Installed new mobo, stuck in "Start Windows normally or safe mode" screen... Please help!

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Alicehalf

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Oct 17, 2013
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Hi all,
We have a Fujitsu Amilo Pi3410 tower, which was running Vista Home Premium. The system started losing the time and date, so we tried a new mobo battery. That didn't help. Did system restore from hard disk. That didn't fix time and date problem, but we were able to run Windows and use the PC.

Spoke with PC World tech and Fujitsu rep. They both said we needed a new mobo. We installed the AS Rock 775 G31M-GS M-ATX. Only got as far as option for system restore. Tried restoring from hard disk, tried restoring from backup disks... no luck. All I keep getting is the screen that wants a choice of how to start Windows. It's just stuck in a loop. Same screen no matter which option I choose.

A tech savvy friend had a look. She knows hardware. Tried a different hard drive. Same problem. She tried running the disk that came with the mobo. She said something about the system not recognising BIOS. But she only knows hardware and she says all the hardware is fine. So if it is a software problem, we are stuck as to how to proceed.

Can anyone please help?! Learning as we go along.... Thank you!
 
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I'm concerned that the "Restore to Factory Settings" with the disk from your old MB may have modified this installation of Vista beyond repair. At this point, I would recommend starting from scratch with the new Vista disk only, and re-install Vista.

Just put the Vista disk in the CD drive and reboot the computer. Be sure that the CD is first in the boot order and boot into the Vista installation program. The installer will detect the previous installation and ask if you want to repair it - the answer is NO.

I'm assuming that you have nothing of any value (data files, documents, photos, etc.) on the new Vista installation, right? If right, just tell it to re-install Vista on that same partition, the middle one in that list...
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Thanks for all your advice Yogi. Will those drivers be on the disc that AS Rock sent with the motherboard? As for XP... I have an actual, licensed disc for Windows XP. The only Vista I have is on the restore disc I made when I got the PC with Vista on it. I don't mind either, really. I enjoy Vista, but, like I said, I don't have a proper Windows disc product for that o.s. :/
 
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Success! You guys are awesome! Thank you so much! I have XP in there now. I got a coupon with my Vista pc to upgrade to 7, so I may try and see if that works. Maybe, if I feel brave! :) Next thing is to try and get online, run the AS Rock drivers, updates and whatnot. If I come unstuck, I will yell for help! Thanks ever so much! x
 
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So glad to hear about your happy ending! Congratulations!

Yogi

 
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Well, I'm back... So sad. I have XP running and an excellent internet connection. But I can't get the internet to work properly. Some pages work, but I'm really not having any luck getting to the point where I can even run updates. It's on SP1 at present. Anyway, I really would like to get Vista back. I forgot just how ancient XP was lol! I have a product code key for Vista Home Premium but the only backup I have is the set of discs I made when we got the pc. It never came with a proper Vista disc. Now that XP is running, can I load my discs in and get my old Vista back? Or do I have to buy a disc? I've seen "recovery discs" going cheap -- will that work to restore Vista now that I've put XP in? It doesn't seem fair that I have to buy anything at all, considering I already purchased Vista and have a product code. Can you please advise? And thank you! :)
 
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So sorry to hear that you're having problems.

I wouldn't try your old Vista restore disks as those were created to work with the old motherboard.

Each installation of Windows is tied to the computer's motherboard. In most cases, if you change the MB, you are "supposed" to buy a new copy of Windows. However, it may be different with your copy of Vista.

You can download a free copy of Vista from this site and burn it to a CD for installation with your current product key: http://www.vistax64.com/general-discussion/296167-vista-iso-download.html

I don't know if it will work with your current key, but it is sure worth a try.

Yogi
 
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Thanks Yogi! I will have to see if my internet connection will let me get to that link! It is very hit and miss. Or borrow someone's pc or laptop long enough to burn a disc. Still using my friend's Netbook and it doesn't do cd/dvd.... And here I thought computers were meant to make things easier! Hahaha!

Question... in the link, it says vistax64... is that for 64 bit? I'm pretty sure mine is 32 bit. Would that be a different link?

