Quoted:
If I'm going to do this myself you're going to have to pretend I'm a toddler with absolutely no knowledge. I can get to the Setup menu and that's about it. If you can tell me how to run the Windows CD from there I'm all ears (or eyes in this case).
IIRC, my wife sent out a sort of animated birthday card back in September and that's when this started happening. Someone suggested I remove anything affiliated with that and once I did the problem stopped, however, since that time, any time Windows updates are downloaded, it goes through this crap. It's just never stopped dead like it did this time. If I could at least start in Safe Mode I'd remove the last update and see what happens, I just can't get there.
I appreciate all the input everyone,
Scott
I take it from the statement that "it's less than a year old" that it is running Vista. If so print this out , read it thoroughly and then proceed.
Insert the Windows Vista DVD into the DVD drive, and then restart the computer.
During the startup process, repeatedly press <F12>.
In the Boot Device Menu, press the <Down Arrow> to select "Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive", and then press <Enter>. If the Boot Device Menu does not appear, restart the computer and repeat step 2.
When the Press any key to boot from CD or DVD screen appears, immediately press any key to start the computer from the Windows Vista DVD. For example, immediately press the <enter> when the" Press any key to boot from CD or DVD screen appears". If you do not press a key immediately, the computer may not start from the Windows Vista DVD. Instead, the computer may try to start the currently-installed copy of Windows Vista. If this situation occurs, restart the computer, and then repeat steps 2 and 3.
When Windows Vista starts from the Windows Vista DVD, other screens may appear during the startup process. If other screens appear, accept the default options, and then continue to the language settings screen.
On the language settings screen, click the appropriate language in the Language to install list, click the appropriate time and currency format in the Time and currency format list, click the appropriate keyboard layout to use in the Keyboard or input method list, and then click Next.
On the lower-left corner of the Install now screen, click Repair your computer.
If the Windows Vista Setup program detects any problems on the computer, click yes when the program displays the following message:
"Windows found problems with your computer's startup options.
Do you want to apply repairs and restart your computer?"
Start with that if it fixes you problem great, if not we can go on to other things.