Vista not turning on! Please Help!!!!!!!!!

kairozamorro said:
PC eye, sfc isn't present in XP and as far as I know anything earlier...

Fregley, what did you type with sfc that didn't work? What was the error? As far as chkdsk goes, let it do its thing. chkdsk doesn't give you any progress indication, but it'll be awhile.
Click to expand...

The system file checker has been present in Windows since 98. Windows 98, Getting Started: Using System File Checker - HelpWithWindows.com provides screen shots on how it looked in the old 9x family. The current MS page is seen at System File Checker Tool Extracts Incorrect File Versions
 
I have been running chkdsk overnight, and it still has not done anything that I can see. Any advice? Also, what can I do to make the sfc run? Any other ideas?
 
PC eye, I'm aware that 98 had another tool, but not by the same name. Try typing sfc in XP and you'll find it isnt available. Must I post a screenshot or something?...

Fregley, /scannow is always used. Its stupid but it tells the command you want to start scanning an installation.
 
Use a space between sfc and the parameters. You do need to use either /offwindir /offbootdir or both in order to get it working. Sorry I havent had the need to do this in awhile now.
 
In XP simply go to the Run command line right off of the Start menu and type "sfc /scannow" with the XP disk in the drive to see the tool start up. A small popup screen will appear while that is running. I'll even reboot into XP and grab a screen shot of what that looks like since I've used it enough once I was through burning a few data disks.

Simply bring up the Start menu and click Run to then see the command prompt appear. Then simply type in sfc /scannow and press enter or click the ok button.



The tool will then prompt unless you already have the XP disk in the optical drive. Once going the first seen is the tool verifying system files.



Upon finishing the initial scan you may start seeing the drive light blinking as replacement files are being copied from the disk if any files are found bad or missing.
 
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PC Eye, I'm not using XP, I'm using Vista.

kairozamorro, could you give me an example of what you mean by spaces? If you don't mind, could you type the command I need. Sorry, I don't seem to be able to figure this out.

I think I'm going to quit the chkdsk. It's been around 20 hours, now, and I don't think it's done a thing.

PS-Sorry for the long pause, I had to go earlier.
 
20hrs. is far too long! If no problems are found in far less time like a good 10minutes the drive is good not seeing any bad sectors by the Windows tool. Rather then spending all that time it would have been better to simply downloaded the drive diagnostic tools the manufacturer provides.

As far as all that with XP that was simply to clear that up. If you run the same command at the Run prompt in Vista instead you see a dos looking command prompt appear while it goes through the file verification process.

 
fregley the command is sfc /scannow not sfc/scannow. The space goes after sfc and before /

Hope that helps.

I've done it in both XP and Vista
 
Thanks, I just started it. Don't I need to do anything about offline or something?

Addendum:

Wait, the thing says the requested operation could not be completed. Help!
 
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With XP the install cd was needed in the drive otherwise you were prompted for it. You may be running into the same thing only without the prompting for the Vista dvd. In fact when I just tried to use that command again in Vista having run it before the command window simply closes immediately as if it was already finished and simply won't run a repeat scan.
 
I found something that acts like it should work, sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows, it says it is starting scan and all that, but then it comes up with an error message that says a background repair process needs a reboot before it can run or something. I rebooted, but it says the same thing.

Any ideas?

Addendum:

BIG NEWS!!!

I just managed to access my system restore with the restore points. Instead of running the generic rstrui.exe, I put the path and then the other stuff. When I selected a point to restore to, a dialogue box popped up that said the disk had errors, and popped up a repair program. I have started it running. Cross your fingers!
 
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If the drive is not seeing any bad sectors you may be seeing some volume information being restored. When going to use the system restore a system restart is always required as part of the backclock of the system registry being seen there. The restart puts that into effect.
 
OK, the scanner thing that I started doesn't look like it's doing anything. The progress bar hasn't shown any changes. Should it have?

For reference, the program has the two options that are something like: scan for bad sectors and attempt automatic recovery, and: automatically fix file system errors.

If this ends up not working, but I can access the restore points, is there a way to run them?
 
With XP you could manually start up the system restore feature by selecting the safe mode /command prmpt only option where you simply typed in a command. Vista has a similar method of seeing this done outlined in the blog seen at http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/using-windows-vista-system-restore/

Using the automatic repair tools when booting up with the Vista dvd is another means in case Windows won't even boot up in safe mode. The MS page on this is seen at http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Wi...809f-ed90-415f-a83f-89b42108b3551033.mspx#EFF
 
Thanks for the reply, PC Eye, but that isn't my problem. After I get to System Restore and select a point and push next, a dialogue box comes up that says the drive is corrupted or something and must be fixed. There is a link to the scanner I mentioned earlier, which I clicked and ran. I haven't seenany changes. The Microsoft link doesn't have anything helpful.
 
This is why I mentioned earlier about a possible problem being seen with the system volume information making the partition inactive. The last part on the MS page goes into not being able to boot to the F8 boot menu where you would use the repair tools section found on the Vista dvd itself to perform repairs.

If the boot information has been corrupted you would use the automatic startup repair tool found there rather then starting the system restore feature to see repairs made for whatever is preventing Windows from starting up. The system restore feature is there for restoring the system registry not the boot volume.
 
Those are rather brief descriptions at the least. But the prompts you mention seeing there point at either the boot information or volume information stored on the primary itself. Don't feel bad I ran into a couple of bad installs here with the new version and ended up going as far as deleting the existing primary to see everything installed fresh on more then one occasion.

If you are unable to repair the present install there you may end up needing to go that far to see a working copy of Windows running again. Sometimes that turns out to be the only working solution rather then bumping your head against a wall! Without seeing the specific messages you are seeing there it's a bit of a task trying to find what will work in the short term.
 
PC eye, great you made that discovery if thats the case. I've only tried sfc in XP with no disc straight from cmd.exe. Never worked.

Fregley, what I mean by space is literally " " between the command and its arguments. "sfc/scannow" well never work.
 
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