Operating system will not start

[LonnieJohnson]

I have a laptop that goes to the black and white screen asking if you want to boot in regular or safe mode when you first turn it on. No matter what you select it starts booting and then when it gets almost to the Windows Login Screen it starts over asking if you want to boot in regular or safe mode. I cannot get out of this loop.

Any thoughts on this?


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[G0AOZ]

You need to run a few diags to narrow the problem down.

I'll assume the same problem exists on battery power as well as mains adaptor, and I'll further assume you have any data already backed up. Did this problem suddenly appear, possibly as a result of a download, drop on the floor, etc?

Run diags on the hard drive for bad or very slow to read blocks. Use drive manufacturers diags, on-board diags if supplied, or MHDD.

Next, run the drive through virus scanner(s) to see if it's clean. If ok, then you're probably looking at a System file error. See if at the <F8> menu you can select not to reboot at a boot failure - this might give you a BSoD message.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[LonnieJohnson]

How can I do any of that if it never makes it to any screen that I can manage or access any tools?

Yes, it suddenly starting doing it one morning.

Thanks for the quick response.



ProDev, Builders of Affordable Software Applications
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[RFBaker]

If you have a way of booting either from a USB or CD using something Like Bart PE you could try this.

Boot from the CD, Browse the C drive to "System Volume Information" folder check the various RPxx folder by date for one a few days before the error occoured open this and look for the snapshot folder. your looking for 5 files
ranme these as below.
* Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM to SAM
* Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY to SECURITY
* Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE to SOFTWARE
* Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM to SYSTEM
* Rename _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT to DEFAULT

Now copy them into the below folder over writing the existing files,(I always make a backup just incase)


c:\windows\system32\config\sam
c:\windows\system32\config\security
c:\windows\system32\config\software
c:\windows\system32\config\default
c:\windows\system32\config\system




Richard Baker

 

[LonnieJohnson]

Thank you RF_Baker. I will try that.

ProDev, Builders of Affordable Software Applications
Visit me at ==>

http://www.prodev.us

May God bless you beyond your imagination!!!

 

[Alshrim]

I have a similar issue, however, I've done all the restores back to dates before this whole thing started.

I've wondered if there's a short on the main board. Made sure there were no parts of the board that are wow'd enough to come into contact with the backplating. That wasn't it.

One curious thing i'm noticing in my case, however, is that once the machine warms up - it boots no problem. I could reboot over and over again... and i'll have no issues.

Once I let it cool, it exhibits the same behavior... It's a real stumper!!!!!

I've done memtests and HDD tests.. all come out green!!
I'm truely at a loss..

Anyone with anymore ideas?

AlRo
System Administrator
Ottawa, Canada.

 

[G0AOZ]

LJ:

Drive manufacturer's disk diags can be run from the DOS level - boot up on a DOS floppy disk, and run diags. Ditto MHDD. Dells, for example, often have a function key <F?> which will start their mobo and HDD diags from a second partition, so you're not running Windows.

Alshrim:

Might've been better to start your own thread. However...
Check motherboard for bad capacitors, see

http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=5

Could also be a PSU problem. You could check voltages with a DVM when it fails to start, then check again when it's 'warm'. Probably easiest to just substitute the existing PSU for a known good one of equal or greater Wattage and see if that helps.


ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[LonnieJohnson]

Thanks G0AOZ. Not much of a hardware guys. I just do programming and my Pastor gave me his laptop with this problem. I also had someone two weeks ago have the exact same thing happening with their desk top.

ProDev, Builders of Affordable Software Applications
Visit me at ==>

http://www.prodev.us

May God bless you beyond your imagination!!!

 

[2ffat]

This is also a symptom of the bad MS patch (see thread779-1590709). If the computer is set to reboot on an error, you will not see the blue screen except as a quick flash sometimes. This doesn't explain, however, why this happened on a computer two weeks ago, though.


James P. Cottingham
^{I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229!}

 

[linney]

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

Have a look at running ChkDsk /r from the Recovery Console.

An easy to follow recovery console description when unable to start computer due to corrupt registry.

http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot.htm

This is a layman's version of KB307545 in simple language.

In case your problem is caused by malware have a look at the Avira rescue Disk too.

Tutorial for Avira Rescue CD

http://forum.avira.com/wbb/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=82163

 

[DTSMAN]

I have seen this before. I found the solution to be booting from the installation CD and running an OS repair. That may not be your fix but something to consider if it is pointing toward corrupt OS files.

Bo

Remember,
If the women don't find you handsome,
they should at least find you handy.
(Red Green)

http://www.redgreen.com

 

[flyboytim]

I have had a similar problem on an ACER Aspire 7520 laptop. It was a keyboard error, possibly due to a piece of debris holding a key in the "down" position. It required removing the keyboard, which is remarkably flimsy, and gently flexing and shaking it to dislodge whatever was causing the problem, then careful reassembly.

 

[ucefunes]

Hello guys , This is my first time to share my experience with you .
Regarding the problem of the (loop) as they named it , I have faced such a problem and when i tried to fix it through running a system repair I noticed that the windows partition is marked as (unknown) I have fixed this problem by connectin the hard disk into another computer and made scandisk on it fixing the problems of the file system through it and it worked . Try to make it on your hard disk and i think your problem will be solved.

 

[LonnieJohnson]

Thanks everyone. Nothing seemed to work. I ended up re-installing.

ProDev, Builders of Affordable Software Applications
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May God bless you beyond your imagination!!!

 

[kjv1611]

I ended up re-installing.

That one always seems to work if it's a software issue.

If you want to run any tests on the machine, just to be sure it's not hardware, you could download UltimateBootCD, and run a couple scans from there - RAM, HDD. It is fairly common and easy for laptop hard drives (being mobile devices), for hard drives to get mechanical errors that end up causing this issue. Then again, many software issues cause the same thing as well, so more than likely the issue is fixed.

In case it were a rootkit causing the issue, which happened with the latest MS update apparently, you might want to make sure he has a good AV program installed, as well as a firewall at the least.

You can go with whatever, but possibly the best free one is Avira Antivir. Also possibly the 2 best software firewalls are Comodo Internet Security and Tall Emu Online Armor.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me