Ccleaner's Registry Cleaner Destroyed my PC - Blue Screen of Death (BCOD)

[KenKenKen]

After running a registry cleaner without saving a back-up, Windows prompted me to update my Lenovo IdeaPad 100 (it's a laptop). After the update and restart, I was greeted by something horrible. No, it wasn't a Jehovah's Witnesses or a Hari Krishna recruiter, it was the Blue Screen of Death. I'm writing this for Piriform to solve and for others to learn how to solve this problem. Please no humor, consoling, compassion or smart ass comments. This is an IT forum, not a facebook wall. 

Getting back to the story... 

I believe that Registry Cleaner either deleted or corrupted by Boot Configuration Data (BCD). 

File: /Boot/BCD

Error Code: 0xc0000034 

 

What I've done ( to no success)... 

I contacted microsoft and told them what happened (without mentioning Piriform) and they gave me the required installation media to download to a USB. I did that and followed the instructions via command prompt (keep in mind that this is from the Set-Up/Repair Windows 10 screen). 

After typing...

x:/sources> bootrec /fix boot, the PC told me "access is denied". Then I typed, x:sources> bootrec /rebuildbcd. The PC told me that my C drive cannot be found! 

 

What's going on here, Piriform? How to fix? 

 

Information: 

Affected Computer: Lenovo Ideapad 10014lBD, Model Name: 80RK, Running Windows 10 64bit,

[nukecad]

2 hours ago, KenKenKen said:

After running a registry cleaner without saving a back-up, Windows prompted me to update my Lenovo IdeaPad 100 (it's a laptop). After the update and restart, I was greeted by something horrible.

So you ran CCleaner and your laptop was working.
You then did a Windows Update and your laptop stopped working with a BSOD.

So you are now blaming CCleaner rather than Windows Update?
Try going to Google, on another machine, and searching for "windows update bsod".

OK leaving that.
You tried a reinstallation of Windows on advice from MS.
A hard drive not being found after an installation/reinstallation of Windows is not common but it is not unknown either.

Try taking a look here for 6 different fixes depending on just what the problem is:
https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmagic/hard-disk-not-detected.html

 

EDIT

PS. Don't use the registry cleaner as a normal routine.
It is an advanced tool that has it's uses, but it is not something you should use lightly.
General rule - If you don't know how to safely use the 'regedit' built into Windows then don't use any registry cleaner.

[KenKenKen]

1. So you are now blaming CCleaner rather than Windows Update? >>> I don't wish to answer drama questions that take focus away from problem solving. 

2. So you ran CCleaner and your laptop was working.
You then did a Windows Update and your laptop stopped working with a BSOD.>>> Yes, that's correct. 

3. PS. Don't use the registry cleaner as a normal routine.
It is an advanced tool that has it's uses, but it is not something you should use lightly.
General rule - If you don't know how to safely use the 'regedit' built into Windows then don't use any registry cleaner. >>> Thank you. 

4. https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmagic/hard-disk-not-detected.html  >>> Thank you, NukeCAD. I'll check it out

[Andavari]

The registry cleaner shouldn't have the ability to damage a boot configuration file (as in a physical file).

Cleaning the registry on Windows 10 isn't something I'd personally do with all the updates it gets, and occasional significant changes. Microsoft even warns against cleaning the registry.

[nukecad]

It wasn't a 'drama' question Ken, just pointing out that it's usually the last thing you did before something breaks that has broken it.

The way to troubleshoot a problem is to work backwards from when the problem arose.

In this case the last thing you did was a Windows Update and so that is probably what caused your BSOD.
Various Windows Updates have been notorious for BSOD'ing a number of computers.
It's a particular issue with Win10 Home when automatic updates are pushed out to a lot of people before a problem with the update shows up.

Hope one of those solutions works for getting your drive recognised again.

[KenKenKen]

NukeCad, 

Ok, I hear you. Thank you for explaining. About the troubleshooting strategy, yeah, that sounds right. Thank you for your help and patience. I guess I'm going to bite the bullet and go to an IT guy. Sorry readers. 

 

[KenKenKen]

Andavari, 

Thank you for your reply. Yeah, I'm stuck. I'll go to an IT guy and I'll post about what he says. Perhaps it is Windows fault because I've performed Registry Cleans many times with no problem and, as mentioned in previous forums, Piriform's cleaner is a lite cleaner. It's safe to use which is probably why its the best in the industry. That's why I use it anyways. 

[Andavari]

With Windows 10 I wouldn't necessarily state it's "safe".

I've did scans but never hit the "Fix selected Issues" button with the registry cleaner on a couple of Win10 machines (that weren't mine) and some of the results were enough for me to leave well enough alone so I unticked/disabled every box in the registry cleaner and explained to the user to never use it. Now on my old WinXP system I've only had issues with it once over a decade ago.

[nukecad]

6 hours ago, Andavari said:

..... I unticked/disabled every box in the registry cleaner and explained to the user to never use it.

I always do the same when I put it on a computer for a friend.

I usually go a bit further and untick a few of the items in the regular cleaner that I know can sometimes cause problems with their particular OS. (Font Cache on Windows 10 1803, and so on).
Of course they can always tick them again.

Which brings me back to Ken's issue.

Ken, which version of CCleaner are you running?
And did you clean the Font Cache?

It's probably unlikely, but I ask because Win 10 1803 introduced a bug that could prevent 1803 from booting if the Font Cache was cleaned.
Although that was reported as a 'spinning wheel' on boot rather than a BSOD who knows what MS have changed since.
(So it's just possible that it may have been a CCleaner clean that affected your machine after all).
There was a 'hotfix' to v5.42, and then v5.43 removed the option altogether while they work on a permanent solution
But if you have an older version than 5.43 and did clean the font cache you may have fallen foul of this Windows bug during a normal clean (not the registry cleaner).

https://forum.piriform.com/topic/51330-add-option-for-traditional-advanced-results-page/?do=findComment&comment=295726

Quote

The Windows 10 April Release (build 1803) contains a very nasty bug that can prevent Windows 10 from booting after the Font Cache is cleaned. While this cleaning rule is not enabled by default, we do believe that the severity of the issue is strong enough that we should delay the v5.43 release to add a temporary fix to prevent our users from encountering this issue.