OK,

I have XP Media Center and Vista Home Premium on a Dual boot.

When I try to start vista I get a blue screen for a split second (my guess is that it's the recent hardware/software change thing) and then the computer restarts, forcing me to use XP.

I think I know how I knacked it - and it was my own idiotic mistake.

When I clicked shutdown, I thought I had clicked shut down without updating - obviously not, because when the computer screen went blank the lighs on the front were still on (it was a while ago - cant remember if fan was still on or not) and I was in a hurry so I did a hard shutdown. Ever since then I've had the same problem.

Can anyone help me try to get it running without re-installing?

Thanks in advance for any help.


Connor

Hello Connor D...

Do you have the Vista installation cd? If you do, is it an OEM (Dell, HP, etc...) or a retail version?

wannabe1

It's an Express Upgrade disc for use with my acer PC only.


Thanks for the fast reply ..


Connor

I'm not absolutely positive, but I think the express upgrade disk will contain the features we want.

Put the cd in the drive and restart the machine. Hopefully it will boot into a screen that will present you with the option to either install or repair Vista. You'll have to select the Vista system to log on to. Choose the "Repair" option (link toward the bottom)...when presented with the repair options, choose "System Restore" and restore your machine to a date before the update was installed.

If you do not see these options, abort the procedure and let me know...

I booted from disk, The only change I got was that the blue screen stayed put instead of flashing straight off and restarting the computer. My grandad is suggesting that I/He runs the the upgrade process again, I don't mind about losing data, but I would prefer if I could keep it.

Is there any quicker way than to re-install?


Thanks a lot,

Connor

Let's try a different disk...

Download VistaRecovery.ISO and burn it to a cd as an ISO image. You may need a burning tool like ISO Recorder to do this...be sure to get the version for the operating system you'll be creating the disk on.

Boot to the VistaRecovery cd....watch for the prompt to "Press any key to boot from cd"...press a key when you see it. Be patient, this is slow loading on many machines...it may take several minutes to load fully into the interface. Choose your language, time, and currency, when prompted to do so, and click "Next". Select the operating system to be repaired from the list and click "Next". You will now be presented with several options, Click on "Startup Repair" to start the repair operation and follow any prompts to complete it.

Thats not working ..

It starts to boot, goes through IBM copyright stuff, then says 'Mouse Driver Successfully Installed', then stops at 'A\:>' I know basic CMD commands - do I need to change directory to the drive the disc's in or something?


Thanks,
Connor

This post has been edited by Connor D: May 10 2008, 03:35 PM

Sounds like it's hanging on a boot floppy drive...you may have to change the boot priority in BIOS Setup so that the cd-rom drive is first boot device with the HDD as second. If it's set correctly, you should be prompted to "Press any key to boot from cd" when you restart the machine. If you don't see that prompt, then you are likely not booting to the cd.

Thats the conclusion I came to, how do I enter Bios? Is it F8 on startup? Or is that advanced startup options?


Connor

Yup...F8 gets you the advanced startup options.

Entering BIOS Setup is usually accomplished using the F1 or Delete keys. When you start the machine, one of the very first splash screens should tell you which key to push. It will appear as "To enter setup press F1" of "Press Del to enter Setup"....something of that nature. Without knowing the make and model number of your machine, I can't really get any more specific than that.

I found it before you posted that, it's F2 on my machine, I've changed the priority so USB CDROM is higher than USB FDD, why do they have USB at the start? I have a USB DVD Drive I'm about to use to try, as it still didn't work in my built in drive (E:)


Connor

Your internal (non-USB) cd/dvd-rom drive should be listed as a choice, as well. That's the one you should select if possible.

Turns out my grandad had already changed the priority when he had tried to fix it, so disk drive (IDE 1: HL:DT:ST DVDRAM GSH-T10N-) was already the first priority.

What we think is that the ISO file has been written to be used from a floppy, do you know of any other vista repair files, that were written to be used from a disc?


Connor

This file was written for use on cd...it's the only was it CAN be used...and I've used it many times. It must be burned as an ISO image to work, though. Are you burning the disk correctly?

Using NTI backit up now - It's basically the equivalent to dragging and dropping to disk and burning, so i'm guessing that you're right, considering you're the pro.

I'll download the program you recommended now ..

Connor