XP won't start

Last night when I tried to turn the computer off it would not shut down so I eventually just held the on/off button in and it finally shut down. This morning when I turned on the computer it went to the password screen, different than usual, I signed in and after several minutes it came back and said it was unable to load windows. I have a Dell 8200 with XP pro. I've tried rolling it back after hitting the F12 key and several other things that just are not working. HELP please..... I really don't need this right now.

Lorreen

PS: I have Norton's virus scan on at all times and it is up to date

 

Boot to the Recovery Console

First thing I'd try is the fixboot command.

When you do get back into windows, I'd suggest start~run~sfc /scannow if you have an XP install CD. If all you have is those 'recovery CD' abominations, you probably can't do it though.

 

Newt, tried this. Type in fixboot. Still no luck. Any other suggestions.

Lorreen

 

You did not say if you were logging in as "Administrator" or into another user account. Can you login as the administrator?

Perhaps your user account is messed up. If you can get into winxp from the startmenu runline type chkdsk /r. A popup will showup saying something similar to not being able to do this within windows would you like to schedule it at the next boot. Select yes and reboot. (Logic tells me that restore points would have eliminated this as a possibility but "desperation says give it go ". At this point it can't hurt.) This may be done during a regular bootup and hitting the cntrl\alt\del key combo twice to get the "type-in logon" that allows an administrator log-in.
1]It may take a safemode bootup.
2]This command line can also be ran from within windows or if able to get to c prompt it can also be ran there.
3]It can also be ran from the "Recovery Console" interface.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/boot_failsafe.asp [scroll to the bottom of the right hand pane for sublinks]

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...WINDOWSXP/home/using/productdoc/en/chkdsk.asp

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If the above^ doesn't do it, but you were able to get into winxp as administrator, set up a new user account with admin rights and try booting into this account at the next reboot.

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You may find this link and its sublinks useful. If not now, perhaps at some point in time:

Repair OverView:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...tions_to_use_when_a_system_will_not_start.asp

 

Newt, looking for quick and dirty fix here --- what would happen if I just reinstalled XP over existing OS. Would I lose my data...?

Lorreen

 

Sorry last message to Goddez as well as Newt. I cannot get in WinXP at all. After it asks for password it freezes.

Lorreen

 

Boot up to XP cd and see if you get offered a repair install. If so, it will overlay system files and leave your personal stuff alone.

 

Right. The repair install can fix lots of problems and should not mess up any of your personal stuff.

If that doesn't help, I'd try the recovery console again and fixmbr and if that also fails, you are probably looking at wiping the system completely out (and all your stuff along with it) the starting over.

If you can't even manage to format/reinstall, you may be looking at a bad Hd. Hope not.

This sort of situation is why many on here will recommend that you break the hard drive into partitions with about 10Gb or so as the C: partition with the OS loaded and the rest as F: or something and all your stuff on there. Then if things go badly wrong, you can wipe out C:, reload the OS, and your personal stuff is intact. You would have to reinstall applications and such like though.

 

Hi Loreen,
You may wish to give my thread a little time for commenting by others............

The nfo below is provided via my understanding of how xp performs such tasks. I am still learning my way around in here and may be prone to a misunderstanding of how something is done and all it does. If in error please point this out before the user becomes a victim of my misconception.

I'm a little confused here. You said you had previously tried restore points. I believe restore points are only accessible from within windows. I assumed you could get in at least by safemode entry.

Must be this magic F12 key. What is it?

Now you lockup on the password logon. Have you tried safemode bootup? F8 key tap from a restart or bootup.

While the repair install is designed to keep personal and application data you, this is not guaranteed and you will have to re-install any ms updates sp and security patches. I think you should give some additional consideration to the chkdsk /R routine. If file corruption is involved this may repair it. The repair install will still be an option available to you (if it is available to you) if chkdsk doesn't help.

Password lockup indicates some glitch in the user profiles or the files needed to load personal data and settings. You've got some corruption or missing files due to the improper shutdown. The last thing xp does on a shutdown is save user data and settings.

