Need help, WinXP won't boot!

Was working fine this afternoon, now when I boot it gets to a black screen, displays a mouse cursor and reboots. It will keep doing this unless you stop it. I've already tried repairing it through recovery console after getting STOP errors, any other ideas? :( Hope I don't have to reformat as I did that a week ago due to my own personal preference. :eek:

Well if you just formatted recently, sometimes it is easiest just to do it again. Something might have gotten messed up during it.

Other than that, I'm not sure what would cause this.

OK, that's what I was afraid of. What a hassle. :( Oh well.

Now I installed XP on a different drive, and on startup, guess what? STOP error!! :dead: What to do now?

Checked my BIOS for any errors, and it said that my CMOS battery is burnt out. Could this be affecting the registry/startup? I have no idea what the consequences of this would be.

What kind of stop error? Does it pinpoint a specific file or particular type of stop error? Perhaps something like KERNEL_INPAGE_ERROR or something equally scary? :)

Blue screens usually pinpoint memory, disk, or memory/disk related errors.

Since you have formatted, this is apparently a system-wide hardware/configuration problem. We can deduce that the chances of this being soley a Windows problem is slim.

Try disable any Video/BIOS shadowing in your BIOS. If you have the option, disable "quick boot" in the BIOS so your PC will run a full memory test (if the memory is bad).

Check all of your fans, do a full format on your hard disk (not a quick format) and I recommend a a full disk sector test to make sure there are no bad sectors.

Check all cables and jumper settings. yada yada yada.. The usual troubleshooting stuff should not be overlooked.

I recommend getting that CMOS battery replaced, otherwise your computer can't hold configuration settings in the BIOS. I've never experienced what you are because of a missing/bad battery, but it will be good to factor this out so you can completely take this out of consideration.

Thanks, I'll try that.

Sorry, I was in a rush responding to your post. I'm getting a whole slew of errors, mainly STOP errors with a blue screen saying Windows shutdown to prevent damage yada yada. Sometimes it's to do with the page file, boot volume or a dll service. I'll check it out.

Tried the disable quick boot, and no joy. I'll be betting a new battery tonight and I'll keep you posted.

Tried it with the new battery, got further but still got a blue PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA in ntfs.sys. On my other installation, I was getting messages about files being missing in the windows folder, so I'll try repairing the install.

Hmm, this is really odd, I get the page file error when in the Windows install disk recovery console. Oh woes me. :(

recently when I tried to add another stick of memory to my wife's computer I had the same thing happen. the computer would either continuiously reboot or it would tell me that windows was corrupted. turns out the second memory slot was bad on the mobo. soon as I would remove the stick from that slot everything ran fine.

it's worth a shot to check your memory.

Such "random errors" are almost always caused by memory.

I'll wager quite a bit that memory is the culprit. Try each memory module invidually and see if the same problems occur. It could be a memory/motherboard incompatbility.

Try running the memory at a lower speed (100mhz instead of 133mhz) and increase latencies (2.5ns to 3ns).

rick is very possibly onto something. or your processor is in trouble, or you have a bad mobo.

memory problems tend to be indicated by multiple errors in applications. what you are describing sounds more like a bad CPU.

I'll check it on my friend's computer, and try switching DIMMS. It's odd that it would be the memory, although it could very well be. It was running all fine and compatible like till a few days ago. I don't know how to decrease the memory speed/latency, is that in the BIOS? Mine doesn't have those options.

Hopefully it's not the CPU, my warranty ended a month ago. :(

Not all motherboards do have options to change memory settings such as frequency and latency/timings. So you might be out of luck there.

A bad CPU could cause this, as would damaged DIMM slots or perhaps something wrong with your motherboard on a hardware level.

Trying different memory (from another system) would help rule out if the memory is bad or not. If you happen to have some extra memory lying around that will work in your board, then give it a shot and see if the same errors pop up.

No matter what this problem is, you'll probably end up having to replace something. Hopefully it will not cost you anything, or very little to fix. :(

Yeah, I sure hope so too.

I've seen plenty of systems with "bad" memory. Its not something you normally think of dying on you.. But it does happen and when it does, you will experience similar problems as to what you are noticing.

