Windows XP won't boot (at all!)

[me(who else?)]

I , quite literally, woke up and found my computer like this. I can boot the computer just fine, but when I get to the screen right before the login prompt comes up, the screen blinks and the computer reboots after a few second, only to find the same problem.

Unfortunately, I have No-GUI boot enabled, so if there is an error, I can't see it. I think it may be a problem with my HD, but since it's a laptop, I can't just stick a new one in. I have a lot of important data (which I haven't backed up) on this laptop. Please help! :dead:

 

[poertner_1274]

Try booting into safe mode and checking your event viewer. If nothing is strange in there, go to msconfig and enable bootlog and reboot, then check that again in safe mode and that should tell you what your problem is.

 

[me(who else?)]

How do you get to the event viewer? I did enable the bootlog, but I can't find the log file.

 

[poertner_1274]

The event viewer is in administrative tools in the control panel.
You can find your bootlog under C:\Windows\ntbtlog.txt

 

[Rick]

It's most likely a software problem, a bad hard drive or bad memory.

My first suggestion would be to run a hard drive diagnostic to see if your drive is good or not. You can get one here:
https://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7602

If the drive passes, then we can assume it is most likely a software problem. You may be able to repair the problem using this quick guide:
https://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8356

The third most likely possibility from what I have seen is bad memory. If you have a way of replacing your current memory temporarily so you can test out the results, that would be great. If not, you can download a free memory test here:
www.memtest86.org