Solved Vista crashed then won't boot.

Dell Studio XPS 435MT

I was just surfing youtube when my cpu just turned off unexpectedly. There was no warning that the computer was shutting down or anything, and we had power because my monitor was still on, so it wasn't the power going out.

When I turned the cpu on again, my computer will go through where you can press f2 and f12 keys. After that it's stuck on the "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD......" If I press a key before the final dot, I can boot from the installation disk... If I don't have the installation disk inside, it's just stuck with a blinking cursor. I've tried to wait it out for 10 minutes or so and still nothing happens.

I tried to do the start up repair from the installation disk but no errors were detected. I tried multiple system restores and it wouldn't get fixed. I tried to remove all USB connected because maybe it tried to boot from that but it didn't work. Without the installation disk in, I can't go through safe mode when I press f8. With the disk in, when I try to go through safe mode by pressing f8 it'll go to the screen with the options but if I choose any option from there it just does the same thing like what it does with the installation disk but it has Safe Mode written on the sides of the screen.

I tried googling solutions (which led me to this forum actually) and didn't really feel like going through their steps because I don't think I had the same exact problem as those people.

I've always fixed my own computer by just googling solutions but this is the worst of all. I usually fix any problem within a couple of hours but this is just piddling me off because I can't even go to safe mode. I had to use my mom's Mac laptop to type this thread up.

I really hope there are no hardware errors here. I can't afford to buy anything. D:

Please help and thank you.

Hello,

I'm wondering if this is a hardware problem. The way you described the computer suddenly shutting off lends a lot of credence. Try running a couple of bootable diagnostics, starting with SeaTools for DOS: SeaTools for DOS | Seagate

After that, boot up the installation disc and pull up a command prompt. Enter: Note the results of chkdsk, see if any bad sectors were found.

Also, shut down the computer for several hours, and when you turn it back on, immediately boot to a Memtest86 CD or USB drive and watch it for about 10-15 minutes. If you see errors, go ahead and stop the test, but if not, leave it running overnight or for 7 passes.

Get what info you can from here: RAM - Test with Memtest86+ - Windows 7 Forums

For directions on burning the ISO from your mom's Macbook, see here: Mac Tip: How to burn an .iso or .dmg file to disc

Thank you so much for the reply. For 2 days I exhausted all the solutions on google. I actually ran chkdsk using cmd on the vista cd and found no errors. I also ran some really long tests with the drivers and nothing was wrong. I'm not certain if the tests you suggest would show new errors but it might. According to all the possible solutions I searched for Vista KSOD before log in, my problem didn't involve event logs, registry errors, etc. It might have been a virus. I did have a google redirect virus before that I was going to fix (the tuts on YouTube didn't fix it) but I just thought I'll just copy the link 2 times and paste the right one.

Just so people know... I use the free AVG antivirus, Malwarebytes, Trojan Remover, RegClean Pro, Tddskiller, and Ccleaner. None of those helped remove my redirect virus and it wasn't a hosts file problem..

So how did I solve my problems? I was so frustrated with trying to find more solutions (some posts older than my pc) and just finally decided to install a clean windows 7. I backed up my files through regedit and just reinstalled everything. I scanned my external hd after install and there were no viruses. I think that vista os just sucks. I had to do a start up repair 70% of the time since the beginning of using vista. I had this PC since late 2009. You would wonder why Microsoft never found a universal solution to this. I saw a lot of posters that tried everything as well and just resorted to a clean reinstall vista or win 7.

Installing Windows 7 is rarely a bad idea...you'll notice that's what I use myself.

Glad to hear you're up and running!