Vista Won't Start. Freezes at Startup Bar Screen. Won't start in repair, safe mode, nor last good configuration.

Hi,

If your installation allows you to boot to the Recovery Environment, you should run the following from the command line:

chkdsk c: /r

You likely have a damaged installation, the above may fix it or you may be forced to reinstall using the Dell recovery software. If the latter, I would recommend first pulling the hard drive and slaving it in a working machine to recover data from first as some recovery methods do a simple wipe and reload resulting in the loss of all data currently on the drive.

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Best of Luck, Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP http://mvp.support.microsoft.com Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

Thanks very much for your suggestion. 

I have been using the desktop for more than a year and half and this is the first time such issue surfaced.

If it is a damaged installation as you said, wouldn't it have happened earlier?

By pulling the hard drive, do you mean to open the machine, physically take it out, and attach it to another computer?

That sounds like really involved. I don't think I have enough technical knowledge to complete such a risky procedure.

But I appreciate it.

Hi,

I would suggest that you run startup repair on the computer using the Vista DVD and check if it works.
If you have a Windows Vista installation disc, you need to restart (boot) your computer using the installation disc. If you do not restart your computer from the disc, the option to repair your computer will not appear.

1. Insert the installation disc.
2. Restart your computer.
Click the  Start button, click the arrow next to the Lock button, and then click Restart.
3. If prompted,  press any key to start Windows from the installation disc.
Note If your computer is not configured to start from a CD or DVD, check the information that came with your computer. You may need to change your computer's BIOS settings. For more information, see BIOS: frequently asked questions.
4. Choose your  language settings, and then click  Next.
5. Click  Repair your computer.
6. Select the operating system you want to repair, and then click Next.
7. On the  System Recovery Options menu, click on  Startup Repair.


 Refer the below link for more information.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/How-do-I-fix-a-boot-startup-problem

Diana

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

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I genuienly wish I could use your advice to reboot the the computer using an installation disc or execute a startup repair.

BUT the thing is every time the computar restarts, it literally freezes at the booting bar REGARDLESS of whether the installation disc is in the optical drive or not. The windows logo does not even appear, needless to say you cannot access to the welcome screen, where it asks for password, or the desktop.Even without the disc in place I CAN see a Repair Option and startup repair by pressing F8. However, no matter how many times I choose it, it STILL freezes at the booting bar and would not go pass it.

Is my computer seriously damaged? because this happened so suddenly when I restarted the computer after I forced a shutdown because the computer suddenly froze while I was surfing a legitmate webpage.

I don't think it is a virus issue because I have a working Norton Security Suit which always give a warning when it detected a suspicious element.

Thanks for your reply though.

I'm still looking for a solution. If anybody has had a similar issue and has it resolved, please help me.

 

Hi,

Damaged installations resulting from file corruption can happen any time. Most times the system can get past this by replacing damaged files, but sometimes it affects the system's ability to load. As you've already tried the repair options, your next logical step it to try running the system file check (sfc) that I mentioned.

If you don't have the means to remove the drive to recover data, I would suggest employing the services of a local technician for assistance in preserving data.

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Best of Luck, Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP http://mvp.support.microsoft.com Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

Hi,

Thanks for you patience.

How do you run the system file check? and How do you "replace damaged files"?

Do you mean running the command line chkdsk c: /r in an recovery enviroment that you have suggested earlier? But how to go to the recovery environment? Do you mean Safemode with Command Prompt? If so I cannot gain access to that as I have tried repeatedly.

If you could explain to me, I would be extremely grateful.

Well dont know if this helps, i dont know much about computer either , but just went through about the same thing two weeks ago, took me all day to get it stright. luckly i had a old windows xp computer, and went on line to windows to find info as i went, on my dell insprion 531s  i had to keep pushng f2 while i rebooted it, to get to set up file, then i had to change  the order that my disk boot up,  from my sata hard drive(or what ever name yours may have) to boot from my cd or dvd drive,(you will see the info on the setup file on how to change and save and exit.  closed out of setup and inserted my reinstalition disk from dell and it booted to the file and start up stuff to reinstall or repair etc, .p/s i did the repair on mine, and may have done it wrong, but did not fix it 100%, but did allow me to start normal,with problems, so i went ahead and reinstalled windows vista, and it left everything in a file named old windows, i am now going into that file on my hard drive and retriving stuff , and also scanning it before i put back to new windows file. also one more short note if you do the reinstall, on my disk it did not install all the drivers,(i did not have a drivers disk) so i had to go to dell and read how to download the drivers in a certian order, and downloaded them to a flash drive, then to my computer, its sounds bad but it not, just takes time and retry, but i learned a lot  also when you are through, you may have to go back to f2 and change the order of bootup disk back to your hard drive. bilwil

I have this exact same problem on the same Dell machine as you do.  Boot passes POST but then sticks at the boot bar which usually has green progress strips on it, and does nothing. Does not recognize HDD and stays stuck even when specifying the DVD drive when I tried to used the reinstallation disc.   I have now spent 2 days searching for a solution and was optimistic when I read your post but sad that no remedy has been found.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1545, which a couple of weeks ago I was copying some pictures off a camera card via a card reader hub and the power fluctuated in the apartment.  The lights flickered and dimmed three times in about 10 secs.  I should also mention that my battery has been kaput for a few months now, it doesn’t hold a charge and I had the wall plug in.  The next day the laptop kept freezing up a few minutes after opening Internet Explorer.  After some cold reboots (it wouldn’t let me open Start menu and use restart or shutdown) it would just freeze on the desktop.

I started it in smart mode, it ran checkdisk, still no better.  I had the recovery disks that I made after buying it and was able to restore it to starting conditions, but still it would hang up.  I took it to Office Depot for a diagnostic (a requirement for my renter’s insurance policy) and  their test said there wasn’t any hardware issues, just some performance issues—which they could fix for $169.99 (with a nonrefundable $49.99 diagnostic fee if they weren’t able to make it work).  My deductible was higher than that and I only paid $429 for the laptop to begin with so I figured I’d try to do it myself.

Initial google searches suggested it might be corrupted OS files and a checkdisk would  fix it.  I tried running checkdisk from F8 startup menu but it kept hanging up at 13% of stage 4.  After numerous attempts, restarts, the checkdisk finally completed, it reparsed and debugged and I thought all was well…it wasn’t.  It would still hang up.

I started Windows off my recovery disk, had it do a repair.  After it booted up I got a series of “Windows Explorer stopped working” error messages and an option to install Windows updates, which I did, all 95 of them (I’m assuming everything that would have been updated since the factory settings?).  I thought I was home free, I used Internet explorer, defragged hard drive, closed and opened things.  It seemed like everything was fine, so I tried to reinstall my Kaspersky, which was going fine right up until the last sliver of the installation bar and then it froze.  After another cold boot, it wouldn’t load up.  I can’t boot up normally, safe mode, from disk, nothing. 

I was able to run some diagnostics from BIOS and got the 2000-0142 status 78 hard disk error, which google searches said it was a sign the HD is going or already gone.  Also got 0F00:065D SATA disk self test fail, and 4400:011A disk generic multi target not ready.

I have tried booting from my recovery disk, it loads files to Windows, but then the Microsoft “flash screen”the horizontal bar of scrolling green bars comes up and my machine never gets past that.

So my question is : Is  this just a hardware issue?  Will a new HD fix it, or is there a problem with my windows?  My important files were backed up, so losing the old drive is not a big deal.  However, I don’t know if my recovery disks have everything I need to reload Windows since my machine didn’t come with a Vista CD.

I’m at my wits end and would appreciate any help.  Thank you.

Take out the battery and use power adapter only