Windows Won't Resume from Sleep; Restart not available

Hi there,

My laptop (Dell Vostro V13) is stuck in some kind of limbo. It went into sleep mode and won't wake up fully! It "resumes" the boot-up sequence right up until the four windows colors do their characteristic swirl animation - then the screen goes black.

I can't seem to force a fresh restart b/c every time I power off and back on, the laptop tries to *resume* and gets stuck again.

Hitting F2 and F12 allows me to run bios and memory tests, but to no avail. The laptop always attempts a resume.

How do I break this sleep-resume cycle and do a fresh restart? Reinstalling the OS is out of the question (too many important files will be erased)

many thanks!
Max

Thanks Mike, that could come in quite handy, but step 1 says, "Start Windows 7, and log on to an administrator account."

Yet I can't start Windows 7 since it's locked in a sleep-resume-sleep-etc. cycle. If I could learn how to do a fresh restart, I'd be a happy camper.

Note: I also don't have a CD/DVD, so if a solution entails offline booting, it has to be through a USB stick.

best,
Max

No, sadly I can't reboot in Safe Mode because I can't reboot!

I can only Resume.

You see, I can't break the sleep-resume-sleep-etc cycle!

Does someone know how I can do a fresh restart/reboot??

1. Download Win 7 Repair Disk Image (100-150MB) - looks like Win 7/32 needed.
1. Make bootable USB stick from the downloaded .iso (Tutorial Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool)
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3. Do Repair Install booting from USB stick

Step 1 and 2 on another working computer.