Vista Meltdown! Advice appreciated....

[kathykat63]

My beloved laptop is a HP Pavilion dv9925nr running Vista Home Premium. It tries to boot going to a black screen saying something is 'inaccessible' wanting me to use a disk and restart. Advice greatly appreciated!!

I have Advanced System Care Pro and use it frequently. I installed it on my mom's computer also. I just ran a scan on this computer (my mom's). The computer runs fine, but the registry scan is reading 1,042 problems. The program says these are unnecessary, incorrect or invalid entries. On my computer, I let the program decide and delete. I strongly suspect that I allowed this cleanup utility to eat the registry.

I also put in a partition that day, but Paragon stopped with a prompt to check the disk and cross linked files. I scanned it with Windows and Advanced System Care. Both showed nothing wrong. I then used the backup to restore files. I used whatever Windows has to partition and noticed the backup came back quite a bit smaller than it started out. After that, error prompts and crash.

I am not sure what to do next. I ordered the restore disk
c from HP. I'm wondering how much good that will do. I have a copy of Vista Home Premium on iso. I was told my license is good to reinstall with a retail copy. I changed the BIOS to boot from disk, which is being ignored. It does run. The light is on and I can hear it. I tried DBAN for a clean install. Same problem. It very well could be that I burned the iso wrong and it isn't a bootable format. I am totally lost!

[happyrock]

try changing the BIOS to boot from the cd/dvd drive first

[exyalie]

oopz

[kathykat63]

Thanks for responding Happyrock! This boot problem seems to get worse. There was no sparing my system. I had already changed the BIOS boot order and had a copy of Vista. I had the wrong option when I downloaded the hard drive eraser, so it was ignored for a clean install of Vista.

The HP chat support guy earned his paycheck dealing with this one! I ordered the HP recovery DVDs. When I put the first one in, it kept hanging at 41% and an error prompt and I am stuck there. All diagnostics are showing no hardware problems, so he figured there must be a flawed recovery disk and is shipping another.

I have a computer that will not boot and have to wait on replacement DVDs, so many hours later, I got an install. The disk is SP1, so you can imagine the updates. Another crash on restart!

The only key responding to me is esc. I have made my way to the BIOS, but it wont respond to me changing anything at all, when I can boot it that far. The BIOS is shadowed.

Now, I have a sys32 command line and found a few commands to rebuild the BIOS that is supposed to boot. I can't command or really get to the shadowed BIOS. I can't get the computer to boot. I can't get the HP recovery to reformat and install.

Any ideas before I lose my sanity?

[happyrock]

I'm confused...did you get the OS to install but trying to install all the updates upon rebooting it crashed/hung

[kathykat63]

I ordered the factory install DVDs from HP. That install was a complete nightmare, but I finally got a reformat and reinstall to SP1. I was installing Windows Updates where the computer requires a restart. The system crashed.

The BIOS are reading shadowing. I can't boot at all now. A few times I managed to boot with HP Recovery Manager. Windows is suggesting updates to solve the boot problem. I don't have enough updates to install SP2. Next set of updates, the computer will not boot at all.

The only key that will respond is esc. None of the f keys will alone, but have tapping esc and one of the f keys. I have managed to get to the BIOS wanting to reinstall, the arrows may or may note even move at all. When they do, I am unable to change any of BIOS settings at all.

I have read about correcting the BIOS with a flash drive and floppy. I don't understand the floppy at all. I haven't seen a computer with a floppy drive in a long time.

[happyrock]

I also put in a partition that day, but Paragon stopped

and then this
I used whatever Windows has to partition and noticed the backup came back quite a bit smaller than it started out

did you delete the partitions you created before you tried the fresh install...
to reset the bios you will have to remove the mobo battery...pretty simple on a tower...not so much on a laptop

[kathykat63]

I can't explain the shrinking restore/backup partition, but alarmed by it. One thought is the possibility of allowing Advanced System Care registry cleaner to eat necessary system files that initially caused the problem. The declining status resulted in files that couldn't be read or the system found as corrupt and could have been removed.

I didn't delete a partition, but did try to create one. I knew that there was a problem with my registry and afraid of the system going down. I didn't have the manufacture disk at that time. What I did have is another copy of Vista on iso. I wanted to create another partition to install the Vista iso to repair my missing files.

When Paragon refused to create the partition stating cross linked files, I used a freeware program that didn't ask so many questions. After that, doom. I had already burned the Vista iso to bootable DVD. The system thought the CD/DVD hardware was corrupt blocking use of the Vista install DVD.

I ordered the recovery DVDs from HP. I had the boot order changed in the BIOS and ran diagnostics. These recovery DVD were the factory install for my specific laptop, but kept getting stuck at 41% on the first disk and aborting. Talked to HP chat and he thinks the recovery disks have a problem, so resending.

I messed with it and finally got a clean install, which didn't last long. Windows Updates from SP1 wanted a restart that wouldn't boot up at all. I attempted another clean install, which turned out to be a huge problem. The BIOS was almost impossible to access not responding to the f key commands at startup. The one thing it would was esc key, but don't bank on it. When I did manage to get to the BIOS to change boot order, I could change nothing at all. It was reading shadowed. I finally got to win32 command solving the problem.

My priority of updating Windows appears to be an issue. I should have started with HP to update the drivers for my specific laptop. The system is running fine. I have the updates up to SP2. I'm still holding my breath. This has been a nightmare!

[happyrock]

you still have to install SP3 because in July MS will stop you from getting any hotfix patches if you don't have SP3 installed...if you have a AMD processor there is a patch you need to install PRIOR to installing SP3 or your computer will refuse to boot after you do the update

[kathykat63]

Thanks for letting me know about the patch. I do have an AMD processor. I heard about SP3 being released, but that's about it. Getting this computer updated has been about all I have been doing, from drivers to Windows.

I don't have any of my fun programs back. I thought about loading my DivX program and movies I had on backup while these updates run to keep me from dying of boredom. I really like my Photoshop program also. I thought this might scare my drivers to death and send the BIOS hiding in the shadows.

I never understood the complaints about Vista with many people going back to XP. I'm sure this computer has to be over two years old. I have had no serious problems with it at all before now. I initially thought customization caused a problem, but it was just timing.

I guess that I can reinstall my Photoshop now and customize some folders. All the updates are done. Still holding my breath! lol!

[happyrock]

go here and get erunt..ERUNT (Emergency Recovery Utility NT) allows you to keep a complete backup of your registry and restore it when needed. The standard registry backup options that come with Windows back up most of the registry but not all of it. ERUNT however creates a complete backup set, including the Security hive and user related sections. ERUNT is easy to use and since it creates a full backup, there are no options or choices other than to select the location of the backup files...

after you have all the updates but prior to SP3 run erunt...that way if something goes sideways...it easy to get back to that point instead of starting all over...
do that after each program you install from this point on...
when you have your system exactly like you want it...turn off system restore...that will clean out all the old restore points...then turn it back on and manually create a new restore point...name it something like everything installed and working ...also delete all the old ERUNT folder EXCEPT the most recent one