HP Pavilion dv6-1050us won't boot to vista
I have an HP Pavilion dv6-1050us running Windows Vista SP1. It won't boot to windows regardless of what option I choose (repair, safe mode, last known good, etc).
It does not provide an error is just boots to a mouse pointer with a blue background and sits there forever.
I've run all the hardware checks from the HP startup screen and they say everything is fine (memory, hard drive)
I've run the lasted version of the KAV Anti-Virus rescue disk and there are no viruses, the only odd thing I see is when you boot the rescue cd is asks if I want to use:
Microsoft Window
or
Microsoft Windoa
I'm trying to avoid reinstalling the OS so I'm seeing if anyone has any ideas. Thanks in advance for the replies.
It does not provide an error is just boots to a mouse pointer with a blue background and sits there forever.
I've run all the hardware checks from the HP startup screen and they say everything is fine (memory, hard drive)
I've run the lasted version of the KAV Anti-Virus rescue disk and there are no viruses, the only odd thing I see is when you boot the rescue cd is asks if I want to use:
Microsoft Window
or
Microsoft Windoa
I'm trying to avoid reinstalling the OS so I'm seeing if anyone has any ideas. Thanks in advance for the replies.
ASKER
I don't have any DVDs - it has a recovery partition on the HP hard drive but it does not have a repair option.
ASKER
I found a Vista DVD (not the one that came with the HP) and tried booting to that DVD, and even that DVD will just stop after it gets through with "Windows is loading files" - it loads a blue background and mouse pointer and just stops working.
maybe this is your problem http://www.logicitc.com/blog/?p=102
here a vista repair disc : http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/
btw - that cd is illegal, and cannot be used on EE
here a vista repair disc : http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/
btw - that cd is illegal, and cannot be used on EE
ASKER
I ran the BIOS hard drive scan over the weekend and it said in the middle of the test "Replace Hard Disk 1", I pasted a photo below. I assume that means the drive is bad, although later it said it passed.
2011-03-21-09-08-26-804.jpg
2011-03-21-09-08-26-804.jpg
ASKER
agreed - it looks like they moved it
this contains a couple of suggestions : http://www.nuonsoft.com/blog/2009/05/02/possible-ksod-black-screen-of-death-solution-for-windows-vista/
did you try the repair ?
regarding the "replace disk" - i suggest to download ubcd and run the disk diag to know it's status
you can also try hdd regenerator - to see if it repair the disk (it repaired already several for me)
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
http://www.dposoft.net/
this contains a couple of suggestions : http://www.nuonsoft.com/blog/2009/05/02/possible-ksod-black-screen-of-death-solution-for-windows-vista/
did you try the repair ?
regarding the "replace disk" - i suggest to download ubcd and run the disk diag to know it's status
you can also try hdd regenerator - to see if it repair the disk (it repaired already several for me)
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
http://www.dposoft.net/
ASKER
I'm running spinrite on the drive now, so far the very first sector is marked as unrecoverable. I'm guessing that will prevent me from recovering anything off the drive.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
Spinrite did nothing, but I used the HDDRegenerator and was able to at least get my files off the drive. Thanks.
tx for the feedback - it agrees with my experience; good to see it confirmed
You can boot system from Windows Vista DVD, choose repair, and select Fix Startup Problems.
Marko