I have a Gateway desktop computer. The computer went into sleep/standby mode and when I went to turn the screen back on, it prompted for my password as if it had rebooted. After entering my password, a screen popped up saying the Vista activation code I entered was wrong, but I didn't enter anything. Dummy me clicked Cancel on the error message, and then the screen went black with just the arrow showing. I rebooted, and the computer seemed to be starting up, then just went to the black screen with the arrow. It seems to start up in safe mode.

How can I get that error message to show up again, or what can I do to fix this problem? I bought the computer over a month ago with Vista already installed. Help please...

Hi :-)

You could for starters try and boot the PC into safe mode and see if the problem persists if not it could be a graphics driver problem, however please tell me if there is a sticker at the back or on the top of the PC with a serial number as that would indicate an OEM install, also has your Vista been updated recently? Is Vista SP1 installed? Did the PC come bundled with any media?

Regards
Phoenix®