Cannot boot up Windows Vista after power outage - HELP!

[kingofqueens]

Hello! My apartment building suffered a complete power outage 4 days ago while I was using it. The power resumed 3 hours later, But I haven't been able to log on since.


Normally, I turn on my PC and about 30 seconds later, a window appears asking for my password. After entering it, the PC proceeds to my desktop. Now, when I turn on the PC, it leads me to a blue screen with a mouse cursor at the center (which I can move), but there's nothing at all to click on.


When I tap F8 during the boot process and choose any option from the "Advanced Boot Options" window, I still can't start my computer normally.


Here are the "Advanced Boot Options" I tried, after consulting with my slightly more PC-savvy brother:


1 Repair Your Computer - After I see my usual black screen with the words "Microsoft Corporation" appearing under green bars that scroll from left to right for about 15 seconds, a blue screen appears with the mouse cursor at the center (which I can move), but there's nothing at all to click on.


2 Safe Mode - While the PC displays several boot files from top to bottom, it pauses on "Loaded: \windows\system32\drivers\disk.sys" for about 20 seconds, then proceeds to a black screen with the words "Safe Mode" in all 4 corners and the mouse cursor at the center (which I can move), but there's nothing at all to click on.


3 Safe Mode with Networking - see 'Safe Mode' above.


4 Safe Mode with Command Prompt - see 'Safe Mode' above.


5 Last Known Good Configuration (advanced) - see 'Repair Your Computer' above.


6 Start Windows Normally - see 'Repair Your Computer' above.


7 Debugging Mode - see 'Repair Your Computer' above.


I downloaded a Linux-based recovery DVD (4.1GB iso file) at knopper.net, which allowed me to access important files, which I copied from the desktop to an external hard drive.


My brother's Windows XP PC has a recovery disk, but my Windows Vista PC didn't come with one. I saw a few paid versions, but looked for free resources due to cost and delivery time.


I cannot tell if I have the 23-bit or the 64-bit version of Windows Vista, so I downloaded both versions of an open source boot repair at sourceforge.net, which I burned to 2 DVDs. After running the boot repair program using both DVDs, the diagnostic results were uploaded online to ubuntu.com for review and technical analysis. Here are the links:


http://paste.ubuntu.com/16018001/
http://paste.ubuntu.com/16019372/
http://paste.ubuntu.com/16040380/


The last report ended with the words "Boot successfully repaired...  You can now reboot your computer." But I still encounter a blank screen (black or blue) when I try to log on to my PC.


Here's my detailed PC info, if it's useful:


Compaq Presario SR5130NX Desktop PC
serial number: [personal information removed]
product number: GC667AA
Warranty end date: October 5, 2013 (as per Compaq/HP.com)

http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/Compaq-Presario-SR5100-Desktop-PC-series/3436764


Thank you for any help you can provide.

[Jay_101]

Greetings,

Your system is 32 bit if this is your PC.

Let's start with what is working:

You have power,

You have USB (mouse and keyboard function),

You have video, and

You were able to retrieve files from the HDD.

The processor, RAM, and HDD may be okay.

Back up all important stuff while you can!

I would say you probably have a corrupted MBR and system files caused by the abrupt shutdown due to loss of power.

I would start by trying an operating system installation,  but see immediately below. If you can find a repair disc or have a friend who has Vista 32 bit media, try that first.

I would reset the BIOS to defaults before reinstalling the operating system.

You would need a Vista install or repair disc in order to attempt a repair. You cannot download Win Vista from Digital River anymore. You may be able to find a Vista 32 repair disc online. If you can, and it is reputable then try that before using the HP recovery kit. 

Restore Disks has a recovery kit for the PC I have linked to above.

Big disclaimer, there is no guarantee this will work. But you have to start somewhere.

Cheers!

[doughjohn · Accepted solution]

Hi

Since you already have KNOPPIX I would try Gparted and use it to 'clean up' the partition as it shut down in an unclean condition.

ntfs

[1]

[11]

ntfs-3g / ntfsprogs

Gparted will try.

Also I would consider the old problem with fat systems, floppy disks etc. that sometimes a copy of the sys files from a floppy to a hard drive re-enabled a bootable system.

So, if the system files were corrupted, then replace them from an install disk.  Because it goes to options, none of which work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista_startup_process

• Windows Boot Manager (Bootmgr.exe)

• Windows operating system loader (Winload.exe)

• Windows resume loader (Winresume.exe)

[kingofqueens]

Thanks for your reply, Jay_101! I went into BIOS, chose F5 to restore default settings, saved the settings and exited. I restarted the PC and tried to log on normally, but the PC didn't go beyond the blue screen. I downloaded a Win Vista 32-bit iso (2.6GB) from a website. After clicking on the "Windows Setup [EMS Enabled]" option, I was able to get to the distinctive 'green haze' screensaver I usually see, but it stalls there. I can only see a mouse cursor (which I can move), but there's nothing to click on. It doesn't prompt me for a password.

I'll try to download another Win Vista 32-bit install disk.

And thank you for your reply, doughjohn! When you say I should use GParted to 'clean up' the partition, do you mean I should shrink one of them? When I start it, I see 3 selections:

1 - Partition "/dev/sda1" - File System: ntfs - Label "COMPAQ" - Size 177.55 GiB

2 - Partition "/dev/sda3" - File System: ntfs - Label "Recovery" - Size 8.76 GiB

3 - Partition "unallocated" - File System: unallocated - Label (none) - Size 2.95 GiB

I don't know how to proceed from here.

Also, I again used the 32-bit boot repair disk I mentioned previously. Here's the diagnostic report that automatically uploaded to ubnutu.com a few minutes ago:
http://paste.ubuntu.com/16065415/

Thanks to you both for your help. I only hope I'm correctly implementing your suggestions.

[Jay_101]

Hi,

I would be very careful about downloading  Vista from unauthorized web sites.

I think you should try doughjohn's suggestion or buy the recovery kit from Restore Disks.

Cheers

[doughjohn]

Hi

Gparted; Device; Attempt Data Rescue

You could examine the flags to make it bootable if you wished.

[kingofqueens]

Thanks so much to you both for your suggestions. I had to deal with some offline matters, so I couldn't reply earlier. The PC is back to normal. I tried to install Windows 10 over Vista, which required me to remove the install disk and restart the PC, and 'restart Windows normally.' When I did, everything was fine. Perhaps it was the addition/overwriting of the basic Windows files that did it. Anyway, a million thanks and much karma to you both.