Microsoft Windows Vista Won’t Start - Using System Restore From DVD
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This was strange. Late last Friday I received a call from a relative who’s new home brew system running Windows Vista - Premium would not boot. There wasn’t any error messages just a lock up at the boot screen. Even trying to use Safemode brought up the same thing, no errors, no nothing, just a lockup.
So we tried using the Vista DVD and the repair option button. This brought us to System Restore. This takes awhile to come up, so be patient. One could easily assume that the system was not responding during this time. It’s just slow. Anyway, up came the famaliar restore screen just like if you were in a Windows environment. We selected a restore point before the problem cropped up, and the system was back to normal boot.
What is strange about this happening is that there were no new updates, software, nor any applications installed before the problem lock up occurred. And event viewer showed nothing either. And a quick scan of the system showed no bugs or critters and after this startup glitch the system is running just fine.
So my best guess is a hardware fluke or OS fluke that do sometimes happen, then disappear. The best advice I can give is to keep a eye on the system and see if this happens again. If it does we can than take a look at possible hardware issues or other software problems..
I hope this helps someone who may experience a similar problem.

77 Comments
Mick Read
March 22nd, 2007
at 12:01pm
Vista has a Restore problem..A fact. It is impossible to restore to an earlier date.Type a restore point and it restores to the date one tried to restore. Any previous restore dates are erased on updates or added programs.
After a few phone calls and a dozen emails to Microsoft they deny and problem and give you the run around. You can get to level 3. MS way of tackling problems. Sure it is easy to Format and repair. But most have to call a techy. the best thing is to return the system to MS for a refund. Before the 3 months free calls expire.That is the only way to make them admit the issue.
Mick Read
March 22nd, 2007
at 12:08pm
Waiting for MS to call today .Plus an email promised in 72hrs. When you contact them to MS person knows NO more than the average user. I have ten problems that were automatically sent MS two weeks ago ..No Help or updates for those problems however there are a further ten that MS has updated the OS. Good job I do not lose sleep over it..
Good luck to you out there.
Ron Schenone
March 22nd, 2007
at 3:01pm
Hello Mick,
Thanks for the information. This is the first I have about a restore issue. The only issue I have read about is dual boot systems. Vista doesn’t like XP on the same system and removes all restore points upon boot. I have confirmed this on my own system, which I dual boot on.
Regards, Ron
jonathan
March 31st, 2007
at 7:01pm
the same thing happened to me, except my vista is a download and i use daemon tools to mount it. everything is real, its activated. the problem started when i went looking for a better internet protection program. i liked panda, but mines wasn’t compatible. so i downloaded a trial of the vista compatible one. after installation, it wouldn’t boot. the panda i downloaded was a beta test version. everytime i boot, to any of the options, it just freezes or restarts.
also i installed itunes, the new one. could there possibly be a virus from apple!…not likely though, but once in the beta test version for vista, i installed itunes, then windows media player didn’t work as well as itunes, it was like slowed down.
Ron Schenone
March 31st, 2007
at 8:14pm
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for the information. Your comments are appreciated.
Ron
Kent
April 14th, 2007
at 11:47pm
I have the same problem with my new HP and pre installed vista home premium 32bit operating system .Everytime I try to do a system restore it goes through the whole routine,restarts and then says restore has failed choose another restore point.I have done this 5 times with no luck.I have done system recovery and fixed my problems but we all know what a pain that is.Any suggestions besides some idoit from India?
Ron Schenone
April 15th, 2007
at 5:01am
Hello Kent,
Have you tried turning off system restore? This will kill all previous restore points Then turn it back on and create a manual restore point. Try the restore and see what happens.
Another thouht is to post your problem over at the LG forum. I am sure you can’t be the only person having this problem.
http://help.lockergnome.com
Hope this helps, Ron
Kent
April 15th, 2007
at 8:54am
Im a amature and im not sure how to turn off system restore.I have done system recovery 2 times and even after that it would not restore.I would need someone to walk me through it.
Thanks Kent
Ron Schenone
April 15th, 2007
at 9:02am
Hi Kent,
Go to Control Panel and SYSTEM icon located towards the bottom if you are using classic view.
Open SYSTEM and click on the tab SYSTEM RESTORE. Check the box to turn it off. Reboot. Turn it back on and Reboot. Then try setting a manual restore point. See what happens.
