Solved! SUPER IMPORTANT: Windows 7 laptop keeps crashing

[cannooolybombom]

Hi guys we really need this laptop for work and we can't get another one so here's the thing it keeps crashing/freezing upon booting, it's an old HP Windows 7 laptop. It works perfectly fine in safe mode, disabled some few unnecessary startup services... not much more I can say. After that, tried opening a YouTube video, and it froze. Then it said please install an operating system. Should I clean the dust and I think this is not due to overheating because it freezes very early? Like 2 minutes into startup? Thanks.

 

[Saga Lout]

If you get another shot at Safe Mode, select Command and when the black screen shows up, at the prompt type
chkdsk /r
then hit the Enter key.

That will take a long time but when it finishes fixing file structures, again, type
sfc /scannow
and let that process run. It scans for missing or corrupt system files.

Good luck.

 

[cannooolybombom]

If you get another shot at Safe Mode, select Command and when the black screen shows up, at the prompt type
chkdsk /r
then hit the Enter key.

That will take a long time but when it finishes fixing file structures, again, type
sfc /scannow
and let that process run. It scans for missing or corrupt system files.

Good luck.

Hi, it says chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. What does this mean? Also, after chkdsk and sfc, if there are missing or corrupt system files, how will I get those system files on this laptop? Thanks

 

[cannooolybombom]

Chkdsk is not getting through. It stops at 10%

 

[rgd1101]

stop or stuck?
if it stuck could be hdd failing. replace it

 

[Saga Lout]

The hard drive has to come out of there, slaved to another PC using a USB cable. As rgd1101 has said, you might have to replace it so it has to come out for one reason or another.

If CheckDisk fixes files (SFC can't work remotely) you could clone the entire system to a new drive.