Database Users

vista doesn't boot !

hey guys,
I got an htc shift and when I power it on, it dosent find the vista and says insert boot media in the selected boot device,
I tried to recover it from the recovery partition but it doesn't work either,
I appreciate if anyone can help me.

Have you tried going into the BIOS to see if the HDD/SDD is enabled? If it's not listed, it could be that your drive is dead.
Restart your device (or turn it on if it is off), Press "Del" at the HTC Splash Screen, press "Right", "Return, "Down", "Return". You should see it in the list if it's still working OK. If it is in the list and enabled, check the other Setting under the "Boot" menu and check that it is selected as your primary boot device.
If none of this works (or at least drive is not visible), I think your drive may be dead.
If it does show your Drive in the list(s), but Windows still says there is no boot media, and recovery partition is not recovering it, you'll need to try to install an OS so it has some valid Boot Media to boot from.

indeed I tried the bios setup and my HDD is ok,
I saw some linux an xp bootable images but I am wondering that if I use them my device gona work properly!!
cuz I saw some issues with drivers!!
THX &
sorry if my english is kinda wonky pal!!!

sahandf said:
indeed I tried the bios setup and my HDD is ok,
I saw some linux an xp bootable images but I am wondering that if I use them my device gona work properly!!
cuz I saw some issues with drivers!!
THX &
sorry if my english is kinda wonky pal!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's worth a try. If you can at least get it to boot, you may be able to check the drive for errors etc. Don't worry about things working properly for now. Just get the barebones working.
Another suggestion though, you could have a virus in the boot sector. I'm not sure if these are reversible or salvagable, but if you do get it to boot, try running a thorough virus scan to see if that throws anything up.
Failing all that, the best solution for trying to diagnose the problem would probably be something like this...
SSD-to-USB converter
With this, you could connect it to another computer and at least see if the drive is readable. Obviously this means taking your Shift to pieces to get the SSD out, but I've done it and it's not that difficult really.
And your English is good!

sure I'll give it a shot,
thanks a million!

[Q] Disaster - need help...

I got a copy of Android - I think its 1.6 - running on my laptop - and it seemed to work ok and be stable so I wanted to put it onto the machine permanantly.
Trouble is its decided that nothing else on the machine exists and I can't get back into vista whatever I try
It boots into something called grub loader and the only two options are the normal boot and a sort of safe mode - that lists drivers much like the old one for Windows 95/98 where you could y/n each one...
I really need help to get vista back again since there is stuff I really need like internet banking that I don't think I can do any other way (to be fair I have yet to try)
Thanks in advance
Jemma

Please tell me you partitioned off your hard drive before doing this?
If not then its a reinstall I guess, which isn't to bad as it allows you to install a decent copy of windows such as XP

That quite simply isn't an option - I was told that there is a way of solving it by using a windows CD or boot disk to reload the MBR - I was also told that the file running GRUB can be edited to find windows.
The problem is I don't have another machine and I am on state benefits - I need this computer up and running and I need access to my documents.
I can't seem to mount anything in android - and as the only option is 'format sd card' I don't really want to take it..
Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Jemmauk said:
That quite simply isn't an option - I was told that there is a way of solving it by using a windows CD or boot disk to reload the MBR - I was also told that the file running GRUB can be edited to find windows.
The problem is I don't have another machine and I am on state benefits - I need this computer up and running and I need access to my documents.
I can't seem to mount anything in android - and as the only option is 'format sd card' I don't really want to take it..
Does anyone else have any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well thanks for the sob story but what does being on benefits have to do with anything?
Anyway simply set your pc bios to boot from cd first, insert disk and boot up. From there you will be asked do you want to install or repair. Choose repair.
I'm unsure of the next step because I don't use Vista *spits* but if you can get to recovery console then you can run fixmbr from the prompt and also there is a boot manager that can fix your boot sector.
Alternatively you could from a dos prompt delete the 1.6 folders and rewrite the msconfig to open windows only.
There is also the root of trying the f8 safe mode boot into admin account and rewrite the msconfig from with windows if accessible from f8 safe.
But hell I ain't anyone else but I guess my 24 years in the business of building custom machine and my extensive knowledge of windows xp and below means nowt? Maybe try being a little less dismissive next time hey?
Add me on gmail - [email protected] if you want me to help you sort it out faster than we can here

Did you create partitions before installing android? if not then windows doesnt exist anymore, which is why grub didnt automatically add it to the list of things to boot (mine always listed everything, but sometimes it doesnt do that automatically)

this happend to me to. I had to use I linux live cd to delete the linux partition. and fix the mbr.
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App

[Q] Window 8 wont boot up!!

