Another WinXP Home Startup prob

I've got a different problem. WinXP Home, and it came preloaded: not boot disc. Computer has been fine, no glitches. Ran Ewido, Norton, WinAntiSpyware and Malicious Program Remover, CleanCache within 2 hours of last shutdown last night. No problems found.

Booted up this evening, and got to the screen for user logon, but before clicking on screen, it went into Shutdown. Automatically started to reboot, but stops and recycles reboot continually from the point where it searches the cd drives. Startup process begins, lights on cd drives light up, then recycles...over and over. Monitor never gets an image, F Keys do nothing.

Suggestions?

 

C'mon guys, need some help here. After posting this, tried again and Win opened; got to logon and quickly clicked my screenname. Logged me on, but immediately after my desktop appeared, it went into shutdown and the whole process happened as described earlier: try to boot, interrupted, retry ... over and over...

Haven't tried safe mode: will try this evening. Any suggestion on what to look for/where to look to find the prob? ANY suggestion AT ALL? I'm lost here.

 

Hi hankroberts.
The symptoms that you describe reqiure the assistance of the Windows CD. Without that, I'm sorry to say, you'll need to take your computer in for servicing.

 

So you're telling me that if Win came pre-installed, and I don't have the install CD, I'm dead here?

Can you at least tell me what's going on? Or what should be done to fix?

If I can get a Win CD from elsewhere (diff license #) will that work?

 

Hi HankRoberts
Yes - any WinXP Home disk should work. Can you access your computer's bios? You mentioned that the F-keys won't work. Some of the newer keyboards ( some branded Microsoft ) have the F-keys disabled on re-start.
They've included an extra key called <F-Lock> which enables the F-keys after the LED lamps light-up. So, on re-start, wait for the LEDs to light, then tap <F-Lock> then repeatedly tap <F8> to get the menu. If you haven't got the <F-lock> key, then on restart, wait for the LEDs to light then repeatedly tap <F8>. As dumb as it sounds, some computers access the keyboard infrequently during POST, thus requiring many, many taps. If that works - you can choose "Safe Mode" to see if you can at least gain access. Failing that, you need to boot from your XP CD. You'll probably need to access the computer's BIOS screens to set the Boot priority to CD First. If you do manage to boot from the CD, then you'll eventually get a setup screen that allows you to repair your installation. Press <R> for repair. Don't use the repair option "...using the recovery console, press C". Instead use "...using the emergency repair process, press R". The rest of the repair process is self-explaining. Best of luck.

 

OK, thanks. I'm pretty sure I can borrow a CD from someone. I'm working from my laptop now, but I'll get it and try this. Appreciate the help.

I have two computers preloaded (desk/laptop): what can I do about obtaining a CD? If both are registered, can I get a CD somehow, so I have it if this happens again?

 

Well HankRoberts - My personal choice for acquiring the WinXP CD is a visit to the computer retailer, who sold me the computers. They will need the 25-character product activation key which should be on a green sticker attached to the surface of your computer. You may also be able to find it under:
Start -> My Computer -> View System Information
However, I have made a backup copy of my CD and I use that copy exclusively.

 

Correction: That's a 20-character Product ID on the Systems Properties page. Sorry about that! I'm glad I double-checked.

 

Perhaps not.

If you are under warranty still, contact the manufacturer and they should supply you with a restore disc free or very cheap. If you're out of warranty, they will charge you a fee, but it should not be too outrageous. If you have the restore partition and successfully restore your OS, I would recommend that you save it to CD just in case. You should have the option to do this one time. Instructions are in your manual or manufacturers website.

 

Just to add, Just Playin's post, I believe there are a few editions of XP out there. Branded OEM, OEM, retail, and upgrade. So, in this sense, using any xp cd to repair an xp os, may not work.

Also, I haven't heard if safe mode worked or not.... What about, "last known good"?

 

TheeFool's comment about "versions" is correct. The Windows setup program has a different checksum for each of the flavours, so I assume they are coded differently. However, for "Booting" purposes and repair, Microsoft forgot to mess with that part and made them all the same!

 

Update for all you who offered to help.

Apparently the problem was a power supply going bad. It finally went bad and the puter would not power up at all. Replaced it through CompUSA (where I purchased the puter) but they say it damaged the motherboard. By the way, they told me about the f10 key, so that is indeed available if needed.

Now I guess I get to replace the motherboard. Any suggestions? They want 250-300 to do that, and that seems a little steep to me. I'm running (or NOT running) an emachine t2865 AMD athlon xp 2800. Don't know what the OEM motherboard is. Not especially fond of the athlon, but if there's a significant cost to switching to pentium I can't do it right now. But I need the puter back up. Haven't replaced a motherboard, so any suggestions or warnings appreciated.

 

Contact emachines and give them the model # of the computer. Ask them what they will charge for a replacement and install it yourself if it is cheaper to do so.

 

Well, duh. Guess my brain quit on me when the puter did. I have the emachine site for my computer model in favs. I'll do that. Thanks.

 

You should be able to get a motherboard (mobo) for $65-85, for them to charge you $250-300 seems a bloody rip-off, look at this site in Aust you can have a whole system built for $50 with the parts you choose;

http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/154_Build_Your_Own.asp

You should get a manual when you purchase the mobo and if you read that very carefully (at least twice, measure twice cut once) and ask ques you should be able to do it yourself. There should also be some tutorials on the web. I'll have a look and post some links later.

 

Hey Hank here is an example of putting a whole system together from a very reputable source, Fred Langa, although it is for a $500 terabyte server (yes you all read correctly). He shows how to put a mobo in in a no-nonsense fashion and hopefully should make you feel a little more confident in undertaking the task:

http://www.informationweek.com/LP/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=183702383&pgno=1

Once again read twice undertake once. Good Luck and let us know how your going with this.

P.s. he sourced a mobo and intel CPU for $185 + case + PSU