Let us know. Ron
PS I don’t have Vista up and running since I am using another project OS, so I did this from XP, but it should be the same.
Kent
April 15th, 2007
at 11:46am
I dont think I am using the classic view or something is differant,I dont see any option to turn off system restore,just run and create a new restore point is all I can find.
Ron Schenone
April 15th, 2007
at 11:51am
Hi Kent,
Here you go - try these directions:
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/turn_off_system_restore.htm
Let me know how this works. I think what you may be doing is just running System Restore itself. That’s not what we want to do.
Ron
Kent
April 17th, 2007
at 8:46am
I have not had a chance to try yet,but I want to thank you for your help,its greatly appreciated.
Ron Schenone
April 17th, 2007
at 9:21am
Hi Kent,
No problem. And you are welcome. Let us know what happens once you try the fix.
Thanks, Ron
Kent
April 30th, 2007
at 10:46am
I decided to not do the restore,I seem to have everything working ok again.I tried it on my laptop and lost all my I-tunes. Thanks for the help anyway it is greatly appreciated.
Kent
Ron Schenone
April 30th, 2007
at 11:43am
Hi Kent,
Thanks for getting back to me.
Ron
Lisa
May 31st, 2007
at 7:39am
My comp freezes at boot up .
I have an Acer Aspire bought about 3 months ago. Haven’t had any problems with it. I went away for a month & 1/2 and when i got home and tried to boot up it showed the acer splash screen then loaded a very light almost unseen screen with the windows bar, but never advanced from there. I hit the power button shut it off, restarted it and it took me to a screen that gave me 2 choices saying Your compter didn’t start up or something like that either choose Repair or Start Normal, i chose repair, then it booted up. Problem is it goes though this whole thing evertime i turn my computer on or reboot…. i have chosen the start normal option and it boots up normal, then next time i boot up i have to go through that all over again….
any suggestions?
Thanks
Lisa
Ron Schenone
May 31st, 2007
at 7:52am
Hello Lisa,
Try this. Turn the system off. Unplug the power than remove the battery. Let the unit sit for a few minutes. Plug the battery back in and boot from battery. See what happens.
Next option - hello Acer.
Ron
Lisa
May 31st, 2007
at 8:04am
Out of curiosity… what does that do? Reset what?
Gonna give it a try now…. wish me luck LOL
Thanks..
Lisa
Ron Schenone
May 31st, 2007
at 11:11am
Hi Lisa,
On some systems it will reset the BIOS. It’s worth a try just to see what happens.
Ron
Lisa
May 31st, 2007
at 4:51pm
well.. that was fun LOL… I did the battery thing and it reset itself.. It wouldn’t come back on at all… nothing past the splash screen. So I called Acer they told me my motherboard needed to be replaced. Well after i stopped crying …jk, but i sure felt like it.. I remember when i first bought this comp i had an issue with my keyboard not allowing the comp to boot during that initail Vista start up.. Low & behold changed both to ps2 and it’s working lovely …. grumble growl, what the whole problem was, is that my comp was set to a restore point before i got my mouse & keyboard to work! Now i have to remember what I did 3 months ago to get everything to work…..What a hairpulling stressful afternoon, good thing is i don’t have to send it away for countless weeks to Acer to have it repaired…. gotta love computers eh.. they’ll be the death of us yet LOL… Thanks for listening
Lisa
Ron Schenone
May 31st, 2007
at 5:38pm
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I’m glad you got it running. Unbelievable Acer wanted to replace the mobo.
Thanks for the update, Ron
Lisa
May 31st, 2007
at 7:07pm
LOL ya, when I was on the phone with them she was going to walk me though the OS restore process, but whenever i hit the keys nothing happened… So without knowing at that time it was the keyboard causing the problem she knew it was out of her realm of expertise (cue cards) hehe. They wanted me to send it to them for repairs. I am so glad that through all that frustration i remembered that one lil tid bit of info…. Saved me money in shipping and weeks without my life line lol.
Glad I could share, might help someone else with a silly boot up problem. That’s twice it got me… You can bet I have this written down for the possible next time!
Thanks again
Lisa
Ron Schenone
May 31st, 2007
at 7:29pm
Hi Lisa,
I’m sure it will help someone. Thanks again for your input. It is appreciated.
