startup repair

[117 M34]

Laptop is automatically going in to startup repair and I can't get out of it.
Won't let me do a system restore as it is running in a limited diagnostic state.
Tried a basic restore but not worked.
An thing I can try before doing a complete restore?
I'm clueless about computers so nothing too complicated if possible.

 

[Centurions]

Laptop is automatically going in to startup repair and I can't get out of it.
Won't let me do a system restore as it is running in a limited diagnostic state.
Tried a basic restore but not worked.
An thing I can try before doing a complete restore?
I'm clueless about computers so nothing too complicated if possible.

It depends on the version of Windows your using but a Google should find you something.

This is for Windows 7 http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/139576-startup-repair-infinite-loop-recovery.html for instance.

Let us know which version you've got, although I'm at work and am heading back to the Pep thread for more gifs for now so it may be tomorrow before I come back ;)

 

[117 M34]

I'm on windows 7.
Tried the advice on that site twice but it didn't work - not sure if I did it right.
tried starting in safe mode but that didn't work.
What will I lose if I do a full system restore?

 

[ianw16]

What will I lose if I do a full system restore?

Depends when your last system restore point dates from. I don't have it turned on, but from memory it offers to create restore points quite often, such as when you install a new program, or use certain tools like registry cleaning programs. It doesn't affect personal files like pictures, documents etc. It will affect programs, so anything you've installed since the last system restore point will be lost.
Having just read a bit more, Windows automatically creates a system restore point once a week, so that should be the maximum age of your restore point.

EDIT: You said in your first post that you can't get it to run system restore, so maybe you meant what would happen if you do a full reinstall? In that case possibly everything. But there are ways around that. From memory, if Windows is already installed, you get a warning message asking you whether you want to replace certain existing folders.

 

[Centurions]

This is from Microsofts own site http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...p-repair/f77d5355-b8be-41d6-af24-cae994e1768f although it's basically the same as the previous link without the pretty pictures.

If you don't have access to another computer while performing all of the steps (and you can't miss a single step) try and print out one of them somewhere.

If that doesn't solve it you may have corrupt files somewhere and a reinstall may or may not work. If it does you may still have all your personal files intact however if it asks to reformat the drive you will lose everything.

If you can remove the hard drive and plug it into another computer or an external drive caddy (around a tenner) you may be able to retrieve your files.