MS Windows Vista expert help needed

[Bimmer335i]

So I have a Vista OS laptop. The computer hangs and i hard powered down the machine. Trying to reboot and got stuck at the booting screen with the scroll runing across the screen...so i hard reboot again. This time the blue screen of death pops up with a warning that basically says windows shut down due to some error to prevent from damaging the system. And the associated error was a file called HIDUSB.sys. Not sure what it is or what it means but i rebooted again trying to repair the system with no success whatsoever.

i even tried to reboot from the Vista OS recovering CD, but the system continues to hang...and all i got is an arrow (cursor) sitting across a black screen...so that's where i'm at now. I would like to be able to recover the system, but most importantly recovering some of the data for work. it's critical, so if anyone could help, please help...i'm willing to put up a reward since i really need the data back. Thanks!

[stimpy]

Can you F8 before you get to the windows splash screen and either get into safe mode to load a previous save point or load last known good config? That'd be a starting point.
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[Bimmer335i]

Originally Posted by stimpy

Can you F8 before you get to the windows splash screen and either get into safe mode to load a previous save point or load last known good config? That'd be a starting point.

I tried all of that, F8 key, safe mode, debugger mode,,and the system just hangs..i even removed the batt. and waited awhile, tried rebooting without the batt. and with just the AC adapter..no joy..

and yeah, even tried the last known good config too..

[stimpy]

Have you tried Safe Mode without networking?

Do you have an XP cd laying around?
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[stimpy]

Also what brand/model is the laptop?
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[Bimmer335i]

i tried the safe mode, safe mode with command prompt, and even debugger mode...no joy

i don't have an XP CD at the moment, my system is a Dell XPS M1330, and it came with a Vista installed. The comp came with a Reinstallation Vista OS CD.

[stimpy]

What does the laptop have in regards to memory? On those Dell's they typically have a chip inside which you need to remove the top bezel and then keyboard to get too - and sometimes an extended chip from a little panel you can remove from the bottom.

Ultimate goal would be if you have 2 chips, remove one and test, then remove the other and test.

Also you could try the Dell Diagnostics which can be ran by booting with the FN+Power key or accessing it via the BIOS which I believe is F2 on startup.
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[Bimmer335i]

well, i have a 4GB RAM, which i think its only one chip...

right now, i did the F12 key to get into the boot sequence to try to boot from the Vista installation CD, but did see the Run Diagnostics option, so i'm trying that right now..currently it's testing the Memory Test Activity

[Bimmer335i]

By the way, I have done the following:

turn on the system, and it takes longer than usual to boot, but it hangs so i had to power down. I did the F8 key, and enter the Safe Mode, the system loaded some drivers, but it stopped after the crcdisk.sys is loaded. the system tried to load whatever driver after that but failed, and reboots itself and gives the BSOD, with the following data:

A problem occurs and windows shut down to prevent damage...

if this is the first time, turn off and turn on and start windows normally. if not, then do this..F8 key..and safe mode..blah blah

Technical information:

STOP...0x00000003r3e, 0x000FjF...
win32k.sys - Address 0x00087888, 0x0098..., datestamp


then i tried another F8, safe mode again, but this time a slightly different BSOD came up

pretty much everything the same as above, but with one xception, and that is, instead of the win32k.sys file, it shows the HIDUSB.sys file - Address 0x00900089,,,,datestamp...

[stimpy]

Ok - let that run and see how it goes.

If you have 4 GB of memory, I'm 99% sure you have two chips. Try removing the memory module (unplug and remove battery first) that you gain access to by removing the three screws on the bottom of your laptop and then try to boot it up.

Here is your manual by the way:
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...om/RW4910P.pdf
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[Bimmer335i]

You are correct. I checked the spec sheet and my system does have 2 DIMMs. And i also have the manual in hard copy with me, so thanks for the link.

So if the chips are failing or failed, does this consider a hardware failure and not necessarily the windows drivers that were bad or corrupted? Does this also explain why when I tried to boot from the Vista CD, it wouldnt boot either?

[stimpy]

Yep - everything is going to pass through memory which is why I'd like to test each memory module. Especially since we don't have a whole lot of options with software as we can't get into anything.
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[Bimmer335i]

Roger that!

As we speak, the machine is still running the Memory Test Activiy portion of the Diagnostics Test and it says it may take at least 30 mins or more...I guess I will have to let it run to see if it can find any errors/issues with the memory, and then tomorrow, i will physically remove the chips and test them one by one. Thank you very much for your help. I'll get back to you with the result, hopefully a good one. Thanks again!

[stimpy]

Sounds good - I'll be around in the morning and would be happy to help further.
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[stimpy]

Any luck today?
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[Searcher821]

Just make an Ubuntu live cd ...

[Kensta335]

Suprised no one said this yet.

Get a Mac.

[UncleWede]

IF you need the data, you can pull the hard drive, drop it into an external enclosure, and slave it to another machine to TRY and get data. It almost sounds like the drive is heading south for the winter.

[335iheLLraiseR]

Vista sux major ass balls.

[Bimmer335i]

Update:
Thanks, guys for the inputs. Here's the story. Called Dell support guy and he told me to run diags and I did, found no errors, all hardware seem to pass. Memory is good too, so I guess the RAM chips are still okay. Dell guy suggested that it could be the software or the OS is acting up. No issues with the hardware.

So I brought it in to my IT guy at work (it's a work laptop), and he pulled out the hard drive so he could try to retrieve the data. He hooked my failing drive to a PC, and was able to view the contents of the drive, which included C: and D: partitions where C is the primary and D is the recovery. But that was all he could do, just seeing the contents but was not able to transfer or copy the contents to an external HDD. He was at DOS prompt but could not change the directory to the C: drive, but he could change to the D: drive..we were both baffled.

He went online, did some research, and downloaded an app called something like KNOPPIX or something like that, and installed that on a MAC!! Then he hooked up my failing HDD to a MAC! and voila! it works..he was able to view the contents of BOTH partitions, C and D...how was that possible?! but it did...so long story short, he was able to retrieve the data from the C: drive which included all kinds of critical stuff for my work and some personal files as well. Lesson learned for me is: back up the data regularly!

So to someone who said, why not get a MAC, well, guess what, that's what I'm gonna do next, and also someone who said Vista sux balls, well, guess what, that's true and Imma re-install the OS but this time it would be XP. Thanks again.

[fdriller9]

I just installed Windows 7 and love it. I bought my HP laptop with Vista and it sucked. Windows 7 is alot faster, more reliable, and more compatible. Because I have a 64-bit OS, I had trouble getting programs to run in Vista. Windows 7 runs them fine.