Regards, Ron
rita
July 8th, 2007
at 4:29pm
Ron,
I have Vista on a Dell Inspiron 1405 and I would like to Restore it to a previous date. The problem is that Vista only lists a few dates within the past 10 days to restore it to and I want to restore it to a point that was about a month ago (I loaded a program and then traveled and now have difficulty with it).
How do I enter a date to Restore it to that was over a month ago???
Please help! (I keep getting this error and have noticed that my computer will not recognize me as an Adminstrator and after trying to run any programs with Administrator authority, I click the ‘ok’ button and the computer does nothing……so I simply want to Restore to an earlier date to not deal with it anymore….[C:\Windows\system32\sfc.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains and error. Try installing the program again using original installation media or contact your system administrator or the software vendor for support])
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!
Ron Schenone
July 8th, 2007
at 7:18pm
Hi Rita,
It sounds like your restore point size needs to be increased to allow for more restore points, and therefore a longer time frame to choose from.
Have you scanned your system recently for both viruses and spyware? If so, what software did you use?
Try this online scanner.
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
Ron
rita
July 10th, 2007
at 6:13pm
Hi Ron,
Yes, I tried to run the scan for viruses but when it came time for ‘administrative’ approval, I clicked the ‘ok’ button and the computer did nothing (as it does every time I give it administrative approval….). I have McAffee installed on my computer..
I’m going to check the link you offered…..
Ron Schenone
July 10th, 2007
at 6:42pm
Hi Rita,
Let us know what happens.
Ron
Sephi
July 20th, 2007
at 6:36pm
This is also problem on 2k and XP, I havent found a good fix for it yet besides reformat drive and load fresh, but it looks like vista at least restores..the others won’t. Im a pc tech and my team and I have seen this 4 times this month. Twice when adding memory to 12 machines, 2 crashed. Im here now looking for a fix for it again on a friends laptop who just updated itunes and rebooted…os wont boot now.
Ron Schenone
July 20th, 2007
at 7:13pm
Hi Sephi,
Thanks for your comments. I’m sure you tried Safemode and Restore.
Ron
Ronn Craddock
July 24th, 2007
at 8:56pm
My sister in-law just bought a new HP notebook with Vista. It sucks! She’s had many problems, lots of software compatibility issues.. Just recently she had left her SD memory card for her camera in her computer when she shut down, and it hasn’t booted up since.. I asked her for her Vista disk to run recovery on it, and she told me that it didn’t come with one. I didn’t belive her, and I called HP and sure enought she was right.. What do they expect people to do? I wrote and called HP complaining, and finally they said they were going to send a copy of Vista.. They never did! And still my sister in-law’s brand new computer doesn’t work. I’ve been working in the IT field for the last 5 years and I’ve never had this much hassle with something like this before.. So finaly I aquired a copy of Vista, and still no go.. I would highly reccomend staying very far away from vista at least for awhile, until Microsoft gets there stuff together..
Ron Schenone
July 25th, 2007
at 6:16am
Hi Ronn,
Thanks for your comments.
Ron
Lyndz
July 27th, 2007
at 3:15pm
Okkk Im pretty much sure that my wonderful laptop isnt going to work again and im going to have to send it off but ill give this a try as you seem to have helped others.. When I turn my laptop on it goes to one of two screens one of which says:
A problem has been detected and my comp has been shut down to prevent damage BAD_POOL_HEADER
Tells me to restart if its the first time ive seen it. Or to check if new hardware/software is installed properly. (Not that i can)
Or
Windows has failed to start A recent hardware/software change might be the cause. To fix it:
1. Insert your windows installation disc and restart
2. Choose your language setting and click Next
3. Click repair your computer
I have borrowed a installation disc seen as mine didnt come with one and my laptop already had Windows Vista on. And absolutely nothing =]
Please help if you can? =]
Ron Schenone
July 27th, 2007
at 4:16pm
Hello Lyndz,
Try this:
1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Locate the UpperFilters value under the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
3. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click OK.
4. Locate the LowerFilters value under the same key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
5. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click OK.
6. Quit Registry Editor.NOTE: After you remove the Upperfilters value and the Lowerfilters value, if you notice lost functionality in a particular program, such as CD recording software, you may need to reinstall that software. If the problem recurs, consult with the software vendor for assistance.
7. Restart your computer.
Note: This may have to be done in Safemode. To get into Safemode press the F8 key repeatedly during boot and select Safemode.
According to the sources that I read, this is most likely caused by your CD burning software conflicting with your AV program.
