Vista repair help please.
 

I seem to have wandered innocently into helping friends 'fix' machines. :ugh:XP I am happy with. One of Mrs B's friends tried to install Vista SP2 on an HP G6000 lappie. ......wait for it................

It 'took for ever' and as midnight was approaching and it had not finished and the lappie was getting 'warm' .....wait for it............... she 'switched it off'

OK - don't say it. Anyway, it now appears to be (unsurprisingly) complaining and still stuck in some sort of install loop. Apparently (via telephone) the 'automatic' repair starts and then restores to the ?ONLY? restore point, the same date as the (automatic) Windows update to SP2 (yes, I know....). This is not successful. Hubby (very ill with nasty chemotherapy and not able to do much) says it 'will not go into 'Safe' mode.

She is bringing it to me (some sort of blind faith I guess) tomorrow (Sat). I have downloaded 2 Vista repair Iso's (X32 and 64) today and will launch bravely into a recce tomorrow. In the meantime, any hints (apart from Install XP, buy a Mac, emigrate etc:))?

Start again. So much less pain.

Sp - not sure what you mean? Do you mean re-install SP2? Re-install Vista?

No Disc (files on hard drive partition)
Machine apparently will not even 'run'

She tried to install it from files over the existing os that was running at the time?

'Automatic' Windows Update I gather.

Fatal. Providing she (or you) have a Vista disc, the recovery mode should sort it out....................................hopefully

Yessir. Disk required from here. That or a stiff word with MS Even though she switched it off, I would still have a go at them, might just work...

Lots of turn on/turn off
 

One of my daughters' has a laptop with a dead battery. Thus it needs to be plugged in for it to work. It was in the middle of the SP2 install process - no idea where in the install, when someone unplugged it. (Probably the wife, who hates to see elec. wasted).
Anyway, same symptoms as your friends.

I thought that I'd need a techie, but it sorted itself out over about 24 hours. I have no idea why. All I did was turn the power off each time when it ceased doing anything. The time it took to cease doing anything at all seemed to vary. I probably turned it off/on about 5 or six times. (The standard help desk response is always turn it on/off a couple of times). (10+ sec.s on power button method of turnoff). Eventually, it took itself to the screen where it says words to the effect "Installing, stage 1, do not turn off". It still took bloody hours to install. I turned it off/on again a couple of times, de-fragged - more hours - and now it appears to be OK.

I can usually fix these, but it'd take much longer than i'm prepared to type to explain what to do. :}

PD thanks

GG see post #3

Interesting on the power (thaks AO) - I saw a Google about removing both battery and power for 15-30 mins as a cure.

Well! After a lot of struggling and finding that removing the battery for 15 minutes WAS helping, I got into SAFE and copied over the user's docs and pst. Then got 'startup repair' to run but it finally declared it could not fix it.

Still getting a blank screen on 'normal' boot. Working on it.:)

The 'hidden' HP OS partition is there, but does anyone know how I run it from SAFE?

'Tis very odd - Home premium and it shows SP2 installed in SAFE? Trying to run CHKDSK at the moment.

Grandma and eggs maybe, but what's worked for me in the past is to go past the "repair" option, which speeks advanced geek, and opt for "install" a screen or two later.

It starts the install process, then identifies an existing installation and offers to repair it. That's done the job for me several times.

Works with XP, dunno about Vista.

Keef - that needs access to the CD or probably the partition on the hard in this case - neither I have.

PD - the odd thing is that SAFE is patchy - sometimes it runs, sometimes I get odd dots of light, othertimes now't. I'll keep going for a day or so but I feel it is pointing to a reinstall. At least I recovered the data! RE: Restore - see post #1

If you've got the data, and the installable apps' CDs and executables etc, the quickest and easiest thing to do would be to reinstall. No point tearing your hair out trying to fix it when you'd get a whole bunch of other tangible benefits from a fresh install. :ok:

I think you are right, MB - lady's husband says he made a set of disks from the lappie, so I guess we'll probably go that way.

I've still got the beast, waiting for a couple of disks promised, but I have some doubts about the integrity of the whole machine. There seem to be power issues (the power cycles off and on sometimes all on its own:confused:) and the HDD makes an unusual 'fluttery' noise sometimes.

I am beginning to wonder if the 'slow down' in the SP2 phase 3 update could have been caused by the power supply.

Anyway a couple of days more to see if I can repair the Vista installation (it will boot from CD) and if not back, to owner for decision time. I did manage in one of the 'good moments' to run CHKDSK which 'fixed' some 'security thingie' during its !30 minutes! and I did get off the docs and pst as I said, so all not lost.

If it's not the OS diddling with the HD because it's bored, it's probably just the drive doing a thermal recalibration. I wouldn't worry about it.







You should worry about the power issues, instead.

Yes- I felt the drive noise was the head trying to seek missing 'sectors' and I AM concerned about the power. Spoke to owner's husband who now tells me he has had some 'odd' power things himself so I am feeling there is a 'scrapyard challenge' coming up:)

I'd go with Mike-Bracknell

Wouldn't even bother trying to fix it - You have no idea what system files are there and whats been blown away during the update.

Best bet is to install Vista from scratch. Take the hard drive out, put it in another machine as a secondary disk. Youl then be able to grab all of your documents off.

I work for HP (all be it for their unix server support area) - I think we had some issues with a few laptop models regarding the batteries, there was a recall programme a little while ago. You might want to see if your laptop is one of the affected models. See - HP Notebook PC Battery Pack Replacement Program - Click the May 14 link.

Hope thats of some use.

Ampage - spot on - G6000 as per post #1 - and there it is! Will info the owner.
EDIT: Not that battery serial

PD - very much appreciate all the help you have given - and all contributors of course. I have indeed tried running sans battery but not much change.

I have a couple of 'tricks' left up my short sleeved shirt.