Thanks so much for sticking with me. :) And Happy New Year to you....

Cheers,
Alice
 
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Hi again,

I just clicked on the link to be nosy and it is all explained there. It tells me how to get to the 32 bit and it says I can use a USB stick, which is an option with the Netbook!

I probably should have looked at the link before I responded, huh? 😉

I will let you know how I get on! :)
 
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Hi Yogi,

I feel like a dunce. I couldn't get that link to work. I wound up buying a reinstall disc from ebay for £5. It worked with my product code, which was great. It was really straightforward. At the end, I had Vista! It was there -- my chosen background, chosen icon, box ready for entry of chosen password. Fab. I was SO excited....

THEN... I entered my password and it threw me into the Recovery screen. That grey one that makes your heart sink. All it would let me do was a system restore. I tried using all the diagnostic tools and repair tools on the reinstall disc. I got nowhere. I probably should have asked for help at that point. Instead, I tried restoring to factory settings using the backup discs I made when the pc was first purchased. I figured with it being a different motherboard, this was wrong, but desperate times and all that.

Anyway, the XP install had indicated everything else would be wiped out. This Vista install, instead, said something about moving XP to a different folder (Windows.old, which amused me until everything went wrong.) The disc is a licensed Microsoft product, and like I said, it was working fine. SO the problem is with me. Something I did wrong somewhere. In my surfing travels, I came across info about partitions and I'm thinking I prolly messed that up somehow....

I walked through the Vista install again, just to a certain point, to see if I could get any info that would help me ask an intelligent question. Here is the screen I had up...

Disk 0 Partition 1 WinRE Total size 9.0 GB Free space 1.8 GB Primary
Disk 0 Partition 2 System Total size 303.8 GB Free Space 288.6 GB primary
Disk 0 Partition 3 Data Total size 152.9 GB Free space 152.8 GB primary

It seems like an awful lot of room is taken up in the first two partitions? I don't know where Vista is living, where XP has been rehoused and if any of that space was used with my silly trial of restoring from the old backup discs... Can you please tell me what the heck I should do? I was tempted to put XP in again, to wipe the drive and start again with the Vista reinstall disc. But every time I try to proceed without instruction, it goes wrong. SO I shall leave it and hopefully you can advise me! Sigh...

Thank you SO much for all your time and advice! :) xx Alice xx
 
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Hi, Alice -

Sorry to see you having troubles again.

First, I would be a little bit leery of a 5 quid disk from e-bay. I don't know how you could tell if it is safe to use or loaded with malware.

Next, I surprised that it asked you for a password? Did you install a password?

The partitions look approximately right. The first is prolly your old XP installation. The second is prolly the Vista install, and the third is only 100 MB so that looks like a System Reserved Partition.

I took another look at the free Vista D/L that I posted above. It seems pretty straightforward and easy to follow, to me. Do you think that you might give that method another try?

Yogi

 
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Hiya,

Thanks for all your patience! The password was the one I set up for my Vista user account. The one you type in when you turn the pc on, to distinguish your user account from someone else's. It was exactly as it used to be when I had Vista working before, originally. It wasn't just one guy selling a random disc for a fiver. There are tons of them available on many sites. The seller I chose had lots of good reviews, as did the disc, so I'm thinking it's the real deal. The disc can repair or reinstall, as long as you have a valid product code. What I gather from ringing Fujitsu and Microsoft is that Vista was usually pre-installed and consumers were told to make backup discs, rather than a Vista disc being supplied. Microsoft no longer make the actual Vista disc so this is the licensed product and it's only good to those who have a product code.

The link you sent looked straightforward. I got as far as trying to download the 32 bit files. It had the little folder animation, saying the items were being downloaded, but it never changed from 1% complete. It stayed at a constant "17 minutes remaining" for half an hour, so I exited. Mind you, I figure the reason was that I was using my pc... the one with the XP on it. When I typed in the exact url, it loaded fine so I went with it. The reason I did this is because of this one line in the instructions: "3. Download the Windows Bootable Image Creator zip file, WBICreator.zip." It looks like something you have to download into the computer to make the actual disc. Is that right? And as the Netbook is borrowed, it's not mine to add stuff to.

