Pretty big computer problem, constantly restarts even in safe mode

[snowchick7669]

Do you have Vista or XP?

You won't lose your data just doing a 'Repair' we won't be doing a recovery as of yet

 

[Matttt]

i have windows xp

 

[snowchick7669]

You will find instructions on repairing windows XP here.

Please read through and follow the instructions correctly. If done the intended way, no data will be lost.

Let me know if you run into any troubles

 

[Matttt]

Whats my windows XP CD? is it just my recovery disk?

 

[snowchick7669]

When you purchased your machine, you should have gotten a CD with it that said XP Pro/Home. Sometimes these are golden and shiny, other times they come in the form of 'HP Recovery Disk' or whatever brand your machine is

Run the recovery disk you have and see if you get the blue screen as shown in that thread. If not, then let me know what screen you get

 

[Matttt]

I got a screen asking me what language it was, then the timezone or something. Then it came to a screen with some options asking me if i wanted to recover my laptop. It was not the blue screen, i'll go have a look for any other Cds it could be.

 

[snowchick7669]

A recovery could be an option, but you can lose data especially if you have had recent stuff on their and you recover the laptop to an earlier date. You can potentially lose all you have done since that date.

See if you can find any CDs, if not then we can either go with the recovery option. Or extracting the Hard drive and running chkdsk on it via another machine (what I usually do in the workshop)

 

[Matttt]

What does extracting the hard drive and running chkdsk involve? and can i just borrow a windows xp CD from someone else?

 

[captaincranky]

It depends. Most machines that come with "recovery discs" will reject a standard Windows disc. Recovery discs are essentially a "disc image", which is a snapshot of what your drive "looked like" at the time of manufacture. Here again, machine and makers differ on exactly the "recovery option(s)" that will be available. Hopefully, your computer has a "non-destructive" restore option available, which is the equivalent of a "repair" installation of Windows. Some machines only have "destructive restore options available, which involves reformatting the HDD. You should avoid this at all costs, and certainly not use it before you have made every effort to back up your data.

It's always possible to install your hard drive in another machine, and copy your files that way. One thing, if you are running XP Pro and the HDD is installed into another machine running XP home, you will not be permitted to copy the files.

Constant reboot is often RAM. Have you removed you memory chips and run them one at a time? The obvious question here is does the machine contain more than one stick of RAM?

 

[Matttt]

One disk gives me these options:1 Recover "QuosimoPlayer" and recording area (initial state)
2 Recover "QuosimoPlayer" only
3 Update "QuosimoPlayer" fuctions
4 Delete "QuosimoPlayer"
5 Delete the recording area of "QuosimoPlayer"

2nd disk called "Product Recovery"
Options :1 Recover entire hard disk, Warning: All stored data on your computer will be lost. Factory pre-installed software will be installed.
2:Expert Recovery mode, Warning: This is for PC experts only, Factory pre-installed software can be installed onto an existing (bootable) partition

Are either of these Cd's the windows xp Cd?

 

[Matttt]

Can someone help me run chkdsk from another computer please?

 

[snowchick7669]

You will need to remove the hard drive from the current machine and either use an external enclosure so you can hook it up via USB or slave it using another SATA/IDE cable to another machine.

If it is a laptop, I'd suggest getting an external enclosure for the driver, as the pins are different.

You will have to be comfortable removing the drive yourself however to do this, as you need to open up your computer/laptop and take the necessary precautions in doing so

Once attached to the computer, boot up the second machine. When you are in windows, locate what drive the external HDD is (could be D:, or E: for example). Then follow these steps

Start > Run > Type cmd > Type chkdsk /f /r d: (you will need to replace the d: with whatever the drive name is when you check it) > Press enter and it should go ahead and check the drive