is shutting down..." indefinitely. (this was definitely annoying when I came back from a long day of work only to find that the 1200 watt comp had been "shutting down" all day.. ouch to the electric bill). This problem seemed to go away after a few automatic updates, but would occasionally come back out of nowhere.

Now, on Christmas day I decided to give myself the present of Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I downloaded it from Microsoft's website and did an upgrade. It took more than 8 hours to complete (I'm not even sure how long exactly because I started at 4 PM and it was still going at midnight before I went to get some R&R). Everything seemed to be alright, although when it came time to restart, the boot time was at about an hour... yes, an hour. After playing with the new UI and looking around, I decided to run the automatic updates (only the important ones) in hopes of this hour long boot being resolved.

What came of the automatic updates was far worse than the long boot time, the computer attempted to restart, only to receive the following message:

"File: \Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: An error occured while attempting to read the boot configuration data"

This screen didn't provide any options other than "Esc to cancel" or "Enter to continue" pressing either resulted in the same thing, a restart that brought me back to the same screen. No Safe Mode option, or using last known good configuration. The screen had said to try using the repair disc which I, of course, didn't have yet as this was the first day of using windows 7 which I had downloaded from Microsoft's website.

Tonight I made my own repair disc after luckily finding sources online that provided the necessary .iso for a repair. It brought me to a screen saying that the recovery console had found some errors and to press yes if I wanted them fixed and the comp restarted. I selected Yes and vuala - I finally had a "starting windows" boot screen.........for another hour. This repair has taken place in the last 2 hours literally while writing this, and I let the hour long boot do it's thing and noticed it had finally reached the log on screen. Since I was in the middle of writing this, I let the computer sit Idle and when checking on it again, It was back to the initial boot screen of "Start windows using last known good configuration" *facepalm*. I'll try to log in the moment I see that screen come up again this time, and hopefully avoid this new problem.

In any case, I'm absolutely exhausted of this endless battle with a machine that cost an arm and a leg. It's like I spend more time trying to troubleshoot a new problem than actually enjoying using the thing. I was hoping to rid myself of some problems by going to windows 7 as I've heard good things about it, though now I'm starting to regret the upgrade.

I know i've rambled on a bit so to recap the problems:

*secondary DVD/CD drive doesn't exist as far as the comp is concerned, despite having power running to it (tray opens and closes).

*Blue Screens BCcode 124 & 126, and on one occasion 101.

*Windows Shutdown never ends until a hard shut down, on occasion

*New problems with Windows 7 automatic updates messing up the "File: \Boot\BCD" and rendering the computer incapable of booting.

*1 Hour + boot time with windows 7

*NEW: Ok so I kept an eye on the comp and tried to log on the moment I saw the logon screen appear. I received the following message:

"The User Profile Service service failed the logon.
User profile cannot be loaded"

Here goes round 3 with Windows 7, I'll see what other options the repair disc gives this time around and keep you all posted with the progress.

Thank you all in advance for any help with this disaster, really hoping to have a good old fashioned working computer one day.

Answer : A Beautiful Disaster, multiple issues on Windows 7 / Vista Ultimate 64bit

i think you are making problems for yourself; i mean :
1- if you have problems with the hardware from day 1 - have i replaced or repired
2-then you have to repair the problem; as said your 2nd DVD may just be bad; fix this problem first
3-update only on a WORKING system (on one with problems, you just run into more problems, as you've found out)

now for resolving this, i suggest to download the ubcd  CD :  http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/      
and run memtest86+ for at least 1 full pass (may take more than an hour)
then run a disk drive diag from it for the brand you have; then you are sure about the basics.

Once this is ok, we can proceed.