HELP! (computer problem)

[bighammer]

I have a HP laptop with preinstalled XP Home on it. After shutting it down yesterday it refused to boot anymore. At boot, I get the screen about saying "Windows did not start properly, etc. " with options to either got safe mode, normal boot, command prompt, etc. I have tried all of them with no success. All of them go through the same cycle: I see the Windows logo, then a blue screen (too fast to read what it says) and then the same starts over. If I use the recovery CDs that came with the computer, the only option is a complete format and reinstall.



Any ideas or suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

[dvieira]

Hi. .



real long shot here, but is there a disk in the disk drive, i know

it used to prevent the computer from starting, long ago though, maybe the new computer's don't care. .

dave

 

[bighammer]

Originally posted by dvieira

Hi. .



real long shot here, but is there a disk in the disk drive, i know

it used to prevent the computer from starting, long ago though, maybe the new computer's don't care. .

dave

Nope. Thanks though.

 

[bighammer]

So is there any way to pull files off of a hard drive and put them on another using a computer that does work? If so, I could recover some of the stuff that wasn't backed up. (photos, documents, addresses, my income taxes THAT WERE ALMOST DONE )

 

[R-N-R]

I am pretty sure that you will need a Windows XP Home (setup) CD to either repair windows or otherwise access the disk. The NTFS file system pretty much eliminates the potential for booting from a FDD and being able to access the hard disk.

 

[99guy]

There is a way to pull files from your laptop drive, that is if the drive itself is OK. Would require removing the drive from the laptop and temporarily hooking to a desktop having spare drive hookup. You will also need an adapter pigtail, not a high dollar item. Takes a little computer knowledge but it’s not brain surgery either. If your not comfortable doing yourself a computer shop would prob have what’s needed to get the job done. Just a matter of justifying the cost against the files you would be loosing.

 

[bighammer]

I'm a nuts & bolts kind of guy so this computer stuff is NOT my thing, but when I try to boot in safe mode, I get a listing (like a screen and a half) of



multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition (2)\WINDOWS\System32\ ... . (mostly drivers--Can't see the top ones because they fly by too fast)



Does that mean a sector of the hd is wasted? (or corrupted?)

 

[KBennett]

I am still running Win98 on the laptop and desktop. Whenever I have had a major problem like this I just re-run the Windows install. It never has wiped out anything and it just cleans up the mess. I am not sure if this will work on XP. Can someone else tell BH and I if this will work in his case without wiping anything out? If so, this is the direction I would go.



GOOD LUCK!

 

[99guy]

I’ve done it with W2k Pro, don’t use XP, but I think they are similar in many ways, just don’t do the reformat thing. We are talking about Windows here, sometimes you jus never know.

 

[Bob Wagner]

can you try and boot in safe mode?

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

I was juuust gonna say that. Mine will do so and without going thru the re install mess I reboted in safe mode. Then simply restarted and the normal boot log resumed and was up and running no issues. Odd yes ,Why I yet to find out.

 

[JHerrlich]

If you broke it bad enough that you can't boot, you can borrow someone's XP home CD and reinstall over the top of your installation. You shouldn't lose anything. The driver listing when you try to run safe mode just shows the drivers that are loading, it doesn't mean anything else unless it halts on one of them.



If reloading over the top of your installation doesn't work, there are some utilities out there that will let you pull things off of the drive. If you have a friend that runs linux or something like that, you can mount the drive in his/her computer and pull files off that way.

 

[bighammer]

It's an OEM version of XP so there is no install disk. There are 4 disks that wipe out everything and restore it to new condition. (a worthwhile option if I can recover my stuff)



When it stops, it says something about Windows not starting properly and gives me these options:



Start normally

Start with last known working configuration

Safe Mode

Safe mode with command prompt



They all lead to the same thing -- Reset/restart :{



I'm going to call around today and see what kind of $$$ it would cost for data recovery. Dummy me got too involved with too many other things and haven't backed up much of anything for a while... . :{

 

[mikel]

If nothing else, spend the $$ on a retail copy of XP and install that over top of what's already on your machine. Then you'll be able to get to your stuff and you'll have the copy. If you pay someone else to do it, you'll have you data, but you won't be able to help yourself next time something like this happens.



There's always a next time...



Mike

 

[dseabaugh]

When my laptop pulls this crap I pull out the battery and un plug it for a few minutes then put the battery back in and it works. It usually puills that crap when I haven't used it for awhile.

 

[E7mack96]

sounds like you got hit with this.



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/washpost/20040323/tc_washpost/a15760_2004mar22&e=1

 

[Hammer]

bighammer...



Computer repair...

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