Help would be great. I have a dell inspiron laptop (not sure exactly what model it is) and I made the mistake of downloading windows 8 consumer preview when it first came out and installing it directly on the laptop rather than dualboot or usb stick. It worked fine for a couple of days and then out of nowhere it wouldn't boot up. When I press the power button the screen will light up and the w8 logo will appear but it won't go past that part. Sometimes It will say auto repairing itself but I've left it on for two days to see if it would fix itself but It didn't. Is there a way to get in safe mode to atleast re install the iso file? I've been without a laptop for a couple of months already and can't afford to buy a new one!

vic509 said:
Help would be great. I have a dell inspiron laptop (not sure exactly what model it is) and I made the mistake of downloading windows 8 consumer preview when it first came out and installing it directly on the laptop rather than dualboot or usb stick. It worked fine for a couple of days and then out of nowhere it wouldn't boot up. When I press the power button the screen will light up and the w8 logo will appear but it won't go past that part. Sometimes It will say auto repairing itself but I've left it on for two days to see if it would fix itself but It didn't. Is there a way to get in safe mode to atleast re install the iso file? I've been without a laptop for a couple of months already and can't afford to buy a new one!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so am I correct in thinking you have no installation media at all for windows? any version?
If so do you have access to another PC because to be honest, your probably going to need it
I assume you have tried hitting F8 on boot to get to the boot menu and that didn't work either?
in terms of your hardware its cool, that's not the issue, the software is, having an install disk would have made things a lot easier....

Yes I have access to another pc and no I don't have any available. I downloaded a newer version of the win8 in ISO format and put it on a dvd disc and tried installing it through the f12 key right when you boot up. The disc drive started running but nothing happened afterwards. Windows recently released a new version of win8. Should I download that one and try it again the same way I tried the first time?

vic509 said:
Yes I have access to another pc and no I don't have any available. I downloaded a newer version of the win8 in ISO format and put it on a dvd disc and tried installing it through the f12 key right when you boot up. The disc drive started running but nothing happened afterwards. Windows recently released a new version of win8. Should I download that one and try it again the same way I tried the first time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok, you hit F12 to get in to the boot menu is that correct? then you selected the DVD drive and it made some noises but did nothing?
Ok, Boot menus can be troublesome
What I suggest is go in to the BIOS and change the boot order to DVD first THEN HDD, if that doesn't work then take the HDD out of the boot order altogether, you will need to turn it back on again though to complete the setup
also, I want you to see if the DVD boots on another computer, the first ISO I downloaded was corrupted and whilst mine booted it would always fail to install, re downloaded it and no problems at all
Its probably worth downloading the RP ISO anyway, the previous version the CP, was mass tested in the open market so any issues with installing wouldn't have been worked out in the CP, hopefully the RP would have got most of them,

Hi, i did what you recommended and it worked fine until the install process! It took me to the install screen and i pressed install. Afterwards it gave me the option of automatically doing the install or choosing custom options only. I choose the automatic and it told me that i had to remove the disc and restart the computer and re inster the disc for it to continue! The problem is that everytime i do that it wants to boot up the original way where it wouldnt work! Any ideas. Should i choose the custom option instead ( but i dont know what to choose if i do it that way)??!! Thanks for your help

