[Sephs]

Hi, thanks for clicking!

Details:
Acer Aspire 8930 / Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5800 / 2GHz / 4GB / 320GB / Vista Home Premium

My problem started when I booted my laptop to find it was sticking at the Microsoft Corporation loading bar, with HDD light blinking . After about half an hour of the constant 'loading', I forced shutdown and allowed it to cool for a while.

When I came back, I turned on as normal, the Acer screen appeared, then the Windows Error Recovery screen. It said 'Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause'. It then gave two options to either Launch Startup Repair or Start Windows Normally.

I launched the Repair which then ran for about half an hour, saying 'Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete'. When it finished it offered diagnostics which said 'System volume on disk is corrupt'. I restarted thinking the problem would be solved, as it said all tests were executed successfully.

When I booted my laptop up, it once again showed the Startup Repair screen, so I chose to start Windows normally. This simply brought me back to the Microsoft Corporation screen/blinking HDD as in the first instance.

I allowed Startup Repair to run numerous times, however it always brought me back to the Microsoft loading screen.

I was initially able to boot the laptop in safe mode, however now when I try, it hangs on a drive named 'agvidsvx.sys'. I am now unable to boot the laptop in safemode, so have no way of getting to the desktop.
If I leave safemode to load, it jumps to a black screen with a cursor, but nothing else.

I have spent hours searching for a solution, however no real solutions seem to be available. I thought I would post for some advice before I take it to be repaired.

Apologies if there are necessary details I haven't included, I'm OK with computers but can get a bit caught up in the jargon.

Many thanks

[pip22]

The hard drive may have failed. To confirm, test it with Seagate SeaTools for DOS (it doesn't have to be a Seagate drive).
You'll need a functioning PC with a CD burner to do the following:

1.Click "Downloads" on this page: http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/ and download SeaTools for DOS.

2. Now install IMGBurn from here: http://filehippo.com/download_imgburn/

3. Use IMGBurn to create a CD from the SeaTools ISO file.

4. Now boot your faulty Aspire from that CD & SeaTools will eventually open. Select the hard drive to be tested and choose the long/extended test. A "Fail" at any point means the drive needs replacing.

[Sephs]

Hi there, thanks for taking your time to reply.

I'm away from home at the moment, but as soon as I'm back I'll follow your instructions and post back.

Many thanks again!