Windows XP won't start.

My computer is a HP compaq nc6120 with windows XP pro.
When I turn on my computer I get a black screen with the options to start window normally, safe mode, safe mode with networking, safe mode with command prompt ,last know good configuration. I see no error messages. I have tried all of these and none of them work. Instead the windows XP window acts as if it is going to load and instead keeps restarting itself.

I had this problem back a few months ago and stupidly reinstalled windows which fixed the problem, but of course I lost everything. I CAN NOT reinstall windows again as I have a very important document on my laptop.

Any suggestions? Especially, is there any way I can save my document? I have a USB stick.

 

As far as getting a copy of your document--using a Live Linux CD is probably the easiest.

Parted Magic is a 157mb download which is about as small as they go. Get the ISO file and write it to disc as an image file using imgburn or similar burning software. (Caliban has a guide to burning here.)

Boot from the CD and you will see a My Documents folder on the desktop that will let you browse your HD to find your important files. You can copy them to a USB drive.

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As for the boot loop problem, I have never seen the definitive solution. It always seems to require a reinstall or repair install. I'd say get your documents first and then see if anyone has a path forward.

 

Thank you sach2! I downloaded parted magic and imgburn. I have installed imgburn. Do I install parted magic? What do I do next? I am not sure what to do with parted magic. Imgburn seems to be straight forward enough. These are on another computer of course.

 

Hi, you need to burn the parted magic iso file to a blank CD/DVD.
Open imgburn and choose "Write Image File to Disc".
Then browse to the parted magic ISO file in the window that opens.
Then click the double icon at the bottom of the window to begin burning the CD.
When finished put the CD in your Compaq and it should boot from the CD.
It should take you to a desktop interface with a My Documents icon. From there you should see your HD and be able to navigate to your files. Probably Users>your username...
When you find the files you can just open a second My documents window and find your USB flash drive and drag the files to that window to copy them.

 

I ran parted magic. I get MY Documents on the desktop just like you said. I opened that and a window appeared with the word "root" at the top. It shows folders, none of which look familiar. I have clicked on everything in the window, and see no way to get to my C drive. It appears to be something called PCMAn File Manager. What am I doing wrong?

 

Check the left pane: you should see your Windows partitions listed. (If that is not helpful I will load up partition magic to double check those instructions.)

 

Nothing in left pane either. I tried View........Side Pane........60gb volume and got an error message........."unknown error". I see nothing that looks likes it would be a Windows partition.

 

Hmm, in my left pane I have the names of all my Windows partitions.

What do you have listed in the left pane?

Root
Desktop
anything else?

 

I have:
Root
Desktop
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Drive
60.0 GB Volume

I have clicked on all of them and I do not see how i get to windows.

I get an error message when I try The Volume thingy: "Error <i> org.freedesktop.ccc.Device.Volume.UnknownFailure<i>

I keep thinking that root should somehow get me to the documents folder but I don't know how to do it. when I open root I see folders but none of them have anything in them.

 

The 60gb volume should be your HD.
Click Mount Devices icon on the desktop. What do you have in that list? I just need Sda1, Sda2 etc. and the number of GB.

 

I have two:

Model: ATA IC25N060ATMR04-0
(55gb NTFS) /MEDIA/SDA1..................with a green block "mount"

Model: HL-DT-ST-RW/DVD GCC-4244N
(163mb ISO9660) /MEDIA/SR0...........with agreen block "mount"

 

Click mount n the 55gb one. Then in the file manager from root, click media folder and then SDA1 folder and it should have your Windows files.

Sorry, this should of been automatic. I didn't think it would be this complicated.

 

No need to apologize, I appreciate your patience.......

I did as you instructed and there is nothing in that folder.

 

How do I tell if it actually mounted?

 

It would have a red unmount button in the Mount Devices program.

Did you restart the file manager program after mounting the drive? Just reclick on My Documents and get a new window. Then Media and Sda1.

