Vista cannot loadI have been using Vista e successfully fo a few t=years

[Plastic Nev]

Indeed, send a PM to both of us if needed Mike, we can always copy and paste it to a reply post on your behalf.

 

Nev.

[mtav]

Sorry. I was only looking at page 1 of the thread without realising there was a second page. Also I hadn't noticed I did not have the authority to 'Post Quick Reply' without reloading and logging in again. Here is what I have been trying to say.

 

For the last month I have been using my laptop for work. But now I have got round to trying to follow your instructions to bring my Mesh desktop back to life. On 22 October I described what was happening at that time including getting the message '"Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically" together with a status list that included "06. CorruptVolume".

 

I still get exactly the same sequence of results whether the Vista "External Recovery" CD that came with the computer is in the drive or not. The light on the drive flashes briefly when the computer is switched on.

 

I went into the BIOS CMOS Setup Utility and on the Boot page confirmed that in the Boot Device Priority list the '1st Boot Device' is "Removable". Still on the Boot page, I selected 'CD ROM Devices' of which there are two: SATA 3 and SATA 4 -- I switched the order to put SATA 4 at the top, but it made no difference.

 

i don't know if I was doing what you intended. Can you suggest what I should do next?

 

Many thanks

 

Mike

[Plastic Nev]

OK Mike, put the disk in the drive, then shut down and reboot, it should see the disk then and start the recovery procedure, unless of course there is a fault on the CD drive.

(The bios will only see the disk at boot up, not after windows has loaded)

 

Also, any chance of a screen shot of that boot order page, you may need to use a camera.

 

Nev.

[mtav]

Nev, I thought I had replied to this yesterday, but again the post seems not to have gone.

 

Switching the Mesh computer off and on again is what I have been doing all along. There are two CD drives, both in full working order as far as I know. Whether I put the Vista CD in rrive 1 or Drive 2 or remove it altogether I always get exactly the same results.

 

I have taken photos of four screens which I have tried to send attached to a text post, but have run into difficulties each time. So will send this now as it is and hope to send the screenshots separately later.

 

Mike

[mtav]

Acreenshot 1

 

Screenshot 1

http://extremetechsupport.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2377&stc=1

[mtav]

Nev, I sent you the first of my four screenshots but when I try to send the next I am refused because it would "exceed my quota".

 

Mike.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Mike, that is OK about new posts for screen shots.

However, looking at the last picture it is only showing the two disk drives in the list and not the Samsung hard drive. A little puzzling as it should be showing as being somewhere in the boot order, so not too sure if you are actually on the right BIOS page.

I would normally say to put the disk in the drive that is now showing as top of the list, then press the F10 to save and exit, however without the hard drive showing I am concerned it won't find it to install windows on to it.

 

I will see what Ken has to say first before going any further.

 

Nev.

[KenB]

Hi Mike

 

This is very odd.

 

In your first photo it shows the Samsung HD753 ... which is your hard drive. [ on SATA 2 ]

 

In the last photo [ the Boot Order ] it is missing ??

 

Do this please ...

Switch off at the wall socket and leave the plug in. [ This maintains the earth connection to the motherboard ]

 

Open up the case and locate the 2 DVD drives.

Trace the connections back to the motherboard and disconnect them.

[ Make sure that the loose wires are secured and will not get caught in any rotating fan ]

 

Now trace the hard drive connection back to the motherboard and move this from SATA 2 port to SATA 1.

[ It should be labelled ]

 

Try booting up now.

 

If this fails move the hard drive connection to SATA 3 [ we know this one picks up one of the DVD drives ]

 

If it isn't booting can you go back into the BIOS and see if the Samsung drive is showing in the Boot order [ photo number 3 ] when it is connected to

either SATA 1 or SATA 3 on the motherboard.

[mtav]

Hi Nev and Ken,

 

You guys are TERRIFIC!!!

 

Your suggestions worked and my computer is now functioning properly again. Nice to have a clean installation, running fast and without frequent instances of 'Not responding'.

 

As the hardware clearly never had a fault, what do you think caused my problem in the first place? A virus?

 

The only problem I have now is that re-loading some of my drivers and programs is proving difficult. I had backed up all my personal files, but would it have been possible to backup drivers and programs as well?

 

Mike

[Plastic Nev]

No point going for third party driver downloads when you should be able to get what you need from here Mike, always best to get drivers from the manufacturer and not third party stuff as you just might get bad or out of date drivers.

 

http://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/P5ND/HelpDesk_Download/

 

I would reckon you don't need the BIOS ones at the top of the list, you should only need the Chipset, Audio, utilities, and SATA, though the last one might be covered by the Windows 7 generic drivers.

You can also download the motherboard manual from there which will tell you which you would need for a new motherboard, but more importantly in which order the drivers should be installed.

Normally it should be the chipset first.

 

Nev.

[KenB]

Your suggestions worked and my computer is now functioning properly again.

That is good to hear Mike.

 

What caused your problem in the first place ?

No - it certainly wasn't a virus.

I think it was a connection problem.

If moving the SATA connection to another port solved the problem of your drive being recognised then it certainly was a connection problem or the specific SATA port that the drive was attached to initially was down. ( You don't say if you are using this particular port again )

 

Either way - you are up-and-running again :)

 

Take Nev's advice and get any drivers that you need from the manufacturer's site.

 

Device Manager will give you a good idea of what the OS is having problems with.

( yellow exclamation marks )