I didn't think it took any longer than any other OS, i thought it went on the size of the drive and the amount of passes it had to complete?

Well after a long night running chkdsk /r and reinstalling Windows Vista i rebooted this morning at about 4am to be met with the following message:

"The computer restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected eror. Windows installation cannot proceed. To install Windows, click OK to restart the computer, and then restart the installation."

I am now officially

Going to see if i have any luck installing Windows 7. If that installs then that would rule out the hard drive. I think!

Yeah you might need to re-install as it could have 'installed' (well try to) something to a bad cluster.

Vista should work after a full format and Chkdsk /r

Yeah you might need to re-install as it could have 'installed' (well try to) something to a bad cluster.

Vista should work after a full format and Chkdsk /r

I ran the chkdsk which took hours then once that was done i rebooted and reinstalled Vista from the disc. Rebooted again and got that message. Do you think i need to reinstall again?

Did you reinstall as in a new install? If so then sounds like the HDD is fubar'd or there is another hardware issue....can you run in safe mode? have you tried different RAM?

Did you reinstall as in a new install? If so then sounds like the HDD is fubar'd or there is another hardware issue....can you run in safe mode? have you tried different RAM?

Yep. New install. Booted from CD. To be honest haven't tried safe mode. Well not that i can remember now. You know whats its like you go round in circles you eventually forget what you've actually done. I usually right down the steps so i know what i have tried but as i was doing this late night/early morning i never. I havent tried different RAM yet. Its just so strange because prior to the virus the computer was running fine. At the mo i'm installing my retail Windows 7 to see if that installs and boots fine.

Edited 23 February, 201115 yr by Guest

Yeah good thinking - not a fan of Vista I have to say!

Yeah good thinking - not a fan of Vista I have to say!

I had Vista on my Asus G1S which i eventually sold. I didnt mind it. I bought windows 7 last year when it came out but so far i've used it on my friends computers to tide them over. The problem is my mate doesn't really want to spend any cash on it if he doesn't have too. Thats why i'm trying Vista 1st. If i get no joy with that i will put Jolicloud on it and see how it runs with that. He only uses it for internet access after all.

Thanks for your help by the way.

No problem HTH and i'm intrigued now.

Just waiting for 111 updates to install on this Tosh as the new HDD arrived today and i have just put Vista SP1 on off the Dell DVD! Hasn't asked me for the license key either!

No problem HTH and i'm intrigued now.

Just waiting for 111 updates to install on this Tosh as the new HDD arrived today and i have just put Vista SP1 on off the Dell DVD! Hasn't asked me for the license key either!

Lucky you!

Well i'm trully stumped now. Windows 7 Home Premium up and running with no problems at all.

Lucky you!

Well i'm trully stumped now. Windows 7 Home Premium up and running with no problems at all.

Really? Now that has surprised me! Perhaps there is something on that disc stopping it but i installed it on a Compaq the other week and just tonight on a Tosh....It is afterall just a standard Vista SP1 Disc.

Really? Now that has surprised me! Perhaps there is something on that disc stopping it but i installed it on a Compaq the other week and just tonight on a Tosh....It is afterall just a standard Vista SP1 Disc.

I'm totally baffled now. I could now try reinstall Vista as if there are bad sectors on the HDD then these should have been marked when 7 was installed. Bloody computers.

I'm totally baffled now. I could now try reinstall Vista as if there are bad sectors on the HDD then these should have been marked when 7 was installed. Bloody computers.

Should have been marked by the chkdsk! The baffle me sometimes.....I rebuilt 2 library machines today where i work. Ghostcasted both off the same image at the same time and the one was missing the 'how to' guide on how to config to the library server....i mean how the hell does that happen off a ghost image!

Should have been marked by the chkdsk! The baffle me sometimes.....I rebuilt 2 library machines today where i work. Ghostcasted both off the same image at the same time and the one was missing the 'how to' guide on how to config to the library server....i mean how the hell does that happen off a ghost image!

Did you try the switch it off and switch it back on and then it may have appeared. Hee Hee. I'm going to try reinstall Vista! Wish me luck.

No that would have taken another half hour.....P4 2.4ghz and 512mb Ram :(

Good Luck

So to update.

I managed to re-install Vista. Downloaded all the drivers and got the notebook up and running. Took it back into work and gave it to my mate. He decided to try and connect to the BT Openzone network in work to surf the internet during his lunch. Unfortunately, he was then met with an error message, something to do with "Windows Explorer" he said. I asked him to take it home and try connect to his own network. Again, unfortunately, he could not get the notebook connected to the internet. Eh! WTF! I managed to connect to my own network and download drivers 24hrs earlier with no problems at all. So he brought it back into work. I then did another re-install of Vista, downloaded the drivers and gave him it back to take home and try again. This time he managed to connect to his home network and set about downloading 200 odd MB's of critical updates. As of today, so far so good.

So thanks to everyone who helped and a big thank you to jrw for providing me with the Vista disc.