Catastrophic Disaster

Well, here's my problem: my PC has been acting up lately. The last few days it has been unexpectedly flashing blue and white banding across the screen suddenly when I'm in the middle of something, and I was forced to restart the computer, at which point the problem seemed to go away. But then last night, I restarted my computer to install a new keyboard, but was met with a startup error. I shut the computer down, replaced the original keyboard and started again. To no different effect. On the startup I am met with the Safe Mode/Safe Mode with Networking/Safe Mode with Prompt/Last Good Config/Start Normally prompt. If I try starting in any of the safe modes, my screen begins to list driver files and freezes midway, giving me the hit Esc to quit option. No matter what I do at this point, the computer quits and restarts back to the error menu. Last good Config and Start Windows Normally both result in windows beginning to start up, and right before i would be presented with the user screen, a blue error message flashes on the screen for a split second before restarting again, dumping me back on the same old error screen. I am using Windows XP on a Pentium III 800. If anyone has any ideas as to what I could try to resolve this issue, or as to what exactly went wrong, please let me know. As far as I can tell there is nothing I can do to influence this startup. I cant even get to a command prompt. If it comes down to it I may just have to reformat, but if there is any other option I would like to know. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Do you have another computer at the same location?

If so are they networked?

Is the machine that has the problem able to boot from a CD?

Do you have a way to burn a CD?

 

Hi

If you have access to an XP installation disc, you should be able to boot from that. (If your computers BIOS is not configured to allow boot from a CD, enter the BIOS and configure it to do so)

Use Recovery console to troubleshoot the system and try to save any important documents etc. Insert the XP disc and boot the system.
When given the option to repair Windows XP, press R
Setup will load the recovery console (RC) which will then prompt you to select the Windows XP installation to manage. Type the number of the installation (shown in the menu) and press enter.
If the RC is not configured for auto admin logon, RC prompts you for admin. password. RC command line has a bunch of useful commands. type HELP then enter to display a list. See if you can access the hard disc, if you have a floppy drive you can copy over any small files of use. The Fixboot and Fixmbr can repair the boot sector and boot record if they are damaged. Listsvc can be used to disable services if you think any are causing a problem....

If you have no luck here I would take out the hard disc and slave it in another machine. If you have access to another machine, its not difficult, just need to set the jumpers correctly on your disc, and connect it up to the IDE and power connectors. There is usually spare power leads and a slave connector present in most PCs. Then you can copy over your precious data to a folder on the master disc.

Back to you PC - finally you could try a "repair in place" which reinstalls XP over the top of your existing copy. ( NOTE: that all restore points are deleted, the registry backups are deleted, and if you have a third party mass storage device, you will need the drivers to hand. ) Boot from the CD and when setup offers the option to setup or repair windows press ENTER to begin setup. Press F8 to accept (EULA) verify your existing installion of XP is selected in the menu and press R to begin the repair. Follow the prompts to complete the repair.

Good luck

Paul

 

I have a Mac G3 set up next to the PC, but it is not online or networked. And when I tried to get on it to post on these boards, the mac decided to not start either. My girlfriend also has another PC in the house, so I could feasably use hers if needed. I have been unable to find my windows CD, but I will let you know if a boot is possible when I get my hands on one. Both PCs have CD burners.

edit for second post: My PC is set up with two Harddrives at the moment. All my media and important data is on an internal slave drive, and the system data is on the smaller master drive. So Im not terribly worried about losing my work off the slave drive, if I have to just reformat the C: then it is simply a matter of tracking down those drivers and applications I have no disk for. I will try the Recovery Console tonight, I hope it will work. If not, I know how to slave the drive and I will try that. Thanks for the prompt responses guys, this is why I love this site so much.

 

If you attempt recovery on the faulty machine you risk losing any data on that machine. I would suggest downloading and burning Knoppix (www.knoppix.net) and booting the faulty computer from that. The White and Blue banding on the screen may indicate a virus. If you slave the drive to another machine the possible virus will likley infect the other machine. Knoppix is a bootable CD using the Linux OS. It is not bothered by windows viruses. Knoppix can access a windows network allowing you to copy any data accross the network to another machine. Yes it is still possible that you will transfer the possible virus however not in an active mode, only inside the infected file so it doesn't infect the machine receiving the file unless you run it after transfering it. After you transfer all files, scan them for viruses before doing anything else. Then you can attempt recovery on the faulty machine. Or do a format and reinstall without losing your data.

 

Good call.... infecting my girlfriend's PC would not be good for our relationship. Knoppix- Do I just download this on the healthy machine and create a boot CD from it? I've never used Linux before. My slave drive is the target destination of all my downloaded files, so if this is a virus I downloaded, I can only assume it originated from that drive. I tried disconnecting the slave and starting with just the master drive, but I recieved the same error... I assume this means the virus would have infected itself throughout both drives... provided I can get my Master drive working and windows starting up, what should I do about the slave disk? If I reconnect it am I going to experience the same problems? Should I set a disk scan to be performed on startup and then reattach the drive? Also, what can I do to prevent this happening again? I am currently using Avasti, Ad-aware, Spybot S&D, and spyware blaster... all off this site. Is there an area of protection I am leaving exposed? I do use Filesharing programs fairly frequently, and I know this is never fully safe, but if there is something easy I can do to help protect myself better, please LMK

 

Hi again

I hear what you say about the virus threat - but correct me if I'm wrong, as I can learn something here too! I don't believe connecting the drive as a slave would pose a threat unless you execute something on that drive. Boot sector of a slave drive is not accessed on boot is it? (except possibly by A/V programs which is fine) and as fas as i know merely copying files over will not activate a virus. Obviously it's better to be safe and sorry - i would say do a virus scan of the slave drive as soon as connected before anything else, if going down this route.