I could give it another go, but I'm *fairly* confident the problem was not with the reinstall disc. If that is the case, and the partitions look to you to have the right amount of space taken up -- what did I do wrong? I'm thinking of putting XP in again and trying Vista one more time from scratch... but there isn't much point if I don't know what went wrong the first time. I could go through the whole process of making a disc from the link and have the same thing happen, because i just don't know what went wrong....

I know, I'm a nuisance! What do you reckon I can do about this mess, given the disc is probably not the problem? Can I make a disc/usb from the link without downloading something into a borrowed computer? And would I need to insert XP before anything else? Or if it looks like it is just one version of Vista in the System partition, why won't it run?

I will try whatever, just so long as I know what I'm doing won't cause damage. I was reading about how you can totally wipe and reformat the hard drive, but I have a feeling that would be disastrous! Lol! And plus, I'm sure it doesn't need anything as drastic as THAT, considering XP was working and Vista got as far as my signing in to my user account.

I don't know. I don't even have intelligent questions to ask anymore.... We have a computer shop in town, but I'm hesitant to take it to them, because when I had a chat to them after I put in the new motherboard, they said I probably didn't need to do that. It was probably the hard drive... and they wanted 60 quid for the labour of switching it over, which seemed a *tad* excessive. At this point I just feel I'm in over my head. And like I said, I don't even know what questions to ask anymore...... If you have any further insight, I am always most grateful. Thank you again... :)
 
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OK - So, let's assume that it is a good disk that you bought. Do you know if it is an "upgrade" version or a "full install" version? The upgrade version requires a previous installation of Windows to be present in order to do the installation, whereas a full install version does not have any such prerequisites.

Let me see if I have this right: First, you installed XP and got up to SP1 and all was well. Next, you installed Vista without wiping out the XP installation, so it appears that this Vista installation would've been an "upgrade install". Have I got that right?

Fear not! We can get this sorted for a lot less than 60 quid!

Yogi
 
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Awww thanks Yogi... I certainly hope you're right about that last part!

The disc is an install disk and also comes with repair and diagnostic options. No mention of upgrade. I wrote to the guy first and explained my whole situation. He replied, "yes,this CD is exactly what you need, this CD can work in 2 ways

a) - It will try and run a repair on the existing operating system to see if it can get it back up and running successfully, if this works it will keep all your existing data.

b) - Can completely restore your operating system back to its original state (you need the product key sticker on the PC/Laptop to do this). This will completely overwrite all your existing files/photos etc so make sure you have a back up of all your data if you can log onto the PC ok." He also stated on his ebay page "this disc will not upgrade from XP. It will only reinstall Vista."

And, yes, as a recap, I changed the motherboard and the Vista I had wouldn't work. I installed XP with SP1 and that worked fine. On installation, it gave a message saying all other Windows versions would be deleted. When I got this disc, I did an installation, using my original product code. One of the messages said this install would move any previous version of Windows to a file called Windows.old. So it didn't wipe it out, but moved it and installed Vista. The install went exactly as it should, but as soon as I entered my user account password, it took me to the restore factory settings screen and no further.

So that's where I'm at. 🙁

As always, I am grateful for your help! :)

 
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I'm concerned that the "Restore to Factory Settings" with the disk from your old MB may have modified this installation of Vista beyond repair. At this point, I would recommend starting from scratch with the new Vista disk only, and re-install Vista.

Just put the Vista disk in the CD drive and reboot the computer. Be sure that the CD is first in the boot order and boot into the Vista installation program. The installer will detect the previous installation and ask if you want to repair it - the answer is NO.

I'm assuming that you have nothing of any value (data files, documents, photos, etc.) on the new Vista installation, right? If right, just tell it to re-install Vista on that same partition, the middle one in that list that you posted earlier.

Did the new MB come with a drivers CD? Because you'll need it for the drivers for the new MB. Install your drivers (if needed) AFTER Windows installs Vista.

