Caution: Long & Confusing Problem!

[nique3191]

My computer was originally running on XP, but I decided to upgrade it to Vista. I bought the Home Basic edition and began to install it when it told me there was not enough MB on my hard drive. So I went out and bought a 140 GB hard drive, not knowing that won't solve the problem. After I realized that, I had to buy what I think is a memory card or something like that. So I had XP installed on my origianal hard drive, and Vista installed on the new one.

So I installed Vista and everything ran smoothly. But when I put one of my games (The Sims) into my CD Drive, it said it didn't have good enough graphics card. So then I went out and bought a new graphics card, which was Radeon 9550. I installed that too. I know this isn't a forum about game support, but The Sims always crashed my computer.

Anyway, that's when all the problems started happening. My computer would shut down at random moments, which really frustrated me. I can be doing something important, and the screen would go blank, then it'll read "No Signal...Analog", and restart itself. I put up with it for a while. But a few days ago, after it restarted itself for the millionth time, it displayed the boot screen and then said something like "CANNOT BOOT DRIVE. INSERT STARTUP DISC." I did as it said and inserted the Vista disc. I brought me to the screen where I had to choosed the language and so on. When I passed that part, it would not let me choose any options. I could not repair my computer, or reinstall Vista.

So I shut it down. Now everytime I turned on my computer, it'll show that same message (CANNOT BOOT DRIVE...) I was never given the choice of booting up XP or Vista. So at the back of my computer, there is a power button. I turned it off and then back on, and after that, I was given the choice again! Hooray? I don't think so.

I, of course, chose to boot up Vista. But another screen came up saying "THIS FILE IS CORRUPTED." Then it tell me to insert the disc again. But if I do, nothing happens.

So, thankfully, I can still log onto XP. I've tried to uninstall Vista so I can reinstall and maybe start over. But I've been searching online for days and everyone says that you cannot simply uninstall Vista. Is that true? I know my post was extremely long, and maybe even confusing, but I only put all that so everyone can know the full extent of my problem, from beginning to end.

So, should I forget about fixing it and get a new computer? If not, please help me!

[Murf]

Welcome to CTH

Sounds like frustration at it's highest level.

Lets start with your video card. The Radeon 9550 VISTA drivers are HERE, Did you install these or just use the CD that came with the Video Card.

[nique3191]

I just installed the CD that came with the video card. Wow, I didn't know that I had to download a seperate driver for Vista, because the box said "Vista Ready".
By the way, would it really help if I download the Vista driver when I still can't boot up Vista?

[Murf]

Sorry did not read you post carefully, as now I see you cannot boot into VISTA.

You will need to boot from the VISTA CD/DVD to do this:

1. Boot and immediately get into SETUP (usually the DEL key or a F key; screen should tell you which key to get into SETUP).

2. In SETUP find where you can set the boot order and make the CDROM the 1st boot device, now find where you can Save & Exit. (have the Vista DVD/CD in.)

3. It should now boot from the Vista DVD/CD, after it ask you Press any key to boot from CD/DVD (just hit any key)

4. You should hear your DVD reader spinning up and then you will see a black screen with a white status bar at the bottom stating Windows is loading files.... After a while, the status bar will turn completely white and you will see a screen stating that Windows is loading. The Windows Setup environment will continue to load and when finished you will be presented with a screen, make sure the 3 items presented are correct then hit Next.

5. You will now be at the main Windows Vista setup screen where you would normally install Vista on to a computer. However, select "Repair your Computer".

6.This will bring you to a new screen where the repair process will look for all Windows Vista installations on your computer. When done you will be presented with the System Recovery Options dialog box. Hit Next.

7.If the repair process does not detect any problems starting Vista, it will display a list of recovery tools.

8. It should also be noted that if the repair process detected that you previously had problems starting Vista, instead of displaying the list of recovery tools, it would have automatically started the Startup Repair tool for you. When the Startup Repair tool starts, it will scan your Vista installation for any problems. If problems are found it will attempt to fix these problems automatically.

9. The automatic repair process can take quite a while. So please be patient as Vista attempts to find and repair any problems on your computer. During this process your computer may reboot multiple times, which is normal and nothing to be worried about. During this process you may also be presented with a dialog box asking if you would like to restore your computer using System Restore. - Hit CANCEL

Once this is done, it should reboot, take out the Vista DVD/CD.

Let us know if this works or if you run into problems during the process.

[nique3191]

I did as you said and entered the Vista Disc. However, when I selected "Repair your Computer" it told me it was not able to repair my computer automatically. I'm not sure what I should do next. Oh, and I know I'm being a real pain, but thanks for giving me your time.

[Murf]

No pain, that is what we are here for.

OK, VISTA does include Advanced options for repair:

Go through the same procedure you just did, but this time during the start up Repair Scan, click on Cancel button this should bring up the Advanced Options: Or you will see something that says View advanced options for system recovery and support.

Try: System Restore

System Restore allows you to restore your computer's configuration, driver information, and programs to a previous state while leaving your existing data intact. Using this option can typically fix a installation's problem if it is not associated with faulty hardware.

If that does not work then weees needs to try something different.:

[nique3191]

When I tried System Restore, it told me there was no restore points made in the system.

[Murf]

WOW....

Just got back on-line.

You can uninstall VISTA but it takes some doing. Before we go there lets try and get this fixed.

Since you can boot up to XP lets take a look at some files. To do this please dowload the following file to your desktop. HERE

Download: Mirror 1 Download:Mirror 2

Once downloaded double click on the file to install, then click on Run program. Once the screen comes up Click on the "View Settings" Button on the top.

Highlight text in window right click copy and paste the info here.

[nique3191]

Is this what you need?:

There is currently 2 OS(s) installed on your system.
The current boot timeout is: 3

Default OS: {default}

Entry 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Earlier Version of Windows
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Boot Drive: C:
System Bootloader: \ntldr

Entry 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Microsoft Windows Vista
BCD ID: {c40bf054-bef9-11db-af28-cab0b7e0236b}
Boot Drive: G:
Windows Drive: G:
System Bootloader: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

[Murf]

OK,

The system is recogniizing VISTA, but cannot find the boot files. So lets do this as drive "G" could be the problem.

In XP right cliak on "My Computer" then go to "Manage", now in the left pane click on "Disk Management".

In the right pane you will see all your drives/partitions. Some will say "Healthy" some "System" ect.

List the drive number and tell us whatever it says: e,.g.,

C: system
D: healthy
E:
F:

I've also asked some other mod's to look at this thread for some fresh idea's.
G:

[nique3191]

C: Healthy (System)
E: Healthy
F: Healthy
G: Healthy

[Spider]

How much RAM total do you have in that machine?

If XP is running use that to...

Open a Command Prompt and type
debug hit enter
type d ffff:5L8 hit enter
what is the date on the far right?
type q hit enter

In my signature below is Everest, download that and under Motherboard
what does Everest report as your motherboard make and model?

[nique3191]

The date it shows is: 4/09/04

I think the make is: ASUSTek Computer Inc.
The model is: Asus A7V8X-X

[Spider]

BIOS update Version 1013 (under BIOS)
and you'll need the BIOS flash utility Aflash V2.21 (both are the same file)

Your going to have to flash (update) the BIOS on your motherboard.
Read all instructions to flashing (a README.TXT comes with the flash utility).