Can't get to my OS

I'm running Windows XP Pro on my desktop and have a partitioned drive. C is the Windows section and nearly everything else is on M. Recently I've had issues with spyware and viruses so I backed up a lot of stuff I was scared to lose on another drive, Z. I attempted a rollback and no changes occurred. This was last week.

Yesterday evening I came to my computer and wiggled the mouse to get the monitor back on. Nothing happened. The computer had been working hours before and this refusal to come back has hapened a few times, so I restarted. I made it all the way to the Windows loading screen where it sat for longer than usual, then restarted itself. It made it back to the Windows loading screen one more time before freezing. I restarted manually and was presented with the screen with options for Safe Mode, last good configuration and normal Windows. None of these options lead anywhere - the computer froze up every time.

I decided to try reinstalling Windows, so I put in my Pro CD and turned the computer on. I got as far as "Setup is checking your configuration" and it restarted. It never got past that. On a whim I tried the XP Home CD that came with a Dell and it got me to the install process. It showed two drive partitions - the one I called M was formatted and nearly full while my C partition wasn't formatted and was empty. I installed XP Home and found myself right back at the beginning where I couldn't get past the BIOS screens without the computer restarting.

It's the same this morning except when I boot from the XP CD it shows the driveas having Windows on it. Repaoring it does nothing. I put this under Software but one of my problems is that I don't know where my problem is. Setup seems to detect everything, yet nothing works.

Thanks.

 

I cannot boot in Safe Mode and Z is an internal hard drive. I feel like an idiot to ask, but what specs exactly are you wanting?

 

I have 512MB RAM and I've tried to repair the copy of Windows already on the drive. I never get to a loading screen though, it just restarts.

Honestly I'm nervous to try getting into the drive from another computer since I don't know if this could be viral. I tried to use an old hard drive from a Compaq as my master but it doesn't even register as being connected. I'd like to get some opinions on whether it could be viral before I go infecting our other working computer.

 

I don't know if this will offer any more help, but I've been asking around and here's what I've got so far:

ROB:
What type of computer is it? If it is not a Dell the Dell distribution of the Windows XP installation CD may not be the best to test with, sometimes the manufacture branded CDs will have some code in them that checks the BIOS to see if the computer is from that manufacture?

Also, can you post the specs for the computer - including the power supply wattage if you have it - and how old the parts are. There are still some other things worth looking into before writing off the hard drive - and even then you might be able to pull the backup data off it still.



TINFOIL:
Well, the Dell CD worked while my XP Pro (bootleg...) didn't.

Both hard drivesare 250 gigs, the first is a little over a year old and the one called Z I just got and just backed stuff up on.
512MB RAM, from October '05
Motherboard from October '05 - Albatron Pro II, or something like. nVidia
Power supply from Oct '05, the red switch on the back reads '15V' but I have no idea how to figure what you need.
The CD/DVD drive I just bought as well and has been working marvelously.
There's an ATI All-In-Wonder card from October '05 as well.

I think that's it. I had my USB ports start to shit out on me a while back - is this possibly all a motherboard issue? I feel certain the hard drives are okay, since they appear to still have their information on them when I'm installing Windows. I never seem to make it past BIOS screens, so maybe that's it? Here's hoping, anyway




ROB:
...However, if you have had USB ports only work intermittently then it is typically one of two things - either you are nearing the edge of what the power supply can output (if the device is pulling power from the USB port) or you motherboard is at fault. However, if the USB port is fully dead than it is almost always the motherboard.

Something similar happened to my new system before the board died (see my latest blog entry) except it was with the PCI ports as opposed to the USB ports, but it's the same principle.

Simple thing to try before you start tearing your system apart - open up the case and reset the BIOS, there should either be a small jumper that you can use, or just pop out the battery for about 5 to 10 seconds.



TINFOIL:
Did the battery thing, no luck.

I'm getting a "Primary IDE channel no 80 conductor cable installed" message, which is all swell except that my hard drives are connected with SATA 150 cables. The only ribbon cable is the CD drive and that wasn't an issue two days ago.

I unplugged it for kicks and the error seems to be gone but I'm still stuck in that goddamn loop.

 

Is the administrative password something I was given to set? The only thing I would have set it to is apparently not it.

 

The recovery part went okay but I'm still not making it past the screen offering to start Safe Mode without the whole thing restarting. I never see a loading screen for Windows, just those few BIOS screens.

 

How do you know the XP Pro cd is any good? Is that what you are using?

Steve

 

Because it's the CD I have always used with this computer, as well as with another computer recently.