xp will not boot, safe mode or normal

[magiclight]

hi, windows wont boot in safe mode or normal. when i turn it on it starts to load up then i see BSOD and it shuts down before i can see what it says. i tried the system recovery that was built into the comp but theres a error when it gets to 50%-ish. if anyone is able to help let me know



magic

 

[SNGX1275]

Provided you don't have failing hardware you are going to have to try to Repair Windows.

 

[magiclight]

rec disk

guessed as much, just waiting for mesh (the company i bought the comp from) to send me the recovery disk. is there anything elce i can do before the disk arrives ?

 

[SNGX1275]

You could check to make sure everything is seated properly... PCI cards, Graphics card, RAM, Power Cords to the drives, IDE/SATA cables.

You could also download and run Memtest86, which is free.

You could also download a Live linux distro (ubuntu seems to be a popular one) and see if that will run. This can help you determine if it is hardware related or just Windows that is the problem.

 

[magiclight]

ive checked everythings seated properly. can u tell me where i can download linux?

 

[SNGX1275]

www.ubuntu.com or www.distrowatch.com

You don't have to use ubuntu, I just know for sure it has a live cd you can download so the entire OS runs off a CD. Some other flavors of linux also have live cds, for your purposes it doesn't really matter which 'brand' you choose.

 

[magiclight]

thanks for the link, im downloading it now. ill make a post as on what happens.