What is the make and model of the 8.1 laptop and I will see how to get into the BIOS
The laptop I’m currrently using is a Vista. My now-wonky desktop is the 8.1 and it’s a Packard Bell B2217UK Utow-D10 with original Vista Home Basic OEM COA
. F2 usually to boot from a location such as Flash drive, Disc in CD/DVD drive, or from your HDD. F8 should be Safe Mode and F4 is BIOS.Could you press F2 at boot to see if it reads the CD
Is the Vista disc retail or from the computer manufacturer
The Vista recovery disc for the Toshiba laptop is from Toshiba, so I’m guessing no good for the 8.1. Besides, the 8.1 used to be Vista Home Basic and the Vista disk is for Home Premium so I’m guessing no good anyway…
Its not that, it is just that if it is a manufacturers one it will be a modified disc and will only install on the same type of computer
Were you able to use F2
If not does F4 allow you to access the BIOS
Yep. F2 gets me to a blue screen with CMOS SETUP UTILITY at the top of the screen. F4 gets me nowhere and F8 gets me to a black screen with a blue box which reads ‘select boot device’ and I have the choice of either the HDD or The DVD drive 
OK ensure the CD is in then select F8
Then select DVD drive and press enter
The CD should now load
The Vista CD or the one I made with imgburn yesterday?
The one you made with imgburn the recovery console
I already did that yesterday. Same thing comes up now…
Recovery
Your PC needs to be repaired
A required device isn’t connected or can’t be accessed.
Error code: oxcoooooof
You’ll need to use the recovery tools on your installation media. If you don’t have any installation media (like a disc or USB device), contact your administrator or PC manufacturer
Press Enter to try again (I did - nowt)
Press F8 for Startup Settings (did this too - again, nowt)
Maybe I should get hold of a blank DVD tomorrow. Could the problem lie in the fact I used a blank CD?
No as far as the system is concerned a CD and DVD are the same
I will see if the is another way to fix the BCD
Yer the Pride of Essex, Bro. Cheers for taking the time
Bump! Any further clues anyone? Sorry to be a pain, but this has all happened as a direct result of Avast kicking out my browser. My PC is now a very expensive paperweight… 
Well essexboy is probably off-line for the night 11:22PM until tomorrow.
Thought I’d been forgotten about. And I wouldn’t blame him - I’m a pain in the butt. I’ll be patient. It’s just that I can’t afford another desktop for a long while. Thankyou.
You’re welcome
As you are no doubt aware, essexboy’s services are in great demand - but he usually uses the Notify option to keep track of active topics. He should get notification of this new activity, hopefully he will be back on-line tomorrow.
EDIT: Now I have posted in this topic, I too will see if there is new activity a bump from you tomorrow (or other activity) and I will see it - if essexboy hasn’t seen it I will PM him.
Thanks David. I really appreciate folks kindness on here
Hi at the moment I am at a bit of an impasse as I can see several ways of restoring the BCD but they will all need you to boot from either a CD or USB. Which for some reason you are unable to do. I am going to download the PDF for your system and see if there are any clues in that
As an aside Avast will never touch the BCD
Thankyou