Hence the additional instructions not to login on any other account except as "Administrator ". Your account may be botched.

But it is your computer and you must be the judge and make the call... Once again wait for confirmation on my take of the options I could be off-base. I am still not real comfortable with XP repair functions and the best order in which they should be tried.

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Ah ha...
I took to long typing...
I see that the general consensus is to do the repair install. I hope this works out for you.

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To other members,

The fact that I obviously need to hit the books once again seems apparent. Where did I go wrong????

Why would a repair install be more desirable at this point as opposed to the chkdsk /r routine? What's the difference between the two? How would you determine whether chkdsk would help or not in this case?

 

Ann

Chkdsk works from the OS installed on the comp. When XP system files get corrupted to this point, Chkdsk is usually not helpful because it can't replace missing or messed up files. XP would have already corrected them "on the fly ", if it were able to. SFC, since it uses the XP cd to find and replace system files, is more effective.

A Repair Installation was suggested by Lorreen, and it might be a "fix" at this point. As Newt pointed out, Lorreen should not count on having any of her data or settings intact when it's done. A Repair is SUPPOSED to leave that stuff alone, but in real life, at best, it's a 50/50 chance. Thus, the partition suggestion Newt made. I have crashed this computer a dozen times in the last 2 years, and have never lost my D drive by accident, FWIW.

If I were Lorreen, I would go for Recovery Console fixboot fixmbr, or I would try to log in as the Admin or in Safe Mode and/or I would try to boot from cd or floppy so I could run a SR or SFC, before I tried a Repair install. (Using partitions, and doing regular backups means you don't sweat these things so much!)

My first course of action, though, would be to pop the case and look (and sniff!) for any signs of scorching or overheating. I would check all the connections, too, while I had it open. Something caused that improper shutdown that started this whole mess, and I would want to rule out a hardware issue, first, because

Lorreen also mentioned an AV program running, but not a firewall, so if the comp got a worm, all of these troubleshooting steps might be irrelevant, anyway. If there were no firewall or router, I wouldn't even waste my time on a Repair. Clean Install Tutorial

This advice, and a buck will buy Lorreen's coffee this AM.

Johanna


Ann You never did say whether you use the pretty Luna Blue? Or are you with the Classic folks?

 

Lorreen,

What exactly does your comp. do when you turn it on? Any messages?

 

Thanks so far for all your help. Still not working. Here's where I'm at. I cannot log in as administrator, it doesn't recognize name. I've tried everything all of you have suggested. Is there a way I can change adminstrator login? I'm really in a fix here I have all my work on that computer.

Lorreen

PS: I do have the computer networked with 2 other comps. and there is a firewall.

 

Lorreen,

Try this to get into recovery console. Could very well be why it doesn't recognize admin. password.

 

Dave and everyone....... I did it..... it works...... I tried again to do a full system recovery and for some unknown reason it worked this time. Popped right off. I really need to do some work but have decided to spend the rest of the day running a full virus scan, backing up all my files on disks and in general taking care of the stuff I should have done a long time ago. Boy have I learned my lesson.

Thank you all soooooo much for your help. I really do appreciate it and I learn so much when I come to this board.

Lorreen

 

YAHOOOO for you!!!!

 

I'm just a wee bit late but "congratulations" are due and "thank you" is owed........

To Lorreen,
Way to go! I'm happy to see that all is well. I'm still a little foggy on what you did but the final outcome is what counts. Your back in business and happy. That makes this a done deal.

====Thanks for the Explanation =====

To Johanna,

I am true to Luna Blue! You must have missed my vote while this discussion was going on in the general forum. I'd rather fight than switch even for a day.

==== "XP" Will I ever get the hang of this thing?=====

Just when I thought it was safe to assume XP's_checkdisk was WIn98_scandisk and did the same things dependant upon switches. Based on that assumption, I would have run checkdisk before a repair install for the same reason I would not do an over-the-top install of win98 without giving scandisk a shot at a repair.

I tend to run the least constructive/destructive tools first (when a problem is not definitely known) and then work my way up.