crashed laptop

After an automatic update from Microsoft Thursday, my laptop crashed. I have
tried to install Windows Xp and it won't take. I have also tried to install
a recover disk and that does not help. What do I need to do? I do have a
back up of my hard drive, but I couldn't even the get the laptop to read the
backup or the recover disk.

I need to add- the Windows Vista on my laptop was preinstalled, so I do not
have a copy of the os to reinstall it myself.

"Tami" wrote:

> After an automatic update from Microsoft Thursday, my laptop crashed. I have
> tried to install Windows Xp and it won't take. I have also tried to install
> a recover disk and that does not help. What do I need to do? I do have a
> back up of my hard drive, but I couldn't even the get the laptop to read the
> backup or the recover disk.

"Tami" <Tami@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:161668D0-241F-4BB3-A93A-085A309B5842@microsoft.com...
> After an automatic update from Microsoft Thursday, my laptop crashed. I
> have
> tried to install Windows Xp and it won't take. I have also tried to
> install
> a recover disk and that does not help. What do I need to do? I do have a
> back up of my hard drive, but I couldn't even the get the laptop to read
> the
> backup or the recover disk.


Contact the mfg for assistance.

What happened when you tried to use the recovery disk? Was there an error
message? If the dvd didn't start the computer then go into the BIOS and
make sure that the optical drive is ahead of the hard drive in the boot
order and try again.

I do not have a Vista install disk. Vista was preinstalled on the laptop and
the black screen is asking for the windows installation disk.

"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:

> "Tami" <Tami@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:161668D0-241F-4BB3-A93A-085A309B5842@microsoft.com...
> > After an automatic update from Microsoft Thursday, my laptop crashed. I
> > have
> > tried to install Windows Xp and it won't take. I have also tried to
> > install
> > a recover disk and that does not help. What do I need to do? I do have a
> > back up of my hard drive, but I couldn't even the get the laptop to read
> > the
> > backup or the recover disk.
>
>
> Contact the mfg for assistance.
>
> What happened when you tried to use the recovery disk? Was there an error
> message? If the dvd didn't start the computer then go into the BIOS and
> make sure that the optical drive is ahead of the hard drive in the boot
> order and try again.
>

"Tami" <Tami@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:272C7C28-489D-4EBA-994A-C11AF96FD671@microsoft.com...
>I do not have a Vista install disk. Vista was preinstalled on the laptop
>and
> the black screen is asking for the windows installation disk.
>
> "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
>
>> "Tami" <Tami@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:161668D0-241F-4BB3-A93A-085A309B5842@microsoft.com...
>> > After an automatic update from Microsoft Thursday, my laptop crashed.
>> > I
>> > have
>> > tried to install Windows Xp and it won't take. I have also tried to
>> > install
>> > a recover disk and that does not help. What do I need to do? I do
>> > have a
>> > back up of my hard drive, but I couldn't even the get the laptop to
>> > read
>> > the
>> > backup or the recover disk.
>>
>>
>> Contact the mfg for assistance.
>>
>> What happened when you tried to use the recovery disk? Was there an
>> error
>> message? If the dvd didn't start the computer then go into the BIOS and
>> make sure that the optical drive is ahead of the hard drive in the boot
>> order and try again.
>>

It would help if you at least shared with us the make and model of the
computer and the edition of Vista (x86 or x64).

You should have a recovery partition and a means of invoking it at startup.
On my HP laptop I press F11 during start and that puts me into recovery
mode. Check your documentation or the mfg's website for how to start
recovery from the recovery partition.