Unable to start under Vista

landey -  
tmartin Posted messages 185 Status Membre -
Hello,

my old (10 years old!) Acer laptop running Vista is acting up again. After changing the motherboard battery to a 2032, the same symptoms occur at "startup":

it beeps nicely (just one beep) after turning on the computer,
then a "Windows error recovery" screen offers me either normal startup or "recommended" repair startup: neither leads anywhere, just a black screen.

Same situation when trying safe mode by tapping F8: when I choose safe mode, it fails and I return to the "Windows error recovery" screen, which then leads to a black screen.

What should I do please? Thank you for your assistance.

9 réponses

fabul Posted messages 42114 Registration date   Status Modérateur Last intervention   6 036
 
Hi,

For recovery, I read that it's Alt+F10

But that's going to delete everything on C:
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landey
 
thank you, but isn't there a less suicidal solution to force it to start without losing everything?
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fabul Posted messages 42114 Registration date   Status Modérateur Last intervention   6 036
 
You can create a bootable WinPE USB with Aomei PE Builder to copy your data elsewhere first.
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landey Posted messages 33 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention  
 
Hello and thank you for your responses. But I admit that I'm a bit lost, not a tech pro like you, and I don’t understand everything (and I'm missing some basics).

I put the hard drive in an external enclosure, and I can access it from another computer to retrieve the files I want to back up. From there, can I simply replace files in a directory to fix it and allow the computer to reboot without going through a full format and reinstallation?
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tmartin Posted messages 185 Status Membre 51
 
Follow the steps in the link mentioned in the other post (ertel): your problem seems to be related to "the hive": if it doesn't start after the launch choices, it's because the boot sector is valid (MBR), so the issue comes from Windows configuration (what is called the hive that contains the registry).
You have backed up your data, good, now you have nothing to lose: put the disk back in place and...
---First, we can try repairing with a CD (or a USB stick, create it with Rufus) of installation: do not install, of course, but choose "repair"
// first we can try: repair the startup, that can take an hour, with no guarantees, but I don't think that's it (that's when it doesn't want to launch AT ALL, however, you have the choice of starting, even if it doesn't go through afterwards...
// second, there is an option to load an earlier configuration (previous date) - if it works, no need to go further.

--- IF IT DOESN'T WORK, then try the other method (rebuilding the hive): at EACH Windows shutdown, 5 configuration files are saved, they are there, even if "restoring to an earlier date" doesn't work, we will retrieve a group of 5 and put them back in place:
! unfortunately, under Windows, even from another USB disk, the folder containing the information is inaccessible (permission problem), so the simplest way, as described in the link, is to boot under Linux, with the CD (or a stick, create it with Rufus) mentioned that contains the appropriate utilities,
just follow the recipe (5 files to find, including xxxxxsoftware which should be a few tens of GB, from a date when everything worked well, copy them where they need to go, delete the old ones (or add an .old at the end) and rename them. reboot

IF it works, go directly to do 2 things
- execute then type sfc /scannow - insert the installation disk every time requested
reboot
- clean the registry (with ccleaner for example)
reboot

if that doesn't work, well reinstall from scratch

WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(in any case, be patient, sometimes Windows itself decides to take an old registry and it can take a little time)
So at each startup, wait until you are SURE that it hasn't worked (go take a shower)

and if it worked, or not by the way, change the disk in any case: it is defective to have made you have this kind of trouble (unless it's a virus, but that's extremely rare in the end, unless you run everything that comes your way)
to make a disk copy (even to a larger one, it's supported) that launches directly without thinking = "Maxblast" free, unstoppable, perfect, without defects
(but you need a Seagate or Maxtor disk in the system, even USB, if you don't have one, look with a friend: you promise him that you won't even read the disk, which is unnecessary, it just needs to be there during the operation)
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landey Posted messages 33 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention  
 
Bonjour and thank you for your responses. I’ve been quite busy lately, but I've got a USB key now and I'll try it this weekend. Could you please provide a detailed tutorial for downloading and using RUFUS to create a bootable USB key for Windows Vista? Thank you.
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tmartin Posted messages 185 Status Membre 51
 
