Windows Vista forum: 4yr old Lenovo Vista PC- will not boot!

First I'd go to http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop and download Ubuntu to make a bootable disc. Then I'd use that to recover any data I want to keep. Then I'd restore to factory settings. If you don't have the discs to do that, see if your manufacturer will ship them to you for a small fee.

When you've gotten your system back like you want it, I urge you to get yourself an external hard drive and a good 3rd party backup program. You can set it up to do everything automagically at the time and frequency of your choice. 1 TB external hard drives are about $70 these days and a really good FREE backup program is the Easeus todo backup free which you can download from
http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm . That can save you a lot of time and frustration the next time something like this happens. Sooner or later it happens to all computers for one reason or another.

2. The reply shared how to save your pictures before the complete reinstall.

3. The complete reinstall should let you fix this.
Bob

Here's one -> http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/

Note -> I rarely have to use those commands you read there.

Here's a Windows CD if you feel you can't mouse around Ubuntu. But it may not support the USB drives to backup to.
http://download.cnet.com/BartPE-Bootable-Live-Windows-CD-DVD/3000-2094_4-10611131.html

Be sure to use the Direct Download link.
Bob

You simply replace the missing/ corrupt windows file 32 etc by a non corrupted one you copy from a working Windows Vista machine. If that's the only error, that's a rather fast repair.

But I'm afraid that's much more difficult than it sounds. And if all restores and fixes fail, a clean install is the only solution, if you like it or not.

Finally let me note that your problem seemed to change between your first and your last post. In your first post you said that the "windows error" was missing or corrupt. Now it's the "windows file 32 etc" that's missing or corrupt. That's clearly something else. It's not amazing you can't find the solution on google if the problem changes so quickly.

Kees

At my home, i have a busted Lenovo laptop and a cell phone. Makes it difficult.

I will take notes of what i see and post back around 5:30 eastern with exactly what it says.

hopefully this forum and my phone work together well.

thanks guys. I really have no problem to re-install vista- i just want my pictures of my kid, etc off before i do so. But it seems difficult.

I suggest keeping at least two flavors of Linux Live CDs for file recovery from Windows machines that wont' boot. Why more than one flavor? Well, sometimes one version or another won't work with certain hardware (especially older stuff IME). I also like to have a version of a Live CD installed on a USB drive, for the instance where a CD/DVD won't work and you need to retrieve photos, etc. from the same machine that doesn't boot.

I wish you luck in getting back all your files you need...

My mother recently purchased a external hard drive that she puts movies on.

Anything i can do with that to help me?

Maybe hook up the hard drive and copy whatever i need to it, then re-install?

Please help.

I have Nothing in relation to windows etc - NO BACK ups on it. NOTHING.

Can i hook up my external hard drive to my unbootable laptop and copy what i need over to the external?

If you have things on the external hard drive, they will still be there after you reinstall, so why would you need to copy. If you want to copy the data that's on it to a 3rd hard drive using that computer you have, you could do it after booting from the Ubuntu or BartPE disc. However I believe you're under the mistaken impression that reinstalling Windows is somehow going to erase what's on the external hard drive. If so, you're mistaken. You could even unplug the external hard drive while reinstalling Windows, then plug it back in afterwards. You should be happy to know that all your movies and anything else that was put on that external drive will still be there.

At first it sounded like the files you wanted to recover were on the internal hard drive of the computer. To recover those, you'd need to boot from a CD or DVD or flash drive so you could copy those. Ubuntu or BartPE would what you'd need on these discs. If you wanted to copy from the internal hard drive to the external drive, you could then do it because you'd have an operating computer. Both Ubuntu and BartPE give you an operating computer you could use to access the files on the internal hard drive and copy to the external one. You would just use copy and paste or drag and drop, just like you would if you'd booted Windows Vista.

Later in this thread it sounded like you wanted to recover files from the external hard drive. In that case there's no need to copy anything because reinstalling isn't going to destroy anything there.

I think you need to be specific about where you want to copy FROM and where you want to copy TO.

Just booted it up. Sp1 vista disk is in hard drive. Lenovo screen pops up then this.

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt.
<windows root>\system32\hal.dll
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

Wow i types via phone a **** ton and it didnt post.
When i click repair windows. From the disk. It Shows no operating sysyems. I to an only load drivers and click next. If i click next it says it cannot repair this automatically. I click details. It lists a bunch of signatures. Signature #6 says missingbootmanager

We've told you that you're going to have to boot from a Ubuntu or BartPE disc to recover your files from the internal hard drive. You can try all kinds of other things if you must, but until and unless you boot Ubuntu or BartPE (or equivalent), you're just wasting your time. Sorry.

If by "Use my gfs laptop that worls.download ubuntu to her computer." you mean use a working computer to download the Ubuntu image, I think that's good.

However your last comment "Then we install vista /lenovo recovery to factory restart and everything is back to normal" is only partially true. That will get Windows back to normal, but it won't reinstall any applications installed after the computer was new, and it won't copy your data back to the internal hard drive.

Good luck.

You won't have to reinstall Windows Explorer because that's part of Windows. Anything that wasn't installed by Lenovo when the computer WILL have to be reinstalled. I don't know whether they installed Adobe or not, most manufacturers do, but not all. If you have files created by things like Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), MS Works, iTunes, your printer's software, antivirus software, etc. are possible things that might have to be reinstalled. Since I don't know what was originally on that computer or what was added in the subsequent 4 years, I can't be specific.

Good luck.