Vista start up repair failed?..

Jak

New Member
Okey, i'll just make it known that i dont know much when it comes to this sort of thing and as i just got vista it makes it even more confusing for me.

For some unknown reason, since yesterday morning when i turn on my laptop all i get is:

"windows failed to startup properly, a resent hardware or software change might be the cause." followed by some other stuff about running a diagnostic and the option to run a repair (recommended) or start windows normaly. If i try to start windows normaly then nothing happens, it appears to be loading and then nothing, i've left it for a while and the screen just stays blank.

When i try the repair it takes a few minutes checking and comes up with the following: "startup repair cannot repair this computer automatically."
Here's the problem signature i get:

problem event name: startup repair v2
problem signature 01: failover
problem signature 02: 6.0.6000.16386.6.0.6000.16386
problem signature 03: 6
problem signature 04: 655370
problem signature 05: no root cause
problem signature 06: no root cause
problem signature 07: 0
problem signature 08: 2
problem signature 09: wrp repair
problem signature 10: 2
OS version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
local ID: 1033

I can also choose to view advanced options for system recovery and support which lets me do any of the following:
  • statup repair
  • system restore (no points set.. which i'm really regreting..)
  • windows complete pc restore (also no backups had been made yet)
  • windows memory diagnostic tool
  • command prompt
I still have a copy of windows vista if it's possible for me to reinstall that? When i try i get no responce from the drive so i dont know if i can run a command prompt to start thta or something?.. Well as you can see i hav no idea what i'm doing and any help or advice atall would be much apreciated as i dont feel like witing 5 months while i send it away to acer.

If there's any more info i can give you that might help you help me then i'll be more than glad to find it, thanks in advance for any help.
 
I've the same problem with Jak. Pls help, I really need my computer right now.

I've already try the "system restore" and it appear to be useless (cannot restore to any point!). I also try the startup repair but it isn't help either.

I run safe mode according to Computer Guru, but my notebook just restart and back to same problem.

Before this happen, I try to "force uninstall" using "smarty uninstaller 2007" and next time I reboot my notebook, it crashed.

Thanks for anyone who can help me.
 
what have you tried in Safe Mode? Have you tried to restore anything? Have you tried to uninstall that "Smarty uninstaller" application? Have you tried to reinstall the application that you forced it to uninstall.

I can bet that the install is corrupted and needs to be formatted and re-installed. Just about every application has a uninstaller. Either thru the add/remove programs or thru the Program Files folder where almost all applications get installed to. Inside their folders they have the uninstallers available. trying to force uninstall anything will crash any system.

Sadly since you dont have any restore points nor the startup repair, which wouldnt do nothing since you can boot to Safe Mode anyways that is only if you overwrite your bootloader with another one, you are gonna have to try and use Safe Mode and the recovery partition and get your system back to factory default.
 
Have you tried pressing F8 at boot and selecing "Last Known Good Configuration" from the list?
 
Hey guys im a student in newbrunswick canada. My father is a technical engineer in the military so i am very computer based awre. However i know almost nothing about software and that of course is where my problem lays. I purshased a t 180 desktop specs amd 3800x2 2 gigs of ram anda ge force 8600 256mb vid card " a sub par gamign machine". But i did not liek vista aso i took it off first i did make a recovery disk. But now that i have xp on and i wanan play some dx10 games i want vista but i do not know how i can do this. Ive tried restarting my computer and putting in the disk so that it will boot but it says botting then boots me to windows xop instead.
thanks for your time please help me
 
Check your BIOS. It sounds as if it is set to boot from hard drive first instead of CD/DVD ROM Drive.
 
Solution

Hi Chaps,
This has worked for me.
I couldnt run any repair utilities, and googling for answers i came accross this post http://www.vistax64.com/740821-post10.html .
If your problem pc has multiple ram chips remove one. restart the pc and Vista loads normally. Update any system files through windows update and create a new restore point.

Remember to unplug the power and remove the battery before unplugging your ram :smile:
 
I'm having a similar problem with my laptop when i get to system recovery options there should be a list of my OS but it doesn't show automatically my only options are load drivers but i have no idea what to do from there. if anyone has any suggestions please help!!
 
Hi Jimbo, I got my hopes up but :scared: didn't work.

I removed one of the RAM chips; restarted but it went back to the usual start in safe mode...start normally. But none of the options work - it just loops back to the same page. I've done all the safe modes, start normally and return to previous 'goodplace' = nothing!!

So I removed the other chip and put the one I first took out back in; no help.

Am I supposed to be booting from the vista recovery CD after taking out the RAM?

====Candice
 
startup repair

Kairo - booted from the recovery CD.
Each time startup repair said:
check if external devices are attached to your PC.
If you constantly get this message contact administrator/manufacturer

Addendum:

Boot from the Vista recovery cd and run startup repair 2-3 times.

I've been advised to try ubuntu live to hopefully try back up my files on the sick PC.
Does the Ram need to go back in before I do this?
 
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How much ram you got? If its above 3-4gb you should be using the 64-bit live CD otherwise 32-bit with current rams fine. You should however put back in all the ram you plan on using prior to re-installing Windows.
 
How much ram you got? If its above 3-4gb you should be using the 64-bit live CD otherwise 32-bit with current rams fine. You should however put back in all the ram you plan on using prior to re-installing Windows.

I'll hopefully be able to see how much RAM there is using Ubuntu to browse the system info. Thanks for letting me know though because I was stumped on which recovery download to get. Ram's back in and the data back-up has been solved using Ubuntu. I'm thrilled!

===Candice
 
Similar problem

My Dell Inspiron 1420 just decided it couldn't start up. Originally I could get into the boot menu and had options for repair, restore, etc. I let Vista try to repair itself a few times, and tried the most recent restore point. Now I have fewer options left- it goes through POST and then ends up with a blank screen. I have a Generic Vista recovery CD that gets me back into the repair/restore options screen, but now the laptop doesn't see any restore points, and when I run repair, it thinks the OS is fine. Still won't start, and won't go into safe mode either.

Side note: nothing new had been installed recently. It was running fine when I shut it down.

Additional complications: I don't have a COA or recovery CD for this laptop. The recovery CD I have is generic for Vista and I downloaded it online and burned the CD. It was pre-loaded with Vista Ultimate from the factory and has the sticker on it, I just don't have the COA or anything to reinstall it.

When I ran XP, I could go in and repair or replace all of the startup files. Does this option exist for Vista? I don't mind reloading it from scratch, except I don't have the Dell recovery CD for it, and don't have the COA for it.

TIA!!
 
Last edited:
Hi Ftl, welcome to NST.
The hidden Dell recovery partition is accessed by holding down F8 as you power-up.
Then you can factory reset the PC by these instructions.
If you've damaged or removed the recovery partition and you want to clean-install Vista from your downloaded DVD, you can do so by quoting the Windows serial number from the sticker which should be on your PC.
That serial number instructs the setup program which features to install (the version you've paid for with the PC, not necessarily Ultimate) and can be used with any copy of Vista from Basic to Ultimate (they all have identical contents, only the serial number changes))
If you do that, you'll only have vanilla Vista. You'll lose all of the Dell extras which were bundled with the PC.
Try to access the recovery partition first.
 
It responds to F2 and F12 on startup, but not to F8.

It just ignores the F8 key and goes to a blinking cursor in the top left corner.
 
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