Hope this helps.
PS If this doesn’t work, I’d try posting your problem at the LG forum.
http://help.lockergnome.com/
Ron
Lyndz
July 27th, 2007
at 6:23pm
Thanks firstly for the response but umm whats Registry Editor?
Ron Schenone
July 27th, 2007
at 7:50pm
Hi Lyndz,
Hmmm……. editing the registry is not for the novice and you may want to seek help from someone who can assist you in this matter.
But if you are brave you can read this article:
http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vista/vista_registry.htm
It has taken me years to learn how to manage and edit a registry without causing any damage to the system. You may wish to create a system restore point before proceeding.
OR seek professional help. Just my 2 cents.
Ron .
Lyndz
July 28th, 2007
at 8:04am
I cant do that though because i cant get on to windows… The screen i told you about is the first screen that comes up when i turn it on..
Ron Schenone
July 28th, 2007
at 12:16pm
Hello Lyndz,
OK. Here is what I would do. I would call the computer company and ask them how to do a reinstall of Windows. Your system must have a copy of Windows in a hidden partition. They should be able to help you.
You can also check this site as well:
http://www.windowsvista.windowsreinstall.com/
The copy of the DVD with Vista on it must be the same version, i.e. Basic or Premium as well.
Good luck, Ron
Santos
August 26th, 2007
at 2:25pm
Hello Ron; August 26, 2007
this is a first for me, but we all had to get are feet wet at some time or other I am having trouuble with my computer. Whenever I write anything and try to send it everything at the moment looks good,but later I get a message that it did not send\error\NOT Responding. Sometimes the whole sssystem crasahes\freezes and locksup “Not Responding”.Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Santos
Ron Schenone
August 26th, 2007
at 5:49pm
Hello Santos,
What anti-virus program are you using? Also is any firewall being used?
Ron
neonix
November 21st, 2007
at 8:36pm
I was stunned that this happened today. My vista installation was already horribly broken (explorer would crash, registry destroyed, etc), so I decided to format and reinstall.
I got this boot problem only hours after installing vista. I had only installed office 07, firefox, winamp, and mirc. Was in the process of installing nod32 3.0 and had to restart for it, and then it happened.
Anyway, thanks for the info!
neonix
November 21st, 2007
at 8:38pm
Oh, I didn’t mention that just before the boot lockup, windows had “experienced a (serious?) error” Not sure about the wording, but it had the same meaning. IN other words it was microsoft spitting in my face saying I’m using a sh*tty OS.
Captcol
November 22nd, 2007
at 12:51am
Hey there Ron
Good to see someone out there in the cyber whatsit doing the good work, helping out those that need it when they need it. Keep it up.
I stumbled accross this site while hunting out some answers and I am amazed at the variety of issues that you have helped with.
Personally I like vista, and have had as good an experience with it so far as I did with XP in the first year of its release.
Keep it up
Captcol
john wilson
November 28th, 2007
at 4:37pm
well this is the third drive i have blown away on vista (POS) and it doesnt mean ‘point of sale’. so to keep this short, all the data is retrievable off your disk with the right usb to hd converter. it seems that for no apparent reason the MBR (master boot record) gets blown away. if youre using vista i would recommend a 2nd bootable drive or backup your files daily. im currently testing out linux. time to make the change
Rain
December 7th, 2007
at 2:17am
One of my clients laptop has this problem. About once a week Vista won’t just start. Only System Restore helps. After that, half the services won’t start - networking, printer services, so on. Iresolved it by Start -> cmd -> “sfc /scannow” (without the quotes). Its a system file checker built in Windows XP and Vista. Vista scanned the Win installation for a while, then didnt say anything, just finished and closed, and everything was back to normal - all services working. Till next week. It must be a hardware issue. But i hope that sfc /scannow will help someone else
Ron Schenone
December 7th, 2007
at 6:09am
Hi Rain,
Thanks for the info. It sounds like you have a good handle on the situation and are aware of the possibility of a hardware issue it if continues. All the best.
Ron
Charles
December 14th, 2007
at 6:00pm
I can’t boot up my computer. I have Windows Vista. I get the blue HP/Invent screen then it goes to a black screen with this at the top: “DISK BOOT FAILURE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER”. I did not recieve a Vista disk with my computer. I ran the computer dr. disk i had and it says everything is fine. I tried to run my restore disks (it took 12), but only the first one does anything and it eventually gets me back to the “DISK BOOT FAILURE…..” Is there something wrong with my hard drive? Do I need to reinstall Windows? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Charles
Charles
December 14th, 2007
at 6:01pm
forgot to mention….I am also unable to run the computer in Safe Mode either. It is Desk top PC.
