I hope someone can help me before I give up on Microsoft and HP
forever....

For the third time since I bought my 64-bit Vista Ultimate HP
laptop last October, it is refusing to boot. I get a message
saying "Windows failed to start," indicating that there might be
a hardware or software incompatibility and giving me the
following two choices:

"Launch Startup Repair (recommended)
Start Windows normally"

Trying to start Windows normally just puts me in a loop.
Launching Startup Repair gives me the following:

"Windows failed to start.... To fix the problem:

1. Insert your Windows installation disc
2. Choose your language settings, and then click "Next".
3. Click "Repair your computer".

Status: 0xc000000f
Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is
inaccessible."

The cause of the problem this time (but not the previous two) is
that Windows was shut down abnormally. (I thought I was
hibernating, when, if fact, I was turning it completely off. :-(
) It's unlikely that there is really a compatibility problem.

The problem is that I do not have a Windows installation disc.
All I have is HP's System Destruction DVD (They call it a System
Recovery DVD). I have been partitioning my hard drive for years
to protect my data in a separate logical partition. On several
previous systems, I have been able to reinstall
Windows--sometimes using a repair option--with minor impact on my
system, and without affecting my data partition. However, HP only
allows me to reformat my entire hard drive and "recover" the OS
and HP's applications. Twice now, I have lost all my data as well
as my application settings. (I do do backups, which I have been
able to restore, but it seems that it's always several weeks
after my last backup when the system decides to crash.) Since the
last time this happened, I have not even had a chance to
reinstall all my applications.

Today I actually headed over to the local university to buy a
"real" Vista disc so that I could run a Startup Repair. (I
qualify for an academic discount.) Unfortunately, they sell only
Vista Business (not Ultimate) in an academic version. Other
college bookstores in the area are closed today, so I'm in
waiting mode. Also, after talking to the bookstore employees, I'm
not sure this will work even if I'm able to find an Ultimate
upgrade disc.

Can anyone answer the following questions for me?

1. Is there any way I can repair my installation using HP's
system recovery disc, without losing all my data? (This would be
the preferred option if it will work, of course.)

2. Will I be able to reinstall (preferably a repair reinstall) to
an OEM system using an upgrade disc with a difference license?

3. Would it be possible to buy the Vista Business upgrade and use
it to recover my system files on my existing Vista Ultimate
system?

Any additional suggestions, of course, would be very gladly
accepted. Thanks very much in advance.

--
Keith
--
Keith