Solved Vista Issues Help Would Be Greatly Appreciated

[missvista]

I've had this computer for nine years, I think. I stopped using it for a while in like 2015 and when I went back to it, upon starting up it would show the Windows logo and options and then instead of loading the sign in screen would go to a black screen with a weird logo in the upper left corner of the screen. It's not just a blinking cursor like I'd read in a lot of Google Searches.
My brother and I got it to work again by going into System Recovery and then I had to pack it up for a few months and now trying to get it to start again it's showing the same weird logo, but I can't get into the System Recovery, Diagnostics or Boot menus, only the Setup menu. I read somewhere to just try pressing F8 upon power up to get into System Recovery but it doesn't work. I'm sure I didn't get a virus as I was mostly using it to look at my old files.

I don't know if it would help, but there's a picture of the logo in the top corner of the screen. (At least I hope there is, I haven't been on a forum in years.)

 

[ilikefree]

When you start the computer tap F8 and keep tapping it.
You should get that help menu you had before.
Just tapping once is often not enough.

 

[missvista]

When you start the computer tap F8 and keep tapping it.
You should get that help menu you had before.
Just tapping once is often not enough.

Sorry to not be specific enough, I did tap multiple times. It's weird because it worked months ago when I tried.

 

[carmellolb]

May I ask, what exactly is the logo? It is hard to see. Can you possibly describe it so I can determine what is wrong?



____
-CLB. (www.isobook.ml)

 

[albertz]

If you're not able to access any of the F8 options you can still access Vista's Recovery Console if you have the Vista installation DVD. (The F8 menu should have a Startup Repair option that boots to Vista's Recovery Console)

If no Vista Installation DVD I'm not certain if other versions of windows chkdsk and recovery console will work under Vista. AFAIK, The NTFS file format is the same, but perhaps there's some differences in earlier and later versions of windows. (You may be able to attempt to repair the Vista installation with other Windows Versions of Recovery Console.)

XP recovery console was fairly simple. If the boot partition and/or boot files became corrupted I normally booted to a "Recovery Console" installation and issued the fixmbr (boot drive), bootcfg (boot drive), chkdsk (boot drive) and others

However when running chkdsk you need to be careful as if you choose to repair a boot partition. When chkdsk finds any corrupted file(s) and/or file structure it will move corruption to special folders while trying to perform repairs.

There are some free or freeware repair and rescue utilities, some may use Linux as a boot rescue OS. I can't remember their exact names but remember using them.

Here's one I think may be free with limitations on the free version?

Paragon Rescue Kit Free Edition - Full Features & System Requirements

Here is a utility that should also work if you don't have access to Windows "Recovery Console" (which should be also installed on any OEM rescue partition.) The cost for this rescue app. is around $20.00.

$$$ - Easy Recovery Essentials by NeoSmart Technologies

Vista Recovery Console commands

How to use the Command Prompt in the Vista Windows Recovery Environment

Vista RC has a utility named BCDEdit that is a command-line tool for managing BCD stores. It can be used for a variety of purposes, including creating new stores, modifying existing stores, adding boot menu options, and so on.

XP - Recovery Console commands

The following commands can be used with the Recovery Console:

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Attrib
Changes the attributes of a file or directory.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Batch
Executes the commands specified in the text file.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Bootcfg
Boot file (boot.ini) configuration and recovery.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] ChDir (Cd)
Displays the name of the current directory or changes the current directory.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Chkdsk
Checks a disk and displays a status report.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Cls
Clears the screen.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Copy
Copies a single file to another location.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Delete (Del)
Deletes one or more files.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Dir
Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Disable
Disables a system service or a device driver[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Diskpart
Manages partitions on your hard drives.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Enable
Starts or enables a system service or a device driver.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Exit
Exits the Recovery Console and restarts your computer.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Expand
Extracts a file from a compressed file.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Fixboot
Writes a new partition boot sector onto the specified partition.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Fixmbr
Repairs the master boot record of the specified disk.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Format
Formats a disk.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Help
Displays a list of the commands you can use in the Recovery Console.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Listsvc
Lists the services and drivers available on the computer.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Logon
Logs on to a Windows installation.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Map
Displays the drive letter mappings.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Mkdir (Md)
Creates a directory.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] More
Displays a text file.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Net Use
Connects a network share to a drive letter.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Rename (Ren)
Renames a single file.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Rmdir (Rd)
Deletes a directory.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Set
Displays and sets environment variables.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Systemroot
Sets the current directory to the systemroot directory of the system you are currently logged on to.[/TD]

[TD="class: listBullet"]•[/TD]
[TD="class: listItem"] Type
Displays a text file.[/TD]

 

[missvista]

Sorry about that crappy picture, didn't realize it flashed until I'd uploaded it and thought it might be okay. It's a circle with what I can best describe as a misshapen arrow underneath it. Odd huh.

And thank you albertz for taking the time to give me all of that great information, BUT I was able to get into the Advanced Options menu from I think it was the Diagnostics menu, I don't know how I was just trying whatever I could. It's an odd problem that only seems to happen when I don't use my computer for a while. I do have a newer computer, but I still love my old machine. Evidently it's a fighter.

 

[albertz]

Glad you were able to get into the F8 repair options.

I haven't ever needed to use F8 system recovery options in Vista. Under XP I booted to it's system recovery enough times I became familiar with the XP version.

So you were able to repair Vista bootup using which Vista system recovery tools?bcdedit ? This tool I remember using breifly a long time ago.

Bcdedit command line options - BCDEdit Command-Line Options