Reload and options
vic509 said:
Hi, i did what you recommended and it worked fine until the install process! It took me to the install screen and i pressed install. Afterwards it gave me the option of automatically doing the install or choosing custom options only. I choose the automatic and it told me that i had to remove the disc and restart the computer and re inster the disc for it to continue! The problem is that everytime i do that it wants to boot up the original way where it wouldnt work! Any ideas. Should i choose the custom option instead ( but i dont know what to choose if i do it that way)??!! Thanks for your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HI!
Yes, you are right.
Boot to the install media, at the option to do custom, select custom.
When the screen loads showing the partitions (drives)
-Click advanced on the bottom right
-highlight each partition and delete them (this will loose all data saved there but unless you have a boot disk or usb or remove the drive from the laptop, the data is usless anyway)
At this point you can click continue, or next Windows setup will auto create the partitions it needs and unpack the files, then finish install.
If you get any issues with files missing or media is corrupt from the ISO, you will need to down load it again, use the MS download manager or some manager to ensure the download is good and the file CRC matches what they have on the download site. I have seen this a lot lately so don't waste your time restarting the install if it has an error while coping files, just get a new download.
I hope this Helps.

KahulBane said:
HI!
Yes, you are right.
Boot to the install media, at the option to do custom, select custom.
When the screen loads showing the partitions (drives)
-Click advanced on the bottom right
-highlight each partition and delete them (this will loose all data saved there but unless you have a boot disk or usb or remove the drive from the laptop, the data is usless anyway)
At this point you can click continue, or next Windows setup will auto create the partitions it needs and unpack the files, then finish install.
If you get any issues with files missing or media is corrupt from the ISO, you will need to down load it again, use the MS download manager or some manager to ensure the download is good and the file CRC matches what they have on the download site. I have seen this a lot lately so don't waste your time restarting the install if it has an error while coping files, just get a new download.
I hope this Helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This does resemble a copy error, or even a hard disk/hard disk controller problem.
I have a desktop computer that will no longer boot up from any IDE devices (even if their properly formatted, it also includes any optical medium), Trying to boot from them results in a "DISK NOT BOOTABLE" (something around that, Acer's boot errors are different from the usual ones.
Anyway, back on track, before all that happened, I had trouble booting the computer from the IDE HDDs, sometimes it would boot and sometimes it stuck at the Windows 7 loading screen till it said a file was corrupt or missing, or it BSOD'd.
I also recommend re-downloading and trying the install again, in extreme cases, if you have another HDD to test, try installing it on a different HDD. If that works, the problem could be your hard disk (or something more nefarious, who knows ^_^

Windows 8 won't start

First off i apologize if this is the wrong place to ask this, i couldnt find a Q&A thread for windows, also ive spent hours on Google looking and couldn't find anything that worked, but anyway my aunt a few days ago hit her computer( shes the kind of person where if it doesn't work just hit it) and it black screended on startup, like you press the power button and nothing, its a lenovo (i dont know what model) but i booted it into recovery, did a BIOS recovery, but it didnt finish, so i checked to see if the computer was reading the hard drive and it is, im taking my Toshiba to swap the hard drive to see if thats the problem, she wants to keep all her data but i said that may not be a possibility, i just want to know if anyone here can tell me what might be the problem, im convinced its thr hard drive as the toshiba had a similiar fate a few months ago. So any help would be great, also again if this is the wrong thread im sorry
EDIT: I don't know if its Windows 7 or 8, also its current state is it stops at the lenovo boot screen

SmokeyTech1 said:
First off i apologize if this is the wrong place to ask this, i couldnt find a Q&A thread for windows, also ive spent hours on Google looking and couldn't find anything that worked, but anyway my aunt a few days ago hit her computer( shes the kind of person where if it doesn't work just hit it) and it black screended on startup, like you press the power button and nothing, its a lenovo (i dont know what model) but i booted it into recovery, did a BIOS recovery, but it didnt finish, so i checked to see if the computer was reading the hard drive and it is, im taking my Toshiba to swap the hard drive to see if thats the problem, she wants to keep all her data but i said that may not be a possibility, i just want to know if anyone here can tell me what might be the problem, im convinced its thr hard drive as the toshiba had a similiar fate a few months ago. So any help would be great, also again if this is the wrong thread im sorry
EDIT: I don't know if its Windows 7 or 8, also its current state is it stops at the lenovo boot screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try windows start up repair. easiest way to do this, get the windows installation disc and boot into that and select start up repair.
id guess a HDD failure or more likely a corruption with windows if it wasnt shut down properly
could also try a fresh install of windows, just dont format the harddrive during installation. this way windows installation should save all the old data into a (old windows) folder on the c drive

