These preinstalled Windows don't include the bootable Vista Retail DVD we need to perform the deeper repairs. And that XP install is telling. You may have installed XP and damaged the Vista in some odd way. Since we don't have a retail Vista DVD the repair is limited to a wipe out and start over.
Once your files are safe you might want to try the rebuild BCD noted at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392 After that you try the export and delete then rebuild noted at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392
Any thoughts why it failed?
Bob
Here is the situation. I have a HP laptop with 2 hard drives. The first hard drive with Vista Home Premium preinstalled is on C: and there is a hidden partition D: which has the HP reinstall volume.
I added a second hard drive containing the XP installation and used EasyBCD to create the dual-boot. It has been working just fine until yesterday when the boot failed. The bluish "aurora borealis"-like vista splash screen pops up briefly, then nothing but black screen although mouse pointer still works.
After many reboots and chkdsk, I can now boot into the XP installation just fine, and can see the Vista disk just fine. (Not a hardware issue).
Can't boot into Vista. I have tried the Vista startup repair options, which at first found errors and "repaired" them. Still won't boot.
When I run the startup repair option again, it does not find any more errors.
I cannot get into vista safe mode.
I cannot do a system restore (none found).
From the startup recovery options...command prompt, I ran bootrec /scanos, and it did not find a vista entry.
I would like to "repair" vista and keep all programs and data intact without having to do a clean install.
What if I used the vista install dvd and clicked the "upgrade" option? Would it see the current vista installation and install over it with everything intact, or would it do a clean install? Any other options to try to repair the vista boot?
Thanks, DSA

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