Win XP Pro pc won't boot.

[algae1]

Hi all,
Here's what is going on with my Win XP Pro Pc. It will post, etc, but goes to the Boot in Safe Mode, etc. screen. From there, no matter what I choose....Normal Boot , Safe Mode, etc, reboots back to the same screen. It sees the hard drives, Ram, etc.
I would do a restore using my Acronis image but there is some recent data on there that I don't want to lose unless I have to.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
Gary

 

[firewolfrl]

what I would do is pull the drive and put it in another computer that has a good antivirus software....Then I would do a thorough scan of the drive then back up the new data so you can restore and recover that data when you return the drive to the original computer.
if you do that and restore the drive with Acronis you should be OK

 

[ockerb]

You might also consider clearing all the ticks from the startup programs in msconfig. Go start, run, type msconfig. Open the start tab and remove all the ticks. Reboot, if it works try to fing the culprit causing the problem by entering the ticks back on a few programs at a time until it fails again. Then remove or reinstall the problem program.
Ockerb

 

[satrow]

It doesn't sound like Gary can get as far as Msconfig or indeed, the Desktop.

I think a minimal boot is the first thing to try, it may be hardware related. Pull or disconnect, everything (internal and external) but the graphics card, one stick of RAM and the hard drive. Try booting and report back.

Andy.

 

[firewolfrl]

it may be hardware but the truth of the matter ...get all the needed data off the drive first the way I said to then play with the system.

maybe repairing the MBR will help but this really sounds more like a virus or worse.....ADWARE....LOL

 

[BadBigBen]

I would suggest a inplace repair installation first...

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315341

This will leave all DATA intact and the only thing you need to do is reinstall the Hotfixes...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[algae1]

I have imaged the drive with Acronis ( approx. 5 days ago) and as there have been only a few minor changes since, I decided to restore the image. Acronis hung on the "Analyzing the C drive" stage and then reported that it couldn't read some parts of the drive. I think the drive is gone.
Gary

 

[wolluf]

so - will it slave in another machine?

can you run chkdsk on it (from recovery console - chkdsk /p - or as slave or from something like BartPE disk)?

drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility?

btw, assuming its P2 - on the safe mode menu screen, there's option to stop it restarting on error (might get a blue screen with some clues).

 

[firewolfrl]

OUCH! time for a new drive. See if the drive is in warranty?
Buy a new drive and still send out the drive for the warranty and that will reduce the work time loss and double your capacity.

good luck