Tonian1878 said:
Try windows start up repair. easiest way to do this, get the windows installation disc and boot into that and select start up repair.
id guess a HDD failure or more likely a corruption with windows if it wasnt shut down properly
could also try a fresh install of windows, just dont format the harddrive during installation. this way windows installation should save all the old data into a (old windows) folder on the c drive
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, the recovery just hangs, according to my aunt the computer was freaking out and started closinf things, and then nothing, i think the hard drive crashed, i told them to get a new hard drive ( i actually recommended an SSD)

SmokeyTech1 said:
Thanks, the recovery just hangs, according to my aunt the computer was freaking out and started closinf things, and then nothing, i think the hard drive crashed, i told them to get a new hard drive ( i actually recommended an SSD)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before buying a new drive, put her hdd on your pc to see if it is still healthy, bad-sector-free. You check this with hdsentinel.
Also, try to boot her laptop with a hdd/ssd that is working properly.

SOADNICK said:
Before buying a new drive, put her hdd on your pc to see if it is still healthy, bad-sector-free. You check this with hdsentinel.
Also, try to boot her laptop with a hdd/ssd that is working properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried looking for a hard drive adapter, i didnt want to put the hdd into my computer as i read it could crash it as the drivers are for a different computer, but if it works without harm ill do it, also finding an adapter here isnt easy, as i live in mexico and BestBuy is 2 hours away

SmokeyTech1 said:
I tried looking for a hard drive adapter, i didnt want to put the hdd into my computer as i read it could crash it as the drivers are for a different computer, but if it works without harm ill do it, also finding an adapter here isnt easy, as i live in mexico and BestBuy is 2 hours away
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm, I don't think that plugging the hdd will crash your computer, but still, it's just a crash, unplug-restart and it's gone.
However, since I haven't been in a similar situation, you can try to plug it in a computer that runs any OS but windows, e.g. a linux pc, since win drivers won't affect a different OS.
Yet, I think it's obvious that if you plug it in your pc, you won't select it as a boot drive.

windows 10 not working!!

hello
my windows store is deleted for some reason and all the other windows apps like mail and photos too.
i tried a lot to get it back but nothing works! well thats not true. i have reset the whole windows and after that it worked again, but now everything is gone again.
if i run a troubleshooter, it says something about BITS.
also sometimes if i turn on my laptop, it turns black after logging in. i don't now if it has something to do with it.
i hope somebody nows whats going on and can help me out because this problem is really anoying.
sorry for my bad english, i am dutch.

MilanVLaar said:
hello
my windows store is deleted for some reason and all the other windows apps like mail and photos too.
i tried a lot to get it back but nothing works! well thats not true. i have reset the whole windows and after that it worked again, but now everything is gone again.
if i run a troubleshooter, it says something about BITS.
also sometimes if i turn on my laptop, it turns black after logging in. i don't now if it has something to do with it.
i hope somebody nows whats going on and can help me out because this problem is really anoying.
sorry for my bad english, i am dutch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Backup any data that you don't want to lose and store it somewhere other than on your laptop's internal storage. Then download the hardware drivers(including any BIOS updates) for your specific laptop and the drivers for any other external hardware that you use with the laptop. Then do a complete format and reinstallation of Windows 10 using a Windows 10 .iso. Then reinstall your laptop's hardware drivers, starting with your chipset drivers, then video and audio drivers, then the rest of your laptop's various hardware drivers, then drivers for any external hardware that you use with the laptop.
Then you can copy your backed up data back to your laptop.

If you reinstall the system, you need to enter the license key. Even if you rolled back or transferred Windows to a new laptop, you still have to enter the key. When I bought a new PC I had to completely transfer the system to the new PC and consequently change 7 to 10 windows. I re-downloaded drivers, all necessary applications, installer packages. But then it wouldn't start because the system failed. My laptop has a new boot system that has been changed and it was not possible to just run windup from a flash drive. I bought the windows 10 pro key separately and entered it to activate all the packages. Everything worked.
{Mod edit: Link to commercial selling site removed. Please refer to rule no. 13 of the XDA Forum Rules! - Oswald Boelcke, Senior Moderator}