XP won't load, computer keeps resetting

[Caiman]

Hey people :) Something strange happened to my home PC a couple of weeks back, I have been using it for about 9 months or so and have not upgraded any hardware, not played around inside or anything. It has not been connected to the internet for months and iI have NOT installed any software on it for a few months either. So, basically I was going about my business using the PC, everything was as normal, when suddenly it blue screened on me then reset itself. Now every time I turn it on I am presented with the screen which asks me to choose from the following options if I want to load windows:

safe mode
safe mode with networking
safe mode command prompt
last known good configuration.
start windows normally.

None of these options work, and if for instance I choose, safe mode/last known good or start normally, it brings up the XP boot/loading screen but as soon as that fades away it quickly flashes to a bluescreen that I dont have time to read before resetting and starting the whole process again.

I cant even get a command prompt.

Any ideas? :cry:

[qweasd]

reinstall windows...

[caperjack]

It could be Overheating ,make sure that the back fan in the power supply is running when you bootup,open case and make sure that l fans are not plugged with dirt ,leave the case cove off and try booting again.

[DMR]

If it's a corruption of the operating system, you can try to facilitate a repair by booting into rescue mode from the Windows installation CD and seeing if you can do an automatic repair.

[qweasd]

if windows is the problem i would just reinstall it... it's alot faster then trying to repair it
a fresh windows works better anyway

[Caiman]

Okay, I hadn't actually tried to reinstall via XP disk yet :o , so I guess that's my next avenue... thanks!

[Packet.22]

If you dont want to relaod windows and want want to try to get your sys back... you can......

1. Boot To the Xp Cd
2. Go to recovery console
3. Then try uninstalling service pack 2 if you have it by typing out this command at the recovery console command line: "cd $ntservicepackuninstall$\spuninst" and then type this command "batch spuninst.txt" and then type "exit" that wil restart and hope everything is fine.
4. If not try doing chkdsk by typing "chkdsk /r" at the recovery console.
5. Then if that fails i would say try a repair install but if you cant do that then i would say do an clean install. and if that fails then think about a hard drive error.

[jose hernandez]

Thanks before hand for the help. I am in a bind with my school project which is due this Saturday (nov 4) and my CPU won't start. If I do a fresh installation of Windows XP Pro, will I loose all my software and files I have in my drive? or the ability to access them?

What command can I enter in the c:\ prompt to load a previous restore point that worked? Is there such a thing?

[jose hernandez]

Thanks

[jose hernandez]

Thanks, I did a chkdsk /r from the restore console and, while it took all night long to complete the check, in the morning I rebooted the sys and it worked! Thanks to those who had previously posted this option. It worked!

[markdean]

Now that your system is running again, plan for the future. Download Bart's PE XP boot ISO image and burn on CD. This will allow you to boot with it and access your files, take a snapshot of the disk to a network location etc. Although you dodged a bullet by running scan disk, it could have just as easily corrupted your volume causing you to loose everything.

I just completed a data recovery service call where the disk was non booting and any attempts to mount it using standard XP tools was not working. Booted with Bart's ran Winternal's disk recovery tool on the Bart boot CD and I was able to recover about 60% of the customer's data. It was a good call, I sold him a tape drive with some tapes and a new hard drive and set up backups to run automatically.

The moral of the story though is, when dealing with a non-booting system, the first priority is always to get the data off before attempting any recovery efforts. Secondary moral: backup your data every night! A fried hard drive should not be that big of a deal, just get a new one and restore from backup!