Hard Drive Restarting

Hi. I reformatted my old Gateway systems Hard drive yesterday because of viruses and other things my kids did to the system. When it boots up now it gets to the Gateway splash screen and continues to reboot itself. Don't know how to fix it. Can someone help me please? The system has/had Windows XP sp3.

Thanks,

Liz

 

When the system did restart after the first reformat it asked me for an administrators password. I entered what I use as my password three times but I guess thats not what the system wanted. I was forced to reboot. So I tried to get to Safe Mode and I did get to the F8 screen where you can choose Safe Mode but that is where I was told I was missing a system file and to hit "R" to recover on the next startup when setting up XP. So I hit R and reformat is happening again now. All I know about the XP version is that its a 32-bit version.

Never had so many issues before. There's got to be some program out there that I can get that will "lock" the system from any downloads or installs unless approved by me.

Thanks for your help.

Liz

 

Hi,
Is this a laptop or desktop pc.. if it is a desktop remove the side panal so as you can see the motherboard, on the motherboard you will see a round coin sized battery, take this out (take note of how to replace it) and leave it out for about 10 mins, this will remove the admin password.

iain.t :major

 

Was too late in editing last post...

As for parental control software goes microsoft has its own built in ...

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Set-up-Parental-Controls

here are a couple more...

http://parentaltools.net/software

http://www1.k9webprotection.com/get-k9-web-protection-free

both of these request that if anything is to be downloaded it must be verified by you (administrator), but kids are very computer sav'vy now-a-days, so can find ways around these with relative ease.
Though I have found that moving the machine into a communial area such as the sitting room/diner or kitchen so you can supervise/watch what ever they are doing, get involved.. show an interest in what they are doing whilst on line, don't allow them to alienate you, set rules as to what content they can and cannot access, if they break the rules... NO INTERNET for one day then up the ante every time i.e... 1 week/2 weeks/1 month and stick to it!!!

hope this helps.

iain.t :major

 

hi thanks for the tip on the battery..will try that. As for the system out in the open..it is..its in the living area space and I am able to see it from just about every angle. However they are sly and just open other windows to make it look like they are doing something else or they wait till i walk out of the room. Savvy kids for sure.

Reformat has finished and now it is setting up windows. We'll see how it goes this time. will post soon.

 

Windows Xp just setup..or tried too..ended up getting this:

FATAL ERROR

An error has been encountered that prevents Setup from continuing. One the components that Windows needs to continue setup could not be installed. Incorrect Function. Press OK to view the Setup log file.

The log file reads:

ERROR: Installation failed F:\I386\asms. Error message

please tell me this can be fixed...

when I clicked out of that window, Setup started again on its own. It seems to be stalled right now but I am gonna let it sit for a while and see what happens I guess :cry

 

Hi,
Are you using an install disc that you have burned yourself?? by any chance you didn't use Nero to burn this disc?? Nero is know to create security issues when creating install discs. I would suggest for you to create a new OS install disc using this software...

http://majorgeeks.com/ImgBurn_d4870.html

create image file from your disc, then write image file to a new disc, using this burner then try the fresh install again.

iain.t :major

 

Hi...definitely using a retail copy. Setup seems to be stalled in 33 mins into the process when a gray window pops up that's reads "please wait while installing application (3/52). BigFix 2.0.2.3 GTW 11-17-05 (windows setup installation)

It seems that it continues to install in the background but its not.

 

I suggest that you inspect your disk for scratches and fingerprints and clean the disk.

You might also try exchanging the drive you're using to install windows with to a new or known good drive.

 

Disk is clean and absolutely no scratches...I am at a loss of what to do next...any suggestions...thanks for all the help so far too!

 

Hi,
copy that retail disc as per the instructions in my last post,it maybe that the disc is damaged in some way, won't hurt having a spare copy of it around anyway!!!
I forgot to ask if this is a destructive re-install or just a clean install of the OS.

iain.t :major

 

Is there anyother way than making a copy of the retail disc? This desktop is the one that has the rewritable on it.

Also I did a clean install first and then tried the reformat (destructive)...

 

Hi,
I honestly think that the disc is the problem,do you know of anyone who could copy it for you or anyone who could lend you a copy of one(it would have to be the same version that was installed as your windows activation key will only work with that version).You could contact MS and see if they can supply you with one, explain what the issue is, they might oblige!!.

iain.t :major