Cheers
Charles
Ron Schenone
December 15th, 2007
at 7:44am
Hi Charles,
You didn’t mention how old the system was. I’d give HP a call if it is still under warranty.
Hard disk problem? Could be. But there also could be something wrong with the recovery disks as well.
Chris
February 5th, 2008
at 2:50pm
Same problem here. Vista was working fine and now it does not. It just hangs forever at the startup. Can’t boot in safe mode, can’t even boot from the DVD - I get the message saying “press any key to boot from cd/dvd” and then everything proceeds normally until it freezes at the start up screen again.
I’m at quite a loss what to do now. I don’t suspect any hardware issue since the laptop seems working fine . .and I don’t suspect any user issue since the user was working normally and stepped away from her pc and found this problem upon returning.
Kevin
February 11th, 2008
at 12:51am
I have the same problem now, but it started differently.
I turned my computer off last night (didn’t install anything new, or make any changes), and this morning it froze when I tried putting my password in. I restarted my computer and then nothing was showing on the screen, even the bios. So I checked all the internal computer components and everything was running fine, I reset the bios via removing the battery and the my computer started up again. I was able to log in, (albeit 3-4 times slower) and then encountered the problems people have been facing. Every 30 seconds a program will lag, and then say (not responding) and then after a minute or so will go back to working normally. Some programs will not even open. I tried defragmenting my hd first, but after 4 hours that too froze. After it freezing and a few more restarts, I can now only start my computer up in safe mode. I tried a “sfc /scannow” in cmd and that finished and said it had found and corrected errors in system files, after that I attempted to do a system restore, but that got stuck in the initialization phase. I’m now trying to do a system restore off my vista disk, and it’s being extremely slow, but hopefully it will work.
my computer is a custom built tower:
- 2gb ram
- 2.8 ghz pentium d
- nvidia 8600 gts
- vista hd - WD 250gb
- 2nd hd - 320gb Seagate
- Asus p5n-sli mobo
2Stoned
February 22nd, 2008
at 7:28am
my problem is a bit different..
vista randomly disabled a few services (after a reinstall of DX9.c ..due to error message telling me i needed DX9c installed)
(WdiSystemHost, WdiServiceHost) .. not much of a problem. just disables the ability to repair ur network and a few other minor services that are effected by disabling (still never figured out why they’re disabled.. or how to reenable them…start option in services is grayed out)
this was minor..
my major issue was that when I went searching for a cure..
my assumed quickest and most effective methood of recovery
System Restore
wasn’t working properly..
as like the others.. i know u lose all previous points ..
knowing this i try for the earliest there were at least 6 system created points
and two manual..
after trying to restore the earliest with no luck..
i tried another.. then another..
(these restore points appeared to work.. but NOTHING changed)
so I attempted to use one of my “manual restore points”
vista went throught the motions of curing itself.. but when the PC restarted.. something to the effect of “system restore point failed… no changes were made”
so i tried again.. one more manual restore point
same deal. same message
that was my last option for restoring
i have since been able to recover for the most part..
idk what it is or why vista refused my restore points that I made with its software.. but this has happened b4..
on an earlier install of vista..
i guess ths is more of a warning than a “looking for a solution”
my solution.. I’m going to look for a back up other than windows in the future.. anyone know of a good program?
urphqedup@yahoo.com
Ali
February 22nd, 2008
at 10:54am
configuring updates: stage 3 of 3 - 0% completed. do not shut down your computer.
hi, i have vista and this msg comes up when i start my comp. then it shuts down and the same process happens again.
sometimes the repair wizard comes but it dosent make any difference. it even asks if it wants to system restore. but nothing happens
rosenrot
March 3rd, 2008
at 9:33pm
Damn it. The repair CD is actually a DVD? My DVD player has been broken since I’ve had my computer… actually, I don’t even think I have the install DVD since Vista came preinstalled on my lovely $400 Toshiba piece of junk. And the CompUSA where I bought it went out of business. OMG I’m screwed. Any chance this will go away as mysteriously as it came?
That’s it. I’m saving for a Mac.
