[12 gauge]

im getting an Unmountable_Boot_Volume blue screen error on my laptop with Vista. anyone familar with it? it wont even boot in safe mode

[Migitmd]

sounds like vista fucked up the boot file.

If i recall right, Ed had difficulty with this as well and when he tried to fix it, Vista completely deleted it, along with something else... I can't quite remember what it was.

[PhillAholic]

the unmountable boot volume usually happens when a system loses power or is interrupted while writing something to the hard drive, usually involving an important system file. It is usually very fixable though. You need the original Vista disk to boot into the recovery console, and then run the following two commands:

• chkdsk /r
• fixboot

If you don't have a Vista disc, you can get a recovery disc from the follow site which has torrent links available. Due note that there are different versions for 32 and 64 bit.

http://neosmart.net/...-disc-download/

[fidget]

My Acer Laptop, had a media check error, which would not allow it to boot at all. It turned out that the ribbon cable for the cd/dvd drive was bad. Had to send it back to Acer. Later my CD/DVD Drive eventually died completely, but this time it didn't screw up the computer.

[Migitmd]

I was actually talking to a co-worker at Lowes who had a friend at microsoft during Vista's developmental days.

I can't quote, but I can give a general summary:
Microsoft was working on revolutionary stuff, far more advanced than XP. It had already been 4 years since XP was released and Microsoft needed to get another OS out. Thus Vista was born. The only problem, Vista was a premature baby, with incomplete technology and features, thus why it had so many problems with heavy usage; usage other than browsing the web, reading and writing email and running office.

Once the features and technology was complete, two years later, Windows 7 came out.

Now this is something I'm quote from my co-worker, which I can agree with to a point. "Windows 7 is the best thing Microsoft has come out with since Windows 3.1." The move to windows 7 was probably the smartest computer decision I've ever made. Windows 7 is powerful, and extremely advanced, especially if you have the 64bit version. I actually find XP slow compared to Windows 7 and I'm starting to frown upon XP (surprisingly)

[PhillAholic]

Migitmd, on Mar 10, 2010 - 12:18 AM, said:

I was actually talking to a co-worker at Lowes who had a friend at microsoft during Vista's developmental days.

I can't quote, but I can give a general summary:
Microsoft was working on revolutionary stuff, far more advanced than XP. It had already been 4 years since XP was released and Microsoft needed to get another OS out. Thus Vista was born. The only problem, Vista was a premature baby, with incomplete technology and features, thus why it had so many problems with heavy usage; usage other than browsing the web, reading and writing email and running office.

Once the features and technology was complete, two years later, Windows 7 came out.

That's really not true. If the situation is at all factual in that this person has a friend at Microsoft, it's been lost in transition. Microsoft didn't allow enough time for Manufactures to get their hardware running correctly on Vista, which caused just about 99% of the problems with the OS. Nvidia's drivers were almost unusable for the first 6 months, and Intel had major issues with their wireless cards. Did I mention a majority of printers too? It wasn't just heavy usage.

[Migitmd]

Quote

Microsoft didn't allow enough time for Manufactures to get their hardware running correctly on Vista, which caused just about 99% of the problems with the OS. Nvidia's drivers were almost unusable for the first 6 months,

Heh, that was the same amount of time I gave Vista before i said "fuck Vista" and formated the laptop with XP. Course now it has Windows 7 on it.

[12 gauge]

Ended up wiping it. I wanted to see if it would fix my battery problem too. But I reformatted with my brothers disk, which was a 32 bit disk. I need a 64. Anyone know where I can get a 64 bit vista or 7? Without shelling out 100s of dollars?

*edit- ok so I've got a couple more questions. I can't find the box my laptop came in to save my life. I can find my brothers. He has a Dell and I have a gateway. Would I be able to load the drivers from his laptop onto mine?
Also, what about a piratebay version of windows? Am I asking for trouble there?

[PhillAholic]

12 gauge, on Mar 10, 2010 - 10:30 AM, said:

Ended up wiping it. I wanted to see if it would fix my battery problem too. But I reformatted with my brothers disk, which was a 32 bit disk. I need a 64. Anyone know where I can get a 64 bit vista or 7? Without shelling out 100s of dollars?

*edit- ok so I've got a couple more questions. I can't find the box my laptop came in to save my life. I can find my brothers. He has a Dell and I have a gateway. Would I be able to load the drivers from his laptop onto mine?
Also, what about a piratebay version of windows? Am I asking for trouble there?

No, you will need the Gateway disc unless both companies used the exact same parts. This is higly doubtful.

