Vista wont boot

John mac

have a laptop from a neighbour that will not boot.

aspire celeron 530 1 gig ram.VISTA HOME. etc...

have got to the stage where I can get into the safe mode screen options,

no matter what iI choose it will restart and go to the update screen

configuring updates stage 3 of 3 0% do not turn off

.
then it restarts.

I let it go for at least 10 cycles, but its still going.!!!!!!

any pointers as to what to do . (bar reinstalling.)
there are no restore pionts either.

Overheal

Excellent: Get cookies. Or Pie. Wait, can they bake?

Not a whole lot you can do without Restore Points. Assuming you have to install I'd have a Linux CD handy and an external drive to back up important things.

Why are there no Restore Points actually?

John mac

computer no nothings. ....



i thought i may be able to reinstall vista but it will only let me do a full install.

they didnt even have the discs that came wilt the machine.!!

i used a vista disc from the wifes dell (thats ok isnt it? i have the vista key from the neighbours lappy) to try and repair it,

booted ubuntu earlier but couldnt get the c drive to mount, must try again,

EDIT: tried again and have access to all the info .

now to find a usb drive.

Overheal

Progress then!

Now about those pie-cookies...


Dell disc should be fine. Use their license number and it *should* work. You dont have a lot to lose in trying it. The only difference is who's bloatware you have installed.

John mac

yea
. any way will give it a try in the morning, just remembered i can copy all the stuff to my nas. so wont need a usb drive. (just take longer)

thanks. J.

Kristopherus

I got a recovery disc with XP Pro on a Dell disc. Installed fine, but cannot activate it online. You may have the same problem. I'm downloading Linux mint 9 as I post, to see how it goes vs XP.

Overheal

Kristopherus wrote: »

I got a recovery disc with XP Pro on a Dell disc. Installed fine, but cannot activate it online. You may have the same problem. I'm downloading Linux mint 9 as I post, to see how it goes vs XP.

Have you tried activating it by phone? I believe I've had to do that before and its not that painful or memorable*.

*memorable things are painful, like trying to get my laptops graphics card repaired under warranty? That was painful. This was not.

Capt'n Midnight

At a guess it could be as simple as XP not having a driver for the network card, so it simply can't see the internet. You may be able to download the driver using another machine and install it on the second one while it's in safe mode (if it refuses to let you in in normal mode)

registering in Ireland can be done with a freephone number / Dublin number

If you were in sub Saharan Africa it would be a long distance call to South Africa :mad:

John mac

John mac wrote: »

yea
. any way will give it a try in the morning, just remembered i can copy all the stuff to my nas. so wont need a usb drive. (just take longer)

thanks. J.

update time.

For anyone who has this problem here is the fix.

Acer aspire 5315 has a hidden 10GB backup of the complete system,
to activate this and reset the computer to original factory state,

press Alt and F10 when the acer splash screen is displayed..

takes ages to do but now have a fully functioning laptop again (complete with bloatware)

I think the problem was caused by switching off the laptop during an Windows update .

Capt'n Midnight

John mac wrote: »

update time.

For anyone who has this problem here is the fix.

Acer aspire 5315 has a hidden 10GB backup of the complete system,
to activate this and reset the computer to original factory state,

press Alt and F10 when the acer splash screen is displayed..

takes ages to do but now have a fully functioning laptop again (complete with bloatware)

I think the problem was caused by switching off the laptop during an Windows update .

factory restore means you can loose all your data and settings

only to be done if you have a backup or have nothing you mind loosing

John mac

I had decided to reinstall vista but didnt have any disc (with the computer)

so the hidden partition is very helpful. no discs came with the computer at all.

after reinstalling took 178 updates.!!!!!! hours and hours.. now up to date and working fine.

JonathanAnon

Fix: Infinite “Configuring Updates 3 of 3. 0% complete.”

Mods, only spotted this thread now... I've seen this issue LOADS of times, on here and in work.. It can be fixed by deleting the pending.xml file in the Windows\winsxs folder (as in the document above).. might be worth having a sticky for it, or a SOP that can just be copied in to the thread...

John mac

thanks for that, just downloaded file for future ref..