Vista Home Premium no boot problem

T

timdeaton

Member
Dell Inspiron 1720 Notebook
WVP fails to boot. Booted with Dell supplied Vista disk and followed detailed instructions on this web site (could not use EasyBCD because could not get OS to boot so I took the long route) Everything looked OK (responses were positive) but still acts the same.

System starts the boot process, with the Dell screen, displays the Microsoft Corp copyright and green meter moving left to right then 'reboots' to Dell screen etc.

Friend who owns the computer has 50+ programs that have been loaded over the years, they are in their 80's and simply want the computer to work as it did before. If this were XP I would have done a system recover and been done in 15-30 minutes.
Not sure how to proceed here.

Thanks to anyone who can help

Tim Deaton
 
Hi Tim,

Good thing to see your friends got a Dell disc to re-install with, but I agree, lets hope it doesnt come to that.

Press F8 as you power on the computer continuously until an advanced options boot menu appears. Select to disable automatica restart. Whats the blue screen/error code you're getting?

Now, you can ask them if they've installed anything recently, attempt safe mode, and use system restore to put the computer back a few days before the problems began to occur.
 
Been there - done that (Didn't get the T-shirt)

I have tried that and nothing changes.
No blue screen error code because it does not get that far

system simply 'reboots' repeatedly after the Dell Logo and the MicroSoft Corporation copyright notice and the green indicator..screen is black except for that.

They do not remember but were on line and something about updating their virus software came on the screen.

Have followed the extended instructions on this site and MANUALLY did what EASYBCD does automatically.

More help is needed (Maybe a Mac?)

Thanks for input - looking for more..

Regards

Tim
 
That "anti-virus" message sounds ominous.
Were they in fact being infected with a rogue AV scam ?
Check out
http://www.virusremovalguru.com/?p=4918
and other such sites located with a "internet security 2010" "rogue" search of the web
and
http://www.virusremovalguru.com/?p=4710
http://www.virusremovalguru.com/?p=4713
which relate to continuous reboots

Hopefully CG's suggestion of Sys Res via our recovery CD might work
(one characteristic of the infection is disabling of all AV and recovery/restore facilities in Windows itself)
 
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Vista Home Premium cyclical boot with no blue screen

These folks are in their 80's so they are not the ones responsible for turning off the Restore Point; nonetheless, there are NO RESTORE POINTS.

The folks do not remember the virus warning; however, from the description they gave me it was one of those bogus virus warnings that send crap to your computer then wants you to pay for a (non-existent) solution - or it could be other bogus virus crap such as Symantec (editorial comment - that stuff is pure junk).

Be that as it may,...

I downloaded and booted the DVD from this site and gone through the same procedure (until the folks brot me the box of 'stuff' they had). I then used the Dell supplied DVD thinking that I might not have done the DVD correctly. The results seem to be the same.

What it appears I need (in addition to knowledge) is something BEYOND the instruction I received from the article on this site titled "Recovering the Vista or Windows 7 Bootloader from the DVD". I had to use the detailed section and all appeared to be OK (no negative responses).

Any help will be greatly appreciated

Thanks again

Tim Deaton
 
Can you remove their HDD, slot it into your PC, save their personal data and disinfect it from your system ?
Alternatively, save their personal files like this, and "factory reset" the broken PC from the Dell media.
 
Thanks for the ideas:
I have there personal files backed up on WD passport drive.

I DO NOT use Vista (staying with DOS 6.22 - never fails, never lost a file) and using XP for the Windows "have to" applications so I do not have a computer that I would feel safe inserting the drive into; however, that's a good suggestion and that is what I would have done had I been running any version of VISTA

Ran chkdsk c:/f If found nothing to correct.

I also used SpotMAU; however, the utilities I need seem to run only in Windows (lemme see..I need to rebuild a crashed Windows installation but it can only be rebuilt from a working Windows installation on the same drive - what's wrong with this picture?)

I fear, due to time constraints, that this installation may be a lost cause.

BUT STILL - I am interested in entertaining any help anyone wants to offer - I am pleased with the response and wish I could help others (I DID for 20+ years with CP/M, NSDOS, MS-DOS and others but am woefully lacking in education on this windows stuff - guess I shouldn't have retired!)

Thanks loads,

Tim
 
Hi Tim,

Don't worry about that - we all get our data outdated at some point or the other :smile: Just stick around, keep your eyes & ears open, and I'm sure it'll all come back.. sorta like riding a bike :wink:

Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 have castrated the ability to perform a repair install.

There's a good chance that the system isn't "rebooting" - it's actually crashing, displaying an error message for an infinitesimally small amount of time, *then* rebooting.

To check:
Before Windows starts, bang the F8 key repeatedly. You'll get a screen with startup options - choose "Do not automatically restart on system failure"

Then reboot again. This time, you might see a BSOD instead of a reboot. Take note of the error code, the driver (if any), the message details, and post it all here.
 
Ok, looks like we're getting no where with the steps above. Fortunately for them they've got their disc, so I would recommend at this point re-installing Windows from the Dell DVD and restoring their files.
 
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