Cant Boot XP Normally or in Safe Mode

cannot tell if my other thread took or not, i tried to post a reply and said it was invalid link, oh well i can explain once more...

my system is in an endless rebooting cycle after windows xp home edition was told to install itself again.

the xp home disc was put in and told to install. even though it was already installed and running.

now i cannot start xp in safe mode, last known working configuration or normally. all options lead to the system shutting down and taking me back to the boot options.

any help would be great as i am now at a loss.

im not very computer saavy so bear with me and please if you do have a suggestion please explain it thoroughly.

thanks for your time

 

From your description, it sounds like a Windows installation had been started and then was aborted mid-way, and then was somehow started again. When the install was started for the second time, it was not started from the beginning (or it was also aborted) and now everything is completely messed up. If you don't need the data on the drive, just boot to the XP CD, format the drive, and install Windows. If you do need the data, you may need to boot to a 'live' CD like Knoppix or the UBCD4Win or a BartsPECD and then burn the data to a CD/DVD or move it to an external drive. It's fairly rare, but I have seen situations like this before where someone tried to repair WIndows from the CD several times and each time it was aborted or it crashed due to faulty hardware or was somehow done incorrectly due to the user's inexperience. After a certain point, a repair install no longer is possible.

 

thank you for your speedy reply... i would like to keep some of the files on the drive if possible. there is another hard drive on the system with plenty of free space for transfer. question though.

how can i boot to the XP CD with none of the booting options working. ive been to my BIOS and currently have my cd-rom set to read first but even with the XP disc in nothing happens and it takes me straight to the boot options again

im a noob so if ive missed something please tell me

 

I suggest making another bootable CD; it can be anything (a bootable memory diagnostic, whatever) and use it to see if the CD drive is working correctly and to see if you can indeed boot from it. If you can't, then you're in a really tough spot. If you can, then something is wrong with the XP disc, or maybe you're just not seeing the necessary prompts. Check the XP CD for scratches, wear, thumb prints, jelly, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, dog food, whatever. Make sure it's clean. If your blank CDs are in short supply, then you should probably just create the UBCD4Win (you'll need a working XP disc however). Download it here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/UBCD4Win_d5710.html and the how-to-build guide is here: http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm Of course, you'll need a working PC with a CD burner. If you have plenty of CDs, and want to save some time, download and run this RAM diagnostic: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Microsoft_Windows_Memory_Diagnostic_d3955.html Select the option to create a disc image. It will save an .iso file to My Documents called 'windiag.iso'. Burn that image to a CD; do not burn it as data or it won't work. Then boot to it. If it boots into a diagnostic program, then we know your CD drive is OK and that the problem is with the XP disc. Same concept applies to the UBCD4Win. If it boots, your CD drive is fine. The UBCD4Win is basically Windows that runs from a CD so you can access your hard drive and save any files you need. Then format it (using one of the UBCD4Win tools). Then when you restart, the PC will be forced to boot to the CD drive. But if your XP disc is no good, there's no way to install a new operating system.

 

ok today it will read my xp disc on boot up.

went to a blue screen with the words "Windows Setup" in the top left and loaded some things. the next screen told me either load windows. or press r for recovery. i hit R, asked me which windows i would like to load and with only 1 option i hit 1. asked for a password, i thought it was the main password for my accout. typed it in said it was invalid, tried it once more, invalid again. so i left it blank for a 3rd try. now im at. c:\windows>


have i done things right so far and is this normal to be at c:\windows> ? also i dont know what to type there

 

Do not press "R" at this first screen where it asks what you want to do. I think it says "Press 'R' to repair a Windows installation' from the Recovery Console". You do NOT want to use the recovery console. So press Enter at this screen. It will continue, and at some point it will say "Press 'Esc' to begin a fresh install or press 'R' to repair a Windows installation". If there is no mention of the Recovery Console, now is when you'd press 'R' to repair. It will then show you a list of hard drives and Windows installations. Select the appropriate one and be sure to NEVER select anything that says 'format'. I have provided some links with step-by-step instructions with screenshots of what you need to do:
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/How-to-repair-Windows-XP-t138.html
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.co.uk/rl/servicesupport/techsupport/software/windows/xp/Repair.htm
The screenshots might show XP Professional but the steps are EXACTLY the same for XP Home. Every time you see the word 'Professional' substitute the words 'XP Home Edition' and you'll be fine.

Good luck! I hope this helps!
:major

 

ok im now at the "installing Windows" screen... "Setup will complete in approximately 34 minutes". so far so good, i'll post back with the outcome.

 

ok so after finalizing installation, system rebooted and said booting from CD, nothing happened... took me back to the boot menu. safe boot, safe boot with networking, safe boot with command prompt, normal (last known good config), and normal.

should i leave the disc in and try those options or should i take it out and try something else?

 

Take the disc out and try booting in normal mode. If it keeps crashing/rebooting, press F8 to get an expanded boot options menu. Select 'Disable Automatic Restart....' and reboot the PC. It should stop on a blue screen error. I think this error has been coming up the whole time but it's flashing by so fast that you can't see it. So, if it stops at this blue error screen, take note of the error message (if any), the error number (it looks like STOP:0x000000EA), and any file names listed; then post this info here.

