[AdamK]

Well basically today i went to install the Service pack 1, it was all going fine until after the reboot it got stuck at a certain file for around 30-40 mins and i had coursework to do so i got impatient and turned off my computer and back on, and i got that dreaded blue screen that tells me that Windows couldnt start and obviously that has ruined my computer, i cant do anything..

Cant go into safe mode, it just restarts my computer, i have my Vista reboot cd but even then it trys to load the opertating system and restarts my computer, its not like vista where you could do it through commands, im stuck

anyone able to help?

[sjb007]

Patience is a virtue... ! Not sure if it will work under these circumstances but have you tried a repair installation of vista at all, worth a shot if nothing else will work.

You can find a tutorial on how to do this here - How to create a Vista recovery disk and rescue Vista

[rond79]

If sjb007 idea doesn't work, I suggest you do the next to recover your files. Before doing the following, you will need the following items. 1. IDE / Serial ATA (SATA) to USB 2.0 Adapter with Power Cable 2. An extra Computer or Laptop. Hook it up the spare computer or laptop and transfer your files. After you've pulled everything you need, reinstall windows vista.

On a personal note. I would install Windows XP rather then Windows Vista. Vista is a real memory hogger.

[AdamK]

Hi thanks for the replies..

the problem is, with my installation disk in the drive durin startup, it says "press any key to boot from disc" i do this, then it shows the screen "loading windows files" once this is done, the green vista loading bar comes up and once it loads, it just shows me the blue error message which at the bottom says:

Technical Information *** Stop: 0x0000c1F5 "

im just in a cycle of either this error message or the computer restarting over n over..

[Hybr!d]

From what I can gather it is a hard drive fault, fixed by doing either a full checkdisk/file table repair and/or completely wiping all partitions and doing them fresh with a FULL format.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...e+Search&meta=

[philthomas]

Have a read here

[AdamK]

Yeah what im going to do is, use Knoppix the linux based system to get into my hard drive and backup my files, neeed to buy a external hard-drive as i only have one dvd drive so cant use my DVDS as a backup storage :(

Then i shall find my XP installation cd, format my computer and then install Vista again.. i refuse to install SP1 as of now!!!

does that sound okay?

[Hybr!d]

Sounds like a good plan.

[philthomas]

Yep ... let us know how you get on .... Good Luck