Mark
March 5th, 2008
at 9:51am
Ali,
I’m having exactly the same problem, my pc get stuck in the loop of configuring the update, restarting and configuring update 3 of 3 again.
I have tried system restore, it restores fine but I still have the same problem
Have tried last known good login (or what ever it’s called!) still have the same problem.
Safe mode, same problem……
This is the first issue I have had with vista but if I lose everything I don’t think I will put it back on my laptop.
BTW what system are you using Ali? Mine is a Toshiba A120 laptop (I think), wondering if it is a Toshiba/vista compatibility issue?
Thanks,
Mark
Luis
March 27th, 2008
at 6:43am
Hi, I have a huge problem and cannot find anything related to it on the internet. I’m running Vista Ultimate on an HP Media Center Pavillion. Because of a number of bugs in the Vista system I decided to restore a “Complete Windows Restore” from a backup I made when everything worked fine. I am able to restore ok .. but when I boot up into windows many system programs and resources say something like: “so and so program has stopped working .. Windows will notify you when a solution comes available .. close”. I’ve tried everything including reformatting the drive and doing a clean install of Vista Ultimate .. but whenever I do the restore I get the same thing. I have stripped the computer to bare essentials and still have the same problem. I can’t even do the windows system check because the same popup comes up with the same type of message.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I’ve been at this for almost a week and I’m this close to pulling Vista out and installing XP.
Thanks,
Luis
Ron Schenone
March 27th, 2008
at 8:06am
Luis,
Quick question. What are you using to do the restore? The built in restore feature or a third party app.?
Let us know.
Luis
March 27th, 2008
at 8:09am
Hi, thanks for the quick response. I am using the system restore from the windows installation disk.
Ron Schenone
March 27th, 2008
at 8:12am
Heh Luis,
There is your problem. A restore does a new copy and thus won’t read previously installed software. After a restore you will need to reload your software.
I hope this helps.
Luis
March 27th, 2008
at 8:26am
The startup programs I’m talking about are windows system programs .. some I can remember are “com surrogate”, “explorer”, “task manager”, etc. Even when I use “c:\fsc /scannow” I get the same error boxes. I am doing a “Complete Windows Restore” from a “Complete Windows Backup” not a restore point.
Ron Schenone
March 27th, 2008
at 8:45am
Hi Luis,
OK. Thanks for the clarification. Let me see what I can find out.
Is this a new system or an older HP? Also do you experience the same problem when you do a clean install?
Luis
March 27th, 2008
at 8:56am
The computer is 6 months old. A clean install works fine but it’s after I do a restore of my backup that “windows services” stop working.
Ron Schenone
March 27th, 2008
at 9:12am
Hello Luis,
It appears that MS is having some issues with the backup - restore feature in Vista.
Check this post out and subsequent links.
http://blogs.technet.com/james/archive/2008/02/06/vista-backup-errors-and-apologies.aspx
Mike
April 21st, 2008
at 4:01pm
Hey! OMG i just had a huge problem. I didn’t change anything on my computer yesterday, but today when i booted it up it got stuck on the windows loading screen like you described earlier. I turned it off and when it started up again i got the option to figure out what was wrong. After a few minutes of scanning windows gave me the option to do a system restore to a point when it worked well. I decided to go for it. BUT NOW when i boot my computer up ALL of my personal files have been erased. ALL. I do 3d animation and modeling and so all of those long hours i put into my projects are gone, not to mention a couple school projects!!!!! What the hell is going on and how can i solve my problem? Please help, i’m pulling my hair out!!!
Mike
April 21st, 2008
at 4:05pm
oh god! I decided to do a system restore to a previous point on my comp to see if i could undo what had been done, and now when i try to login, i get the message “User Profile Service service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.” WTF! this is soooooo bad! btw i’m using my old computer right now if you’re wondering…
Ron Schenone
April 21st, 2008
at 4:29pm
Hi Mike,
Take a look here and see if it helps. You may have to boot into Safe Mode:
http://cherrybyte.blogspot.com/2007/07/fixing-user-profiles-in-vista.html
Another is here:
http://davesays.wordpress.com/2007/11/25/windows-vista-lost-profile-issue-solution/
kacey
April 24th, 2008
at 4:59am
I have windows Vista home premium on an HP Pavilion (a6300f pc). Last night my computer stopped working - I turned it on, and it just sat on the blue HP startup screen forever - so I clicked the f8 key and tried to start in safe mode - wouldn’t do it.
after trying many different things I ended up doing a system restore (ugh) - EXCEPT when it was done, it said I had to click “finish” to restart my computer (this is at the end of the system restore process). I clicked “finish” and it locked up. I did it again - let it sit for 2 hours - same thing.
