Vista troubles no more!

Well it looks like I'll be resting well tonight without Vista causing restless nights.  After a brief reinstallation using the original Dell Operating System Disk and Driver Installation Disk, the troubled Dell XPS 420 is alive once again.  Now the only thing left to do is let Vista download it's updates and patches.  And restore the backups from their My Documents folders (pictures and office documents).  Otherwise, it is ready to go home, and I am ready to look forward to a videogame filled Saturday.

So quick wrd of advice, always backup your computer regardless what the OS is.  And if you are faced with the dreaded Vista bootloop and don't have backups; I suggest:
1- Use another computer to download and burn a Live Linux CD (try Ubuntu).
2- Boot the Live Linux Cd and attach an extrrnal hard drive, flash drive, etc.
3- Mount the computer's C: drive and backup all known user made file (pictures, music, video, etc.).
4- Proceed with a reload of the operating system (if you have tried everything else).

In attempt to avoid using the factory restore disks (mostly due to not having them available), I have essentially wasted several evenings worth of work this week for what could have been an hour and a half reinstall.  Just saying!

read more

Vista Hardships...

Well, just a quick follow up on my progress with the demon infested Dell XPS 420 I have been working on.  The Vista Recovery CD I found (from a mirror from NeoSmart's solution which is now offline) didn't work.  In fact, it broke the Vista boot altogether.  Using instructions to try and diagnose/repair the BCD store on the hard drive, the Vista partition was completely hidden from booting.  Fortunately, I made a backup copy of the BCD file that I restored using an Ubuntu Live CD (since now the Vista Recovery Disk wouldn't see the parition).

In an act of desperation I managed to find the Dell Recovery Image (Factory.wim) on the recovery partition once I got the BCD issue straight, and I copied it to an external hard drive.  Now to find a solution that will allow me to restore the .wim file without the official restore disk.

So without delay, it's time to do some research.

read more

Visa Issues...I know, Vista right?! LOL

Well, a friend of mine called me up and sent their computer with me yesterday for some help.  It's a rather interesting problem, so I figured I'd chronicle the work here to help others through my thought process.

Here's the problem with their Dell XPS 420; from powering on the desktop computer it splashes up the Dell loading screen and continues through to a screen that prompts you to either launch a 'Startup Repair (Recomended)' or 'Start Windows Normally'.  Other issue, I have no way of doing a factory image restore on this computer since the user's never created the restore disks after the bought the computer.

If you select 'Start Windows Normally', the boot process continues to the Windows Vista logo splash screen for only a brief second and it reboots and continues through the cycle again.  If I hit 'F8' and select disable automatic restart after errors, I actually get a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) that reads the following STOP error:
0x0000007B (0x80599BB0, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)


Some of the support I found online is pretty cryptic concerning this STOP error.  Mostly saying that the OS can't see the hard drive, etc.  And it points to the drive being faulty.  However, running the Dell Diagnostics from the Advanced Startup menu the Hard Drive checks out as good.

So, boot option 2: 'Launch Startup Repair' was attempted.  Which continues to boot to a login screen.  However, the only account listed is for: 'Other User' for which there is an empty username and password.  Attempting to enter the username and password for the actual accounts doesn't work.  Neither does using the combination of Administrator with no password, Administrator with administrator as the password,  and admin, admin as username and password.  All search results have been futile as well.

It appears that something has hosed the OS from the boot side of things.  So I am going to attempt using a Vista Recovery disk now.  Look back soon for either a happy post, or a total meltdown.

Why is my life filled with computer based angst and drama?!  :)

read more