Computer won’t start? If you’re lucky, it’s just a problem with corrupted system files. Or, maybe you added or removed a hard disk and you need to reconfigure startup settings. Regardless, your first step should be to run Startup Repair. Startup Repair is easy to use and it’ll fix most startup configuration problems. Of course, it can’t fix a busted hard disk… but it’s worth a shot.
To run Startup Repair, follow these steps:
1. Restart the computer from the Windows Vista DVD (the computer must be configured to start from CD/DVD), and start setup.
2. When prompted, click Repair your computer.
3. Startup Repair will automatically detect a problem. When prompted, click Repair and restart, and then restart your computer from the Windows Vista DVD. If Startup Repair does not automatically detect a problem, continue to the next step.
4. When prompted, click Repair Your Computer.
5. Click Startup Repair from the System Recovery Options.
Startup Repair will try to find any corrupted files or startup misconfigurations. When prompted, remove the Windows Vista DVD and restart your computer normally.
If Windows still won’t start, or if Startup Repair doesn’t find your hard disk, troubleshoot the problem as a hardware issue. This can be complicated, but here are some tips:
- Disconnect any USB devices from your computer.
- Remove any recently connected hard disks.
- Unplug the power and other cables from each of your hard disks, and then reconnect them.
If you still can’t start your computer and Windows Vista still fails to see your hard disk, you might have a failed hard disk. It happens, and when it does, it sucks. Hard disks have moving parts, though, so they have a limited lifetime. Hopefully, you’ve got a backup. After replacing your hard disk, follow these instructions to Restore a Complete PC Backup when your computer won’t start. Next time, be sure to backup your files and backup your whole computer.
pls i need more informatin to be sent to me email emnauellala@yahoo.com
Thanks !! You save me the pain of having to schlep my computer to the repair shop and pay for someone else to reboot my computer.
i bought a brand new labtop yesterday. it was fine. with vista. i may hv opened a usb with some kinda macromedia flash virus. today, my pc cant start. it goes up to the open user page, and when i click that, it goes blank. the only thing i c is a mouse pointer. i can open task manager. when i opened that, it shows a flash and a macromedia thingy running in which i cant stop. if i stop the flash the computer shuts down. i bought compaq, and it dowsnt come wit the drivers. it asked us 2 burn it ourselves. and i haven burn the drivers yet. im scared help me
Thanks for pointing me to startup repair – it did the trick! :-)
Hi, windows vista won’t start for me, I already tried the start up recovery and it came up with no problems. Windows loads up and is stuck at the Please Wait o loading screen, when I have a disk in the cd-rom it appears as a black screen, I see nothing unless I press alt tab, at that point 2 things show up but I can’t get to them, one of the programs says Windows logon. I’m lost and don’t know what to do, I can only get to safe mode!!
One more thing every time I scan my computer for viruses AVG free edition says it changed ntoskrnl.exe and thats it.
HELP ME!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!
when I start my laptop it boots up ok then it goes back to to the beginning What is wrng it doesnt allow me to have access to the net
I had a startup repair before.
Hi,
I think my noton picked up a .sys file as a virus so i deleted it – nxt time i started up vista it wouldn’t start. So i’m guessing its a system file that shouldnt have been touched!
Tried running system restore, it runs to the end, starts up windons so that the loading screen appears but then the screen goes blank with jst an enlarged curser showing on the screen..
how do i go abt fixing this? i dont even mind formatting the hdd if it means i get the drive back.
pls help!
If you know the .sys file that Norton deleted and if you have another hd with windows installed, you can run your defective drive as a slave, boot off your working drive, then copy the missing file over.
My kids each have Compaq laptops with Vista. One kid installed the updates a couple of days ago now computer won’t boot. Says Windows loading then goes blank. Can’t bring up task manager or anything else. Pressed F8 when booting got the system recovery options, tried system restore says there isn’t a point to go back to. Computer is 6 months old so should be something there. My question–I have made the system recovery disks off the other kids computer. Can I use those to restore this computer? And if so, will all files be lost (pictures, music, etc)?
startup repair in vista is useless really useless. those mac adds on tv are right on the money….. vista sucks and we are all suckers. saveing my money so i can geta mac that will see the end of my involuntary computer maintenance course that i was forced to take for the last 10 years just so i could have a pc.
Amen. Microsoft has been a Monopoly for so long that they dont care about what people think. Now that Mac is starting to rise, maybe they will start putting out a decent product. I doubt it though. Better to save the extra money for a Mac then to deal with all the head aches associated with Microsoft garbage.
Tony otr is it “Arse hole” “My Computor wont start up” actually can translate into 2 problems, It starts up and wont access the OS, or alternatively for your greater benefit and delight Wont Start up means it wont switch on via the power button, get your head out of your butt when posting replies. IT propellorheads like you that post replies of no real assistance to others need to change careers
hi im really concerned about mt computer not being able to advance past the Vista loading screen. I never get to the login page, all i get is a black background. i have tried system repair and system restore, but none of my restore points work. there is nothing wrong with my device manager aside from a 6 to 4 adapter yellow triangle. system repair says it cannot repair due to some unidentified problem. im freaking out. any advice would help. thanks.