Rufus doesn't need a tutorial - there's just an exe: launch it, select the USB drive that will receive the image, then choose "create a bootable disk" and select the iso image, start, that's it.
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landey Posted messages 33 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention  
 
Thank you, but that doesn't answer my initial question, which would allow me to follow tmartin's solution.
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MPMP10 Posted messages 47062 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention   18 861 > landey Posted messages 33 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention  
 
The first link allows you to reinstall Windows properly without any hassle and without needing to prepare a USB stick with Rufus.
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tmartin Posted messages 185 Status Membre 51
 
Tutorials for a specific brand or having restoration DVDs won't help someone who has nothing, hasn't planned for it, doesn't have the right brand, or has no recovery partition - what I'm describing concerns those who have a Windows that doesn't boot and whose backup from an earlier date isn't available.
If we really want to back up efficiently, for free and simply, I recommended MaxBlast, but you need at least a Maxtor OR a Seagate in the system (even a small USB drive that will only be there to allow the software to run) for it to start, it creates perfect "ghosts" (or disk clones, I use it to change disks, it automatically expands the partitions if the new disk is larger). If you buy the commercial version, Acronis, you can even do incremental on the ghosts: it's the best backup there is since you can lose your disk physically, buy another one, restore, and VOILA!
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fabul Posted messages 42114 Registration date   Status Modérateur Last intervention   6 036
 
Download Rufus 2.18 from the Filehippo website.

Click on where it says FreeDOS or Image ISO, and on the right, choose your ISO.

Then click on Start.

It's that simple.
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landey Posted messages 33 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention  
 
OK to download Rufus. So if I understand correctly, to choose the Windows Vista ISO, I need to go into the hierarchy of my old hard drive. But in which exact directory?
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landey Posted messages 33 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention  
 
In fact, what I can't do is "choose the ISO." Where exactly should it be in the directory, and what is the file called when you have Vista?
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tmartin Posted messages 185 Status Membre 51
 
the iso is to be downloaded from the microsoft website
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le druide Posted messages 40644 Registration date   Status Contributeur Last intervention   6 616
 
Why not try a repair by starting from the recovery menu.

Start the computer with Alt+F10 then see the options; it often offers several choices: Repair without data loss - complete restoration of the computer.

8 years for a PC, I wouldn't be surprised if it has some hardware issues.

--
the druid without the potion.
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MPMP10 Posted messages 47062 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention   18 861
 
Hi,
Yes, as I suggested in my first link, it's much simpler and faster (without a USB key) but well...
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tmartin Posted messages 185 Status Membre 51
 
Yes, of course,
except that when it doesn't work... it doesn't work and we start reading my message more carefully!
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landey Posted messages 33 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention  
 
Hello,

I’m back to give you some news and thank you for your advice. After a few weeks, I resumed operations on this old PC. Backed up the latest files. Connected the HDD in the tower (all by myself, without a boot USB). And indeed, a menu appeared (I still haven’t quite figured out how I got to this screen), and then the PC managed to repair itself and restart on its own. This time, the "startup repair" worked well. No data loss, apparently...
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tmartin Posted messages 185 Status Membre 51
 
if it starts with launch choices, that's the best
then consider running a disk check (chkdsk)
then check the registry (for example with ccleaner)
then check the system files (sfc /scannow with an installation key on hand)
then do another registry check

and when everything seems fine, find out why it happened: either a disk shutdown or a failing disk:
1- computer (like not cooling, so the processor overheats and clunk, it cuts abruptly)
2- system (a program or any error causes the system to crash - blue screen etc)
3- failing disk or on its way to be (analysis like crystaldiskinfo, etc)

in the 3rd case, quickly clone the disk (maxblast, see above for its requirements) and dispose of the old one
in the first case, fix it (fan failure, change the power supply ... ?)
in the second ... find out what (hardware to remove or software to stop using) - if the system is unstable, wait to see if it happens again since the sfc /scannow should have fixed everything, otherwise reinstall over it (keeping data and settings),
otherwise... joker (backup data and format/reinstall) // although it might be the time to switch to seven: it's still supported until 2020 and it's an improved version of vista, if vista works, seven will work - except be careful with windows mail which you'll need to search for (utility) online to find it just like that.
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