[SOLVED] Faulty driver broke my pc

[Cayden]

Long story short ahcix64s.sys completely disables input when it is loaded. Nothing has worked so far and I cannot get a sfc scannow to work in the recovery environment command prompt, as without offline args it tells me that there is another repair command waiting but that never goes through, using offline args (offbootdir and offwindir) tells me that the repair service cant be started. chkdsk doesn't even register errors.

btw no system restore for me, it's disabled.

 

[Cayden]

attempting offline sfc scan

It said it didn't find any integrity violations .. . i'm at a complete loss. Gateway includes a proprietary restore software however i'm not sure as to the extent of what it backs up. It says all the information in the user accounts, but does this include the files located on the desktop as well? I can't seem to find that out. (it's called Gateway Recovery Management, sometimes called eMachines or Acer)

 

[Anthony N]

I've looked into it but haven't worked up enough trust to use it.

I'm not sure what to say here cayden. The best I can say is to shoot risk into the wind and see what you get for options.

 

[Wrench97]

The desktop is part of your user account so I would say yes it's included.

 

[Digerati]

Gateway includes a proprietary restore software however i'm not sure as to the extent of what it backs up. It says all the information in the user accounts, but does this include the files located on the desktop as well?

The recovery is NOT likely going to restore ANYTHING but Windows itself - unless you created a new recovery disk after you set up your user accounts. If you never made a more current recovery, I suspect you will be taken back to the factory state - that is, all your user accounts, personal data, and downloaded and installed applications will be lost.

My advice is to pull the hard drive and drop it into an enclosure, or into a second computer as a secondary drive (NOT the boot drive) and copy off anything you don't want to lose.

 

[writhziden]

You may find the following helpful: Copy and Paste (Backup your user files) Outside Windows Vista or Windows 7

 

[Wrench97]

Some Gateway models also use a recovery program that backs up user data automatcally, kind of works like a upgrade install sets it asside and puts it back when done.

 

[Digerati]

If you mean this, I am not sure it applies here - with a broken computer.

 

[Wrench97]

I ran in to it once, there were 2 options in the Gateway recovery program, restore to factory defaults and recover my computer preserving my documents and programs.

 

[Digerati]

Cool! Worth a try then, for sure.

 

[Cayden]

I ran in to it once, there were 2 options in the Gateway recovery program, restore to factory defaults and recover my computer preserving my documents and programs.

that other option is what i'm talking about,. Do you or anyone know exactly what it backs up? Does the software affect my second hdd?

 

[Cayden]

and I'd still like to get this figured out

 

[Wrench97]

Was the second drive installed from the factory?
If not I would remove it before doing anything.

While I have seen it once I did not get to use it as the hard drive was actually the issue and flat out died while I was trying to get some needed data off it before trying to image it.

 

[Cayden]

It wasn't installed by the factory but by me.

I certainly hope you're right that it backs up the files on the desktop. If I cant get this issue fixed I'm going to have to do it since I am not seeming to get much help for my actual issue.

 

[Wrench97]

In the other thread I read you talked about Raid and disabling it the pc would not boot, if that's the case and you installed the drive then somewhere along the line you created a raid array and all bets are off if the data is stored across both drives the recovery package is only going to boot from and use the original drive.

 

[Cayden]

Thanks to Writhziden I got to back up my important stuff on my second drive, so now I am not worried about losing it.



Also: any idea why this driver may have caused this issue and how to fix it? I'd love to get this solved without having to do this restore method.

 

[Wrench97]

That is the sata controller driver (Advanced Host Controller Interface) rarely do you see them update.
Did you try booting with only the original hard drive and running a repair install?

 

[Cayden]

I don't think I can run a repair install as I have no recovery media to do so other than what's in the WRE. As stated I want to try and solve this issue without having to use any recovery method, if at all possible. Let me know if you think this issue can be solved by something other than a complete system restore please.

 

[Wrench97]

Remove the new drive set the sata controller to AHCI and try a start up repair.

 

[Cayden]

same result - no issues found