Vista: Start-Up Repair

Tim Nanson · 08-25-2008, 03:18 PM

I have a new Acer Aspire 6920G laptop running Vista with service pack 1.
The computer is about 30 days old.

Recently upon start-up, Vista runs a start-up repair program. You can not cancel it. Upon completion of the process it announces that it can not repair the problem. Under "details" it stated that Windows can not find the OS Loader.exe file. I can not enter safe mode.

Problem: All of our vacation pictures were downloaded to the computer. I would like to recover them. This was our first vacation after retirement and we visited several national parks!

Solutions tried already:

Acer Tech Support sent me Restore discs since I can not restore from the partition on the HD. Only solution they say is to resore the HD to the original factory settings and lose all data. I would prefer not to do this.

Microsoft Tech Support advises that I can re-install the operating system without loosing data but I need a set of reinstall discs which they will not supply since the computer came with Vista preinstalled by Acer.

Acer Tech Support then told me they never heard of reinstall discs and that there was no further help they could provide.

I purchased an Apricorn Drive Wire, removed the Western Digital 320 GB HD and looked at it through the USB port on my desktop HP Pavillion computer m7560n running XP.

I was able to see the files on the K (acer) partition but nothing on the L (data) partition. I assume that the L partition must be where the preloaded restore files are located.

It is interesting to me that although I can see files on the K partition I can not see any files or programs that I loaded. I can not find any of the files I created under "my Picture" although the original sample pictures are there.

The laptop has a "finger print" or "password" protection. One or the other must be used in order to unlock the computer.

Acer had no idea if this would allow me to "see" my files once the HD was taken out of the computer.

Best Buy technical support looked at the drive after I had done all of the above. They saw the same files I did and advised me that I should be able to see all the files on the HD (except the restore files) by using the drive wire regardless of password protection provided I did not encrept the files. I did not encrpt the files as far as I know.

I thought I might be crazy until I found reference to several "short cut" files that had the names of all the picture files I had created under "My Pictures"

Have I really lost all of my vacation pictures? Does password protection prevent files from being viewed? If so how can I unlock the files? Is there really a Microsoft Re-install program that will restore the operating system without loosing erasing my files.

Any advise would be appreciated

Tim

08-25-2008, 03:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
Tim Nanson Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2 OS: vista and Xp	Vista: Start-Up Repair I have a new Acer Aspire 6920G laptop running Vista with service pack 1. The computer is about 30 days old. Recently upon start-up, Vista runs a start-up repair program. You can not cancel it. Upon completion of the process it announces that it can not repair the problem. Under "details" it stated that Windows can not find the OS Loader.exe file. I can not enter safe mode. Problem: All of our vacation pictures were downloaded to the computer. I would like to recover them. This was our first vacation after retirement and we visited several national parks! Solutions tried already: Acer Tech Support sent me Restore discs since I can not restore from the partition on the HD. Only solution they say is to resore the HD to the original factory settings and lose all data. I would prefer not to do this. Microsoft Tech Support advises that I can re-install the operating system without loosing data but I need a set of reinstall discs which they will not supply since the computer came with Vista preinstalled by Acer. Acer Tech Support then told me they never heard of reinstall discs and that there was no further help they could provide. I purchased an Apricorn Drive Wire, removed the Western Digital 320 GB HD and looked at it through the USB port on my desktop HP Pavillion computer m7560n running XP. I was able to see the files on the K (acer) partition but nothing on the L (data) partition. I assume that the L partition must be where the preloaded restore files are located. It is interesting to me that although I can see files on the K partition I can not see any files or programs that I loaded. I can not find any of the files I created under "my Picture" although the original sample pictures are there. The laptop has a "finger print" or "password" protection. One or the other must be used in order to unlock the computer. Acer had no idea if this would allow me to "see" my files once the HD was taken out of the computer. Best Buy technical support looked at the drive after I had done all of the above. They saw the same files I did and advised me that I should be able to see all the files on the HD (except the restore files) by using the drive wire regardless of password protection provided I did not encrept the files. I did not encrpt the files as far as I know. I thought I might be crazy until I found reference to several "short cut" files that had the names of all the picture files I had created under "My Pictures" Have I really lost all of my vacation pictures? Does password protection prevent files from being viewed? If so how can I unlock the files? Is there really a Microsoft Re-install program that will restore the operating system without loosing erasing my files. Any advise would be appreciated Tim