I am running Windows Vista Home Premium Edition and recently when I restart my computer,I get an error message that reads:”ox8oo106ba failed to start because of a problem,restart your computer or try to start this program manually” or something to that effect what is this and how do I correct this?
my computer won’t start damn i need it to start plaese halp
The problem is you are trying to use an insecure infrastructure, closed source corporate where the code cat be audited.
Microsoft by definition will always be riddled with bugs, flaws and security holes. It’s only merit comes from that game manufacturers make games for windows. Aside from that, it represents the last choice that anyone should make for an operating system.
Armies of bot-nets plague the world, and virus is a term associated with computing soley because of windows.
Obviously, you don’t know your ass from a hole in the ground. Computer viruses have been around way before windows and their is no OS that isn’t susceptible to a computer virus. Yes, it is true that Windows has made it easier. Then again if it weren’t for GUI Operating Systems, you probably wouldn’t even know how to use a computer.
I shut the computer down last night and today it refuses to start. I installed nothing new yesterday. I don’t have a Vista OS CD because I bought the computer with Vista installed already. Is there something that I can do to fix this problem without having to buy a Vista OS CD
i made a custom computer it worked like a champ for 2 days and now it will turn on and my monitor stays black. i didnt install anythin i went out to eat and when i came back the screen was black. the monitor is on, plugged in, i have reconnected all wires and hardware and yet my problem persists. the processor light doesnt flash but stays red. im lost. i dont want to take it back apart but if its necessary i will. i want another oppinion b4 i do. its running vista.
I’m having the same problem with my os system not loading. Did the Startup Repair. When it completed got a message that the problem couldn’t be fixed automatically…. i need help…plz
i have hp laptop ,befoe 2 days i updated my windows vista to sp1 from microsoft website ,and when it finished installation it asked me to restart the computer and i clicked on OK. then the windows failed to startup again , i tried with startup repair but it says it can’t repair the problem. i suspected a damaged hard disk and i took it out and i ran it on another laptop and i recovered all files that i wanted easily( hard disk is working just fine) .
then i fixed the hard disk again to my laptop and same problem was there. even i tried to do a fresh installation of vista from the installation CD. it fulfil the job but when it restarts same problem comes again ( it won’t startup ) please help.
i have a laptop which os is Vista.After one week it may restart 3 or times daily.I have repair the vista form vista DVD.But problem is same.So what is the solution pl answare me.
okay hold F8 during startup and reformat your computer, but all files will be lost
my computer does the same thing and i have th cd’s with me thing is idk hw to open it… if my computer wont start
I need help. And fast.
I have a report due tomorrow and for some strange reason my vista’s start up isn’t right. It won’t load the log in screen and it just shows the cursor witha black screen. Happens every time I try to use it now. Pls help. Someone pls help.
I’m writing in my iPod Touch now because my HP won’t start up. I click the new Updates and it installed the updates but when I try to start windows, it says it has some wired problems and it’s recomment to fix it but Ive been waiting for ages and I want to see my game. Please help, mail me in Jacob_726@hotmail.com, please tell me how to fix it without losing my files, thank you.
Booted up computer and all I get is a black screen with a box at the bottom with bars running across screen. What is my computer doing? I let it runn like this all night.
I have a laptop with Windows Vista Home premium and last night I shut it down normally. Next morning I tried to turn it on and everything went fine untill I entered my password. When I did it said the user profile service failed the login, users profile cannot be loaded. If anyone has a solution I would be glad to hear from you. Mail me at kondy@juno.com.
I’ve successfully repaired this but it wouldn’t post my message hmmm
hi all – ive had the same issue – although i get an extra symptom that some of you may not be realising if youre not getting the hard drive out. each time vista shuts my pc down to install an update it fails to restart and gets stuck on the progress bar. the machine goes really slowly, and the hard drive just clicks to itself, normally the sign of a stuffed drive. ive found that if i attach the drive as a slave on another pc, i can chkdsk /f it and, while it doesnt find any errors, the clicking stops and i can then replace it in the original pc – problem solved. i know there are lots of repair options being given, but this works for me… weird!
Thank you so much for your advice! Dell couldn’t even figure it out and I followed your steps and I’m up and running! Thanks!!!
I have a laptop with Windows xp and last night I shut it down normally. Next I tried to turn it on and everything went fine untill I entered my password. When I did it said the user profile service expaire .
and failed the login, . If anyone has a solution I would be glad to hear from you
1. Restart the computer from the Windows Vista DVD (the computer must be configured to start from CD/DVD), and start setup.
when i put the windows vista cd in it doesnt load up , it goes straight to the startup repair page, how do i configure my cpu to start from CD/DVD?
I think i have a virus. it started with multipule display screens on screen(8 all up) and when i tried the recovery disk it says no faults can be found. Now it loads up with the same screen problem and when it gets to were i log in the screens it goes blank and i cant see anything. I can hear the windows sounds so it is getting to the log in page but i cant see it.
HEEEEEEEELP.
