Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Vista will not boot

Jun 7, 2009 12:41PM PDT

I am new and this is first post..hope i do this right Happy here we go

have acer aspire 3680 laptop and it comes with windows vista ultimate and program called ePowerTechnology..was intalling add-ons for this app like recovery, power management etc and after install pc needed to reboot. when i rebooted i got as far as screen where it is configuring updates step 3 and it goes no further. it will reboot and go to same spot every time and reboot again..will do this as long as i keep pc on. Next thing i did was try F8 and try safe mode and safe mode with networking, last known configuration etc..none of the options worked same thing happened. Next thing i did was try Alt + F10 which gave me this:


"booting windows vista"

acpi
vista loader 2.1.2
acpi: reclaim memory not found
done!
fallback 1
find--set--root /bootmgr
(hd 0,1)
filesystem type is ntfs partition type 0x7
chain loader /bootmgr
will boot ntldr from drive= 0x80, partition= 0x1 (hidden sectors= 0xC593A6)

then edit boot edit options screen comes up where i see following:

edit windows boot options for: microsoft windows vista
path: \windows\system32\winload.exe
partition: 2
hard disk: 6ec7342f

/noexecute=optin


enter=submit esc=cancel

Need help on what to enter here to get me to windows to where i can repair damage. thank you in advance for any help Don

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
you could try
Jun 11, 2009 12:04AM PDT

Vista Recovery Disk

If you have service pack 1 you can create one from a working machine or you can download it from the internet.
You will have the options to try and repair, or restore from a previous point. might be right up your alley.

- Collapse -
vista issues
Apr 4, 2011 10:25AM PDT

I usually stick to scanning over any forums rather than jumping in- but reading the exact details of my vista booting issues after weeks of trying and failing has me hoping that the original creator of this posting is still around (2 yrs later) to share in detail how he resolved his issues. Please share the solution so that I can return to life as I knew it. Thank you- my e-mail, anitarudolph@live.com -- for anybody who even has a suggestion.

- Collapse -
See below.
Apr 4, 2011 10:30AM PDT

This one is a sad story of a machine on crack. This never ends well. Time to get your files out and start over.

- Collapse -
Sad findings.
Apr 4, 2011 10:19AM PDT

"vista loader 2.1.2" leads to very bad places on the internet where folk have installed a CRACK to Vista.

This is not a good sign.

It's time to talk to the person who created this mess.
Bob

- Collapse -
wow, so fast
Apr 4, 2011 10:29AM PDT

Give me the persons contact info, I will gladly give an earful.
Do you have suggestions on anything I might try? At this point. I have nothing to lose.

- Collapse -
There are about 5 folk here already.
Apr 4, 2011 10:32AM PDT

If the OP (that's in post 1) wants contact, click on their name.

If you see that boot message as above the news is grim. Someone installed one of those Vista Crack Boot Loaders.

My advice is as above. Get your files out and start fresh with no crack.
Bob

- Collapse -
how?
Apr 4, 2011 10:48AM PDT

Can you tell me how to get my files out? I bought the laptop used 2 yrs ago, its hardly worth taking it to a shop and I can not get it to boot or let me into any files, dir, drives, ....

- Collapse -
Over in the CNET Storage Forum
Apr 4, 2011 12:03PM PDT

We note how to get files off a machine that won't boot from the HDD. It's the top post and uses boot CDs. If the machine won't boot from CD then you can't reinstall the OS either! Which means you fix that first.

Bob