Vista won't boot

[sonyag]

Well, I guess I did something wrong, since there are no responses! If I simply deserve what I get, then could someone just say so?
Trying again here:
I did read the how to get help section and several other threads on this topic, but none that really seem to apply to my problem.
I disconnected peripherals and their cables except for the printer and tried Startup Repair again. Here is the problem details:
Problem Signature

Problem Event Name Startup RepairV2
Problem Signature 01 ExternalMedia
Problem Signature 02 6.0.6000.16386.0.0.0.0
Problem Signature 03 0
Problem Signature 04 65537
Problem Signature 05 unknown
Problem Signature 06 NoHardDrive
Problem Signature 07 0
Problem Signature 08 o
Problem Signature 09 unknown
Problem Signature 10 1168
OS Version 6.6.6000.2.0.0.2561
Locale ID 1033



I am an ambitious beginner-I know just enough to be dangerous.
I am running Vista Home Premium 32 bit on an Emachine. Several days it began to run very slowly, so I started deleting old photo etc, because I thought it there was a space problem. Over the course of 2 days it slowed down dramatically and now it will not boot.
Please don't shoot me-I know I was stupid. I never created Recovery Disks because I did not read the manual properly enough to know those were just blank disks. This is the 1st machine I have purchased that didn't have them.

So I have read over several really good tutorials on the forum(yes, I am sucking up)
I managed to use the installation CD to get to the recovery options screen. The repair tool will not work because it says a hard disk cannot be found or is not responding.

I tried System Recovery, but there are no restore points. I tried the Command Prompt and typing in "restrui.exe/OFFLINE:C"\Windows" as it suggested, but nothing happened.

Please help. Stupid, stupid, I haven't backed up my files in awhile and there are some precious photos and files I want to save. We were actually going to network an extra PC tonight and move some of my stuff. We are still wired, so my husband has to pull the cable over there.
TIA
Sonya

 

[VaguelyRapt]

We all make mistakes, and usually no responses means most people are a little intimidated by the problem to begin troubleshooting it. I'll give it a shot (with a little help from Google).

It seems to me that there's an issue with your hard drive (it's not being detected). First thing I would do is make sure the hard drive is physically connected (i.e. open the computer and plug in the cables tight). Do you know who is the manufacturer of your hard drive? You want to try a diagnostic boot CD for your hard drive, which should help you determine if it's a hard drive issue and help you fix it if it is.

Though I don't expect it to work, I would also run bootrec /fixmbr and CHKDSK /f from the command prompt just to make sure it's not a File System integrity issue.

 

[sonyag]

ok thanks for the response! I was beginning to get paranoid.
I think the manufacturer is Bestec. When I opened the box, all the cables look good and tight, but the drive is mounted inside a metal box. when I turned it upside down, that is the name I saw.

I am getting ready to download the Ultimate Diagnostic boot CD now and give it a shot.

I have also googled and googled-this site came up several times as well as a few others, but I don't want to try something crazy and really screw it up!
Hopefully some others will throw their 2 cents in-seems like some problems more complicated than mine have been solved pretty handily here.

Thanks!
Sonya

 

[SIW2]

Hi sonyag,

I suggest you download GParted (free) - it is an .iso file.

Download GParted from SourceForge.net


GParted -- Download

Burn it to a cd using an isoburner - do not format the cd, if Autoplay pops up , just close it.

View attachment isoburn.exe.zip



Boot the Gparted cd you just made ( it stops a few times asking about defaults, langiuage, keyboard - just press enter - the defaults are fine.)

See if that recognizes the HD. It might tell you it is a Raw drive.

That is awkward, but not insurmountable. Do you recall how many partitions you originally had, and how big they were?

 

[sonyag]

Thanks for your suggestion! I loaded the CD and it went through several screens like you said and finally came up with a floating message about frequency range. Then it just went black and nothing else has happened.
I am going to try it again.

As for partitions-I am not sure, whatever the machine came with. I haven't done much customization or anything.
Will update in a few minutes
Thanks again
Sonya

 

[sonyag]

Ok, once again it came up with a message of frequency out of range.
What does that mean or how and where do I find the meaning?

 

[sonyag]

ok, went to the gparted forum, I am in the editor now and it says no devices detected!
Any other suggestions?
Sonya

 

[SIW2]

Hi, It does sound like there is something wrong with the drive.

