Member Avatar for deich44

I have been using my girlfriends computer off an on and last night I went to use it and the following message appeared:

We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software change might have caused this." My options are:

Start in safe mode.
Safe mode with networking.
Safe mode with command prompt.
Last known good configuration setting (most recent setting that worked).
Start Windows normally.

I have tried all of these options and they just return me right back to the screen decribed above.

There has been no recently installed software or hardware and the computer worked 100% fine just last evening.

The computer, which is a few years old, came with Windowns XP pre-installed on it.

Can someone please help me i've been reading other forums and trying different things for an hour now and i can figure it out.

Thanks all!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by fry

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Brief, practical plan that follows on from and the OP () without repeating the startup menu text: the symptom normally means a boot-level problem (corrupt boot files, damaged filesystem, or a failing/hard-to-see hard drive). Follow these steps in order so work is done safely and data risk is minimized.

Try quick checks first: unplug all USB devices and remove any newly attached cards. Enter the BIOS/UEFI and confirm the hard drive is detected. Listen for unusual clicking from the drive. If the drive is not seen or makes noise, treat this as a hardware failure and avoid destructive repairs until data is backed up.

If the disk is detected, get a non-destructive environment to inspect and rescue files before repair. Boot from a Linux live CD/USB or a boot disk utility (many free live images will boot on older hardware). From that environment you can:

  • Copy important documents to an external drive.
  • Run a SMART test to look for imminent drive failure.
  • Confirm file system integrity before attempting Windows repairs.

If a Windows XP install CD (or Vista/7/8 media) is available, use the recovery tools rather than a full reinstall. With XP, boot from the CD, choose Recovery Console (press R) and run, in this order:

chkdsk /r
fixmbr
fixboot
bootcfg /rebuild
copy D:\i386\ntldr C:\
copy D:\i386\ntdetect.com C:\
exit

(Adjust the CD drive letter if not D:. These commands repair filesystem errors, rewrite the boot sector/MBR, rebuild boot.ini and replace NTLDR files.)

For Vista/7/8, use the Recovery Environment and either Startup Repair or these commands from a command prompt:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd

If there is no install/recovery media, OEM recovery discs will usually restore the system but often erase personal files—back up first. If repairs fail or SMART reports problems, clone the drive or remove it and attach it to another PC for recovery; then replace the drive and reinstall. Finally, test RAM (memtest86+) if boot failures continue after the disk is verified.

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Member Avatar for fry

do you have a windows installation cd? if yes try to boot from it and run repair option.

Member Avatar for deich44

I don't have that disk all I have are the disks that came with the computer. I need to get them from storage and see if any of them will help the problem.

Why would this happen?

Member Avatar for fry

there is no straight answer why it happens. there can be may reasons eve i don't know what to say. Ah yes, open you computer case and check out the devices like video card, sound card, ram, etc are connected in proper way.

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