Solved Unable to boot vista in any mode!!!

Hi all, my first thread on here and could really do with some help. I'm trying to repair a friends ACER ASPIRE M120/Vista 64 Home PC which has the following fault;

Upon switch on I get the following:

Windows failed to start and recent hardware or software change might be the cause.

Launch Startup Repair (Recommended)
Start Windows Normally

If I choose either of the 2 options above it returns to the above menu. I suspected there may be a fault with the HDD. I downloaded a Bootdisk which has enabled to me to get to the startup repair menu, alas this does not fix the fault. I therefore cancel and select the CMD prompt. I ran CHKDSK C: at the X:sources> prompt. It came back with no problems found. I then opened:

DISKPART> List partition (Showed the following

Partition 1 Primary 466GB 1024MB

I then typed:

DISKPART> detail partition (Showed the following

Partition 1
Type: 07
Hidden: No
Active: Yes

Volume 2 C: ACER NTFS PARTITION 466GB HEALTHY

I'm unable to do a Alt +F10 recovery and have no back up discs. I also do not hold the original Vista Disc.

On only 1 occasion (When the HDD was removed completely) I managed (After restoring optimal BIOS Settings with HDD removed) to get to the Acer Recovery Menu, I selected restore to factory settings but when I typed in the serial number off the case of the pc it said it was incorrect (I triple checked the serial key!!!)

I have another acer laptop available (On XP though!!) with an external HDD docking station that i can utilise should it be needed.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is getting very frustrating!!! Many thanks in advance!!

Rik

Problem Solved - Just deleted the partition on the HDD using another pc and then formatted and re-installed Vista - Viola!!!

Had this same problem before. I tried to change my installed Vista from Drive C to Drive D and it did not like it at all. Rofl.

Congratulations. Glad to hear you got it all sorted out and you're back up an running normally.

Sorry nobody got back to you before you solved it on your own, but you can take pride in having done it yourself.

If you ever have any other problems or questions, feel free to post here again and maybe next time we'll respond fast enough to help. I've done what's necessary to request moderators indicate that the issue in this thread has been solved.

Good luck and best wishes.

Thanks Lorien!

I really love getting into fixing pc's etc etc and was please to resolve this. I am of a medium knowledge level on pc's and love to learn more. No problem about no one getting back to me sooner, I understand! I'm now on to my next repair (I think I should start charging actually) so I may need to call upon you guys again!!! Cheers!