Hi,
A friend asked me to fix a bootup problem with his laptop. It is an Acer Aspire 6935G running Windows Vista. I thought this would be a long shot since I don't have much experience with this, but offered to give it a go.
The bootup problem arises at the following place: Windows Vista starts the bootup process ok, with the green bar labelled "Microsoft Windows" going through a few iterations before completing. After that the screen goes black momentarily, then an active cursor appears on a black background, and the process goes no further. Sometimes the bootup process checks the hard disk after the green bar stops moving, but no fault is found and things continue as before.
I was able to active "Startup repair" by pressing F8 on bootup, but no bootup problems were found. I read somewhere that pressing F11 repeatedly on startup would enable "return to factory settings" but I could not get this to happen when hitting this key on startup.
Since my friend said he had no system recovery disks, I then tried Neosmart (Windows Recovery Discs Updated, Reinstated The NeoSmart Files). I burned the 32-bit iso file "Windows Vista 32-bit Recovery Disc.iso" onto a CD-R and tried to bootup using the CD-R. Even with the BIOS set to boot from the DVD drive as its first priority, I could not get the bootup process to recognise the CD. The bootup just carried on as before without the presence of the CD making any difference.
I then wondered if I had bought the wrong iso file. The chipset is an Intel core 2 due processor T6400, making me wonder whether he has a 64-bit version of Vista. So I downloaded "Windows Vista 64-bit Recovery Disc.iso", paying another $9.75. Again, no joy.
I might have been wasting my time and money since I now suspect that these iso files just give me something I had already, namely startup repair. I took out the CD and booted up again, pressing F8 to get to the System Recovery menu, so could open a command prompt. I tried Option Two from Recovering the Vista Bootloader from the DVD - EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki, having burned bootsect.exe onto my CD-R. I went through all the required commands and they seemed to work ok (so I know the CD is working ok). However on restart, Vista just hung at the same point.
However, having gone through "Option Two: Manually Repairing the Vista Bootloader" I now appear to have made the problem worse, because I cannot get to the Startup Repair utility from Advanced Startup Options (i.e., when pressing F8 on startup) anymore - "Startup repair" is no longer an option on this menu. I wanted to get a command prompt so I could try "Option Three: Nuclear Holocaust". However I can no longer get to a command prompt.
I suspect I am wasting my time because I don't really know what I'm doing, or whether I've got a hope in hell of fixing this. Can anyone help? In particular, can anyone tell me how I can get the bootup to recognise my CD so I can actually use the recovery discs that I've paid for?
Thanks for any help!
A friend asked me to fix a bootup problem with his laptop. It is an Acer Aspire 6935G running Windows Vista. I thought this would be a long shot since I don't have much experience with this, but offered to give it a go.
The bootup problem arises at the following place: Windows Vista starts the bootup process ok, with the green bar labelled "Microsoft Windows" going through a few iterations before completing. After that the screen goes black momentarily, then an active cursor appears on a black background, and the process goes no further. Sometimes the bootup process checks the hard disk after the green bar stops moving, but no fault is found and things continue as before.
I was able to active "Startup repair" by pressing F8 on bootup, but no bootup problems were found. I read somewhere that pressing F11 repeatedly on startup would enable "return to factory settings" but I could not get this to happen when hitting this key on startup.
Since my friend said he had no system recovery disks, I then tried Neosmart (Windows Recovery Discs Updated, Reinstated The NeoSmart Files). I burned the 32-bit iso file "Windows Vista 32-bit Recovery Disc.iso" onto a CD-R and tried to bootup using the CD-R. Even with the BIOS set to boot from the DVD drive as its first priority, I could not get the bootup process to recognise the CD. The bootup just carried on as before without the presence of the CD making any difference.
I then wondered if I had bought the wrong iso file. The chipset is an Intel core 2 due processor T6400, making me wonder whether he has a 64-bit version of Vista. So I downloaded "Windows Vista 64-bit Recovery Disc.iso", paying another $9.75. Again, no joy.
I might have been wasting my time and money since I now suspect that these iso files just give me something I had already, namely startup repair. I took out the CD and booted up again, pressing F8 to get to the System Recovery menu, so could open a command prompt. I tried Option Two from Recovering the Vista Bootloader from the DVD - EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki, having burned bootsect.exe onto my CD-R. I went through all the required commands and they seemed to work ok (so I know the CD is working ok). However on restart, Vista just hung at the same point.
However, having gone through "Option Two: Manually Repairing the Vista Bootloader" I now appear to have made the problem worse, because I cannot get to the Startup Repair utility from Advanced Startup Options (i.e., when pressing F8 on startup) anymore - "Startup repair" is no longer an option on this menu. I wanted to get a command prompt so I could try "Option Three: Nuclear Holocaust". However I can no longer get to a command prompt.
I suspect I am wasting my time because I don't really know what I'm doing, or whether I've got a hope in hell of fixing this. Can anyone help? In particular, can anyone tell me how I can get the bootup to recognise my CD so I can actually use the recovery discs that I've paid for?
Thanks for any help!