windows vista fails to perform automatic recovery

hi everyone,

I have a sony Vaio VGN-AR390E that runs on windows vista. since yesterday when starting the laptop it fails to start windows, but rather get a black screen full of $ signs, which then leads me to another black screen that gives me the options to start windows normally or perform windows recovery. when i select run windows normally, all i get is a black screen. and when i run windows recovery, it goes threw the recovery process but then it says the recovery could not be performed automatically.

i have also tried pressing F8 at vaio logo to get more options such as safe mode, but also leads me to the same screen again of the $ signs. and as well by pressing F10 i get to the recovery center and performing recovery doesn't work, i did a hardware diagnostic which says that everything is ok. i have a recent back up of all my files and there for don't need to run data restore.

when i first bought my laptop 3 years ago i had to make two recovery disks which i also tried running but they don't get recognized


can any one please help me ??

thank you much appreciated

kind regards

Hi mataharimata

Fist off do you have any devices attached via USB or other?
If you do start by disconnecting them and trying a boot.... sounds like there is something stalling the load process!

If this fails to help then can you think back to the last time you you used your system... did you install anything new?

It may also be helpful to take a peek into BIOS, looking for Load default settings or safe settings , wording can be different on many BIOS's, be sure to let us know your outcomes

There are lots of experts here that will be able to get you back up and running, it just may take a little time for the best person to see read and reply, so be patient and well get you back up and running again

Hello mataharimata and Welcome to Vista Forums,

Okay Could you please boot into a Recovery Disk if you do not have one then please follow these steps:

See http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/141820-create-recovery-disc.html?ltr=C For More Information


After you have done that Boot into the Disk and Enter you details After that in the Bottom Left Hand Corner could you please click on Repair My Computer after that click Startup Repair then Test it if that fails then click on Command Prompt and then Enter the Following Information into command Prompt:


Then Press Enter after that Type this in:


Now try and Boot into Windows If it doesn't work then Please Post back

Hope This Helps,
Josh

Hi and thanks you for your help!
F8 is working but choosing any of the options has not brought me to a solution... or may be i am not doing it right... i ran "repair your computer" and nothing... after restart the $ signs and black screen appeared again.. however windows does run in safe mode.. I did go through F10 and did Restore Point and backdated it to 5 days ago... nothing happened... i tried doing it several times but get the $ signs and black screen after again...

I do have 2 recovery disks which i made when i first bought my computer but as my CD drive is not working i need to run it through an external CD drive which i luckily have... however i don't know how to boot from an external CD drive... I don't either know how to get to the command prompt... i am sorry i am not too much of a computer expert so please help me...
Thank you!!

at one point i also got to a black screen saying:
File: \windows\system32\hal.dll
status: 0xc000000f
info: windows failed to load because the HAL is missing, or corrupt

Everything i do leads me to Vaio Recovery Center...

ok, finally got into command prompt... entered Bootrec.exe /FixMbr and it said The operation completed successfully.. then entered Bootrec.exe /FixBoot and nothing happened,... just so that you know the path is

X:\windows\system32>