Gaahhhh!!!! My computer won't boot!
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Posted on Dec 07, 2006 02:13 am
coolo
Frisco's Most Underrated
Member Since: Jan 28, 2003
It starts the boot process, but a version of the windows advanced options screen comes up with a message saying something like "sorry for the inconvenience but windows was not able to load" and gives me some choices on how to start windows (safe mode, last known good configuration, start windows normally, and a couple other safe mode options). No matter what i select, the black windows xp screen comes on, and then the computer automatically restarts and the process repeats itself. Does anyone have any ideas on what the problem could be? The screen also says i may need to remove any recently installed hardware, but I haven't installed any hardware or software recently...
so frustrating...
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cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Dec 07, 2006 02:31 am hmmm, this guy seems to have had the exact same problem that i'm having...
forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=205036
i'm going to give a repair installation of windows a try (if i can figure out how that's supposed to work). the only thing is that i didn't add any new hardware...grrrrr!
steveopop musicMember
Since: Sep 27, 2005
Dec 07, 2006 12:50 pm Forgive me if I state anything that's obvious to you. I had a problem similar to yours about a year ago... one morning it was just 'gone'. I suspect that you might have a problem with a corrupted boot sector(s) on you HDD. I don't know if my problems were a physical problem with the disk surface or maybe a virus I somehow picked up (even with AVG installed). Using a emergency disk I was able to look at the drives status. The partition that contained my OS, everything... was marked as an unknown partition. It still showed the correct total size and % free, but was unavailable.
There are a number of disk recovery software solutions that will allow you to repair the boot sector. All seem to cost big $$. There was a free utility that worked like a charm for me. It's called DriveRescue 1.9d (not positive it's still out there). Hopefully other members will have better suggestions!
BeerHunterwww.TheLondonProject.caMember
Since: Feb 07, 2005
Dec 07, 2006 01:02 pm I've had something like this happen to me from time to time. Not that I necessarily have the same problem but here's what I do to correct it.
For some reason my bios seems to get confused every once in awhile and I have to re-select my default boot drive in my bios settings. Another thing to try is to unplug the power cord so that all voltage is cleared from the board. Sometimes this is the only way that I can get my PC to detect my soundcards.
Also, try disconnecting your internet connection in case your pc is infected with a worm that resets your computer. This is unlikely however since you don't even seem to be able to get into Windows. I believe worms like this happen after you are in Windows.
Not very helpful I know, but you never know if this doesn't work for you, it might help someone else.
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Dec 07, 2006 02:18 pm thanks guys. Just as a note, this computer that won't start has never been connected to the internet, so i think it is very unlikely that i have a virus...
I'm going to dive into this some more this weekend (it's supposed to be raining around here so i shouldn't really have anything else to do).
jmailjimmie neutronMember
Since: Feb 14, 2005
Dec 07, 2006 04:38 pm A loss of CMOS battery can also confuse the computer, as can errant electrical energy, such as from a lightning strike, and you end up with as steveo and BeerHunter have had (similar for me...) If when you try to boot again, enter the BIOS setup, look at the "main" screen where your clock & disks are listed, and like BeerHunter says, pay attention to what it says your disk is. Also, look at the clock. It's liable to have re-set to some pre-historic date, such as Jun 01, 2001 (or possibly earlier...). Let the BIOS identify your hard drive(s) automatically (possibly on a different page of the BIOS setup) and re-set your clock. If you do get a boot-up, check your clock a couple hours later and see if it's keeping time. After you turn it off later, come back a couple hours later and see if the computer's clock isn't losing time. You may have to replace the little watch-like battery that's mounted on the motherboard somewhere...
zekthedeadcowEat Spam before it eats YOU!!!Member
Since: May 11, 2002
Dec 07, 2006 05:31 pm I had a client with that problem, the hard drive went bad with the first bad sectors appearing in the XP boot files... it took a while but eventually the SMART warning came up while I was dinking around with it.
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Dec 07, 2006 07:23 pm cool, thanks for the ideas guys. i'm going to try and run through these various things later.
It's definitely much appreciated!
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Dec 08, 2006 07:01 pm ok, so I went through all the steps yous guys suggested, and to no avail. The clock is ok, the correct hard drive was selected, etc.
I'm starting to believe that Zek has it pegged, because my video card driver went poo poo about a month and a half ago, and i remember seeing something along the lines of a bad sector (which i promptly ignored) as i was tooling around fixing that problem (funny that i forgot about that until zeks post).
So, if that's the case, that my disk is starting to go bad, i can just get a new one, install xp on it and start over? All my important files are on a second HD, not the boot drive, so hopefully that won't be affected right? Is it possible that i would be able to access the files on my drive that's going bad if i made it a secondary drive for a moment, just long enough to copy the files (assuming none are on a bad sector)?
If I need a new hard drive, maybe it's a sign that I should just upgrade my whole machine all together. You know get me a nice pentium or AMD machine and leave this celery(on) in the dust...
Sorry for all the questions, just kind of thinking out loud (in a sense). Any insight is definitely appreciated!
BeerHunterwww.TheLondonProject.caMember
Since: Feb 07, 2005
Dec 08, 2006 07:20 pm If it is just the boot sector or some other flakey OS thing then all your files will be there and only the files that have been written to a damaged sector(s) will be lost. Drives are cheap now. I would buy a new one and install XP on it. Slave off the screwed up one. Copy the files (if there are any you need) off of it to your new drive. Remember that you may have your My Document, favorites, e-mail etc on the crapped out drive.
... or like you say, give in to GAS and get a new one... afterall its Christmas right?!
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Dec 08, 2006 09:00 pm GAS? Gear blank blank?
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Dec 08, 2006 09:19 pm So i just bought (over the internet) an internal hard drive and an external hard drive. I think i just got a wake up call on backing up my projects!
GeoffSM7b the Chuck Noris of Mic'sContributor
Since: Jun 20, 2002
Dec 08, 2006 09:54 pm sorry to chime in late, but the same problem happend to my laptop and it was a bad hard drive, no way around it , the sucker just crapped out after a while.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Dec 08, 2006 11:43 pm Yep, I am still installing pluggins and such from my main studio box HD taking a major dive. Cant even recover the thing. OS and apps only any way so it wasn't major. Except for the 8 million pluggins and crap I keep finding in older projects that I haven't installed yet.
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Dec 08, 2006 11:51 pm yeah, Noize, that's what i'm not looking forward to! Thank goodness, I mostly only use a couple plugs over and over again, but none the less, I figure it will be at least one full day wasted doing installation and file copying.