Paul

 

I'm unsure how anybody can make a good troubleshooting reccomendation while not even knowing the error...

If you are getting a blue screen, then rebooting, do you have SP2?

If so, at the startup options where you chose Last Known Good Configuration, there is an option that says Disable Automatic Restart. Choose it, then rtry to boot normally so we can get an error. Post the full text, if it works for you.

 

If its not fixable...

Assuming there is nor hardware problem, and you have network access and/or a cd burner, use this instead of cracking open the machine:

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

 

Ok, the system was unable to boot from the XP CD. When starting with the disk in, I just got a blank flashing "_" prompt. I do have SP2 on that machine, but I don't believe I had any option presented to me at all. Is the option to disable automatic restarts in the setup menu perhaps? I am going to plug that machine back in now and see if i cant get an error message to post.

 

There is an option if SP2 is installed, I am certain of it.

Its in the advanced startup options, where you choose Safe Mode, Last Known Good Configuration, etc.

 

Well, I am pretty sure I have SP2 installed , but for some reason I'm not getting any option like you mention. The prompt I get is just this:

>>
We Apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software change might have caused this.

If your computer stopped responding, restarted unexpectedly, or was automatically shut down to protect your files and folders, choose Last Known Good Configuration to revert to the most recent settings that worked.

If a previous startup attemp was interrupted due to a power failure or because the Power or Reset button was pressed, or if you aren't sure what caused the problem, choose Start Windows Normally.

>Safe Mode
>Safe Mode with Networking
>Safe Mode with Command Prompt

>Last Known Good Configuration (your most recent settings that worked)

>Start Windows Normally

Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight to your choice.
>>

The only other option I have is starting the BIOS menu. when I try one of the safe mode starts my screen spits out a long list:

>>
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\system32\Drivers\...
>>

and it stops on

>>
...\agp440.sys
>>

at which point it freezes for a minute, then restarts.

If I select start Windows Normally or last Known Good Configuration the XP startup window shows, and then that elusive blue error message flashes for a fraction of a second.

I don't know why I don't have a restart option like you mention, as I definitely remember installing Service Pack 2, but is there any other way to stop this so that I can see the error message? And would there be any reason a system with SP2 would not display the message?

 

The only other way to stop the reboot is to edit the registry outside of windows.

Impossible to do if you can't boot to CD.


Hmmm...

Can you even get to Recovery Console?

 

No. The only thing that happens when I start with the disk in is I get a flashing "_" instead of the other error screen. Is there anything else I can do but set this drive to slave and wipe it? I don't have a problem doing this, but I just want to make sure I am not going to endanger the other computer by starting it with a possibly infected one attached

 

Anyone out there got any ideas? I'm a bit stuck here...

 

Describe the blue and white banding you spoke of in your first post.

 

Well, when it happened the first time my girlfreind saw it and not me. she described distinct blue and white stipes covering the screen completely,when it happened to me the next day, They were flickering blue and white diagonal bands that covered most of the screen, although I could see my desktop behind it. the flickering also seemed to move with the mouse.

 

If you have one you might want to try changing your video card just to see what happens.

 

The link below describes Xp hanging on the Agp440.sys service and describes some of your issues. But, it usually happens after an install.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324764

Steve

 

Well, I plugged in my old Monster II sdfx card, and I got no video output whatsoever. The machine beeped a few times and nothing showed up on the screen... My current Video Card is a GForce 4 MX4000 AGP 8x

 

That link looks like it may help if I was able to load the recovery console... but as of yet I have been unable to. Is there anything I can do in BIOS to make this possible?

 

Set your boot order to be cdrom first.

Otherwise...

Get the XP boot disks, and get into rcon that way.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310994

 

Ok, I went to the boot order table, and although the CD-Rom was already first on the list, changing it down and back seems to have helped. The disk is now detected and I am into the repair console, at a c: prompt, what should I do now?

 

It would be better if you do this.

Make the BartPE CD I mentioned.

Then, edit your registry from it.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl

Set Autoreboot to 0.

Then reboot and get us an error to work with.

 

Ok, I descovered something. When the Windows CD successfully booted, the ribbon cable from my harddrives was not attached to the motherboard. When I tried booting again with the hard drives attached, I got the same flashing "_" prompt. I also created the Bart PE boot disk like you mentioned, using my girlfriend's machine and the XP disk. The CD looks like it created ok, but when I try to boot my PC with it I get nothing but a black screen

 

Any ideas on how to proceed? It looks like im not going to be able to run the RC on the harddrives.... So as far as reformatting the drive and reinstalling windows- Is this other machine going to be safe? I want to make sure Im not going to be worsening the situation before I go any further

 

Best way to find out is to run some memory tests and hard drive tests.

What brand is the hard drive?

http://majorgeeks.com/Memtest86_d4226.html

 

Western Digital 40 Gig with the OS and applications installed
Quantum Fireball 80 Gig with downloaded files and media

 

Ok, well I don't have any floppies at the moment, so the boot disks will have to wait till I can get ahold of some. In the mean time I will try connecting the Problem HD to the working one wish me luck ><

 

Ok, well good new is I have the hard drive safely slaved and I'm working on it now. I am running Ad-Aware SE, Avast!, Spybot SD, CWS Shredder and Stinger on the drive, and I have already come up with a number of ad/malware and trojans. When the cleaning has finished I am going to try rebooting windows rom the disk. Is there anything else I should run on the HD now while I have it hooked up in a diagnostic configuration?