Nuclear Holocaust nearly worked

kenknott

Member
Originally our Dell Inspiron failed to boot. Repair attempts failed. I then found the Neosmart wiki info and worked through the process. Eventually I followed the instructions Step Four: Nuclear Holocaust and all seemed to go well, but when I re-booted I was taken to a page which contained various booting options such as Start Windows Normally etc. However, choosing these simply brought me back to this page every time.
I feel that I am very close to sorting this out! Can anyone suggest the next step? Many thanks.
 
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Thanks.

I ran chkdsk c:/f but the problem persists. The computer is in a loop with the Windows Error Recovery page. It tries to boot and then returns to this page repeatedly.

I could run the check disk routine again. If I do, what data or messages should i be looking for?

Thanks.
 
Run it until it reports no errors found or fixed.
In /f doesn't do the trick, try /r
 
I've check disked /f and /r a number of times(!) but I'm afraid the boot loop is still there! Is there anything else I can try?

Thanks.
 
If you click on system restore are there any available restore points?

Lets give SFC a shot at it:

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows\
 
Yes there are some restore points, but they won't successfully restore!

I typed

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows\

at the dos prompt, but wasn't really sure what to do next. Sorry.
 
yes i pressed enter and it told me what the commands meant and gave examples. I wasn't really sure whether it had actually done anything else. I've since exited and restarted, but the problem persists.

Addendum:

Maybe i should do the nuclear holocaust repair again???

Addendum:

I suppose I could re-install Vista, but is there any way I could copy personal files onto a memory stick before doing this?
 
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Type "dir c:\". Is it listing the windows folders like "Users", "Windows", "Program Files", etc?

Re-installs looking like its going to be required unfortunately. You can get your files though by using a Ubuntu live disc.
 
Wow! Thank you so much for telling me about Ubuntu. I have copied the files that are required and later today will re-install Vista on the offending laptop. As this is my son's laptop, I'll leave it at that, but on my own laptop I am now wondering whether I should use Ubuntu instead of Windows on a permanent basis. Does anyone have any views on this?

P.S. I am really grateful to those who have helped me with this problem! Thank you all.
 
Use Disk Management "shrink" to resize your Vista partition, create 25Gb or so free space.
Install Ubuntu into the space, making sure to use "advanced" options to keep grub in the Linux partition, not in the MBR. Use the latest build of EasyBCD 2 to add a Linux entry to your Vista BCD (select grub2 from the dropdown).
You're now part of the Dual-boot community.
Choose to use Vista or Ubuntu, as you desire.
 
Ubuntus great for emergencies as you can see, but installed on the hard drive it can have bad days too just like any other OS. I would still keep Windows around, but if you really want to convert over and don't mind the learning curve find programs that can do everything you would need out of a computer in Ubuntu and you may be able to ditch Windows completely.
 
Ubuntu is one of the many flavours of Linux.
Because of the open-source nature of the Linux world, there are many different groups developing alternative versions. Underneath they're very similar, the outward appearance and usability varies.
Like W95, 98, XP, Vista and W7 you'll gets fans of one who'll criticize the others, but essentially they're much the same under the hood.
 
Hi kairozamorro,
you write much about Ubuntu, but I have testet Ubuntu, K.D.E. Linux and can say:
My Emergency-Tools, what I need for Programs, what I will do, only with Win this is all possible.
So I have Original WinPE in 32 Bit and 64 Bit, for Test the 32 Bit BartPE and not much problems with very new Hardware and here Driver.
If my System have a hard crash, I restore this total in aprox. 300 Seconds.
With this famouse EasyBCD I have a fine Menu on my HD and a fine Menu on my Emergency-USB stick for recovery tools in differnt OS.
So I think it is not necessery you write every time, Ubuntu is so good....
For me is Ubuntu not OK..


Greetings from Germany,

STRUPPI
 
Hey Struppi,

I appreicate your opinion. I too use UBCD4Win/BartPE on a regular basis for recovery of computers I'm working on. As you can see, Ubuntu is just one of the many options someone has at their fingertips in time of need.
 
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