Grrrrrhh Windows Shista!

khublaikhan

Hi All,

Need some help with my PC. My system is made up of the following:

Windows Vista (not so) Ultimate
Pentium 3.2
1GB RAM
HDD1 - System Partition - Vista Loaded - 60GB
HDD2 - Data Partition - 160GB

I noticed some problems with my HDD1 a few days ago (booting very slowly) and thort it would be wise to do what Microsoft jokingly call a "Complete PC Backup". This option is available for all who have the stupidity (like myself) to believe Microsoft products actually do what it says on the tin (never again!).

I removed all the data on HDD2 to a USB and repartitioned this with two further Primary Partitions (D:\ - 100GB and E:\ - 60GB). I then did the "Complete PC Backup" option via System Tools to drive E:\ (60GB). Although this took several hours it completed successfully.

I then removed HDD1 and set HDD2 as the Master - booted into system recovery via the Vista Ultimate DVD and chose the "Windows Complete PC Restore" option. I was trying to restore the Backup from the original E drive to the D drive. Of course, being Windows this was not a straightforward matter. After a day of pulling my hair out and cursing Bill Gates to high heaven I managed to do the restore via the Command Line (Using Diskpart to reset the drive letters). It stated that the restore operation completed successfully.

Unfortunately, when I try to boot into my restored image - I get the normal login screen but after this I just get a blank screen with a blue background (its defo NOT a BSOD). When I use Task Manager (via ctrl-alt-del) I can create a new explorer process but I also get a error message saying my profile could not be loaded.

It seems I cannot now even boot into my Vista DVD - it gets to the point where it loads the Windows files but then I just get a blank screen.

Besides chucking the PC in the bin and demanding money back for the purchase the worst ever OS created is there any advice as to how I should proceed? Ideally, I want the system as it was before the disk started playing up.

Thanks in advance

Chimpofdoom

Woah, sounds like some issues up there.

Well I guess the first step would be being able to back up your data before doing anything.

This guide will help with that!

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/

Trying to get my head round it, but generally I would suggest erasing the OS, as you've already tried that, install another OS (linux best advice for this), then go back again and install Vista over Linux.

I can't help but notice your running Vista on a machine with 1GB of ram.. From what I remember (I jumped ship to OSX when Vista came out) most people were recommended to ignore Vista's min spec's and have at least 2GB of ram, as it would help the speed issue.

[Deleted User]

this work?

JasX

So If i understand correctly you've

Backed up your system volume
Removed your System volume physically from your PC
Attempted to restore your system volume to a different drive - Failed
Changed the letter of your data volume to what your system volume was
attempted to restore your system drive ontop of your data drive again (which is a different size)

Sounds like a disaster, I'm not overly familiar with this full backup option but I'm really not sure its not designed to cope with the above, did you read the manual/were you following its instructions to the letter?

I think the safest option would be to backup your data from the hard drive somewhere else, reformat and reinstall Windows from scratch to undo the mess you've made

Did you test HDD1 and find any actual problems with it?

fwor

If the PC really won't boot from the Vista DVD, it sounds like there may be a hardware fault of some sort - perhaps faulty memory?

This can be confirmed or ruled out quickly and with no further changes by booting the PC from one of the Linux LiveCDs which includes Memtest (e.g. one of the current versions of Ubuntu) and running that.

khublaikhan

JasX wrote: »

So If i understand correctly you've

Backed up your system volume
Removed your System volume physically from your PC
Attempted to restore your system volume to a different drive - Failed
Changed the letter of your data volume to what your system volume was
attempted to restore your system drive ontop of your data drive again (which is a different size)

Sounds like a disaster, I'm not overly familiar with this full backup option but I'm really not sure its not designed to cope with the above, did you read the manual/were you following its instructions to the letter?

I think the safest option would be to backup your data from the hard drive somewhere else, reformat and reinstall Windows from scratch to undo the mess you've made

Did you test HDD1 and find any actual problems with it?

Not quite the right....

1) Backed up (called "Complete PC Backup" in Vista) the system volume in HDD1 to a seperate HDD2.

2) Removed HDD1. Set HDD2 as Master.

3) HDD2 has two Partitions: First Partition is 100GB - formatted NTFS. Second Partition is 60GB, formatted NTFS and contains the Backed Up image from HDD1.

4) I restored the Backed up image from SECOND Partition of HDD2 (60GB) to the FIRST Partition of HDD2 (100GB free space).

Restoring an image from a partition to another Partition on the same drive is apparently too much for Vista Ultimate to handle. It was the drive letter assignments of the drives that Vista could not cope with. The image was from a C:\ drive but was backed up to the E:\ drive and was being restored to the \ drive. When I reassigned \ back to C:\ the restore completed (apparently) successfully.

I am going to do a fresh install - but first I will check the memory with an Ubuntu CD...

Thanks

JasX

khublaikhan wrote: »

I am going to do a fresh install - but first I will check the memory with an Ubuntu CD...

I'd be using memtest86 / memtest86+ myself

[Deleted User]

Have you tried my suggestion above?

danthemoneysavingman

anewhope wrote: »

Have you tried my suggestion above?

you haven't suggested anything above!

khublaikhan

JasX wrote: »

I'd be using memtest86 / memtest86+ myself

Unless we are on completely different tracks (then please accept my apologies) but I am pretty sure Ubuntu comes with Memtest??

Chimpofdoom

Yup, pretty sure it does