XP won't start in any mode

[mb2000]

My PC (a HP running XP Home) will no longer start as it normally does ever since I switched it off last time (when I only printed a document).

When I switch it on, the XP logo loading screen appears, but then I get the white text on black options to start Windows normally, Safe Mode, Last Known Good Config etc. No matter which I select, the PC always immediately restarts and goes back to the XP logo and starts again. Pressing F8 and using the options there results in the same.

I've tried putitng the XP Home CD in, but it doesn't boot from that.

Ocassionally I get a blue screen with "UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME" and some 0x0... codes.

What should I do?

Thanks.

 

[gavinseabrook]

You will have to go into your BIOS (usually by pressing Delete, F1, F2, or sometimes the F10 key) when your computer starts up. In the BIOS you should see an option for "Boot Sequence", place you CDrom drive as being the first boot device. This should give you access to your XP disk. Once inside your windows setup, you are going to wait for it to load all the files and you will get to a screen asking if you want to repair using the recovery console. Select that option and it will take you to a command prompt. Upon reaching the C:\ prompt, type the work "CHKDSK" (without quotations) and this will check your hard drive for any errors and automatically repair them. After performing these steps, see if your comp can boot up normally. If not, post your results here. Might be time for a format if that fails to work.

 

[mb2000]

Thanks for the advice. I did as you said with the BIOS Sequence and then the disk but when it gets to the command prompt, it says D:/, not C. How can I change this so C is checked instead?

Thanks.

Edited by Moderator: Removed quote. There`s no need to quote the post directly above your own.

 

[gavinseabrook]

Type c:\ at the command prompt. Then run the checkdisk program

 

[russ]

If "c:\" doesn't work try " c: ". (thats c colon - without the back slash)

 

[mb2000]

Tried that. It says the command is not recognized and gives D:\MiniNT> on a new line.

EDIT: It did it without the slash. After typing chkdsk it said I needed "/p". I typed chkdsk /p and it seemed to start scanning.

EDIT 2: It's finished scanning and it gives some info on what the disk has and that it detected one of more errors. What do I need to do to get it to fix them?

 

[russ]

that will check to see if you have hard drive problems. It could also be memory problems. If your hard disk has bad sectors you will probably have to reformat the drive and reload windows. If you have good memory you could load a copy of Knoppix /Kanotix or some other version of a " live cd linux" (that runs in memory) to try to get your valuable info off of your hard drive before formatting. Puppy Linux version 2.13 is an excellant download (84mb) to do this with because it has software for burning on to a blank cd, or using a usb port to save your data. Incidentally, if one of these live cd's doesn't boot then your memory may be defective because booting a live cd requires NO hard drive just a good cd drive, memory and motherboard.

 

[mb2000]

I'm happy to report that chkdsk seems to have solved the problem. I ran it twice to be sure. The first time it detected errors, second time it didn't so I tried restarting the PC and it worked properly! It was a bit slower to start than usual (and it's normally really slow) but everything still seems to be there.Hoepfully it'll do the same in the morning as well.

Thank you for all your help. It's much appreciated.

 

[gavinseabrook]

Get back with us in the morn and tell us how it went. Glad you got your prob solved