Vista Recovery Failure, Can't Load Windows

Cobranaconda · 12-20-2008, 02:06 PM

I got a new PC with Vista in January, and it worked pretty well until about mid-November, when the thing started freezing randomly and wouldn't unfreeze even for Ctrl+Alt+Del. Eventually it seemed to get fed up and made me a new account and pretended to have deleted all my files (original account = Glen, new account = Glen.GlensPC, so they both showed up as merely "Glen") which were still located in the original place.

Then, control panel no longer worked. I tried cleaning the registry but with no luck. Virus scans and spyware scans picked up nothing. Also, it kept telling me that my "Vista is not genuine" despite the fact that I'd already validated it.

However, the original freezing problem sort of disappeared. Until today. I got fed up with it and decided to do a recovery, because Restore didn't have any effect whatsoever.

So I did the recover, and half-way through it stops and says "image not found" or something similar, before turning the computer off. When I turned it back on, it said it couldn't load Windows/that "vital files were missing", so I restarted and F11'd it, tried again, got the same result. Image not Found. Tried 3 times in total and nothing worked.

So, I'm at a loss.

My system:

HP iPower 8620

• Windows Vista® Home Premium (auto-updated to SP1)
• Intel Core2 Quad Processor Q6600
• 1066 MHz
• 2048MB DDR
• DDR2 533 / 667 Mhz
• 500GB SATA

Cobranaconda · 12-20-2008, 03:45 PM

Was going to edit the above post but it seems to have timed out:

Actual error when the recovery fails:

"Applying image failed"

and it always fails on the same file:

Y:\windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft-windows-ehome-disp-calibration_31bf385...\AspectRatio16x9.wmv

12-20-2008, 02:06 PM	#1 (permalink)
Cobranaconda Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 2 OS: Vista SP1	Vista Recovery Failure, Can't Load Windows I got a new PC with Vista in January, and it worked pretty well until about mid-November, when the thing started freezing randomly and wouldn't unfreeze even for Ctrl+Alt+Del. Eventually it seemed to get fed up and made me a new account and pretended to have deleted all my files (original account = Glen, new account = Glen.GlensPC, so they both showed up as merely "Glen") which were still located in the original place. Then, control panel no longer worked. I tried cleaning the registry but with no luck. Virus scans and spyware scans picked up nothing. Also, it kept telling me that my "Vista is not genuine" despite the fact that I'd already validated it. However, the original freezing problem sort of disappeared. Until today. I got fed up with it and decided to do a recovery, because Restore didn't have any effect whatsoever. So I did the recover, and half-way through it stops and says "image not found" or something similar, before turning the computer off. When I turned it back on, it said it couldn't load Windows/that "vital files were missing", so I restarted and F11'd it, tried again, got the same result. Image not Found. Tried 3 times in total and nothing worked. So, I'm at a loss. My system: HP iPower 8620 • Windows Vista® Home Premium (auto-updated to SP1) • Intel Core2 Quad Processor Q6600 • 1066 MHz • 2048MB DDR • DDR2 533 / 667 Mhz • 500GB SATA

12-20-2008, 03:45 PM	#2 (permalink)
Cobranaconda Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 2 OS: Vista SP1	Re: Vista Recovery Failure, Can't Load Windows Was going to edit the above post but it seems to have timed out: Actual error when the recovery fails: "Applying image failed" and it always fails on the same file: Y:\windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft-windows-ehome-disp-calibration_31bf385...\AspectRatio16x9.wmv