Halp! Laptop not booting Created 16 years ago2007-11-05 08:25:26 UTC by the Arcan

I have a rather new Sony VAIO Laptop that runs Vista

Yesterday i had put my VAIO to sleep while i was out by flipping down the screen. When I later returned and 'woke' it up the desktop showed up again and the mouse was working but it had frozen. Like Explorer had crashed or something. Instead of sanely waiting for a response or trying out some key combinations I was stupid enough to just switch it off by holding the power button (it was 4am just so you know).

When i switched it on today it wouldn't boot properly. The VAIO boot image pops up, after that one can just see the progress bar of the Windows boot screen. After a while this disappears and then all that is on the screen is the mouse pointer. The mouse works both with touchpad and my wireless mouse which does require some software for it to run.
I've been unable to shut the computer down using alt + f4 in this state. The only way it'd go off is holding the power button down.

When starting the computer it gives me the option to run windows start-up diagnostics tool but that doesnt help at all. Same response.

The screen hasnt taken any damage though a semi-heavy smoke grenade did fall on the laptop next to the touchpad last night. It didn't look like it had any immediate impact on the preformance though.

It is to be noted that I havnt had internet access over the laptop since 2 days due to the Univercity internet breaking down and the problem only started this morning/last night, meaning the possibilty of a virus would be unlikely. I also didnt run any new programms or installers last night.

When the laptop does work, I run virus and adware scans every couple of days and defragment once a week.

The Laptop specs are:

VAIO FZ190 CTO
2.0 Ghz Intel 2 Duo Core
2 gig. Ram
NVidia 8400

Is this a commen problem that is easily solved or will I have to find a computer technichian.
Thanks for taking time to ponder my problem.

Can you boot into safe mode?

After a while this disappears and then all that is on the screen is the mouse pointer.

At this point, does pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc bring up the task manager?

If yes, try clicking the New Task button and typing in 'explorer'

If no, does it boot into safe mode, like Ant said?

how do you run safe mode in vista? I have two options when it boots.
Run Normal Startup
Run Windows Startup Diagnostics tool

i've cycled through the F1 -F12 keys while it was booting to no avail. Boo Hiss at Vista!

Ill try what you suggested though playbus. Thanks alot =] I posted on two other sites that deal with laptop issues but TWHL pulls through again

Ill go try that now.
Thanks

Hit F8 at just the right moment before Vista starts booting to get the menu where you can start Safe mode.

Hit F8 repeatedly to ensure you get it

ok im in the computer lab again so ill try safe mode later. hit ctrl+ shift + esc didnt work. Doesnt task manager only work when youre actually logged in? I dont even see the loggin screen =[

But ill spam f8 next time im in my room.

PS: this keyboard has weird symbols
? ?

**UPDATE: i spamed f8 and got to a menu where i could select safe mode but the thing what happened here was the same as if i had started the comp normally. it restarts after the windows progress bar screen closes. There is a blue screen of death error but it only stays for a fraction of a second and then the laptop restarts...

Someone in my block suggested taking the battery out for 30 seconds and then trying it again. ill try that in about an hour but please, anyone else have any ideas? I dont want to have to spend over ?70 to have some technichian fix it.

***UPDATE 2: Taking the batterie out didnt work either. i left it on over night but i didnt progress from the black screen with the cursor.

ok the last option for me is to reinstall vista and see if it works then. The vista files are all already on the harddrive so i don't need a cd. However i dont know how i would go about and what commands i enter where that vista woulda reinstall...Apparently the US version of VIsta is different to the UK version aswell in terms of what keys to hit when... any ideas please?

Yeah if it won't boot in safe mode, your best bet for the most speedy recovery is a clean re-install.

There are other options, but they're much longer and more fiddly.

Good luck.