Laptop does not boot in Normal Mode

64bit Vista Home Premium - the PC boots fine in Safe Mode, but in Normal Mode, it just loads to a black screen with a functional mouse pointer. I have tried a Startup Repair, but I'm told to remove any newly installed hardware like a media/MP3 player, or something similar. I have tried a System Restore (via the Repair Options menu) and it never finishes, it gets to the same black screen with a pointer. That's it. I'd like to simply back up any music/docs/pics and re-install Vista clean, but since the PCs owner doesn't have any of his software install CDs (like Office 2007, music programs like Cakewalk and FruityLoops), formatting is to be avoided if possible. Any ideas?

 

The problem above has been solved - but now I'm having an issue with the CD/DVD drive. It will boot to any bootable disc w/o any problems. However, in Windows, it seems to only read 'factory' DVD discs and burned DVD discs; It will not read burned CDs, it will not read 'factory' CDs. But, like I said, it will boot to anything. This tells me the drive itself is mechanically OK. I don't think I've ever had Windows only recognize/read DVD discs and not CDs. I've tried the ol' device manager > uninstall on the CD/DVD drive, I've tried the 'reg hack' from this thread. No dice.

Perhaps I should start a new thread for this new problem?

 

I'd put a CD in and check event manager for anything windows or CDrom related.

 

Problem solved, but not in a good way . . . the CD/DVD drive has indeed failed. It will no longer boot to CDs, and it was booting to CDs 2 days ago. So - I guess I have to replace the drive