I originally posted this problem on Hardware, but found that I should have posted it here on Windows Vista.
My wife's computer shut down unexpectedly, and on restart briefly displayed a blue screen message, "Windows failed to start", and then another screen with "Windows Error Recovery" with the choice of "Launch Startup Repair" which when attempted, failed. My wife has files on the computer hard drive that she desperatel would like recovered.
A nice member, DaveLembke, replied to my original post, with the advice to run System Recovery from System Recovery discs. After trying suggested HP Customer Support troubleshooting steps, I made the attempt with System Recovery disc 1; the computer showed "Windows gathering files", but then the screen turned green and became nonrespondent; I killed the power after a couple hours with nothing to show. Later, I restarted the computer with disc 1 still in the tray, after another hour of nonactivity I again powered off the computer.
I feel that I am butting my head against the wall; does anyone have advice of how to get the computer to respond to and run the System Recovery discs or any other advice on recovering spreadsheets, and other document files?
My wife informed me that all she wants for Christmas is to recover her files.
Thanks to all who read this post and especially to any who may reply.
The computer is a HP Compaq Presario desktop model SR5025WM-B with 1024 MB PC2-4200 SDRAM and 250 GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA hard drive. There are two system recovery discs that were made from the computer.
