My computer froze last night and I couldn't get it to do anything. I restarted it and I got a screen that said we apologize for the inconvience but windows did not start successfully.a recent hardware or software Change might have caused this. Then it details what you can do. I have done it all. If I leave it alone it stays on start windows normally and keeps trying and going back to that screen. I have been moving files lately and finally got every picture and video I had on this system and failed to make a back up promptly. :-( I made a recovery disk set when I purchased the computer but, I don't won't to loose all my files. If I tell it to open into safe mode a list of files with the prefix Multi(0)Disk (0)RDisk(0)partition(2)windows\system32 This will scroll down with this printed over and over with a file name or driver at the end of it. I recently downloaded windows updates and they didn't finish and I never got back to see what the problem was. But I have restarted my computer a few times since the updates. So what should I do. I know all these programs say they can retrieve deleted or lost files but I am really scared to reformat my hard drive with the recovery and take a chance to get them back if there is something else I can do. thank you cheryl

Maybe someone with experience with a Sony Vaio will help you. But you might have to contact Sony tech support. Do yourself a favor BACKUP! Sorry, I do not check for private messages

I contacted them last night they have the online support tech. He had me do the F2 things and reset Bios defaults but it didn't do anything then gave me a number for a company that retrieves files. Wow. A lot of help. Cheryl

Have you tried system restore from safemode command prompt? At the safe mode command prompt type: %systemroot%\System32\restore\rstrui.exe System Restore UI will now open and you can choose an appropriately safe restore point to use.

When I click on the Safe mode command prompt choice it lists all of those files and drivers again with the prefix Multi(0)Disk(0)RDisk(0)partition(2)windows\system32 and goes back to the same screen again. I emailed sony this time and told them the same thing and they suggested I go to the bootstat.dat file and do something. How in the world can I get to the bootstat file if my computer won't start up? Then they said if this doesn't work do the recovery. No one will still tell me if I do the recovery will one of the file retrieving programs retrieve my pictures ect? Has any one ever done this? Thank you Cheryl

To be safe rescue users files before trying any recovery Hard drive slaved into another system and copy files to another drive or Try boot with Knoppix and copy files to another drive There are recovery links:- http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/ model-faq.pl?mdl=VGCRB42G# Frequently Asked Questions - links in the blue panel There are various options and red warnings - so looks as if files will disappear I assume one of these options will apply to your system?

I agree with David. The safest thing to do is physically remove the drive and attach it as a slave or to the second channel on another system. Rescue what you can, restore the drive and try to restore your system. Check your Sony documentation to see if there isn't a way to do a re-install without a format. Do yourself a favor BACKUP! Sorry, I do not check for private messages