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General discussion

Vista suddenly refuses to startup, no safe mode

Jul 29, 2010 6:32PM PDT

I've had my computer for 2 years, and had some similar problems with it when I first purchased, but it's been incident free for 2 years. Today, I purchased and loaded Office 2010 onto the computer, and suddenly I couldn't even get the computer to shut down. When I finally got it to shut down, it wouldn't start again.

I can see the BIOS post, and if I hit f8, I get the boot menu, just like I should. Anything past that, I just get a black screen. Hitting f8 after the boot menu doesn't work- whether that's because Windows isn't loading at all or because it's loading the Safe Mode menu and just not displaying anything, I can't tell. Strangely, not even the power button appears to be working correctly- pressing it causes the computer to either restart or shutdown, rather than simply shutdown (which should also require that the power button be pressed and held instead of simply pressed).

I haven't changed any drivers recently or done anything other than install Office 2010. I do have a rescue disc, but I would prefer to try everything else before going that route.

My system:
Processor: e8400
Memory: 4GB
Graphics: GeForce 9600 GT 512MB
Motherboard: ASUS P5N-E SLI
OS: Vista Home Premium 64-bit

I apologize if this is the wrong area for this post- I really have no idea what I'm dealing with here. I've never seen a computer that would power on, but wouldn't enter safe mode. Also, I'm sure that I'm forgetting to mention information that you'll need to fix the problem (it is late, after all), so please feel free to ask.

Thanks for the help in advance.

Discussion is locked

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Vista refuses to start up
Jul 30, 2010 6:24PM PDT

I have a Presario F500EA laptop, about three years old and using Vista home Premium,It has intermittently been refusing to start and I down loaded a bios update from HP since mine was a recall item. This appearded to work but then the machine refusd to start again. Whilst operating I ran a full virus scan and defragged the C drive. It will not boot up from a memory check bootable disc or from a rescue disc I created. All suggestions welcome Peter M

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Try
Jul 31, 2010 1:09AM PDT

"It will not boot up from a memory check bootable disc or from a rescue disc I created."

Try duplicating that recovery disc to new media. Many boot failures from recovery media is either the media or the drive. Owners sadly get stuck on not wanting to put in a new drive. To test this I try my USB external DVDRW.

Be sure you've saved your files before you proceed.
Bob

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Vista will not start up Reply to Mr/ms Proffit
Aug 2, 2010 5:44PM PDT

Thanks for your advice, Will follow up Kind Regards. Peter M