Windows XP

[g_shocker182]

I hate to sound so bland, but I have a big problem. Today, my (other) computer froze-up (with WinXP). So I turned off the computer and tried to restart it. But once I restart it this page fills the screen saying Windows didn't shutdown properly and it asks me if I want to start in Safe Mode, Safe mode w/ cmmand prompt, or safe mode w/ network. 2 other choices are Start Windows normailly or "With last good settings". When I click anyone of them, the mostly black "Windows Home Edition" starts up and the computer stops there.

So what should I do? Contact DELL, ask for a refund? Try other settings I dont know about?

Sorry for the bad wording/ spelling but I am on a VERY outdated and slow computer (150Mhz), thats showing up text what I wrote 3 seconds ago.

Thanks! (and please, no Windows bashing tgpo )

[Heavensent]

how about trying to load in safe mode, and than use the
system restore option?

if you can load it in safe mode than try this :

load the computer in safe mode and than press
start>programs>accessories>system tools>system restore
select "restore my computer to an earlier time"
select whatever day that you want to restore it to.

its worth a try

[g_shocker182]

When I try to load in Safe Mode, it still freezes!

[b1r0i1a5n]

The same thing happened to my old compaq a few months ago (with Windows XP), I just kept restarting it until it worked properly, and it hasn't happened since. I guess it was a wierd problem that solved itself. But if you can't get it going after too long, I would say you should definately call dell and hopefully get a solution from them and hope you don't have to return it.

[g_shocker182]

Conan,
I have restarted the damned thing a million times and it still does not work. What option did you select for the menu?

[b1r0i1a5n]

I tried them all about 10 times, but I think the last one was to start windows normally

[g_shocker182]

I've restarted it about 15 times total, i believe. How long did you have it on the WinXp Logo screen (where I frose) untill it went through?

[b1r0i1a5n]

When it finally worked, it just booted up like normal...it was on the windows screen for like 10 seconds, it was like a miracle.

[g_shocker182]

I'm waiting for that miracle...

[tgpo]

Thanks! (and please, no Windows bashing tgpo )

Like I would do that.

Windows Sucks :P

[0 kewl]

Thanks! (and please, no Windows bashing tgpo )

Like I would do that.

Mac Sucks :P

We all agree with you, tgpo :P

[pbhalerao]

I hate to sound so bland, but I have a big problem. Today, my (other) computer froze-up (with WinXP). So I turned off the computer and tried to restart it. But once I restart it this page fills the screen saying Windows didn't shutdown properly and it asks me if I want to start in Safe Mode, Safe mode w/ cmmand prompt, or safe mode w/ network. 2 other choices are Start Windows normailly or "With last good settings". When I click anyone of them, the mostly black "Windows Home Edition" starts up and the computer stops there.

So what should I do? Contact DELL, ask for a refund? Try other settings I dont know about?

Sorry for the bad wording/ spelling but I am on a VERY outdated and slow computer (150Mhz), thats showing up text what I wrote 3 seconds ago.

Thanks! (and please, no Windows bashing tgpo )

Hi g_shocker,

It appears that there is a problem with the hard disk or the CMOS settings. Your PM told me that you tried to change the IDE cable but that did not help. Hence it is safe to assume that the cable is not the culprit. Changing the cable may not help.

When you start the computer, do the floppy disk, HDD, and CDROM LED's light up? These LED's should light up for a second or so and then go out. At this time the BIOS is trying to check whether the devices work properly. After this is done, the BIOS finds out what should be the primary boot drive from the CMOS setup and starts booting from that drive. In the older computers usually the sequence was floppy drive (A:\), and then the HDD (C:\). With the advent of CD/DVD-ROMS another device was added as the last option.

Since you say that the WinXP logo come up, it is safe to assume that your drives are working properly. Nevertheless check the first step. If the lights are not lighting up then the problem is the motherboard IDE controller. If the lights are continuously lit then there is a problem with the CMOS setup.

You have mentioned that your computer is rather old. Start the computer, go into CMOS setup and check the settings. It could be that your HDD settings are not correct. Set the HDD to AUTO or something like that.

There is a small button cell battery which keeps the CMOS settings intact. This battery has usual life of 3 to 4 years. If this battery has died then your CMOS settings could be lost. In that case replace the battery. It is quite cheap.

The problem could also be that your boot partition has gone wrong. To check this, you should first create a system recovery disk via your other (good) computer (if you already don't have one). The system recovery disk is created on a floppy disk. Windows Help should be able to tell you how to create a System Recovery Disk.

You should then use this disk to boot. Make sure that your CMOS settings are set to boot from A:, HDD and CDROM sequence. Put the floppy in the drive and start your computer. You will now boot from the floppy. You will get that old fashioned DOS prompt as A:\>. See if you view the contents of the C:\ drive using the DIR C:\ command.

