Vista - What is this?

wellslogan · 08-17-2009

Yesterday, when I attempted to end a non-responsive program (Firefox) I input the Ctrl-Shift-Esc combo to start the Task manager. It did not start. I tried several other techniques to start the task manager with no success. Finally the little icon in the sys tray appeared, but no task manager window. The little graph in the icon, however, was jumping up and down sporadically. I then turned off the computer for the night. Today, I turned on the computer, and at startup Windows gave me one of those Startup disc repair things, and the repair went "successfully". Then, when I next booted the computer, it booted slower than usual, and upon reaching the desktop, simply clicking a single item would cause explorer to freeze up, the task manager still unresponsive to the commands that should bring it forth. Luckily, I had the Windows Vista install disc, so I shut down the pc and booted from the boot disc. It loaded all of the files, but as soon as it got to the boot screen of the install disc, bam, BSOD. What is the deal here? PC is a HP Pavilion with Vista x64 (And an active Norton AV 2009). Sorry can't add more details but the PC is pretty much inaccessable currently.

**Techymike** · 08-17-2009

Sounds like you need to do a clean fresh install after writing the drive to zeros.

**Frostmourne** · 08-17-2009

Try running safe mode with command prompt and using the system file checker:

sfc /scannow

Formatting is not the answer. There is always another way.

**Techymike** · 08-18-2009

You can try everything else. Then if that still does not fix it then what other chioce is there besides a fresh install. If you do reload Vista with out writing the drive to all zeros then you will still have the windows.old directory. That keeps all your current saved information in a separate directory so you can get those photos and items you really want to recover. I honestly am not found of Norton due to the way it drains your system but if you like it by all means keep it.
My system crashed on the last Microsoft update and I tried everything to recover it with no luck. Once I did a new install I was back up and running and was able to save my photo's and stuff. Of course I had to reinstall all the programs I like and use. And after 6 months from the initial install the registration was clean again. Microsoft simply does not hold the registration longer then 6 months.

**delphin** · 08-21-2009

Have you tried system restore in safe mode?

If you are unable to boot into safemode try a offline system restore with this link

08-17-2009	#1 (permalink)
wellslogan Vista Ultimate x64 1 posts	What is this? Yesterday, when I attempted to end a non-responsive program (Firefox) I input the Ctrl-Shift-Esc combo to start the Task manager. It did not start. I tried several other techniques to start the task manager with no success. Finally the little icon in the sys tray appeared, but no task manager window. The little graph in the icon, however, was jumping up and down sporadically. I then turned off the computer for the night. Today, I turned on the computer, and at startup Windows gave me one of those Startup disc repair things, and the repair went "successfully". Then, when I next booted the computer, it booted slower than usual, and upon reaching the desktop, simply clicking a single item would cause explorer to freeze up, the task manager still unresponsive to the commands that should bring it forth. Luckily, I had the Windows Vista install disc, so I shut down the pc and booted from the boot disc. It loaded all of the files, but as soon as it got to the boot screen of the install disc, bam, BSOD. What is the deal here? PC is a HP Pavilion with Vista x64 (And an active Norton AV 2009). Sorry can't add more details but the PC is pretty much inaccessable currently.
My System Specs

08-17-2009	#2 (permalink)
Techymike Vista Home Premium x64 213 posts	Sounds like you need to do a clean fresh install after writing the drive to zeros.
My System Specs

08-17-2009	#3 (permalink)
Frostmourne Windows 7 Ultimate x64 1,336 posts	Try running safe mode with command prompt and using the system file checker: sfc /scannow Formatting is not the answer. There is always another way.
My System Specs

08-18-2009	#4 (permalink)
Techymike Vista Home Premium x64 213 posts	You can try everything else. Then if that still does not fix it then what other chioce is there besides a fresh install. If you do reload Vista with out writing the drive to all zeros then you will still have the windows.old directory. That keeps all your current saved information in a separate directory so you can get those photos and items you really want to recover. I honestly am not found of Norton due to the way it drains your system but if you like it by all means keep it. My system crashed on the last Microsoft update and I tried everything to recover it with no luck. Once I did a new install I was back up and running and was able to save my photo's and stuff. Of course I had to reinstall all the programs I like and use. And after 6 months from the initial install the registration was clean again. Microsoft simply does not hold the registration longer then 6 months.
My System Specs

08-21-2009	#5 (permalink)
delphin Windows 7 636 posts	Have you tried system restore in safe mode? If you are unable to boot into safemode try a offline system restore with this link
My System Specs