System recovery cannot find OS to recover Vista

CPstyle

New Member
Hi all,

I recently purchased a new motherboard after my old one died. I can't get my Vista running on it again.

I have a SATA harddrive with Vista Ultimate x32 installed on it. When I boot the machine, I get the standard Windows Error screen. I've inserted the Vista recovery disk in the optical drive, but even after changing the BIOS options to boot first from the optical drive, the only way I can load the recovery disk is by physically unplugging the harddrive.

When I try to repair Vista with System Recovery Options, it cannot find an OS and can't seem to recognize the harddrive after it's plugged back in. I have both the motherboard driver disk and a USB drive with the harddrive's setup program, but System recovery can't load the drivers.

Finally, when I open up the command prompt and run chkdsk /r, the error message I get is: "The type of the file system is NTFS. Cannot lock current drive. Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected."

Any idea why it refuses to boot or recognize the existing OS on the harddrive? At this point even a clean reinstall would be fine, but the install disk also can't find the harddrive.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!
 

My Computer

Hi CPstyle,

Welcome to Vista Forums!

What is the manufacturer, make, and precise model of your computer? What is the manufacturer, make, and precise model of the new motherboard and where did you get it and can you provide a website link for the motherboard? Have you verified with the computer manufacturer that the motherboard will work in that computer given the other components and its requirements? How did you run chkdsk if you can't run the Recovery Disk with the HDD installed and can't boot to the HDD? If you need to re-install, how will you do it (genuine Vista Installation Disk, Recovery Disk from the Manufacturer, Recovery Partition on the hard drive,...)?

My first guess is that the motherboard is not compatible with one, some, or many components in your computer (or the computer in general) and/or with your version of Vista. Another possibility is that the BIOS aren't compatible with the motherboard and you either need updated BIOS or a motherboard that can work with them (or possibly that the BIOS just need some type of reconfiguration based on the change).

My second guess is that the system wasn't put back together properly in some way and thus is causing this problem. Double-check all the connections. Don't just snug them - remove and replace them all.

But first, let's see what you have and see if there are any obvious problems. Please answer all the above questions and provide any other details you think may help (and try to fully complete the System Specifications section of your User Profile on this forum).

I hope this helps.

Good luck!
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inc. MP061 Inspiron E1705
    CPU
    2.00 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo 64 kilobyte primary memory
    Motherboard
    Board: Dell Inc. 0YD479 Bus Clock: 166 megahertz
    Memory
    2046 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM) [Di
    Sound Card
    SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor (17.2"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00 [Hard drive] (160.04 GB) -- drive 0, s/n SB2411SJGLLRMB, rev SB4OC74P, SMART Status: Healthy
    Case
    Chassis Serial Number: 5YK95C1
    Keyboard
    Standard PS/2 Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech HID-compliant Cordless Mouse
    Internet Speed
    1958 Kbps download ; 754.8 Kbps upload
    Other Info
    Optiarc DVD+-RW AD-5540A ATA Device [CD-ROM drive]

    Dell AIO Printer A940

    Conexant HDA D110 MDC V.92 Modem

    6TO4 Adapter
    Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
    Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter
    Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
    Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface

    Router Linksys / WRT54G -01
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