Trouble booting - must use System Restore

I have a Dell Optiplex GX260, P4, 2.0, running WinXP Pro SP2 (it's a reinstall from the Dell restoration CD), which was working fine until the other day.

After an unexpected shutdown, I tried to reboot. I got as far as the black Windows XP screen, the one with the little oval in the center, with the 3 blue balls scrolling left to right inside the oval. And then it goes no further. The scrolling continues, but nothing more.

When I then turned off the computer and tried another boot, I got the DOS-like screen that offers the boot options. I tried choosing "Normal ", but got the same result. Next time around I selected "Safe Mode ". Once in safe mode I got to System Restore and restored to a few days earlier. Everything came up fine, and the computer did everything it is supposed to do. So I created a new restore point.

But when I shut down and try to reboot, the same thing happens: It stops at the black Windows XP screen with the scrolling balls. So I have to go through the whole awkward process (turn off switch; boot to safe mode; restore to an early version).

Can someone please tell me what's causing this, and how to fix this so I can just do a "normal" boot. If at all possible, I don't want to do a reinstall of Windows. It'll take me a week to reinstall all the drivers and programs.

Thank you.

 

Actually, I wasn't doing anything. I went to the store and while I was out we had a power failure. The UPS carried the system until it also gave out. The power was out for a few hours, and when it came back on I went to re-start the computer.

 

Any suggestion as to which driver I should be looking at?

 

Go into Safe Mode and look in Device Manager (see Help and Support if you have not looked at Device Manager). See if any hardware is marked as having a problem. You can try uninstalling that device (right-click on it and select Uninstall), but you may need the original drivers available to reinstall it when you reboot into normal mode.

Installing drivers in Safe Mode is "restricted ", so don't expect to reinstall the driver there.

You can run a "Startup Log" which will report at which stage the boot fails.

Microsoft suggest a method of "Clean Boot" when this situation occurs. It is time-consuming (I've never been patient enough to do it). An alternative may be to run a Repair Reinstall of Windows.

Since you are a beginner, do some research on the terms I have mentioned:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1, that way you will become more than a "beginner"

If you are stuck you should be able to do a "repair reinstall ", some systems though, only offer a return to the manufacturer's "image ", which means all your data is lost.

Give us details about the computer (make, model, etc...if you have the original documents) if you would like in-depth help.

Sorry to throw technical terms at you, but a fix may be rather technical.

Matt

 

Thanks for your help.
How do I do a startup log? And must it be done in Safe Mode, or can I do it after it's up and running after System Restore? I checked Device Manager while it was up and running, and found no trouble indicators. Or must this be done in Safe Mode when it doesn't boot?

The computer is a Dell Optiplex GX260, P4, 2.0, running WinXP Pro SP2 (it's a reinstall from the Dell restoration CD). What other spec info/details do you need? I have all the original documentation.

 

Go to Start -> Run and enter msconfig. On the first tab (General), you will see a button Diagnostic Startup. That will load basic drivers and not load startup programs (the Clean Boot I mentioned). It will allow you to run in normal mode until you identify the problem. On the Boot tab you will see Bootlog. From memory, you will find the .txt file written to the root drive (C:\).

If it seems to be a driver problem, go to the Dell website and get all the major drivers. When you go to the downloads page, use the information to get the Service Tag number, that will direct you to all the relevant drivers. Install the motherboard/chipset drivers first, then the graphics, then audio, then others. That should fix any driver problems without having to do diagnostics.

Matt

 

I did what you suggested. Unfortunately, I can't find any .txt files indicating a boot log. I searched both by name and by date. What would the name of the file be, "bootlog "? To make matters worse, after doing that, I somehow lost all my prior restore points. In fact, when I checked, System Restore had mysteriously been turned off, so I turned it back on. The computer is presently up and running (it booted as a re-start during the diagnostic check in msconfig), but now I'm afraid to shut it down. If I have to boot into Safe Mode, I'm fearful that the restore points I created in the last 2 days won't allow a normal full boot, in which case I think I'm *******.

I downloaded the chipset, video, audio, and ethernet drivers from Dell. Some are later versions than what I have on the computer. I put these downloads in a holding folder, for later use. I didn't download the drivers for the CDRW or DVD drives; should I?

So my questions now are:
1. Should I install the newly downloaded drivers now, or wait until I can't boot, and then do so from Safe Mode?

2. Do I have to delete the old drivers first, or will the new ones overwrite the old ones?.

3. This is really gonna sound stupid, but how do I "install" a driver, click on the embedded setup.exe ? A typical download from Dell is something like "R12345 ", which is a folder containing many subfolders and files, one of which is setup.exe

4. Does the boot.ini file play any role in this problem? If so, I have a backup copy of it; should I replace the the present one with the copy?

By the way, I really appreciate the help.

 

I have not used the Bootlog since the olden days. Without researching (the term Bootlog at the MS knowledgebase has zero hits), it may only write a log if the boot process is stopped or interrupted. The bootlog may be quite technical.

At Dell, where you downloaded the drivers, you should be able to click on a link that has instructions for installing each of the drivers. It should be the heading/description of the driver. The driver files are usually decompressed to a folder (default for Dell drivers is usually C:\Drivers, from memory), then you usually run the Setup.exe file.

I recommend that you don't try installing drivers in Safe Mode. You may be stopped by an error message anyway. If you cannot run a System Restore, you should be able to go to msconfig in Safe Mode and make that setting Diagnostic Startup that I mentioned before, that will allow you to boot into normal mode and run the driver installations.

You should(?) not need to uninstall the previous driver versions. Check though, that the drivers match the hardware listed in Device Manager before you try. If you used the Service Tag identification and you have not changed the original hardware, there should be no problem.

Don't forget about running a Repair Reinstall. That will uninstall and reinstall all the drivers.

Finally...expect the worst outcome, have your data backed up. I never get upset now if Windows "takes a dive" and I need to reformat. A fresh install always shows up any cobwebs from the old install. The problem may not be isolated, it may be a combination of several problems.

Matt

 

I haven't gotten the courage yet to shut it down, but now I find it won't allow me to create restore points. The only ones I have are the ones I created 2 days ago, while the problem existed. It says I have to reboot in order to use System Restore. I suppose I'll have to bite the bullet and shut it down.

Unfortunately, I don't think Repair Reinstall will install drivers, as the Dell Restoration CD clearly says "without drivers" on the label. Anyway, I've got the drivers on my HDD and also on a CD I burned.

This is going to be a rough weekend. Again, thanks for your help. I'll try to post my progress (and probably another cry for help) early next week.

If you wouldn't mind, I'd really appreciate your email address so I could get your continued advice. I'm at email removed by Moderator

Please keep all communication re this thread and any other on the BBS so that all may benefit - or contribute.

 

Problem solved, I think

I was really concerned about System Restore not working, so I looked around the forum and stumbled onto someone who fixed theirs with System File Checker. So I thought I'd give it a try. It took about a half hour to run, and when it was done I took the big leap and shut down. Miraculously, I was then able to boot normally, and set a restore point. Hopefully, it's all over. Thanks again for the help.