You could try booting the Vista repair cd to the command prompt and see if Diskpart can see the drive.

type : [press enter after each command]

X:\sources>diskpart {enter}

Microsoft DiskPart version
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer:

DISKPART> lis disk {enter}

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 149 GB 0 B

DISKPART>

to exit, type

EXI {enter}

 

[sonyag]

ok, I typed in those commands and after lis disk, it showed this:

There are no fixed disks to show.

Does that mean it is seriously fried??

Sonya

 

[SIW2]

Quite possibly - you would normally have got warning messages fronm Vista if it detected an HD problem.

Could be the connectors - more likely to be the controller board.

If you are desperate to recover the data - try this before splashing out thousands on data recovery firm ( they usually try this first )

Hard Drive Recovery from a Full Stop

or adapt this:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Retrieve-data-from-a-dead-computer/

 

[sonyag]

Just as a side note, the only message I really got from Windows was that it was shutting down or stopped from booting in order to prevent damage to the computer.

I will update on this Saturday-I am going to have to track down a drive similar to mine and this will all take some doing.

I really do want to recover my data. Tons of photos-family, deceased pets, project photos, 3 websites. Should have taken better care of it. This PC was never really meant for me to use in this capacity. I should have stayed with my custom built machine. I have been lucky for so long-looks like it may have finally run out!

Thanks for all your help. Will keep you posted.
Sonya

 

[SIW2]

I hope you can get it back - let us know how you get on.

 

[sonyag]

Update on Data Recovery

Well, I have good news and bad news.
The bad news is that the drive is no longer accessible and I don't think I have many options left. However, I will back up and tell what I did so that others can learn.

I removed the hard drive, went my local computer store and got a kit-Sata/Ide to USB 2.0 Adapter. This allowed me to hook up my ailing HDD to another computer. It took a few tries, but it finally showed up as a drive. A second try and it finally loaded most of my files. At this point, I tried burning them to a CD only to find that the CD burner in this machine had a problem.(I tried multiple CDs and they worked fine in another machine)
So, I thought I would network this machine and try to access the sick drive that way and move the files. I ended up having to reboot. At this point the sick drive gave an error message of I/O Device Error which I later learned meant the drive was almost dead. Keep in mind it is still humming and I have yet to hear any clicking or bad noises.

I was going to try and download Knoppix, but that proved to be a real trial for a novice.

The good news! I did drag and drop a bunch of files to the CD drive for burning. Along the course of events I deleted those temp files because I thought they were slowing the machine down. I just realized today that they were still in the recycle bin and that perhaps I could restore them. Well, it worked! I still managed to recover about 80 of that I really wanted. However, when I tried to restore My Pictures, it seems to be lost in space and I can't seem to find it.

Meanwhile, this is my advice for others:
I think the kit is the best thing for a novice. It is immediate if you can get the drive to show up. That being said, be prepared to grab your data while you can. This was a spare machine that I hadn't used in awhile. This would be my checklist:

You should check and recheck the CD burner to make sure if works.
I would also network that machine first if at all possible.
Have some zip drives readily available-as many or as large as you can find or afford.

With all of those resources, you should be able to get all of your files quickly and hopefully before you may have to reboot and they not show again. If I had it to do over again, I would have loaded up the shared file on my husband's laptop first since it has very little on it. Then I could have moved data to yet another machine we have networked and used the host machine last since it is already pulling a lot of weight.

In conclusion, I have spent almost 3 days with this. I will probably take it to the local computer store-a real one that builds, repairs etc. and see if they can access the drive to get the rest. Money is really tight for us right now and if it is really expensive, it will simply have to wait.

A note about bookmarks- I have a TON of bookmarks and because I used to move around on different machines, I use Foxmarks so whenever I log on to a computer with it installed it automaticaly updates the bookmarks on that machine, so I have all of them intact.

I know this is wordy, but I hope to spare someone this pain! That being said, we are investing in 2 more hard drives, a huge one to install in this machine I am using now because it has XP which I prefer over Vista which was on the one that failed. That one will get a smaller drive and will be a spare machine. I have been very lucky-I have owned 7 or 8 machines and this is the first hard drive I have killed.
Sonya

 

[SIW2]

Hi Sonya,

Thanks for the update. Glad you got some of your data off.

Did you consider freezing your HD to see if you could get it working ( for a short while) to copy off more data ?

Freeze your hard drive to recover data: Myth or reality? - [Geeks are Sexy] technology news

 

[sonyag]

I tell you what, I have read some stuff about that and it seems to have some validity. I think I will give it a shot. A this point I think I have little to lose.

Will let you know!
Sonya