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I'n trying to boot a failed system with the WHS restore CD (burned from latest ISO from Microsoft). Unfortunately, the restore CD is not booting properly. It does start to boot (ie, this is not a boot device problem)... the restore OS get all the way to a black Windows desktop with a while mouse cursor in the middle.

But then nothing happens. No more UI or progress. No way to select any kind of restore.

Has anyone seen this before?

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2 Answers

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My first guess would be some hardware fault or incompatibility. Windows boot and then hand waiting for response from some device.

First thing to try would be memory test and then unplugging all devices one-by-one until you can boot it to the end. This will at least give you idea which device is problematic one.

If there is nothing more to unplug, motherboard may be problematic one.

P.S. You might try re-burning CD just to be sure that error is not in wrong data written on CD. Booting some Live CD linux distribution would be good choice also. If it works without problems (under some load - e.g. video editing) problem might be as simple as missing driver on restore CD.

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It turned out to be a dud hard-drive. Once I replaced the HD I was able to start the rebuild. Now I just have to wait for 4 hours. – Simon Gillbee Jul 31 '10 at 19:35
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Is it a 64 bit system, there are problems restoring them. There is a post on this here

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en/whssoftware/thread/2dec92d1-bce6-4218-a27a-618f8f115e75

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That's a good point. In my case it's not, but I'll keep that in mind... thanks. – Simon Gillbee Jul 31 '10 at 19:36
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