[PaperAssassin]

Hi everyone, my Sony Vaio laptop suddenly froze on me last night, something that rarely if ever happens. After I reset, from that point on Vista will no longer boot. I get this message during bootup:

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause...

file: \windows\system32\config\system
status: 0xc00000e9

info: windows failed to load because system registry file missing or corrupt.

So anyway I was not provided the Vista installation CD, but I do have a recovery CD. However, booting from that only gets me so far. After I see the Windows files are loading message, or something like that, the screen goes black with only the mouse cursor visible. Anybody encounter this before?

[phillipcorcoran]

Although by no means always the case, that error can mean a failing hard drive so you should test it with the drive maker's own diagnostic software (the DOS version which runs from a bootable CD). Links here: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287

My point in suggesting this is that it's no good looking for other causes until the drive has been tested.

[hfcg]

When you turn on the machine press the F 8 key (repeatedly).
This shouldbring you to the "Boot options menu".
Select repair my computer.
It may be a bad hard drive, but lets try to fix the files first.

http://windows.micro...asked-questions

http://windows.micro...asked-questions

[John Sebeny]

how long does that process take? i'm having the same issue and did this "repair my computer" and now it's just a blue screen.