Unbootable Vista (Possible File System Corruption)

I have a computer with Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit. I think the file system might be corrupt. When I start the computer, I would get the Vista loading bar, and then I would get a black screen. Now when I start it, it gives me a screen to choose between normal startup and the built in startup repair program. If I choose startup repair, it freezes on the loading screen. Knoppix recognizes the hard drive and is able to mount it. If I try to use the Vista installation disk to repair the operating system, it freezes while running startup repair. According to Microsoft's help database, these are two signs of file system corruption. PcMinistry's EBCD doesn't have any helpful programs that support NTFS. Any help with this problem would be appreciated. It would also be nice if someone could find a bootable disk that has checkdisk on it. Thanks.
 
Can you hit F8 and try getting into Safe Mode with Command Prompt? I know there is a site called bootdisk.com but i do not know if it will be of service to you.

If anything you might want to try and restore it to factory settings. But i would get the data you need off there first.
 
First, if you want to try to boot from safe mode, highlight the normal boot entry in your menu and without selecting it, hit F8. See if you can get into safe mode now.

When you boot from the recovery disk, select command prompt from the recovery options menu instead of startup repair. Run:

chkdsk c: /f

That should check Vista's partition for corruption

Then try to reboot and see what happens and post back. It could be a hard disk failure in general if this doesn't work.
 
Last edited:
First, if you want to try to boot from safe mode, highlight the normal boot entry in your menu and without selecting it, hit F8. See if you can get into safe mode now.

When you boot from the recovery disk, select command prompt from the recovery options menu instead of startup repair. Run:

chkdsk c: /f

That should check Vista's partition for corruption

Then try to reboot and see what happens and post back. It could be a hard disk failure in general if this doesn't work.

The disk automatically runs startup repair before giving you the menu.
 
So you have no way to do anything? Did you check bootdisk.com? See if there might be something there for you to use?
 
I'm assuming your booting from the recovery disc to do the repair... the start-up repair installed on the hard drive isn't going to help you.

If you're having start-up repair running when using the recovery disc, wait until it finishes. Instead of pressing the reboot button, click the "X" button to exit it out. Instead of rebooting, you should see the recovery options menu. From there you can follow the directions of my previous post. Good Luck!
 
Last edited:
I'm assuming your booting from the recovery disc to do the repair... the start-up repair installed on the hard drive isn't going to help you.

If you're having start-up repair running when using the recovery disc, wait until it finishes. Instead of pressing the reboot button, click the "X" button to exit it out. Instead of rebooting, you should see the recovery options menu. From there you can follow the directions of my previous post. Good Luck!

When running startup repair from the installation disk, it makes no progress even after several hours. If I try to cancel startup repair in any way, it says that the current repair operation can not be canceled.

Addendum:

So you have no way to do anything? Did you check bootdisk.com? See if there might be something there for you to use?

There isn't much for Vista on that website. I haven't found anything containing checkdisk that would work with Vista, anyway.
 
Last edited:
Don't cancel it, just press the "X" button to see if you can get out of the window then and onto the recovery options menu.
 
Actually, it sounds like a hardware problem to me.

The last time I had BSODs using the XP CD and couldn't get into the recovery console my memory was fried.

Download and burn a copy of memtest86+ and give it a run - I'm betting your hardware is the problem here.
 
Actually, it sounds like a hardware problem to me.

The last time I had BSODs using the XP CD and couldn't get into the recovery console my memory was fried.

Download and burn a copy of memtest86+ and give it a run - I'm betting your hardware is the problem here.

I can run Knoppix from a live CD and it works fine. I'll try the memory test anyway, though.
 
Doesn't say much though - different kinds of programs induce different levels of stress on the hardware...

Love the quote in your signature btw!! :smile:
 
I'm thinking its the hard drive if you can run a live CD without issues.

Do you get to select the installation you are trying to repair using the recovery disc before startup repair?

If you can't see your installation, there is definetly some corruption going on there or the hard drive is failing... prob. solution 2. Believe it or not, failing hard drives is a common issue to the most severe situations. An OS cd elsewise should have been able to fix the problem.
 
I'm thinking its the hard drive if you can run a live CD without issues.

Do you get to select the installation you are trying to repair using the recovery disc before startup repair?

If you can't see your installation, there is definetly some corruption going on there or the hard drive is failing... prob. solution 2. Believe it or not, failing hard drives is a common issue to the most severe situations. An OS cd elsewise should have been able to fix the problem.

Yes, it asks me to select the installation I want to repair. When I choose it, I don't get the menu asking which repair option I want to use, it just runs startup repair, which then freezes.
 
Back
Top