Hi there, this is a query on behalf of a friend so I am a little foggy with details.

She has a laptop with Vista currently installed and I believe now out of warrenty, for the last few weeks when she tries turning the laptop on, before windows begins to load there is a message that errors have been found and to run a repair of Vista. Again I am a little vaugue as I am not familiar with vista (I am still on XP) and I have only spoken with her - I have not had a chance to take a look at her laptop.

As with many pc's and laptops now, hers has come with vista pre-installed and she has no back up or recovery CD, she has asked friends who also have Vista installed but again they have the installation and no disk. Is there any way of running a repair or reinstallation of vista from a download or obtaining a repair disk.

Before anyone comments or has a go at me, I am not asking for an illegal copy of vista, I am simply looking for the easiest, cheapest and LEGAL method of running a repair of vista.

Thanks in advance Wayne

What is the make/model of the laptop? If her computer didn't come with a system disk, and many don't, its because the installation files are on the hard drive. These files are accessed by hitting a certain key before windows boots up; she should check her manual to find out what the key is or hit the pause/break button just after the computer starts.

She doesn't even want to try and fix the problem.

Is the computer bootable, or is it in a loop?

At the moment I am not 100% certain, she is visiting family for a couple of days. I shall get her to bring the laptop over and leave it with me when she returns, I should then be able to give any spec or try any possible repairs needed.

I'll post when I have got my hands on it.

No problem