Windows Vista Vista Suddenly Will NOT Boot

I am in desperate need of some advice and if anyone can help me I would really be grateful.

I am running Vista 32bit Home Premium on a Dell Inspiron E1705 laptop.

I shut my computer off last night as I normally do before I went to bed. It shut down without any issues. Everything was the same as it normally is.

When I went to turn on my computer today, it goes through the Dell startup screen, then it tells me there might be a problem with some hardware or something to that effect and gives me the option to either "Launch Startup Repair" or "Start Window Normallyâ€, then windows attempts to start (has the green scrolling bar at the bottom). Either of these options take me to the same place next which is a screen that states "System Recovery Optionsâ€, and asks me to select my keyboard language. So I did and hit "next" to continue to a screen that asks me to sign into my account on the computer, and then it took me to another page that displayed a box of system recovery tools.

Being a little confused about what was happening, I selected the option for "Startup Repairâ€. When it finished I chose to restart the computer as it noted that if the problem was fixed it would start normally. It didn’t start normally and I went through the same process again when it rebooted. I have tried this option many times today, and it isn’t working.

I also have tried a few times the option for "Windows Memory Diagnostic Toolâ€. It goes trough the tests, says nothing about finding a problem, then the computer restarts to the same situation.

I have tried many different options, including starting in all the Safe Modes, starting in different screen resolutions, starting from the last known good configuration point, system repair, start windows normally, etc. It takes me back to the same screen every time.

I have tried to use the option for "System Restoreâ€, which stated that it could not find a previous restore point, when I am almost certain that I have created on in the past.

I tried the option to go to the command prompt, where I tried a few commands. The first command was "sfc /scannowâ€. The response was something to the effect of the command could not run because another repair attempt was already in progress. The second command was "Bootrec.exe /fixMBRâ€, with the response being it had completed successfully. The third command was "Bootrec.exe /fixBootâ€, again with the response being that it had completed successfully. None of this has worked, as it still takes me to the system recovery options upon turning the computer on.

I got the installation DVD out, booted from the dvd, and tried to repair it that way. It gives basically the same options as I tried before, but I went through them again anyway, and still have the same problem.

I used the F12 key to get into the boot menu, and used the "Diagnostics" option. This automatically started a "PSA+ Pre-Boot System Assessmentâ€, and everything checked out. I ran a memory test on the computer from this same option, and all the tests passed. I will be running the extended hardware test overnight tonight. It also seems like I have tried a few more options throughout the day but these are the ones I can remember for sure.

I took down some information after some of the tests I ran and will post it at the bottom hoping to shed some light on the problem I having. But right now I am lost on what to try next. It has been a while since I have backed up my information to my external hard drive, and there is a lot of stuff on this computer that would be devastating to lose.

I don’t mind the idea of a fresh install or wiping the system clean if that is what it needs, if I can get my files off the computer before that happens. Does anyone know of anyway to retrieve these files? Is it even possible?

Any help anyone can give would be much appreciated. I have looked online for answers but all the suggestions have been a dead end for me. The computer starts to come on, starts to boot, but then goes to this same screen about system recovery options every time. I can not recall anything that I would have download the last time the computer was on or anything that I have done different than normal from other times over the 2-3 years I have had this computer. It just out of the blue did this today.

Thanks!!! The results of some of the tests are below. From what I can tell, the problem may be with either of these files:
Boot Critical File C:\windows\system32\drivers\wdf01000.sys is corrupt
Boot critical file C:\wdfldr.sys is corrupt

TEST RESULTS:

I do not remember which test this was exactly, maybe the "PSA+ Pre-Boot System Assessment�

Problem Signature:
Problem Event Name: StartupRepairV2
Problem Signature 01: SystemDisk
Problem Signature 02: 6.0.6000.16386.6.0.6001.18000
Problem Signature 03: 6
Problem Signature 04: 393225
Problem Signature 05: Corrupt Volume
Problem Signature 06: NoRootCause
Problem Signature 07: 0
Problem Signature 08: 2
Problem Signature 09: WrpRepair
Problem Signature 10: 0
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

This was a result from the System Repair Test:

Startup Repair Diagnosis and Repair Log

Last Successful Boot Time: 7/9/2009 11:27:31 AM (GMT)
Number of repair attempts: 7

Session Details:
System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0
Windows Directory = C:\Windows
Autochk Run = 0
Number of Root Causes = 1

(then is lists a bunch of different tests it ran that were completed successfully….I didn’t write each test down)