Good luck!

Yogi
 
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Solution
That's what I was thinking. As I was inserting the old discs, I had a really bad feeling! That's so great, Yogi. Thank you so so much!

That will be perfect if I can just reinstall it. I wonder if it will wipe the old Vista out or move it?

I have absolutely nothing at all saved on there at all, so I will definitely do what you suggested.

Hopefully,, it doesn't throw me into the Restore Factory Settings screen when I try to use it. Do you think I would need to shut down rather than log in at that point and try to boot the motherboard drivers disc? I had XP up and running and was able to put the mb drivers in, but I'm not sure if Vista is different.

Let me know what you think about that, please. And then as soon as I have a chance, I will take some deep breaths and try again! Thank you! :)
 
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That's what I was thinking. As I was inserting the old discs, I had a really bad feeling! That's so great, Yogi. Thank you so so much!

That will be perfect if I can just reinstall it. I wonder if it will wipe the old Vista out or move it?

I have absolutely nothing at all saved on there at all, so I will definitely do what you suggested.

Hopefully,, it doesn't throw me into the Restore Factory Settings screen when I try to use it. Do you think I would need to shut down rather than log in at that point and try to boot the motherboard drivers disc? I had XP up and running and was able to put the mb drivers in, but I'm not sure if Vista is different.

Let me know what you think about that, please. And then as soon as I have a chance, I will take some deep breaths and try again! Thank you! :)
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You're quite welcome, Alice!

There is no good reason why it would throw you into the "Restore Factory Settings" screen. It will find the previous installation and ask you if you want to repair it. Just click on "NO" and go ahead and format that partition. It will warn you that will wipe out everything on that partition. Don't worry - that is what you want to do. You should not have to reboot or log in to the old installation of Vista.

Once Windows has finished installation, and stops asking you questions, then you want to run the MB drivers CD. Do this before any Windows updates too.

Yogi
 
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Hi Yogi...

Well, still no luck! I followed your directions exactly. It let me format that System partition and it showed me that it was empty when I put the new Vista installation in it. It went through all the Vista stuff, just like last time. The final step said "Thank You" with the Windows logo and there was a Start button. I clicked that, and it said "Please wait while Windows checks your computer's performance." Then, it came up with my chosen icon and asked me to put in my user password, exactly like last time. Last time, it threw me into the Recovery screen when I typed my password. This time, I was busy taking written notes on the above, so I delayed in entering my password. It didn't even wait for me. It said "Shutting down," then it restarted, on its own, in the grey Fujitsu Recovery Screen, with the only options being "restore factory default settings" or "cancel."

I installed the mb driver disc and hit cancel, so it shut down. I turned it on and hit F11 to enter boot menu. I selected the cd/dvd option, as I did for the Vista disc. I did not get the message "press any key to boot from cd/dvd," which is what is supposed to happen next. It just came up with a black screen and it had that greyish bar on the bottom that said "Windows is loading files." But the bar never turned white, which it did when loading files from the Vista disc. When that screen went, it just took me back to the grey screen and the restore factory settings option.

I popped the mb drivers disc out, hit cancel and shut it down. SO frustrating. It is so close! If this mb is compatible with XP then it must be compatible with Vista, right? Do you have any suggestions at all? Could the problem be the Windows.old file it loaded into the first partition when the Vista install moved XP? I think if I enter the Vista disc it might let me format THAT partition -- just wipe it clean and exit the installation process without putting Vista in there, as Vista is already in the second partition. I don't even know if the info in that partition matters, but I have no other ideas myself.

The only other thing I can think to mention is that last time, I went into the BIOS screen with the mb drivers disc in the cd drive. It wouldn't boot the disc (same as now) so the bios screen at least let me run what they call "AS Rock Instant Flash." I don't know a thing about bios, but it says that option should tell you the bios details -- and it said "no bios detected." I don't know if that means anything?

Sigh.... Sorry to be so demanding! :) Any ideas, as always, will be greatly appreciated. xx Alice xx
 
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