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 - Help!

Dec 16, 2010 6:30AM PST

Running Vista: Last night I am guessing that during an update something went wrong: Computer would not boot this morning:
Went to the Startup Repair and received the message that Windows cannot repair computer automatically, and cannot determine the cause of the problem.
Here is what I have tried:
Safe Mode boot - did not work:
System Restore - Said that it was successful, but needed to reboot, and then same problem:
In F8 mode - tried to restore to last successful settings, did not work.
Any suggestions

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Can you tell more ...
Dec 16, 2010 6:43AM PST

than just "does not boot". There must be something happening?

Kees

- Collapse -
more info per your request
Dec 16, 2010 9:06AM PST

it is a black screen with no cursor for a few minutes, then takes you to a Windows Error Recovery page --- goes through that and says that windows cannot automatically fix the problem. I can get into safe mode....try to boot that way and it does the same thing. I tried to restore to the last date, and then a couple of points prior to that - says it worked and needs to be restarted, upon restart/reboot goes right back to the black screen.

- Collapse -
My First suggestion
Dec 16, 2010 6:56AM PST

is to check for a virus.

Go here...

http://forum.avira.com/wbb/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=82163

Do a scan on the system.

(Have you backed up your information already?)

If clean but still not booting, I first suggest downloading Ubuntu or some other like Knoppix to access the hard drive if you have valuable information you need to recover.
Getting your info backed up at least gives some room to work with, not literally of course, meaning if a reinstall must be done, or hard drive is bad.

Once you get everything backed up, you should try, if you have the option, a non destructive recovery. Usually hitting F11 or whatever it states to hit, to bring up a recovery option. If you don't have this, do you recall having drive D:\? Do you have your restore disks?

These are basic steps and not truly thorough as I don't know what your system specs are and you'll likely ask what to do or should do in between but overall, what to expect.