Window Vista Black Screen BEFORE login

[#1]

HP 6500 laptop (Italian setup)  (Italian friend staying)... Running (when it works) Vista....
on switching on, it goes through the motions of booting up, with the running bar at thebottom of the screen, then screen goes black for a couple of secs, and just when you expect the "login" screen, with password, screen goes dark grey with the mouse pointer in centre.... hangs... can`t do nothing with it... except move the mouse cursor with the touchpad...
vaguely remember seeing mention of a Linux Boot Disc that can be downloaded .... and then burnt to cd.... can this be used to access the windows vista?  If so can someone please give me the url. or program name to google....
I have tried to do a system restore, and although it says you can do the boot sector, it does not actually allow you to check the box... so presume it is the boot that is causing the problem...
any advice gratefully received...
thanks

[#2]

The boot CD I used was this one but this is the latest version http://linux.softpedia.com/progDownload/PCLinuxOS-2007-Download-22543.html
However it didn't fix the problem. It allowed the user to get all the data off before running the recovery CD which wipes everything
Have they tried starting in safe mode

[#3]

Hi Jim,,,, thanks for your response....
yes, it doesn`t matter whether it is safe mode or not..... it just does the start up bit with the rolling bar at the bottom then black screens...
will go and do the boot disc, so he can at least save his stuff before the re-install....
thanks again...

[#4]

This could well be a hardware problem , in which case your attempt to re-install will fail and you will be left with a large paperweight instead of a computer.  Do you have a Vista CD you can boot from?  Or what other options were presented when you tried System Restore? 

[#5]

Try the Linux option.
If it doesn't give you a nice picturesque screen, then you probably have a defective screen/defective video card etc.

[#6]

Yes I do have a Vista CD ,, however, his version is Italian. and I don`t want to overwrite his version, by doing a re-install..... I did insert it and tried the "repair computer" when it got to INSTALL page, however after doing the "Repair Start up", a couple of times, I checked the log, and it reported that everything was correct with the start up, including loading the OS...
Have just finised downloading pclinuxos-phoenix-2009.4.iso
and have sent a PM to Oldjim, as I don`t know what to do with it now !... have a CD R in the drive waiting to burn it, but can`t see any .exe file to continue, in the  Winzip folder...
(awaiting Oldjim`s response, as he directed me to download it)
Thanks for replies so far...

[#7]

Did he tell you to write it as a disk image - not a data file - something like Nero will have this kind of option.

[#8]

Indeed. .ISO files are disk images and standard "burning" utilities have the means to put that straight to a CD or DVD as appropriate.
In Nero (one of the commonest) it's literally "Burn image to disc" (in my version).

[#9]

Hi Guys... yes, just got a message from him... so going to do it in a mo.... (makes tea first ! ! !)

[#10]

UPDATE...
have finally got a good download copy .... !  (took all night... well I was asleep, so it could have been quicker !).... anyway, it took about 5 minutes to get my Dell copy of ROXIO to do a copy of the ISO file.... put it in the sick laptop, and booted up... worked straight away...   eventually managed to find how to get the wireless connection set up, and it is now "on the net"...
Have sent Oldjim  a couple of questions, about how to access the windows files, but meanwhile, I found the Phoenix control centre, and there was  SETTINGS on the left side,and on the bottom right it said... Import Windows (TM) documents and settings.  when I clicked on that,  a "wizard" page opened, clicked on NEXT,  and it said "No Windows Installation has been detected"
so do I need to get another "application" or something loaded into Phoenix to access the windows files/docs/images/videos  then?  or ami going about it totally the wrong way?
cheers

[#11]

If you open the Computer Icon on the menu (Note I don't use PCLinux-Os so this is generic)
Choose the HDD (something shown like 40Gb) then you should see the C drive of windows. Navigate to "Documents & settings\user" You can then put in a USB disk or copy it to another PC with a shared folder.

[#12]

from my last PM
Click on the My Computer icon on the desktop then storage media.
You will get one or more funny items. That is just what it calls the hard drives.
Click on one and you will see all the folders.
Documents may be under users etc. but in Italian

[#13]

Have PM`d back to Jim.... I may open up a new thread in the Linux section later on tonight if I can`t figure it out ! ! 

[#14]

Still can`t find them pesky files. ! 
so have started a new thread in the Linux section of the forum
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,81802.0.html
Please post any help in that  thread......
thank you

[#15]

Topic locked in favour of the new thread