 

I'm done for the night. I will look at the problem again tomorrow.

One possibility to see the files would be TestDisk. It is not a friendly interface.
It is under the Menu button button all the way on bottom left (where Windows Start button is). Menu>System Tools>TestDisk.

Create is highlighted so hit <enter>
Highlight Disk /dev/sda
Intel is highlighted so hit <enter>
Analyse is highlighted so <enter>
Quick Search <enter>

Arrow down to Windows partition probably sda1 to highlight it. Hit P to get a list of files.

Copying is a bit complicated. I just want to be sure the files are there. (I'll post tomorrow if I find a more user friendly way to accomplish this from that CD.)

 

that seemed to worK! You are right it is not a user friendly interface. I am now at black screen that lists directories. The most likely candidate that I see are documents and settings. I am not going to do anything until you tell me what to do.

 

Good morning,

Document and Settings and then your user name folder would be the next destination but hold off for a minute and try one more thing that may be easier to navigate. You can leave TestDisk open but ignore it.

Have your USB thumb drive attached to the PC. Try the menu button then System Tools then at the bottom emelFM2. Will bring up a two pane file manager.

In the right pane let's see if we can get to the same destination. Click media and let me know what you see listed.

 

In the right pane:
cdrom
cdrom1/
sda1/
sdb/
sr0/

 

Right-click sda1 and select mount. Then double click sda1 and see if you get a list of files.
If you don't get a list of files-do it again and check again.

 

I did it 5-6 times, and no files appear.

 

I guess it is back to TestDisk.
So you have a list of files. Go into Documents and Settings by using the arrow up/down key to highlight and then <enter>. Then go into "yourusername" by up/down and highlighting and <enter>. Now from there you have to tell me where your document was located in XP. Was it on the desktop, My Documents etc.

The navigation through folders is obviously not very intuitive in that program. The first two items in each list of files (.) and (..) are navigation. (.) is the current folder/directory. (..) is up one level.
So if you go to Documents and Settings\yourusername\Desktop and realize that there is no important document there then you would highlight (..) to go up one level and then try another folder.

BTW: this should not have turned into a major ordeal. I've never had a linux CD not give a list of files right off the bat. Two simpler options would be to 1) remove the HD from this computer and put it in a working computer and transfer files that way. 2) Try another Linux CD and see if it mounts that drive correctly. I only use Linux Mint as a full fledged Linux CD but that is a 699mb download but it may be less aggravating. ***I don't see any reason why that HD should be difficult to mount properly. It is obviously working fine since XP begins to load.

 

I found the file. It was in My Documents.
I am not going to do anything until you give me further instructions. I'd really hate to blow it now.

 

I am only guessing here as I find it very confusing.
Highlight your document and then hit C for copy.
You will be prompted if you want to save it to \Root
You don't so arrow to (..) and <enter>
Arrow to Media and <enter>
Arrow to sdb1 and <enter>
Y to copy the file. You should get a copy done.

Don't close TestDisk. Go to the Linux desktop. Click My Documents. Go to Media. Then go to Sdb1 and see if you can find your file. It is probably in a set of folders starting with Documents and Settings.

**I am assuming that Sdb1 is your flash drive. So you may have other files showing in Sdb1.

 

I got it!!!!!!!!!! yahooo!!!!!!! thank you a month work has been saved!

 

Good. Please verify that you can see that file from the USB flash on another computer if you haven't already. I just want to make sure we got it to the right device.

 

Yes, it is on the device.

thank you for your patience. I never could have done this on my own.

Now I have to figure out what is making my laptop do this.

and I will have to remember to back up the important files

 

Haha, I barely got it. :-D It shouldn't have been that difficult. I really meant for the Linux CD to be a five minute thing. Burning the Cd correctly is usually the hard part.

You can try a new thread on the boot loop. I truly have never figured a good way around that. I'm always interested in reading one more go around with it.