[dSilanskas]

So I posted a issue I was having with my wife's computer. And I have seen a few people on here with the same issue but I can't seem to fix this computer. She doesn't have a restore point on her computer and she has a lot of baby pictures and I also have job invoices on the computer that we don't want to lose. Now the computer will start up and gets to a point where there is a black screen and the arrow and that is all. It doesn't go further than that. Since I can't seem to fix this problem :-( before I guess I have to reinstall windows is there anyway to download the pictures and job invoices onto my computer? Thank you for all your help

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how long did the vista black screen run before you gave up?

[BillSnapWire]

how long did the vista black screen run before you gave up?

[dSilanskas]

A good half hour. I am at wits end :-( we really really don't want to lose the pictures and invoices

[wannabe1]

Hello dSilanskas...

Will the machine boot into Safe Mode?

wannabe1

[dSilanskas]

I've tried all the options and it boots up the same. After it boots up all I get is a black screen with the arrow. And since she doesn't have a restore point on the computer I am at a total loss

[XxFadedxX]

Well, if you can't save your computer, download Ubuntu, burn it, then boot it. If you don't know how to, there are tutorials on Google. In Ubuntu, mount your drive (you may need to force mount, if you don't know how just Google: Ubuntu force mount). Since I suspect it's just your windows folder that's damaged, you should be able to access the drive in Ubuntu.

If you have a partition on your computer a Windows Vista CD, you may be able to move the files to a parition via the command prompt that comes in the cd.

Did you try putting in the Vista CD and do a repair or restore?

[wannabe1]

Do you have, or have access to, a Windows XP cd?

[dSilanskas]

Do you have, or have access to, a Windows XP cd?

Yes I do have a windows XP cd

[wannabe1]

Boot to the Windows XP cd.

At the Welcome to Setup screen, press R to access Recovery Console.

You will be asked to choose the Windows install you'd like to log in to by typing the number that corresponds to it...usually 1...press Enter.

When asked for the Administrator Password, leave it blank and just press Enter. (Unless, of course, you have a password set...then use that.)

When you get to the Recovery Console prompt, type chkdsk /r and press Enter.

This will start a very thorough check of the file system which will attempt to recover any bad sectors. This is a long check...it may a[ppear to hang, or even back up and start again a few times...let it complete.

Once back at the Recovery Console prompt, remove the cd, type exit, and press Enter. Let the machine try to boot normally.

[dSilanskas]

I will try that but what I had done before is when I had the vista cd in the drive I went to command promt and typed chkdsk and it scanned the drive. Is that the same thing? because that said there was no errors

[wannabe1]

chkdsk without the /r switch will only check the basic structure of the file system. With the /r switch applied, it does a much more thorough check and actually attempts to recover anything it finds out of place. It also performs additional checks that aren't done without the switch.

[dSilanskas]

Okay I will do that now. But my question is why use a windows XP cd? I have vista

[dSilanskas]

I just tried what you said with the windows xp cd. When it asked me for a password I left it blank and hit enter because I don't have one set and it kept saying invald password.

[dSilanskas]

Okay so I got chkdsk/r to run onto the computer. After the test it said something along the lines of "Failed to log information onto the system long 50"