Windows Vista [Windows Vista only prompting for "Startup Repair" at boot]

I have a 5 year old Acer desktop. I turned it on and all that came up was a black screen with white writing telling me to click on start up repair or start windows normally. I tried both ways. Start up repair can't be done. It tells me software is corrupted. Start normally doesn't work. All it does is bring up the same black screen with white writing. I can't right click on it. I get nothing. I am stuck on this same screen no matter what. I don't know what to do next. Is there a safe mode in starting up? I need help. The last time I used the computer all worked fine. It was that morning. Later in the evening I restarted it, that is when I got the black screen, etc.

 

If you don't have the User Guide, find it at the Acer website and download it. Look for any suggested tests or checks in your circumstance and if you cannot find a solution, will you need to install Windows again and lose all your current data? Did you have a backup system?

If you are stuck, you could take the hard disk drive out and connect it into another Vista computer and get your data backed up. There, you could run Error Checking (CHKDSK) on the HDD. When you have a backup, you could try any repairs that might result in having to reformat/re-image the Windows drive, if things go wrong.

I don't hesitate very long now before backing up the data and doing a reformat. If the system has been running for 5 years you have done well maintaining it, but it could be well due for a Spring-clean.

A Microsoft version of Vista could offer to "repair the current version of Windows ". The Acer version probably only lets you reinstall their backup (if you have one) or do a destructive re-installation.

As I said, check what options you might have by reading in the User Guide.

Matt