Computer not starting up correctly.

[devright]

I am having some troubles with my computer starting up.

I am running XP Pro on my computer. Anyways, here is the problem.

This has happened to me twice now. I went to reboot my computer just by pushing and holding the button and waiting for it to shut off and come back on. I've done this a hundred times without any problems. Well, last week I did it and the Windows XP loading screen comes on and acts like it is loading all normal. Then a blue screen with flash, it says something but I cannot read it as it only flashes for a split second. After it flashes the computer automatically reboots itself and then the screen comes up saying that "Windows wasn't shut down properly...blah, blah, blah." Whenever I select start windows normally, the same thing happens again. Whenever I select the option to 'start windows with last known good configuration' the problem still occurs and it will only go as far as the Windows XP loading screen and the problem persists. Last week when I did this, I just entered Safe Mode and rebooted the computer the correct way and it worked like a charm. I was able to shut down the computer by holding the button a few times last week and it worked like a charm.

Tonight, the problem happened to me again. All of the same things occured with the blue screen flashing real quickly and rebooting. Well, I entered Safe Mode and tried to reboot and the same problem kept happening. I entered Safe Mode with Networking to download some registry cleaners and whatnot, and cleaned it up and the same problem keeps happening. I do not know enough to enter Safe Mode with Command Prompt and know what to do.

The computer will not allow me to do a system restore under Safe Mode either.

At the moment I am using Windows in Safe Mode with Networking so I can come on and type this. I wouldn't mind using Safe Mode w/Networking more often if it had sound, lol.

Anyways, does anyone have any suggestions as to what this problem might be and how I can fix it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am a newbie around here.

Thanks in advance.

Devon

 

[KingCody]

hi and welcome to techspot

first off, lets see what the error message says:

1. boot up in safe mode (just plain safe mode)
2. right-mouse-click my computer and select properties
3. click the "advanced" tab
4. click "settings" under "startup and recovery"
5. un-check the box labelled "automatically restart"
6. click OK
7. restart the computer normally

when the computer crashes again, write down the exact error message and any associated system file. or take a clear readable photo if that's easier for you.

did you change any hardware or install/uninstall any software prior to this problem?

did you attempt to overclock or anything like that?

have you tried going into your BIOS and setting "optimal defaults"?

 

[kirock]

First of all why are you forcing a hard reset everytime and not using the OS restart or "shutdown the PC" soft keys? WinXP NEEDS to perform pagefile cleans and a few registry key checks before shutting down, this is why you must use the software shut-down or restart commands and not press the power button.

I read an article about this some months ago, I can't find it right now, but will keep looking for it. Basically if you do the hard reset eventually Windows registry becomes corrupt and the only fix is to reinstall Windows.

 

[KingCody]

lol... you've got a good point kirock... i didn't even notice that devright was resetting it that way. that'll teach me to read a little closer it's my ADD, I lose focus when posts are that long.. hahahaha

kirock is absolutely right, holding down the button should be a last resort (only used if the computer will not respond to any other methods)

 

[devright]

Understand that I don't 'hard reset' often. I did it last week a few times because my comp wasn't responding for ****. I just had a new motherboard and XP Pro installed onto my computer in December sometime. I was able to go into Directory Services Restore Mode and download some Windows Updates, that for some reason or another, I didn't get. Then after the updates were installed I automatically restarted the right way and it works now.

I had been using the correct way to restart all last night and whatnot. I work a lot with videos and movie making, so my computer can become cluttered at times. Everything has been cleaned up now, though, through some registry cleaners and deletion of extra movie files.

 

[KingCody]

I went to reboot my computer just by pushing and holding the button and waiting for it to shut off and come back on. I've done this a hundred times

Understand that I don't 'hard reset' often

um... so which one is it?

also, when you hold down the power button, the computer will shut down, not restart. if you press the reset buton (if your case has one), it will restart instantly. i don't get which method you're using?