Member Avatar for jackeltree

Some electrical men were working outside when they suddenly turned off our power. The computer was on and fully booted when this happened. Now when I turn it on, it asks it I want to start it in safe mode or revert the settings, etc. Whichever option I choose (I tried them all), windows starts to boot, but then before it's finished, the computer restarts and does the same thing over again. What happened and what can I do to fix it? Please remember that I'm no computer expert. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Crystal

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by nizzy1115

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A sudden loss of power while Windows was running most often leads to on-disk corruption (boot files, registry, or file-table data) or, less commonly, a hardware fault that shows up as an immediate restart during boot. That looping restart after the F8/repair prompts matches those possibilities. is right that repair media is the usual way to fix the file-system and damaged boot files, but since does not have the original discs, here is a safe, practical plan that does not assume technical skill.

First, do no harm to your data. Before attempting repairs or reinstalling, recover personal files. The simplest non-technical approaches: remove the drive and connect it to another working PC with a USB-to-IDE/SATA adapter or enclosure, or boot the machine from a separate rescue/live environment so you can copy documents to an external disk. If the drive is noisy, clicking, or not detected by another PC, stop and consider a professional recovery service.

Next, basic hardware checks you can try yourself: power off, unplug all nonessential USB devices, and try booting with minimal internal components (one RAM module, no add-in cards) to rule out a bad stick or card. Enter the BIOS/POST at startup to confirm the hard drive is seen; if the drive does not appear, that points to a cable, power, or drive failure rather than Windows itself. If the drive is present but the system still restarts, the fault is likely corruption of system files or a failing drive.

For repair and reinstall options: borrow a legitimate installation disc that exactly matches your Windows edition and use your product key (COA) for repair or reinstall, or ask a local shop to make recovery media for you. Do not accept or use unofficial/pirated copies. If this feels too risky, a small local repair shop can back up your data and run the correct repair tools. Once resolved, make rescue media, keep a recent backup, and use a surge protector or UPS to reduce future risk.

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Member Avatar for Chaky

What windows are we talking about?
Are there ANY messages?

In case of XP:

Boot from XP installation CD (please post if you need detailed instructions)
When prompted, select -r for repair mode
You will be prompted for Admin. password.
type "CHKDSK" and hit enter. This will fix the errors on your HD that occured when the power outage happened, hopefully fixing the problems with windows.
When finished type "exit" (maybe it is "quit", cann't remeber) and it will restart your PC.

There is allways a choice of disableing the automatic system restart (f8 menu) that may start the windows with some problems left, which you can access via device manager (right-clck on my comp., select properties, click on hardware tab, click on device manager button and post any device with exclamation mark on it)

If you still cann't boot the system, only choice left is to reinstall the windows (sorry).

In case of Win95/98 do the following:

Hold f8 when booting, and select command prompt.
Type "SCANDISK" to fix any error that occured with this power outage.
when finished reboot the system.

If that don't do the trick, try (repeat the above step)
Type "CD WINDOWS" (giving that "WINDOWS" is your windows directory)
Type the following:
attrib -h -s -r system.d*
attrib -h -s -r user.d*
ren system.dat system.bad
ren system.da0 system.dat
ren user.dat user.bad
ren user.da0 user.dat
Now reboot the system. (ctrl-alt-del, not the button)

Member Avatar for jackeltree

I would be happy to try this, but I don't have the installation cd for windows. A friend built this computer for me (we now live in different states) and he didn't give me the disk he used to install windows xp. I pushed F8 for the advanced menu options and selected disable automatic restart, which brought me to a window talking about the possibility of problems with new software or hardware installations (neither of which I recently installed). When I restarted the computer, nothing had changed. I also tried selecting safe mode with command prompt and this only caused my computer to restart again. I can't even get into windows. Since my computer was built (as opposed to being from a manufacturer) and I don't have any of the installation disks that were used to install windows, is there a way I can get it without buying windows all over again? I could try to get it from my friend, but I am hoping to get this problem fixed soon (wishful thinking I'm sure!). What do you think?

-Crystal

What windows are we talking about?
Are there ANY messages?

In case of XP:

Boot from XP installation CD (please post if you need detailed instructions)
When prompted, select -r for repair mode
You will be prompted for Admin. password.
type "CHKDSK" and hit enter. This will fix the errors on your HD that occured when the power outage happened, hopefully fixing the problems with windows.
When finished type "exit" (maybe it is "quit", cann't remeber) and it will restart your PC.

There is allways a choice of disableing the automatic system restart (f8 menu) that may start the windows with some problems left, which you can access via device manager (right-clck on my comp., select properties, click on hardware tab, click on device manager button and post any device with exclamation mark on it)

If you still cann't boot the system, only choice left is to reinstall the windows (sorry).

In case of Win95/98 do the following:

Hold f8 when booting, and select command prompt.
Type "SCANDISK" to fix any error that occured with this power outage.
when finished reboot the system.

If that don't do the trick, try (repeat the above step)
Type "CD WINDOWS" (giving that "WINDOWS" is your windows directory)
Type the following:
attrib -h -s -r system.d*
attrib -h -s -r user.d*
ren system.dat system.bad
ren system.da0 system.dat
ren user.dat user.bad
ren user.da0 user.dat
Now reboot the system. (ctrl-alt-del, not the button)

Member Avatar for Chaky

I would be happy to try this, but I don't have the installation cd for windows. A friend built this computer for me (we now live in different states) and he didn't give me the disk he used to install windows xp.

You should obtain a legal copy of windows.

Member Avatar for computerGenius

i have the same problem as jackal here that even i cannot fix, i lost my restore dvd's for my windows xp and the customer service is crap. can anyone hook me up or send me a file that is able to fix the computer or post a reply as soon as possible since i dont really have much time

Member Avatar for nizzy1115

You need the real disks...

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