Root Cause Found:
Boot Status Indicates That The OS booted successfully

Session Details:
System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0
Windows Directory = C:\Windows
Autochk Run = 0
Number of Root Causes = 2

(then is lists a bunch of different tests it ran that were completed successfully….I didn’t write each test down)

Root Cause Found:
Boot critical file C:\Windows\System32\drivers\Wdf01000.sys is corrupt

Root Cause Found:
Boot critical file C:\WDFLDR.SYS is corrupt

Session Details:
System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0
Windows Directory = C:\Windows
Autochk Run = 0
Number of Root Causes = 2

(then is lists a bunch of different tests it ran that were completed successfully….I didn’t write each test down)

Root Cause Found:
Boot critical file C:\windows\system32\drivers\wdf01000.sys is corrupt

Repair Action: File Repair
Result: Completed Successfully. Error Code = 0x0
Time Taken = 8673ms

Root Cause Found:
Boot critical file C:\wdfldr.sys is corrupt

Repair Action: File Repair
Result: Failed. Error Code = 0x2
Time Taken = 7722ms

Repair Action: System files integrity check and repair
Result: Completed Successfully. Error Code = 0x0
Time Taken = 676920ms

 

What service pack do you have?

Try slipstreaming the service pack you have, then running the Startup Repair
http://au.search.yahoo.com/search;_...K5gt.?p=slipstream++vista&fr=sfp&fr2=&iscqry=

The files are mentioned here
You cannot apply the hotfix that is described in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 935276 on a Windows Vista-based computer
so I expect the file versions are incompatible D a hotfix for a hotfix)

I'm not sure exactly what that means.

Matt
Edit: That's the first time I've read about slipstreaming Vista, ouch. You might want to consider installing Vista to a different folder, backing up the data and re-imaging. See if any suggestions here could help
http://www.windowsbbs.com/windows-vista/70194-unexpected-asset-vista.html

 

Matt, thank you for the reply. I am not quite sure what that means either!!

I will look into this tonight, but for now you are saying to ignore the slipstreaming process and look into your second suggestion?

I appreciate the help. I am running out of options. I could care less about anything but my files and data on the computer right now. Most of the software and stuff can be replaced, but many of the files cannot (or maybe they could, but were are talking about 100's of hours worth of work on some of the projects on there since my last backup....I have learned my lesson!). So saving the data is my biggest concern, then I can wipe the computer clean.

Here is an update from overnight on the situation for reference:

Overnight I ran the extended hardware test. It showed no problems. At one point it seemed to "time out ", as I think it was needing a response from me but I was not around to give it one. Since the test couldn't continue at that point, I clicked on another option to run a test for the computer not being able to boot. I left the house and came back to see that this test showed no problems.

This afternoon, when I tried to boot from the reinstallation DVD, I pressed a key to boot from it after being prompted to do so. After nothing happening for about 30-60 seconds, the screen showed a message that said "The file is possibly corrupt. The file header checksum does not match the computed checksum." I had no issues booting from the DVD last night. This just started when I sat back down to work on this today. I am praying that this is not a serious problem, but I am scared to death right now. To clarify what DVD I am using, it is the one that came with the computer from Dell saying it was already installed on my computer, and is the "Reinstallation DVD Windows Vista Home Premium 32BIT ".

 

I doubt it has anything to do with hardware. Although, since it came up with a checksum error, try going into the Bios/startup configuration and load "default" settings (it should be a main selection).

Making a slipstreamed disk appears to be rather involved and for you, it would mean finding the same version of Vista on another computer (or building a working version on yours) then making the slipstreamed disk.

Since both of those files were mentioned in that hotfix (there were no other hits in my search at MS), I expect the problem is with mismatched versions of those files. That might point to different service packs to me.

It would have been nice if you could have found (a working) restore point. Did you see a calendar of possible restore points? You should keep an eye on System Restore in future. You can make your own restore points and look through the list of those that are stored.

Make sure the DVD you are using is clean and free of marks/scratches.

Matt

 

Hey guys.
A friend just dropped off an HP laptop with this same problem.
Any successful solution?

 

Not me MDawg. Try doing websearches and certainly search at HP
www.hp.com/support
HP have good website support and they have their own forums. Try "contacting" them on their website and ask.

 

Ha !!
I had the exact problem a few months ago. Tried everything as above but no luck.But I went to my HP service center and they used a factory reset disk that they had,(a dual layer 9 GB volume !!)to correct the problem. They told that I had a curropt recovery partition (D: in my case)and it was preventing the recovery option. Also , did you ever make a recovery disk ?? Vista provides an option to create recovery disk using recovery manager option.