Vista killed my baby

[aids]

Yep. Basically I downloaded a thing for Vista (bleh) and when I went to restart my laptop it exploded into a million pieces broke.

It will go through and check the files on my laptop, but when it reaches a certain point it will read something along the lines of "!! 0xc0190002 cryptsvc.dll" and freeze up. My dad is a computer technician (for lack of better word) and has tried to repair it, but nothing's worked.

I still need to call Microsoft and figure out what the problem is, and if they will fix it for free. Unless any of you know what to do.

LAPTOP SPECS:

ACER Aspire 6920

So, if you can help me out at all please do, and since my laptop had ALL my documents and information I'm going to be away from the community for a while. Let's hope I get this worked out.

[Vyacheslav]

What exactly did you download? Can you boot into Safe Mode by pressing F8 before Windows boots, (right after the BIOS screen).

[smartalco]

1) Take out the laptop hard drive
2) Stick it in another computer as a secondary drive
3) Boot the computer
4) Grab all the stuff you want off of the laptop drive and put it on the other computer (various distros of linux seem more compliant with reading random drives then windows, if you have a distro to try with)
5) Put the original drive back in the laptop
6) Reinstall vista on the laptop
7) Drag the files you saved back to the laptop.

Of course, not everyone has the necessary shit to mount a laptop drive in a second computer like I do...

[Vyacheslav]

All you need is a 2.5" USB enclosure.

[aids]

I really don't know what I downloaded, I just stupidly clicked OK.

This is my current plan:

1. Buy an external hard drive.
2. Boot up my laptop using an Ubuntu CD I have.
3. Copy all my data to the external drive.
4. Reinstall or get a new OS.
5. Recopy files to laptop.

Any comments on this?

[Kablizzy]

I was hoping this thread would be something *entirely* different.

[Luminaflare]

Do you not have any anti-virus?

[smartalco]

I really don't know what I downloaded, I just stupidly clicked OK.

This is my current plan:

1. Buy an external hard drive.
2. Boot up my laptop using an Ubuntu CD I have.
3. Copy all my data to the external drive.
4. Reinstall or get a new OS.
5. Recopy files to laptop.

Any comments on this?

Sounds good to me.

[aids]

Do you not have any anti-virus?

Heh, actually I think that my version of Avast! was not compatible with the Vista update, since it turns out that Avast keeps trying to run before the computer starts and clashes horribly with Vista. Guess I'd better get a new anti-virus.

I really don't know what I downloaded, I just stupidly clicked OK.

This is my current plan:

1. Buy an external hard drive.
2. Boot up my laptop using an Ubuntu CD I have.
3. Copy all my data to the external drive.
4. Reinstall or get a new OS.
5. Recopy files to laptop.

Any comments on this?

Sounds good to me.

Excellent. As far as external hard drives go I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with this one.

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

Do you not have any anti-virus?

Heh, actually I think that my version of Avast! was not compatible with the Vista update, since it turns out that Avast keeps trying to run before the computer starts and clashes horribly with Vista. Guess I'd better get a new anti-virus.

Before the computer starts up?? Holy shit! Avast Anti-Virus on Vista solves the fucking halting problem!

[SlappyMcGee]

You heard it here first, folks. Avast has determined that Vista is a threat to the safety of a PC.

[scythe]

It's possible to boot into a Linux LiveCD and run a virus scan on an NTFS hard drive. You might want to look for something like that, I know it's out there.

[Kablizzy]

Who the fuck uses Avast!? Really.

[Luminaflare]

Some computers we get in for repair use it, has the most awesome way of telling you it found a virus.

[smartalco]

Some computers we get in for repair use it, has the most awesome way of telling you it found a virus.

I'm going to be sorely disappointed if it doesn't delete your entire windows install.

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

Some computers we get in for repair use it, has the most awesome way of telling you it found a virus.

I'm going to be sorely disappointed if it doesn't delete your entire windows install.

I prefer to edit the Ubuntu .iso so that the splash screen says, "Virus Detected; Patching Your OS..."

[aids]

Some computers we get in for repair use it, has the most awesome way of telling you it found a virus.

I'm going to be sorely disappointed if it doesn't delete your entire windows install.

I prefer to edit the Ubuntu .iso so that the splash screen says, "Virus Detected; Patching Your OS..."

Woah, that is the epitome of computer jokes. I gotta learn that.

I found a CD with Windows XP in it. Hooray!

[Pikman]

If your Vista isn't SP1, it's actually prone to doing that after any software update. I know from personal experience; while at Circuit City (hey, remember that store? Yeah.), a computer did exactly that while I just stared at it. It's funny, but Microsoft is actually killing itself with whatever it tries to send in those updates.

[Chase]

If your Vista isn't SP1, it's actually prone to doing that after any software update. I know from personal experience; while at Circuit City (hey, remember that store? Yeah.), a computer did exactly that while I just stared at it. It's funny, but Microsoft is actually killing itself with whatever it tries to send in those updates.

Well the Service Packs are sent out via Auto Update anyways. I have SP2 right now. Yes, SP2 is out. Nicely publicised as well.

[Vyacheslav]

I've had no problems with Vista SP2... rock stable and no crashes.

[乳头的早餐谷物]

It sounds like you and the thing you downloaded killed your baby, not Vista.

Who the fuck uses Avast!? Really.

Avast! is solid.

[jean-luc]

OP: Do you have Windows install media available? Boot from that and select the option to repair a windows installation. That's always the first place to start, I dunno if your father already tried it. Next thing, try to determine the source of the problem - it may or may not be fixable in place. I'd recommend running ClamAV on the drive to see if it's a virus issue, ClamAV is available on a number of bootable discs, such as https://launchpad.net/clamav-livecd. Next thing, you'll want to retrieve your files. Use a liveCD (Ubuntu, Knoppix, Trinity Rescue Kit, Hiren's, BartPE, take your pick) to copy the files you need from the computer to external media (flash drive, another machine via the network, external HDD, whatever). Another option is to use a CD that includes driveimage XML (Hiren's has this) or another similar utility to take an image of the drive, so you have the entire contents of the drive available. I always do this when I upgrade OSs/HDDs. You may try a repair install from the Vista CD after backing up, but know that the repair install is much more destructive than the documentation makes it out to be. At that point I would strongly recommend reinstalling.

[aids]

Well, I copied all my data to a drive, reinstalled Vista (I couldn't get XP to work, but I upgraded from Vista Home to Vista Ultimate) and am now trying to get this setup as close to before as possible.