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[Solved] PC crashes, only runs in safe mode

Discussion in 'Virus and Malware Removal' started by bewsh, May 17, 2011.

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  1. bewsh Newcomer, in training

    ERSG is my domain name (www.ersg.com)
    I am Ed


    Boot.ini is all greyed out in MSCONFIG
    so it is trying to boot normally from scratch, i get safe mode from pressing f8.

    Will run chkdsk and get back to you
    bewsh, May 26, 2011
    #21

  2. bewsh Newcomer, in training

    well now it is screwed.

    I followed the chkdsk instructions and it said it would check volume at next start up, except now it wont startup at all.

    I cant get it to go past the driver log page on startup, it just hangs, tried it several times now.
    I assume that it is hanging just before the chkdsk can run.

    Any ideas?
    bewsh, May 26, 2011
    #22

  3. Bobbye Helper on the Fringe

    Once you schedule Chkdsk, then reboot, it should start in about 9 seconds.

    Try running System File Checker: Have your Windows XP installation CD ready, so that you can it insert it if you are prompted to do so.
    • Click on Start> Run> type in sfc /scannow (note there is a space between SFC and the forward slash).
    • Click on OK or press Enter.
    • Follow any instructions on the screen.
    • It should close when finished.
    • Reboot the computer.
    ====================================
    Referring to Boot.ini> when you say it's grayed out, do you mean there is nothing in the box at the top? Please don't make any changes here: my questions are for information only:

    [IMG]

    Right below the dialog box, there are 4 buttons> Three of the four buttons provided in this window are for editing purposes and are grayed out by default. The Check All Boot Paths button is used to verify that the boot paths in the BOOT.INI file are correct. When you click this button, you’ll either receive an error message you can use for troubleshooting or a window alerting you that the boot paths have been verified.
    ======================================
    The system may just be too corrupted to boot. It has not been well maintained over the years and update haven't been done with earlier versions removed. I think you should be prepared to do a reformat/reinstall.
    Bobbye, May 27, 2011
    #23

  4. bewsh Newcomer, in training

    Hi,

    In answer to above the msconfig top window had all the usual info in it.
    the 4 check boxes below where grayed out with now options.

    I couldn't run scnnow or chkdsk as it just hung on the driver install page before the winlogo

    when i ran the chkdsk and it died at reboot I lost my patience and took it to a shop.
    explained I had tried to run diagnostics and excluded various bits of hardware and told them to sort it (they are cheap and only charge £10 to diagnose and as I buy all my components their they are pretty helpful)
    they told me the motherboard was the problem.

    not convinced I agreed to purchase a new motherboard from them (I did this only on the assumption that if the diagnosis was wrong that I would have some come back on the sale)

    having already purchased a new HDD and now a new motherboard I set about rebuilding it.

    first I tried to install the image of the old C: onto the new HDD.
    I used Acronis to take the image and restore it
    It went on OK but then crashed as before cycling at the boot stage

    so I wiped the new hard drive (complete format) and reinstalled a fresh copy of Win XP, Office, chrome, Adobe etc updated as many drivers as I could and added it back onto my domain (network of a server and a couple of PC's) it did this successfully but only adds it to the domain on restart.

    As it restarted it hangs on the windows logo indefinitely.
    If I start in safe mode it stalls momentarily at the mup.sys driver install and then boots as normal (albeit safe normal!)

    could this problem be in some way linked to the domain controller or the way it links to my server?
    This is effectively a complete fresh install on a new HDD and MB (only common hardware is the RAM, the CPU, the Optical Drives and the case/PSU.

    I am at a loss a bit now as short of a new box I am not sure what I can do to eliminate HW/SW as the root cause.

    I am running in safe mode with full networking between the sever and the PC, PC and Web. no loss of functionality other than the Video/sound side of safe mode


    I tried to run the sfc /scannow command on the old drive and got the message
    "Windows File Protection could not initiate a scan of protected system files.
    The specific error code is 0x000006ba [The RPC server is unavailable]

    driving me nuts!
    bewsh, May 31, 2011
    #24

  5. bewsh Newcomer, in training

    Hi, Solved this myself yesterday.

    as every piece of hardware except the chip has been replaced and re-run and I am convinced it was a hardware issue, I took it back to the shop and asked if he had checked my CPU in another board...he said no.

    So I bit the bullet and went for a new dual core AMD CPU, a new MB (cant use mine as the socket is AM2) and got some extra RAM.

    Am not convinced there is anything wrong with the MB!

    I am tying on my new faster, slicker, reinstalled, twin screen rocket machine!

    thanks for all your help.
    I just need to figure out why MS Exchange is using a PST file on my PC HD to store messages now!
    bewsh, Jun 2, 2011
    #25

  6. Bobbye Helper on the Fringe

    Thank you for the update. I will close this thread now as you have resolved the problem.
    Bobbye, Jun 2, 2011
    #26
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