Windows Vista: not booting (not even with Vista Install DVD): crcdisk.sys

Solution to boot problem

I had the exact same problem that was originally reported. My Vista machine originally refused to shut down and then refused to reboot (not getting beyond crcdisk.sys in Safe Mode).
I tried mounting the SATA drive in an external caddy and accessing it from another computer without success. I also tried Knoppix without success, it would not let me mount the drive as it was in an unknown format.
I was able to confirm that most of the data remained intact on the drive however and eventually was given a copy of copy of Spinrite v6 to try and correct it.
I used this to create a boot CD and do a low level disk repair.
This seemed to do the trick, the computer rebooted normally and I do not appear to have lost any data.