Hello,
I'm pretty technically competent, but have reached the end to my knowledge on this one. I searched for a resolution on these forums but haven't found anything.
Here's a run-down of the situation:
1.) I had performed a bios update which forced me to re-create a raid configuration, hence I had performed a full system backup beforehand to another drive and was planning to re-create the raid array, then pull the backup.
2.) I launched into vista setup (64-bit) successfully but did not load my 3rd party drivers the first time. I looked at the various menu items in which I could restore my system and verified it would be able to find my backup and use it, then looked around some more to see if I could reach a menu that would allow me to reload my 3rd party drivers somewhere.
3.) At this point, I clicked on the "repair windows" option, and it started trying to "automatically fix my windows install." Fearing it would try to install windows on the wrong partition, I tried to click cancel, in which I got a message that said "cannot cancel current operation."
4.) I decided to force a reboot of my PC at this time so that I could get back to the window that would allow me to install my 3rd party drivers, but on reboot, I cannot get back to any menu after the "Windows is copying files..." bar. I have a black screen with a working mouse cursor, but nothing else.
I have tried:
-Making sure my disc (DVD) is clean
-Complete shutdown of my system
-Letting it sit there for 2 hours (no response)
-Trying all applicable F8 boot options (except directory restore mode as this is not a DC)
-Disconnected all drives except the 2 I use for Raid 1, and removed the raid array even.
-Disconnected my monitor during loading until I got no more HD activity (per some of the old RC threads I found here).
If I can just get back to the install menu, I can handle it from there, but I can't seem to be able to do that. Does anyone have any wisdom to impart?
Gigabyte P35-DS3R
Intel Duo-Core E8850
4gb Ballistix Ram
Nvidia 8800 GTX
Windows 64-bit Ultimate edition
Thank you for your time