I hope that your partition table is not corrupted. As a last resort, you may have to correct the partition table. This will destroy the contents the entire disk including the other partitions. After creating the partitions agains you will have to format the partitions and reinstall all software. Hence I hope your problem does not come to this. Again repeat, do this only as the last resort.

I will be glad to assist more, if required.

Regards,

[MOVIEGEEK]

My guesses are:the CMOS battery is dead,your PSU is about to die,your videocard is fried or you have a virus.

[flaninacupboard]

My install of XP did this. My solution? revert to 2000 of course!

Stick the WinXP CD in, and let it run through for a while, it should detect that there's a damaged install on the hard drive, and ask if you want to try and repair. let it do it's thang.

[g_shocker182]

My PC is only 3 months old. The reinstall cd doesn't work (never detected). I will now try what pbhalerao said. And if it doesn't work, should I get a PCI Controller card for the IDE connection?

[Roundabout]

g_shocker,

You said the reinstall CD is never detected. Are you sure it's a reinstall CD, and not just a Full Version of Windows? If it's a restore CD, and not a normal full copy of Windows, you should be able to boot from it and reinstall. If you hit F8 during boot up you should be able to access your settings in BIOS and change the 1st boot device to CD. Then put in the CD and see what happens. It should work. As long as your CPU and CD are working, it should at least detect it, if nothing else.

[pixel]

I think that would be kind of hit and miss.

As you said, only think about this if the tips pbhalerao have given do not work:

If you knew that the drive definitely worked and was NOT corrupted, but the problem was with the motherboard, yes it should work.

If you can't be sure what the problem is you can't be sure if the card will solve it, so try borrowing one from someone.

[g_shocker182]

g_shocker,

You said the reinstall CD is never detected. Are you sure it's a reinstall CD, and not just a Full Version of Windows? If it's a restore CD, and not a normal full copy of Windows, you should be able to boot from it and reinstall. If you hit F8 during boot up you should be able to access your settings in BIOS and change the 1st boot device to CD. Then put in the CD and see what happens. It should work. As long as your CPU and CD are working, it should at least detect it, if nothing else.

Very interesting Roundabout...It is in fact just a "reinstall cd". I have a semi-dire question now: Can I reinstall WinXp with cd without reformating the HD? I have some important school papers to keep and with the computer Im on now I am unable to slave it and cut and paste.

[pixel]

You can reinstall on one partition I think without a reformat, but as for keeping you documents, I don't really expect you will be able to.

(Possibly using some data recovery software straight after the install may help, but I don't think it will be likely).

[g_shocker182]

I remember installing Win98 years ago and it asked me if I wanted to format or not when reinstalling...

[arcorob]

G Shocker...I have kind of SAT back and watched but here is your help.

1) You have corrupted windows beyond normal startup or have a driver that is in conflict.

2) It si NOT your CMOS or any other such thing (no beep codes and it gets as far as windows)

The fix.

Boot your PC and MAKE SURE you go right into BIOS setup.
Go to the BOOT tab and make the CD ROM device the first boot device.
Open the CD rom and insert your WINDOWS XP system disk(yes, DELL gave you one)
Now hit EXIT and SAVE and it will exit the bios.
It will also reboot to the CD rom.

When it asks do you wish to install windows say - YES
It will then say a copy of Windows XP has been detected on your machine, do you wish to do a REPAIR instead - Answer 'R' for repair, accept the license agreement , etc.

This fixes WINDOWS XP without losing all other programs.

It also removes all service packs so once your machine is up and running (about 28 minutes) go back to MS website and load the patches/etc.

Hope this helps.......Rob

[gmatov]

If it is a Restore disk, somewhere on it should be the full install of Windows.
If you can put in a boot disk, and get to DOS, you should be able to browse the disk (s) to find it, and simply install to the same directory.

In this way, you should not lose anything, not installed progrems, settings, documents, anything.

If you do a "Restore" chances are you will lose stuff, as the Restore function generally restores the machine to the way it came from the OEM, nothing left other than the bare OS, with hardware detected and installed, unless you have added something that the OEM disk doesn't cover.

You might also try disconnecting your second drive. I have had machines, admittedly not XP, lock up over an unsupported drive. Too large for the board's BIOS. Not that yours is too large, but to remove one possible problem.

Since I have no XPerience, shouldn't your machine be running ScanDisk after the Not properly shut down message?

[Roundabout]

g_shocker,
arcorob is basically telling you to do the same thing I said, to change the BIOS to allow you to boot from CD-ROM and then put your restore disk in. Since I haven't had to do a "fix" on XP yet, I didn't know that it would give you the option of "R"epairing the already installed copy of XP. On my IBM laptop, the restore disk is Win98, and it warns you that you will wipe the disk if you use it. If XP has a repair option, then obviously you should use it. If there is no option, you have to do a Full Restore, wiping out everything.

