Windows Vista 32bit - Computer Wont Boot

[racingfreak92]

I have had the same installation of Windows Vista for about 3 years now, and starting a month ago it started giving me problems. After shutting it down it rebooted and told me system files where corrupt and would continually run through a check and find an error in the same file each time. After using the Windows Vista Recovery Tool from microsoft i was able to boot it up again.

Now i have shut it down again and this time on boot it reads : "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and pres a key"

I have went into the BIOS and changed my boot priority to make sure my hardrive was first, it displays the same message if i have that as my only boot device or also include my cd drive.

I put in the Windows Vista Recovery Tool CD and booted it up, this time however when i clicked "Repair my PC" it listed no currently installed Windows OSes, upon trying to use the repair or restore options it gives me an error. Opening command prompt through the recovery tool was also pretty useless, most commands seem to be disabled and on entering the command BOOTCFG it told me the Boot.ini file was unable to be opened or missing. Using the CD command dosent seem to do anything, no matter what directory i attempt to open a DIR command will list the same files that all seem to be dlls belonging to the recovery tool.

I am not quite sure what to do from this point, it seems as if my installation of Windows is completely trashed now. The drive my system is installed on is at least 5 years old, it makes some whirring noises now when i boot it up but this never presented before.

What should my course of action be for repairing this computer? To me the only options seem to be buying a new hard drive to install windows on or reformatting the current one with no way of salvaging the current OS.

 

[esquared]

I have used system file checker on XP to fix missing or corrupted files. It looks like this can be done on Vista ands Win 7 as well.

Here's the link. maybe this will help as formatting your drive and installing windows is always the last resort.


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833


1 Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.

2 Type the following command, and then press ENTER:
sfc /scannow
The sfc /scannow command scans all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions.

(There is a space between sfc and /scannow)

edit:
Here's the link to the XP file checker for someone that needs help with XP

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310747

 

[Harvey]

Whether your drive is failing or you were hit by a virus, at this point, the answer is the same. Re-install Windows from the ground up on a new hard drive. If you want better performance, consider installing Win 7, instead of Vista.

First, install the OS. Do NOT activate it immediately. Instead, wait until you have installed and updated your AV and Anti-Spyware software and a good firewall.

If you're lucky, you may be able to read your old drive to recover any critical files, but remember, it MAY be infected. Once your new installation is secure, the safest way to recover your files is to attach the old drive as a slave, boot to Safe Mode, and scan it from the new, protected drive. Then, you can copy your files from the old drive to a folder on the new one.

Once you have saved as many files as possible, if the drive is still working, you can format it and use it for backup... now that you've had the hard lesson about backing up your system.

If you really want to be safe, buy two matched drives and a mobile rack, and use a program like Acronis True Image to clone your drive. Cloning is a more complete backup because, if your hard drive fails, the cloned drive actually boots and runs. If it becomes irreparably infected, you can simply clone your last known good working state back to your main drive. Once the clone is complete, power down, and unplug the backup drive, and you're safe because no virus can jump the air gap to an unconnected drive.

I like this KingWin KF-92-BK. Fry's Electronics and Newegg sell them for $20.

The latest version of Acronis True Image sells for $50 on their site, but I've seen it on sale for less. I've used it successfully with Vista and Win 7, but only on matched drives. When I tried it with dissimilar drives, the cloned copy booted, but it had a number of problems. I've heard that these can be handled, but I haven't pursued it that far, myself... at least yet.

Seagate and Western Digital both include a free copy of True Image in their downloadable disk tools. The only restriction is that at least one of the drives (source or target) must be from the maker (Seagate or WD) whose tools you use.

Hope that helps.