[BlackOxide]

Thanks for that. I would try and get another chkdsk done on that drive, mainly because, earlier it hinted there may be corrupted files when you ran it with NTFS4Dos. I know the Hard Drive test came back fine, but I just want to rule the Chkdsk part out once and for all.

If you have a Windows Vista Disc (not a recovery disc)...
Insert your Windows Vista DVD and follow the stages here .
When you reach this screen, choose Command Prompt


In the command prompt type chkdsk c: /r and then press Enter


If you don't have the disc...
To run a Chkdsk from the System Recovery Options, go through the following...

• Power on your PC and keep pressing the F8 key
  
• The Advanced Boot Options screen should appear and you should be presented with various options.
  
• Use the arrow keys to highlight Repair your computer, and then press ENTER. (If Repair your computer is not listed as an option, then your computer does not include Startup Repair as a preinstalled recovery option and you will need a Vista Installation disc)
  
• Select a keyboard layout, and then click Next.
  
• If prompted, select a user name and enter the password, and then click OK.
  
• On the System Recovery Options menu (see picture below), click Command Prompt and try running chkdsk /r c:

If the chkdsk does not find any problems, try restoring the PC back a few days.
Either boot from the Vista disc or use the F8 method above and when you get to the screen as shown above, choose System Restore. Go through the next few steps and select a date before this problem occurred.

Let me know how you get on

[citadel77]

i got through f8, then to repair computer, finally to a screen thats say
"windows failed to start."etc...

first choice highlighted is "launch startup repair(recommended)"
i highlight and choose it and it keeps how shall i say refreshing the screen? whenever i choose it, it brings me to this exact same page over and over etc.....

cant make it go into repair or somthing

only other option is "start windows normally" and that aint working lol....
hmmmm this thing is really starting to get me down, never had a problem like this i couldnt get past lol(with help ofcourse but)

[citadel77]

yea and other problem being that the computer came with no cds, one of the newer ones that has your recovery information partitioned off, so annoying how are you suppose to use the partitioned drive if you cant access it geez lol

[BlackOxide]

Hmmm, we are running out of ways to get this booting again if Chkdsk, Startup Repair and System Restore are not available/working.

This is looking as though it may need a reinstall. Does your friend have their data backed up? If not, get a bootable PE disc like UBCD4WIN or a linux Live CD like PuppyLinux or Ubuntu and make sure the data is backed up to an external drive or DVD's etc.

citadel77, on Jan 28 2010, 09:39 AM, said:

yea and other problem being that the computer came with no cds, one of the newer ones that has your recovery information partitioned off, so annoying how are you suppose to use the partitioned drive if you cant access it geez lol

Usually if there is a Recovery Partition, it should be accessible at the initial screen when you switch on. You should see the logo of the manufacturer and underneath it may say things like Press Del for Setup, F11 for System Recovery etc... Can you see this option? Once you are in the Recovery section, there is sometimes an option to do a non-destructive recovery which may get the PC up and running without losing the files, but I'd always suggest backing up first

[citadel77]

i am ready to just do the reinstall but no xp disk, and as for backing it up its a fairly new laptop with nothing worth saving actually used by a 70+ yr old for well not much important things lol

[citadel77]

and i dont see an f11 etc... option appear for the reinstall or anything on the bootup unfortunately its an acer ive never used them ofcourse lol know nothing about them

[BlackOxide]

Ok, often with Acer's, straight away after switching on, keep pressing <Alt>+<F10>, that should load Acer's Recovery software from the Hidden Partition. Then you should be able to Restore to factory defaults.

[citadel77]

wow thanks i knew ther was an easy solution somehow haha doing the recovery now update shortly

[citadel77]

ok thank you BlackOxide we finally have a desktop!!!

[BlackOxide]

Nice one! Well done, remember to get the key things now such as... Drivers (if they are not already installed, they might be), Windows Updates and an AntiVirus.

[citadel77]

oh i got those, got all my recommended software on a cd for my friends who dont know they even need an antivirus lolz thank you again mucho help

[BlackOxide]

Cool. You're welcome, good to hear everything's fine now