Blue screen of death

Hi glee1805,

If Windows Vista needs to be repaired, you can certainly do that using the original Windows Vista DVD shipped with the system, even if you have installed the Service Pack 2.

However, if you install Windows 8 directly using a disc, you would need to format the hard drive and that would wipe out Windows Vista and the recovery partition from the system. If you decide to revert to Windows Vista later, you will have to re-install Windows using the Windows Vista DVD. Then you would have to install all the drivers and applications manually.

For the error that you are getting while installing Windows 8 in VirtualBox (0xc0000260), you may try the following steps: Open VirualBox, select VMware settings under System tools, check the box for option CPU PAE / NX and click on OK. Also go to Display option in VirtialBox and check 2D and 3D option on the Video tab.

Hope this helps. Please revert if you need any further clarifications.

Thanks for the reply.

However, after inserting the installation disc I am unable to find a repair option. It's possible to open in safe mode, but I've no idea what I would be looking for, as the blue screen gave no further details, other than a reference to a Physical Address Extension being needed for systems with >4GB RAM, which is irrelevant in this case, as the laptop only has 3GB.

Perhaps a SP1 disc doesn't work with a SP2 update after all, and I will have to do a complete reinstall, either from the disc or the recovery drive. Which would be the better option?

Let’s try to repair Windows Vista using following steps:

1. Insert the Windows Vista DVD in the DVD drive.
2. Restart the system and press F12 at Dell logo to go to ‘One Time Boot Menu’.
3. In the ‘One Time Boot Menu’, navigate to the CD/DVD drive using the down arrow key and hit ‘Enter’.
4. Quickly press any key on the keyboard when you see the message ‘Press any key to boot from the CD’.
5. Choose your language settings, and then click ‘Next’.
6. Click ‘Repair your computer’.
7. Select the operating system you want to repair, and then click ‘Next’.
8. On the System Recovery Options menu, click ‘Startup Repair’. Startup Repair might prompt you to make choices as it tries to fix the problem, and if necessary, it might restart your computer as it makes repairs.

If the startup repair does not work, try the following step

On the ‘System Recovery Options’ menu, select ‘Command Prompt’. Once the command prompt is open, please type the following command and press ‘Enter’:

Chkdsk C:/F

Note: There is a space between chkdsk and C.

The system would then try to scan and fix the errors.

If you have to reinstall the Windows manually, using the recovery partition (PC Restore) would be the best option as it would take the system back to factory settings and you would not have to reinstall all the drivers and factory installed applications. You would only lose the data and applications that were added to the system later.

It would be a good idea to back up the data (Pictures, Music, Videos, Documents and Favorites etc.) before reinstalling the Windows.

Also remove all external peripherals (Memory keys, external drivers, printers, iPod etc.) from the system before attempting a reinstall.

The steps for performing a PC restore are listed below:

1. Turn on the computer.
2. Press F8 at Dell logo to bring up the 'Advanced Boot Options' menu.

Note: You must press F8 before the Windows logo appears on the screen. If you press F8 after the Dell logo has passed, the menu will not appear on the screen. If you do not see the 'Advanced Boot Options' menu, restart the computer, and then repeat this step.  

3. Using the down arrow key on the keyboard, select 'Repair Your Computer' and hit 'Enter'.
4. Specify the language settings that you want, and then click 'Next'.
5. Log in as an administrator and then click 'OK'.
6. Click Dell Factory Image Restore.
7. In the Dell Factory Image Restore window, click 'Next'.
8. Click to select the Yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to factory condition check box.
9. Click 'Next'.
10. When the restore operation is completed, click 'Finish' to restart the computer.

Please revert if you need any further clarifications.

I have a Inspiron 710M with this error code after trying to load Windows 8. How do I open the VirtualBox as there is not an option to do so?