PC keeps booting

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wickedDUDE

New member
Jun 25, 2006
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Hello,

I have a computer running WinXP and it keeps booting back to the screen where you have the option to run in safe mode, start windows manually, etc. If I leave it on it makes a single beep and keeps going back to that screen - endlessly.

I tried safe mode but it won't boot up from there either. The PC had to be turned off unexpectedly because it froze up (cable unplugged) so I'm thinking it is related to that.

Anyone have any solutions? I really need this resolved ASAP.
 


Hit F5+A+I+7+Ctrl-S at the same time. Should solve it.

Or you could just take it to a repair shop.
 
Just replace motherboard, cpu and it's cooler, RAM, HDD, PSU, video card and maybe the case, then install Win 7.

No but if srs, try unplugging it and take out that coin sized battery for 15 minutes.
 
you should have a startup repair disc for XP that came with it. if not, you need to get one. boot to that disc. you may need to wipe the HD and reload XP... hopefully you have recent data backups.
 
If it bursts into flame and you find the power supply on the other side of the room you will know that you got on the wrong side of one the American law or anti-terrorism agencies. Keep your web cam unplugged just in case.

Good luck bro.
 
drave said:
you should have a startup repair disc for XP that came with it. if not, you need to get one. boot to that disc. you may need to wipe the HD and reload XP... hopefully you have recent data backups.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this one serious reply. Others are welcome too.
 
This could be several things, but the FIRST thing I would do in your situation is to REMOVE ALL but 1 RAM stick. Only use your first slot.

Then try re-booting and if no joy then keep swapping sticks out until it does boot or it doesn't. (One possible easily detected problem eliminated.)

If it is the MBR as suggested above, hopefully you can make a XP boot disk with another computer and then use Fix Disk to copy the MIRROR MBR and get the system to boot.

Also, as stated above, besides taking out the MB battery to clear the CMOS, if that damn battery is even WEAK it can cause weird problems with some Motherboards and Windows will NOT want to boot.


I'd try the RAM swap first though. I have a few Older Boxes with Dual Core CPUs and have had sudden boot issues and about 70% of the time it turned out to be a damn bad stick of RAM. Even though the BIOS gave me no indication of RAM being a problem.



The bad part is it could ANY NUMBER of things causing WinXP to go into a Boot-Loop. Incompatible Driver, usually Video Driver is the worst culprit, or maybe even a software Update that is incompatible with what XP wants in order to load.

You said that "Safe Mode" won't load either which is why MBR was suggested above and now me suggesting you check your RAM sticks.

Could even also be the PSU starting to go. BIOS may be OK with it but then XP finds some "WEIRD" voltage that IT doesn't like and then dumps out.

Are you able to capture an ERROR Code?



Post back up with how you made out.

P.S. If all else fails, you can "TRY" the steps at this link to do a "REPAIR INSTAL" of XP and still keep your data.

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
 
assuming you have another pc, remove the hdd from the xp machine, plug it into the other pc (swap cable with optical drive if no spares), boot up into whatever window os is on the other pc, then cmd > chkdsk <driveletterofoldhdd> /r

when done, sling it back in the old pc
 
maybe you want to post your pc issue in a pc forum?

pulling out the cable most likely cause your registry to be corrupted.

try this

support.microsoft.com/kb/307545
 
Ok, I went and dug out my Microsoft Diagnostics & Recovery Toolset CD for XP SP3 and zipped it. (Not an .iso, so you can just burn the files right to disk.)

You can get it here: ERD - Download - 4shared

Just create a BS account for free and you can download it.


I'd suggest burning it to a CD, but you could try it on a USB drive.


Label the CD ERD and then just Burn everything in the ERD "Folder" to the CD.

You can then boot from it and it will give you the same options as a XP Recovery Disk but will add about 20 other tools to help you get back up & running.


Good Luck.

P.S. It is the 5.0 version from here Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset which no longer has a White Sheet for the XP & below versions.

P.S.S. It's x86 ONLY!! I don't have the 64 bit version.
 
AdamC said:
assuming you have another pc, remove the hdd from the xp machine, plug it into the other pc (swap cable with optical drive if no spares), boot up into whatever window os is on the other pc, then cmd > chkdsk <driveletterofoldhdd> /r

when done, sling it back in the old pc
Click to expand...

i used to do this all the time back when i used pc's... not as simple on laptops; is it still possible to remove/slave drive a laptop harddrive?
 
Yup this happened to me too and the problem was that I upgraded ram and my motherboard couldn't handle it. (I upped from 8gb to 16gb)

I solved this by purchasing a new motherboard, CPU, top of the line graphics card and an additional fan cuz can't resist increasing size of e-p3n0rz
 
drave said:
i used to do this all the time back when i used pc's... not as simple on laptops; is it still possible to remove/slave drive a laptop harddrive?
Click to expand...

laptop hdd's are sata and can be connected to a PC in the same way as a 3.5", so yep :)
 
@Tom@ said:
maybe you want to post your pc issue in a pc forum?

pulling out the cable most likely cause your registry to be corrupted.

try this

support.microsoft.com/kb/307545
Click to expand...

most likely one of the ntfs indexes is corrupt, which could lead to a "corrupt" registry file, but actually it isnt corrupt, just the index that points to the blocks where it is stored.

Either way, you need to fix the filesystem first, then if config/software registry files are still corrupt just restore from the backup folder, failing that restore from a system restore file (easy to do on xp)
 
Thanks all. It's actually a work pc so I don't have access to it now, nor can I do much to it in terms of reinstalling etc. (they have separate LAN admins for that, but I don't know how long it will take them to even start on fixing it.) Its just frustrating because I can't do any work on it.

I was hoping there would be a secret way to boot into windows and fix it that way...something that I could try tomorrow. But it's probably wishful thinking at this point.
 
wickedDUDE said:
Thanks all. It's actually a work pc so I don't have access to it now, nor can I do much to it in terms of reinstalling etc. (they have separate LAN admins for that, but I don't know how long it will take them to even get start on fixing it.)

I was hoping there would be a secret way to boot into windows and fix it that way...something that I could try tomorrow. But it's probably wishful thinking at this point.
Click to expand...

if your work is saved on a LAN as opposed to local, i personally wouldn't spend 2 more seconds on it... reinstall the OS and be done with it.
 
If it is a work (employer) machine and there are people who do IT support....

Stop being beta and demand a new machine.

::emp::
 
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