Vista startup problems

Ed Ski

New Member
Hello all,

I am having problems with 32-bit Vista booting on my laptop. I'm guessing my start up files are shot but I'm not sure.

I turned it on after a it was off for a while and it booted OK. I left it on and it automatically rebooted itself. It started going into Start Up Repair and would cycle through that a few times and then stop. System just shows a blank screen. I was able to turn it off from there. Turning it back on would repeat the same process. I tried last good config and got to my login but from there I got a blue screen and the startup repair would cycle again. Start Up Repair does not seem to fix the problem. It just cycles till it gives up. I can get into Safe Mode if that's any help.

The laptop is an HP that came with Vista pre-installed and all I have is their recovery disk.

UPDATE!!!: My laptop was sitting in Safe Mode as I was writing this. I just got up to check it and it was sitting at the normal login screen(not safe mode). I logged in and now I'm told that I need to activate my copy of Vista. There is a little message on the bottom right saying that my copy is invalid. Funny, I used this laptop for 2 years when I worked on the road with no issues.

Now I'm pulling my hair out!!!
 

My Computer

i would say to back up your docs, pics everything elseand do a clean install. hope this helps
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Gaming Rig 780G
    CPU
    AMG Athlon II X2 255 3.8/2MB/2500MHz 45nm AM3
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-S2 AM3, Core Boost, Ultra Durable 3
    Memory
    2X 4GB Kingston DDR3 1066MHz @ 1666MHz Dual Channel
    Graphics card(s)
    HIS HD Radeon 7770 GHz Edition iCooler Core: 1000MHz
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell E2311H DVI/VGA 5ms response, Full HD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 @ 60Hz
    Hard Drives
    320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.02 SATA II
    PSU
    Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 700w
    Case
    Lian-Li PC-6010 With Side Window
    Cooling
    Aywun A4 80mm fan
    Mouse
    Logitech K120 Wired Mouse
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120 Wired Keyboard
    Internet Speed
    802.11B/G/N 17Mb/s
    Other Info
    AMD Catalyst 12.6 Thomson A/B/G/N Router LiteON CD/DVD Player GAME PERFORMANCE: Battlefield 3: 41 FPS High 1x AA @ 1280x720 Mass Effect 2 and 3: 60 FPS Highest 4x AA @ 1920x1080 Counter Strike Source (and other Valve games): 300 FPS (max FPS in game) Highest settings 8x AA 16x AF @ 1920x1080!!!
I see. Was afraid I would have to do that. I don't use the system very much and it's been a while I last backed it up.(little over a year) Hardly anything has been changed.

To be on the safe side can Backup be run in Safe Mode? I think I saw a post on this forum that you can.

As far as a clean install goes. I do NOT have a Vista install CD/DVD. All I have is a recovery CD that came with the Laptop when I bought it 3 years ago.

Ed
 

My Computer

safe mode only runs apps that need the os to work... im sure of that... but use the recovery disks to restore the system... it is probably the best thing to do to avoid this problem again. hope this helps.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Gaming Rig 780G
    CPU
    AMG Athlon II X2 255 3.8/2MB/2500MHz 45nm AM3
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-S2 AM3, Core Boost, Ultra Durable 3
    Memory
    2X 4GB Kingston DDR3 1066MHz @ 1666MHz Dual Channel
    Graphics card(s)
    HIS HD Radeon 7770 GHz Edition iCooler Core: 1000MHz
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell E2311H DVI/VGA 5ms response, Full HD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 @ 60Hz
    Hard Drives
    320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.02 SATA II
    PSU
    Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 700w
    Case
    Lian-Li PC-6010 With Side Window
    Cooling
    Aywun A4 80mm fan
    Mouse
    Logitech K120 Wired Mouse
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120 Wired Keyboard
    Internet Speed
    802.11B/G/N 17Mb/s
    Other Info
    AMD Catalyst 12.6 Thomson A/B/G/N Router LiteON CD/DVD Player GAME PERFORMANCE: Battlefield 3: 41 FPS High 1x AA @ 1280x720 Mass Effect 2 and 3: 60 FPS Highest 4x AA @ 1920x1080 Counter Strike Source (and other Valve games): 300 FPS (max FPS in game) Highest settings 8x AA 16x AF @ 1920x1080!!!
Thanks for the help. I ran the Recovery and all it did was launch the repair tool which, cycled through again. Didn't help at all. System didn't want to go to safe mode either. It looks like I have major issues and I feel that only a clean install will do. As I mentioned earlier, I do use the laptop very much anymore and very little, minor thing have been done with it since my last back up. Now I need to find another copy of Vista.
 

My Computer

It varies between two of them. One is just the system telling me that Setup Repair needs to be launched. When it runs it just cycles(3 or 4 times) through that and stops. The other is that if you try to start windows normally I get a blue screen.
 

My Computer

Some minor success! Took a chance by swapping out the RAM. When I got the laptop it had 1 Gig and immediately changed increased it to 2 Gig. I put the original RAM back in and telling it to Start Windows normally, I have a desktop again.

However, Vista now tells me that my copy is not genuine.
 

My Computer

Some very good news. I put the original 1 Gig back into the laptop and upon boot it still detected a problem but I opted to start windows normally. Got to my desktop which was an improvement because I could not get past my log in before. Was able to activate my copy did a check for updates. The update required a reboot and I was worried about what would happen. Upon boot up checkdisk was automatically run and when finished everything loaded correctly and so far seems to be OK. I'm guessing my RAM went south so I'm going to order some more(of course it will be more than what I had :D) Currently backup is running and it looks like I may be OK.

Thanks to all who helped!
Ed Ski
 

My Computer

Back
Top