 

the blue screen says: Technical information

***STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF794E528, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

 

you say you got another hard drive in it may be the problem. does it say anything about your other hard drive in it. for example c: is the main drive the other will be something else.you might need to set your boot order to that hard drive.

 

D: is the other harddrive, my boot order is cd-rom then HDD-0, then floppy.
if i set HDD-1 to boot instead of HDD-0 says error loading OS. am i doing it wrong?

 

The stop error - Microsoft
Known issues
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892000/en-us
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/314859/en-us
More
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316401
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308041/

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308041/

dlb has been pretty thorough,
Try disconnecting the second hard drive.
If all goes well, then reconnect it, start again.

 

you mean you got two op systems running? which one you normally use? which one are u trying to repair.trying to get an understanding of your situation here.

 

yes i would try disconnected the second hard drive..

 

just 1 OS running, but a second harddrive installed. going to try to dissconnect
the other harddrive and reboot and see what happens

 

These links from baklogic should be very helpful; there's lots of info there so read carefully. His first KB link is mainly about some Symantec software, so if you have no Symantec software, don't worry about. I have fixed MANY 0x0000007B errors by entering the recovery console and typing chkdsk /r with a space before the slash /. Press Enter and let it run. It can take a long time, up to 8 hours or more, so be patient. Sometimes it will appear to have locked up, or the percentage counter might even go backward.... this is normal so don't worry. Let it run and reboot when it finishes. Have you gone to your hard drive maker's web site yet? Download and run their diagnostic tools as instructed on their support page...

 

ok cool im running chkdsk /r ... we'll see what happens now

 

ok i ran chkdsk /r , im guessing nothing is wrong with the drive. im at a command prompt now. anyother commands i should run?


after running chkdsk /r i rebooted with the same results.

im now running western digital data lifeguard diagnostics too to see if the drive is ok

 

both drives tested without any errors.


comming from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/#3

Enable enables a Windows system service or driver. The variable service_or_driver is the name of the service or driver that you want to enable, and start_type is the startup type for an enabled service. The startup type uses one of the following formats:
SERVICE_BOOT_START
SERVICE_SYSTEM_START
SERVICE_AUTO_START
SERVICE_DEMAND_START

any of these commands do any good?

 

well, strange as is, before this started, did u put a new device in the computer,did that hard drive come from another computer, is your memory correct, what was u doing bfore it crashed..you may have to do a clean install from scratch if it is the last option.

 

everything was great untill fuzzy wavy lines appeared on the screen. then (without me pointing fingers blaming someone) the windows XP disc was put in and told to install. even though it was already up and running. so i guess theres 2 copies of xp trying to run conflicting with eachother. i honestly dont have a clue of what to try now

 

oh i see what u mean now,what a bummer, hold on awhile,so i can check this myself here and ill let u know if i can come up with something here. maybe someone else can assist you till then.

 

I believe I said something about this in one of my first replies. Anyway- at this point I'm thinking you may just want to save your data and format and reload a clean Windows. Since you have a functional XP disc, I suggest building a UBCD4Win. It's basically Windows that runs entirely from a CD so you can access your drives and freely move files around. If the PC has 2 CD drives, and one is a burner, you can also burn your files to CD/DVD; if you boot the UBCD4Win with an external or flash drive plugged in, you can copy your files to it. Here's the download link:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/UBCD4Win_d5710.html
and the how-to-build-the-UBCD4Win link:
http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm
So, follow the how-to link's instructions (it's VERY easy), build and burn the CD, boot to it, and save your data....

 

yes,dlb is right, its impossible at this point. good suggestion from dlb.

 

that sounds like my best bet. im in the process of building the ISO.

i hope there isnt much to move around.

also, how can i backup or get a new BIOS. should i goto the manufaturers website and download something or if i dont have the disc am i screwed?

i only ask cause once i format my c: my BIOS will be lost right?

 

ok cool got all the info i needed from C: to D:.
going to wait till the morning to format and fresh install XP.


found a BIOS from ASUS. i have an ASUS A7N8X-X motherboard and downloaded a .Zip called C18X1009 from ASUS.

still not sure if i even need that BIOS from them.. or any other drivers/files to get my PC back the way it was

 

Formatting C: will not effect your BIOS. Don't worry about it. Your BIOS is flashed onto a chip on your motherboard and is in no way related to drive C: or it's content. You can safely erase everything on any hard drive without having to worry about your BIOS. You will need drivers when XP is reloaded: sound, chipset, modem, ethernet, video (if you have a separate video card, you can download the driver from either the card maker, or the chip maker; ATI and NVidia are the big two). When installing the drivers after XP has been installed, do the chipset drivers first, followed by the video drivers. If you have HD audio, you may need the UAA/HD driver. If so, install it before the main sound driver. All drivers should be available from the same site you downloaded the BIOS from.

..... and on that note, I'm going to bed :wave :zzz :zzz :zzz
:zzz :zzz :zzz :wave G'nite all.....

 

... oh yeah.... if you have any driver trouble, we'll see you over in the driver forum. Read the stickies there first, then post your problems after trying the steps suggested in the stickies....

(hopefully we won't see you over there )
:wave Goodnight :zzz

Driver forum http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=23

 

im not sure what the chipset is. is that for my motherboard ?

just unsure of what im looking for

its an AMD 64 processor

i sure hope im not asking the dumbest questions ever i already feel stupid about all this