HELP! My Vista-based PC has crapped out -- can't afford a new one. Can this be fixed?

[LuckyTheDog]

The thing will not boot up. The registry is corrupted. I do not have the recovery disc (not sure I ever had one).

The "computer guy" can't fix it.

I am wondering if installing Windows 7 would eliminate the problem. BUT... can I install a new OS on a computer that won't boot up?

ON EDIT: PLEASE spare me the "get a Mac" comments. That's not going to happen.

[HopeHoops]

1. Doesn't it have a recovery partition? (Usually the "D" drive)

If it does, you should be able to restore it to factory state. Unfortunately, that would wipe out anything on the drive so it is a last resort if you don't have a recent backup of your good files.

In theory, you should be able to use a recovery disc (CD) from another Vista machine, change the boot order to boot from the CD first, and then just copy important files from the C drive to a USB drive. From there it is "possible" to execute a recovery, but that's not a sure bet.

[LuckyTheDog]

6. How do I change the boot order?(nt)

[EOTE]

12. Boot order is almost always in your computer's BIOS.

Different BIOSs have different ways of being accessed. Usually you want to press Del, F1 or F2 upon startup to access your computer's BIOS.

[HopeHoops]

13. See post 12. The boot order is usually easy to locate.

It is different depending on which BOIS you have. Look for the "Press (whatever)" line at the bottom of the screen when it first starts to boot and do that.

Just remember to "SAVE and Exit", not just "Exit". Once you get it back to normal, you'll probably want to change the boot order back to drive C: first.

[Lance_Boyle]

2. test the hardware by booting to a liveCD first

Ubuntu desktop runs as a liveCD - try it. Or you could use UBCD4WIN. Both are free. But I think you still have to build the UBCD manually. If the liveCDs run and you can see your files, your hardware is likely intact.

Whether you then pay for Win7 or reinstall Vista or try Ubuntu or something else is entirely up to you.

PS - if you can access your files with the liveCD, back up anything you want to keep before you reinstall your OS.

[LuckyTheDog]

5. Worth a shot

I certainly want to rule out any hardware issues.

I don't know about running the PC on Ubuntu, though. My existing applications might not work.

I have OpenOffice, so that at least would run. But stuff like PhotoShop Elements and Adobe Contribute might not.

[MicaelS]

3. You CAN download a Vista Recovery disc

It's only a 120MB, see here: http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

[LuckyTheDog]

4. If I download that, how would I get the machine to boot from the disc?

It seems worth a try

[MicaelS]

7. You have to have another pc with a CD burner and burning software

(1) Download the file, it's an ISO file.
(2) Burn the ISO file to a CD using the burning software. free burning software here http://cdburnerxp.se/\
(3) Start the PC, Open the optical drive and insert the disc, restart PC.
(4) If it boots from the CD, it'll show something like Hit any Key to boot from CD/DVD.
(5) If it starts to boot from the CD, follow the onscreen instructions, if not go to the step #6.
(6) Go into the BIOS of your corrupted PC, (restart the PC and keep hitting the Delete Key) and set the First Boot Device as Optical Drive, Save and Exit.
(7) Go back to step 4.

If you can't figure out what to do, once you get into the BIOS, send me a PM, and I'll see if I can find the info for you.

[LuckyTheDog]

8. I'll give that a try...

... first I have to get the machine back from the computer guy.

[blogslut]

11. Put the CD in the drive

Then turn off the machine. Turn it back on, pressing down on the "C" key until you get a screen that asks you in which order you want to boot up. Make your choice (C Drive) by using the arrow key until you get to your choice and push the "Enter" key.

[Taverner]

9. OK - my suggestion - and take it with a grain of salt

I am an Ubuntu Linux head - but here you go

1 - Get a Ubuntu Linux boot disk. This lets you boot off of the CD drive

2 - Boot off of the Ubuntu Linux disk WITHOUT INSTALLING. This will let you look at your drive and save any files necessary. Copy to a thumb drive or something.

3 - Either reinstall Windows, or (my suggestion) ditch Windows for Ubuntu Linux.

[whistler162]

10. try pulling the memory and putting it back in one DIMM

at a time. Some times a bad memory module will cause this type of problem.

[Duer 157099]

14. Spend $20-30 and get a new hard drive

Remove the current hard drive and get some sort of operating system installed on the new drive. THEN you can recover whatever data you needed from the old drive.

TRUST ME. You don't want to be messing around with a hard drive that has failed if you have data on it that you'd like to recover! Just REMOVE it for now.

If you don't understand what I mean, ask.

PS: also, get a new "computer guy" because your current one doesn't know much

[Kali]

15. I sure will second this advice based on my one small bit of experience here

"pro" wanted to wipe my drive and start over on a crapped out computer, bought another cheapo and it turned out the crappy had something else wrong with it, drive was fine - I got some kind of little device to use to hook it up as an external to the new computer and there was all my stuff, safe and usable.

and the GOOD advice came from here on DU - also read around in the computer forum: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=242