can't boot into windows... all of a sudden

  • Thread starter Thread starter lucid
  • Start date Start date
L

lucid

New member
OK. another problem. has caused me endless frustrations and i fear that my reset button will soon wear out :)

anyway, there i was, happily crunching away at a SETI WU when suddenly my computer freezes. (This was my first time running SETI@HOME) And freezes like i have never seen XP freeze before... mouse not to be seen, ctrl-alt-del not working: nothing

so i reset

i gets to the windows XP startup progress meter thing and it goes about 3/4 of the way, stops, fills the progression thing completely and then freezes. Same with safe mode and all other modes.

i a little through re-installing XP during my last problem, so now i cant run the recovery console when i enter the XP CD: all i can do its start a new installation, exit, or finish the current one. If i choose to continue, it freezes, if i choose a new installation, it freezes after the "press F6 for" and "press F2 for.."

Someone please help me: i can't afford to reformat

AMD Athlon XP 1800+
ASUS A7M266
512 MB Samsung PC2100 DDR
20 Gig system (Quantum)
80 Gig Audio (Maxtor)
VooDoo 3
Delta 44 (soundcard)
Windows XP Pro
 
Welp, a full reinstall is very much a possibility so get ready for it. This does sound like a hardware problem though :(

Let's try this:

Pull everything out of your machine except the hard drive, the floppy drive, one stick of memory, the processor, and the video card. Unplug any USB devices. Unplug the mouse. Unplug your CDROM drives. Everything must go. See what happens when you boot now; also try booting in safe mode. The first step when troubleshooting is to start eliminating possibilites.

Weren't you recently asking about replacing the northbridge fan on an asus board? I wouldn't rule out the possibility that you zapped something. Take that golden orb thing off the northbridge too...it'll be fine for a little bit with no fan (until we figure out what's wrong).

Slackmaster 2000
 
thanks i will try the emilination

i sorted everything with the fan installation: very embarrasing mistake on my part... you think it could have anything to do with a half installed version of windows messing with the system?
 
i am off to bed now:

if anyone has ANY ideas, please, do not hesitate to post
 
ok I guess I'm confused. What do you mean by "half installed" windows? I thought it froze up while you were running windows?

Slackmaster 2000
 
If doing an XP re-install, I would remove any data from the hard drive, then ERRASE it, then re-install.

However I agree with Slackmaster that this sounds like the result of a hardware problem, or perhaps some virus damage.
 
i half installed windows when i had the hardware problem: then i got it all working and windows was still half-reinstalled... so i am wondering if this could be a problem... i doubt hardware due to the fact that i had it up and running fine for a while...

virus? the latest software i d/l was SETI@HOME
 
half installed windows?
clear the disk en start all over.
 
yes christiaan that is what my computer is doing right now... it is a sad moment: all those countless hours of tweaking will have to be redone! nooooooooooooo!

thanks to all who offered advice
 
Those hours of tweaking may well be the source of the problems. It's all part of the learning curve, lucid ;)
 
i suppose so!

i am back online! it is beautiful being able to use MY comp!

i think i needed a reformat tho :) just wish i had the choice to do so!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top