I would highly suggest just putting 7 on it. It should find all of your drivers, and it'll be a better experience for you.

[12 gauge]

PhillAholic, on Mar 10, 2010 - 12:26 PM, said:

12 gauge, on Mar 10, 2010 - 10:30 AM, said:

Ended up wiping it. I wanted to see if it would fix my battery problem too. But I reformatted with my brothers disk, which was a 32 bit disk. I need a 64. Anyone know where I can get a 64 bit vista or 7? Without shelling out 100s of dollars?

*edit- ok so I've got a couple more questions. I can't find the box my laptop came in to save my life. I can find my brothers. He has a Dell and I have a gateway. Would I be able to load the drivers from his laptop onto mine?
Also, what about a piratebay version of windows? Am I asking for trouble there?

No, you will need the Gateway disc unless both companies used the exact same parts. This is higly doubtful.

I would highly suggest just putting 7 on it. It should find all of your drivers, and it'll be a better experience for you.

7 is the route I want to go, but I dont have $200 to shell out for it. I could use pirate bay to find it, but I don't know what kind of problems I'm looking at there.

[PhillAholic]

12 gauge, on Mar 10, 2010 - 12:42 PM, said:

PhillAholic, on Mar 10, 2010 - 12:26 PM, said:

12 gauge, on Mar 10, 2010 - 10:30 AM, said:

Ended up wiping it. I wanted to see if it would fix my battery problem too. But I reformatted with my brothers disk, which was a 32 bit disk. I need a 64. Anyone know where I can get a 64 bit vista or 7? Without shelling out 100s of dollars?

*edit- ok so I've got a couple more questions. I can't find the box my laptop came in to save my life. I can find my brothers. He has a Dell and I have a gateway. Would I be able to load the drivers from his laptop onto mine?
Also, what about a piratebay version of windows? Am I asking for trouble there?

No, you will need the Gateway disc unless both companies used the exact same parts. This is higly doubtful.

I would highly suggest just putting 7 on it. It should find all of your drivers, and it'll be a better experience for you.

7 is the route I want to go, but I dont have $200 to shell out for it. I could use pirate bay to find it, but I don't know what kind of problems I'm looking at there.

Look a little further down on the main page of the forums....

[Migitmd]

12 gauge, on Mar 10, 2010 - 10:30 AM, said:

Ended up wiping it. I wanted to see if it would fix my battery problem too. But I reformatted with my brothers disk, which was a 32 bit disk. I need a 64. Anyone know where I can get a 64 bit vista or 7? Without shelling out 100s of dollars?

*edit- ok so I've got a couple more questions. I can't find the box my laptop came in to save my life. I can find my brothers. He has a Dell and I have a gateway. Would I be able to load the drivers from his laptop onto mine?
Also, what about a piratebay version of windows? Am I asking for trouble there?

The really nice thing about windows 7, is that it will automatically find every driver that you need, audio, video, card readers, etc. No more hunting for drivers and worrying if you've got the right one.

[PhillAholic]

Luckily Fitch went with the good route and went with 7.

[12 gauge]

shes up and running now. and 7 is pretty damn cool. i like the preview feature that you can preview a window by just mousing over it. better the the vista one which just gave you the small preview.

[fidget]

Migitmd, on Mar 10, 2010 - 2:32 PM, said:

12 gauge, on Mar 10, 2010 - 10:30 AM, said:

Ended up wiping it. I wanted to see if it would fix my battery problem too. But I reformatted with my brothers disk, which was a 32 bit disk. I need a 64. Anyone know where I can get a 64 bit vista or 7? Without shelling out 100s of dollars?

*edit- ok so I've got a couple more questions. I can't find the box my laptop came in to save my life. I can find my brothers. He has a Dell and I have a gateway. Would I be able to load the drivers from his laptop onto mine?
Also, what about a piratebay version of windows? Am I asking for trouble there?

The really nice thing about windows 7, is that it will automatically find every driver that you need, audio, video, card readers, etc. No more hunting for drivers and worrying if you've got the right one.

Not exactly true... I have had to hunt and search for drivers while using windows 7. Some times it doesn't like serial cables, and you might have to find the driver on the cables sites, when windows 7 fails to find it. Its a pain in the ass sometimes. Like my HCS12 board that I am using for my Microprocessing 2 class, drivers do not exist for the board in Windows 7 64 bit, while it does for Windows 7 32 bit. It sucks balls... Because I have to use the schools computers to work on the labs rather then my laptop.