I am having the same problem as Felipe Dos Santos and from Mike from the July comment. How can this be fixed? It seems like it wont read the CD drive when I put in the cd to try to get it to start up. Please help
I feel sorry for all you people run M$ Windows. All of my computers run Linux Mint and there is never a problem. When M$ software has to be used, I’ll open up VirtualBox in Linux Mint and start a virtual M$ Windows session. At least that way when Windows takes a crap (and it will!!!), I haven’t lost any data or the ability to continue working.
Have a nice day!
i also has a same problem,i accidentaly reformat my recovery image! how am i gonna have it back?so i can backup my file
I had the same problem with Vista and the Black Screen.
I tried everything, and when my computer wouldn’t even start in safe mode, I was about to reinstall Vista and lose everything, but I tried the following:
I took out and re-insterted the CMOS Battery and I re-seated my hard drive, and then performed a repair using the Windows OS Disk>
This worked and everything is functioning normally again.
This did seem to happen after a Windows Update, so I am leary of those from now on.
Well, your solution wouldn’t have fixed anything related to Windows Update. It was probably a flakey disk leading to corrupted files, and the system repair overwrote the corrupted system files. So, keep applying those updates–don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!
ahh, i think i’ve lost everything. and it wont work.. stops at crcdisk.sys when trying to start up in safe mode.
i can’t get into my computer the windows start but after says downloading go on black and stop downloading and just dont start i don’t have the dvd disk how can i do a recovery wipeoff and save some files maybe i have some viruses or something can you help .
And i have another problem whit my other laptop i cant get into my password i forgot it i try to go by safemode but at the end still ask for password can u help
Shut laptop down last night & when I tried to start it up today it won’t. It will get as far as the green bars with Microsoft corporation then goes to the page with the repair option on it but when I try that I get a message saying “The installed program cannot start. Click ok to turn off the computer” I have tried to start it in safe mode but the page with the repair option comes back up & it’s the same when I try the last known good configuration (advanced) option! Any advice would be a great help cos I will be lost without my laptop.
Hi, Pam. Try starting from the Windows Vista or Windows 7 DVD. Pretend like you’re going to re-install Windows, but click the link to repair your computer.
If that doesn’t work and you are able to open the Windows Recovery Environment, click the option to open a command prompt. At the prompt, run ‘chkdsk C: -f -r’. This will attempt to solve any disk problems, and I’m guessing you have a few.
If all that fails, try to re-install Windows over your current installation. If it works, you should be able to get access to your files, but you will need to re-install any applications.
my pc modle #mother board @#ms-6577 4.1 wont start but long beep when doing such ? how do i fix? i added more ram another dvd and a video card to it for spy cam base in home. it worked before it when being moved home it made contsct with the back of truck box and gared the ram out of place,i removed the extra ram and other devices and place the one old ram back. so on start-up it makes a beep and nothing more no monitor start up to try to reconfig the over all settings so it will work please inform me as such to deal with such a problem
Hi, Jeff. Check this:
http://www.vistaclues.com/computer-beeps-and-wont-start/
Honestly, though, it sounds like you should swap the motherboard out.
Hey, all. If you’re having a problem before Windows starts, I just wrote an article about troubleshooting hardware startup problems here: http://www.vistaclues.com/computer-beeps-and-wont-start/
Good luck!
I have a gateway computer and i use apassword each and every time i turn it on so that nobody can get on it. But for some strange reason my password has either been changed or someone has been messing with my computer behind my back. It is a good computer and ive never had any trouble with it. Now the only thing that shows up on the screen is GATEWAY and ENTER PASSWORD no matter how many times i enter my password after ther 3rd time it say system disabled and i have to start all over again. What can i do? I miss my computer. That’s my pet.
I posted some suggestions here: http://www.vistaclues.com/reseting-a-gateway-computer-password/
Worst case, you can replace the motherboard and CPU (or just move the hard disk into a new computer). New computers are fairly cheap nowadays, and sometimes it’s easier to replace them than to fix them.
Your problem is an easy fix. There is a jumper on your motherboard that will reset your CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semi-conductor) to it’s original factory settings, thereby, clearing your boot password. Just unplug your computer, then wait about 15-20 minutes to allow the power to drain from the parts. Then switch the jumper on the motherboard (should say on the board “CMOS RESET” or something to that effect)(usually there is between 2 to 3 pins), start the computer, let it run about 30 secs to 1 minute, then shut it off. Let the power drain back out and finally, switch the jumper back, then your good to go.
That works with some older computers (as I discussed in the article), but many newer computers take the security a bit more seriously.
Thank you!! I was really freaking out about my computer. I just followed the instructions and now my computer is doing much better. :)
What really makes my blood boil, is advice like this: “…Restart the computer from the Windows Vista DVD…”
When those people finally realize, that 90% of computers are NOT SUPPLIED WITH THE DISK. They have some kind of program to burn recovery disks, that will install Windows back to factory default, but this option such as “Repair” or booting to and selecting “Repair your computer” or “repair the Boot Record” or “BOOTMGR “ DOESN’T EXISTS !!!
it wont repair :(