Vista - Start up Repair does not work

Floxxie

Hi all,

I've been onto Dell online chat this morning over the problem my laptop has and have been asked to phone their software specialists 'for a nominal fee'. Before I spend out any money, does anybody have the solution to my laptops problems please?

Initially, it was crashing when in Firefox. I had to hard reboot the laptop and the first time I could still get into Windows. Based on the message I was getting (and having done a Google search), I did an error check which didn't complete. I have also used the Chkdsk c: /f/r and that couldn't complete either.
On turning on the laptop again there was a message that some c files were corrupt (and no access to Windows). The Startup repair started but then did not work. I have used the disk for the start up repair with the same result (I get a blue or black screen).

One message I got was that 'unexpected changes to system configuration might have caused problem. Repair action: system files integrity check repair' Result: failed Error code: 0x490

Now when I turn on the laptop I get the message Windows cannot repair this computer automatically. Signature 5 and 6 say 'Corrupt/Volume' (there are other bits of info in the other lines)

The restore point isn't working so I can't even go back to a previous point.

And I am very non-techie (it's scary even being on this board!) so really don't want to resort to having to speak to a real person on a premium number if I can avoid it.

Please, please help!

stuartk

hi there

do you have the vista / dell bootable dvd? if so can you boot from that and instead of clicking Install Now click Repair My Computer

See if your vista install is detected, if not then click Next and go to Command Prompt and type chkdsk /f /r c:

and reply with your results here

regards

Floxxie

Hi Stuart,

The 'System Recovery Options' box is showing Windows Vista 101490Mb (C:)OS

Do I still need to click next etc.?

(thanks for your help)

uh, there isn't a smiley face there - it's a colon

stuartk

Floxxie wrote: »

Hi Stuart,

The 'System Recovery Options' box is showing Windows Vista 101490Mb (C:)OS

Do I still need to click next etc.?

(thanks for your help)

uh, there isn't a smiley face there - it's a colon

OK atleast startup repair can see your hard drive which is good, click Next

from here you can try:

startup repair
system restore
full system backup (vista home premium upwards)
or command prompt chkdsk /f/r c:

try these in that order and see how you go

regards

Floxxie

Hi Stuart,

When I clicked 'next' it went straight into Startup Repair with 'Your computer is unable to start'. It's now checking the disk for errors.....

stuartk

Floxxie wrote: »

Hi Stuart,

When I clicked 'next' it went straight into Startup Repair with 'Your computer is unable to start'. It's now checking the disk for errors.....

Cool

Once its done (might take a while) reboot and see if that helps

regards

Floxxie

Hi Stuart,

It hasn't worked. the message that has come up is:

"startup repair cannot repair this computer automatically"

The problem details have the Corrupt/Volume mentioned in my first post.

Any suggestions of what to do now?

stuartk

hi there

OK boot from dvd again and go to cmd prompt and type:

chkdsk /f /r c:

regards

Floxxie

When I close the previous box down, the list is there. So I can put the check disk under command prompt?

stuartk

Floxxie wrote: »

When I close the previous box down, the list is there. So I can put the check disk under command prompt?

yep go for it

Floxxie

Ok, have done that. It reads:

103926779 KB total disk space
21748212 KB in 101274 files
56240 KB in 19091 indexes
20 KB in bad sectors.
211323 KB in use by the system
65536 KB occupied by the log file
81910984 KB available on disk

4096 bytes in each allocation unit
25981694 total allocation units on disk
20477746 allocation units available on disk
Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50

So what does that mean?