Member Avatar for Richierich111

When I power up my PC and Windows XP tries to load, I get the following message: "We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software change might have caused this."

There are a few old threads on here with suggestions to deal with this problem by starting in Safe mode etc., however at the options screen I am unable to make any selection (i.e. the up and down cursor keys for some reason do not function) and the 'Start Windows normally' option is therefore automatically run.

This option obviously places the PC into a continual loop of trying to start up then defaulting to the error message screen, then running in 'Start Windows normally', then booting the error message....etc.

Please help.

Thank you in advance,

Richard.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by helmikuu

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Generated

Short expert summary and focused next steps

The immediate issue here is not the XP error message itself but that the Advanced Boot Options menu cannot be controlled because the keyboard isn’t active at the pre‑OS stage (so the boot menu simply times out to the default option). This is most often a BIOS/USB initialization problem with USB keyboards rather than a Windows-only fault. (support.microsoft.com)

Practical checks to do first (fast, non‑destructive)

  • While the machine is powering on, watch the NumLock/CapsLock LED to see if the keyboard is alive at POST.
  • Try the keyboard in a rear I/O port (avoid front-panel or USB3/blue ports) or try a basic PS/2 keyboard or a USB→PS/2 adapter if the motherboard has a PS/2 socket.
  • If you can enter BIOS/UEFI, look for and enable options named “USB Legacy Support” / “USB Keyboard Support” and try disabling any aggressive Fast Boot/XHCI handoff settings; also consider a BIOS update if available. These steps are the most common, reliable fix for a keyboard that works in Windows but not on the F8/boot menu. (support.microsoft.com)

If the keyboard still cannot be used

  • Boot a rescue/live USB (SystemRescue/Ubuntu/Clonezilla, etc.) to copy off important data before doing anything that risks the disk. A live environment can mount NTFS partitions and let you back up files. (linux.com)
  • As an advanced option, Windows XP’s boot configuration can be set to force Safe Mode by adding a /safeboot entry in Boot.ini; that is powerful but risky (you can get stuck in Safe Mode until the /SAFEBOOT option is removed), so only use it if you understand the rollback steps (msconfig or editing Boot.ini from another environment). (learn.microsoft.com)

Notes about other replies

  • ’s and ’s recovery/disk‑check ideas are valid fallbacks once keyboard access or a rescue environment is available. Prioritize getting a BIOS/keyboard solution or backing up data first, then pursue repair steps.

Recommended Answers

All 3 Replies

Member Avatar for khakilang

First of all you can scan for virus as a precaution. Did you install any software or hardware that may have cause this to happen? It seem that your Window maybe corrupted and may need to reinstall again.

Member Avatar for caperjack

try booting to your winxp cd and go recovery console and run a check disk ,
at the command prompt type in with out the "",and a space between the k and /
"chkdsk /r"

Member Avatar for helmikuu

Try to put your hard disk in other system unit and run check disk.

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