[arcorob]

g_shocker...Roundabout is telling you same as I am, do the REPAIR. You will not lose a thing except he WINDOWS patches/service packs. I have done a number of times, its whats nice about XP. You can completely REPAIR xp without touching a single OEM program....

It is also the method used to move a drive to another machine. XP does not AUTOBUILD like windows 98 did. So say you change your motherboard and go to another chipset. You have to have a way of telling XP that your config is different. Thats why its a NON-destructive repair. I run it whenever I upgrade, then I reapply SP1 at MS site.

[MOVIEGEEK]

@g_shocker182,
I have a way to prove if it's a OS problem or a hardware problemut the HDD from your old computer into your new one.If it boots up properly the problem is your OS if it doesn't it is hardware(solution:look at my first post).

[The village idiot]

I agree with acrorob and roundabout. I've done the repair thing many times with NT4 and 2000. As long as you don't format, you will still be able to get your documents back out. Unless they are in the "your documents" folder. Then it might rename the folder, or might write over it.

Another solution might be this. Get the cheapest hard drive you can afford. Anything over about 4GB. Take your old drive out and install it as slave. Install windows on the "new" drive. Then get you files backed up from the old drive! Then do what you want to set the computer back to its normal config, including format the old drive. This is the safest way to get the info. But it does of course cost money. A good used 4GB drive should only be about $10. Or you could buy a larger drive and just run with it as your primary from now on. The choice is yours. But if I had very important data, I would use this second method so that there was no chance of corrupting the data further. You don't even have to put the old drive into the computer until you have the "new" drive operating. (Actually, now I would put the drive in a firewire box and connect it to another machine, grab the files, and then format the sucker. But I have a firewire box, and second or third machine to do this with.)

[arcorob]

Thats an idea but if he does that, there is no clean way to get the PROGRAMS back....They are unusable on the slave drive(former c: drive)

The repair does NOT take out your documents. If it did I would have lost all my business files.

RUN THE REPAIR.
RUN THE REPAIR.
RUN THE REPAIR
Thats what it is made for
RUN THE REPAIR......sigh.

If you are not sure...LOOK IT UP

But I dont go out of my way to stear someone wrong. I even gave you the prompts.

Do you want to install XP - YES
Windows has detected a previous copy, would you like top run a Repair instead YES(says to reply R so reply R)

Watch it work. 28 minutes or so later, XP reboots.

It will ask for your license id, your name, do you want to register (yes)

Do NOT give it another user name. If you do it will create two (the one that exists and the new one) so you dont even have to do that. Just name, address and a prayer to Bill Gates...LOL

[The village idiot]

Yes, that is true, it will keep all the installed programs usable if you use the repair.

Will XP ask if you want to re-write (repair) the registry? I remember that NT4 would allow this, and that it hosed me a couple of times. But that was an older system.

[g_shocker182]

Oh my God I was out for a few hours and I come back to a thread with more information than I can handle. Thank you everybody!!

First I have to say that most of this is bad news:

Well I will start with phbalerao. When I turn on the pc, all the lights light up just fine. But when I try to boot it up normally, the hard drive light stops flickering at the WinXp logo screen.

Arcorob, your turn: When I choose the "r" for repair WinXP (after following your directions), the computer doesn't do anything at all when the messege at the bottom says "Examaning Hard disk". This leads me to believe that there is maybe something wrong with the harddrive. (I did wait for 5 hours for it to do something).

Gmatov: The first thing I did was disconnect the second hard-drive (i have yet to install the 120 gb one). It was an old 3gb fat32 sob. It didnt do anything or make a difference.

Moviegeek: The other drive has no os installed, only a few mp3s. I am on an old laptop now. Can I still install xp on that 3gb sob that still has a few files on it?

As of now I am leaning toward using a new harddrive like the village idiot and someone else said.

[MackemX]

I had roughly the same symptoms a few weeks back with my computer hanging after a bad shutdown and no matter what I did it would hang always in the same place

after a little searching I found my fix was to put the faulty XP drive as a slave in another computer and replace 5 files manually. (note C:\ will probably be D:\ if you put it as a slave to the master ). You also need to have access to hidden files selected

these are the 5 files I replaced

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

firstly I backed them up just in case it didn't work

open C:\System Volume Information\_restore{really long number here}\RPXXX\snapshot. XXXwill be the highest number you can see giving you the latest sytsem restore files. You should have found the most recent files by looking at the dates, the ones nearest to your crash

there will be 5 files in that folder you need

_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_DEFAULT

you can see the similarities and basically all you do is copy those files into the C:\windows\system32\config\ folder but also rename them to correct name

_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM becomes SYSTEM etc, basically just removing the _REGISTRY_MACHINE_ part of the name

it was a lifesaver for me as it fired up first time and it was only 20 minutes previous to the crash that the files were dated

there are guides out there to do this but I can't find one at hand at the minute so I'll explain best I can