It will let me get as far as the computer saying the system restore is complete, but locks up when i click finish to restart - and when i turn it off and back on i can NOT get to windows of any kind other than the f10, f11, f8, ESC functions from the blue HP screen.
if anyone knows how i can fix this i’d so appreciate the help - oh also - i have no disc - it says on the hp website (which is very little help btw) that this version of windows has it built in so that i don’t need a disc, and it must because i put no disc in and it runs the whole recovery and says it’s done - just won’t restart or let me into windows. I’m about to lose my mind - and i bought the computer new about 3 months ago
Ron Schenone
April 24th, 2008
at 8:05am
Hello Kacey,
First, have you checked on your HP machine to confirm there is not a utility available to create the disks?
If no such utility exists, I would call HP and DEMAND the disk[s] be sent to you. Be firm in your request.
All the best, Ron
Sum
May 5th, 2008
at 1:52am
hi,
configuring updates: stage 3 of 3 - 0% completed. do not shut down your computer.
hi, i have vista and this msg comes up when i start my comp. then it shuts down and the same process happens again.
sometimes the repair wizard comes but it dosent make any difference. it even asks if it wants to system restore. but nothing happens
I am using dell D430 model. Pls help……..
Ron Schenone
May 5th, 2008
at 3:29am
Hello Sum,
Check out this article and see if it helps:
http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/2008/02/16/vista-stage-3-of-3-0-complete-one-solution/
Damian
May 6th, 2008
at 5:43am
Hi guys
My gf is using an Asus vista home premium.
The computer frooze as she was in word then she turned it off. When she restarted it says that it was forcably shut down and to choose a mode to start. Any mode that is selected just resarts the computer even safe mode. The closest she got was putting in the recovery disk and booting from the disk but that is a reinstall and she will loose all her files. (not backed up). The repair causes the loop to occur and can’t even get into the repair screen. Most problems I seem to read about is about an update loop however there was no update undertaken. HELP!
pressing F10 got into some command prompt screen I think with some code but pressing enter just restarts
Unfortunately the details are minimal as I am a fair distance away from the computer (200km)
Ron Schenone
May 6th, 2008
at 7:17am
Hello Damian,
Send her this link and see if it helps:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial148.html
Regards, Ron
Damian
May 6th, 2008
at 7:49pm
Thanks for that… unfortunately she took it in to get fixed at the place she bought it as the recovery disk was an ASUS one not a vista dvd…
They say that a repair will erase documents? I thought a system restore only affected the system files is that true?
They are charging her for the back up and recovery of files plus restore…
Ron Schenone
May 7th, 2008
at 5:20am
Hello Damian,
Also have her get a Vista CD from Asus or there may be a process on the system to do this.
A repair usually will leave documents untouched. But it is a good idea that files be backed up. Anything go can wrong when dealing with Windows.
Damian
May 8th, 2008
at 2:29am
Hi Ron
Thanks a lot for your help appreciate it..
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May 22nd, 2008
at 8:32am
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Sean
May 23rd, 2008
at 10:26pm
I just got my new HP laptop a week or so ago and I’m having some problems with it. Up to this point, everything was working flawlessly, no problems at all. Then, I inserted the Kodak picture cd to upload the pictures to my documents and I had to restart to officially install the Kodak program, it never fully restarted (it wont go to the login page). I’ve tried all the restore options, but as you know, you have to restart to make it work but I still have the same restart issues.
Mr. disivio
June 6th, 2008
at 6:24pm
My vista keeps looping, custom built system. Its home basic, with
2gb ram on a Quad processor using an ATi radeon 512 mb videocard. Samsung 320 GB SATA Harddrive and an IDE CD drive.(listed parts in case anyone knows theres some incompatibility error)
It was working fine till today when i got home. it just wont start. When i tried putting in the vista CD it just takes forever to load, then blue screen about some pool problem(STOP: 0×000000DE)
It was working great until today though. I have no idea what went wrong. I went through all your comments and tried almost everything(anything possible as a i cannot get into windows.)
So please help me