I recently had some DDR die on me and it destoyed my system partition. Luckily I keep backups, so I tried it out a again.. did the same thing. Then I tried taking out the memory and it worked fine. Then I put it back in... It destroyed the partition again. LoL. Quite a mess.

BUT, i got a replacement and works fine. Most quality brands of memory offer lifetime warranties.. usually. I was fortunate enough to have such a warranty.

Well, I tried it, and it's definitely not the memory. Is there any way that I can check the mobo/CPU? Any other ideas?

Ouch, then it is probably the CPU, motherboard or possible the hard disk.

The only thing you can really do is swap out each one with a replacement and see if it works properly. :(

I'll try that. :( It says the error occured in ntfs.sys, could it be the HDD? Hope not, as it happens with both.

That can sometimes be a tale-tell sign that you have a BAD HDD. ntfs.sys is the software for reading NTFS formatted drives under Windows XP.

I was afraid of that. :( To me it's odd that both would fail. I backup up to a separate partition a week ago, I sure hope I can recover that.

Could it be the IDE cable by any chance?

If you think it could be the HDD, run a recertification utility such as PowerMax from Maxtor. Your HDD's manufacturer probably has one available for download on their website. If not, there are third party utilities available as well.

Well, if both drives are on the same cable, and they both are getting the same errors, it could be the cable or the controller. If you have a spare cable, you might want to try it to eliminate that first.

Will do, I have a Samsung and a Maxtor, Maxtor's the main one.

I'll try that cable, my friend may lend me his. When I try to boot, I get the message that system32\config is missing and I should use the XP CD to recover it. But guess what, when I try to get into the CD's recovery mode, it gives that same stupid PAGE FILE error.

Looked at Powermax, it says that it'll format all the data on the drive. Will it really? Makes me reluctant to use it.

Download Drive Fitness Test. it is from IBM/Hitachi but it will work on any drive.

http://www.hgst.com/hdd/technolo/dft/dftnew.htm

Sounds like you have a nice corrupted HDD to me. Missing files, problems with NTFS, etc....

Does the hard drive make any new worrying noises? If not, it probably will fairly soon....

Could be something else but I think you are heading that way from what you have described so far.

I'll be testing the drive in my friend's computer tonight. I'll let you know of any change. There actually hasen't been odd noises, it's still running normally I think.

Yeah you are really going to have to take this machine apart to figure out what is wrong with it.

It could still be a number of things, you know what my money is on, though.

But the chances are that its only one component that has the problem, and when you remove that component like a cancerous cell and replace it with something that works, all will be well.

Oh, Windows XP WILL NOT BOOT AT ALL, if its not installed in a machine with identical chipset for the most part. You could be lucky but I doubt it.

So don't interpret that as an error.

Have you ran a chkdsk or something on any of the partitions that are on this HDD???

I.e. open command prompt:

chkdsk c: /f

where c: is one of the partitions on the drive?

Do you get lots of errors?

well he may not be able to boot, but he can slave it and run utilities on it from his friends computer.

Well, I have some good and bad news.

Bad is that the HDD is shot and along with a few days of my data and a recently reinstalled Windows and all my programs. :dead:

Good is that I can recover the data from the other drive, and that my Maxtor drive is still under warranty till June. :grinthumb I'll be getting a replacement as soon as I can.

How did you find this out?

Just some deduction. The drive wouldn't boot or allow me to even boot into Windows repair mode, the other one did and I could repair that one (didn't need too). I could also boot to Windows and view the contents of the backup drive.

Pretty sure the other one is shot.

Originally posted by NV30
Looked at Powermax, it says that it'll format all the data on the drive. Will it really? Makes me reluctant to use it.

If it finds problems it does, I think it pretty much has to when it makes the repairs. Running the tests doesn't modify the data though. Or it used to work that way. That may be a newer version than I have.

Hmm, I tried running it and it said that it couldn't mind DOS! You have to run it to get an RMA from Maxtor, so I hope I can get this sorted out.

Originally posted by NV30
Hmm, I tried running it and it said that it couldn't mind DOS! You have to run it to get an RMA from Maxtor, so I hope I can get this sorted out.


Well, speaking of Maxtor, can't speak for the rest of the world but when I return a drive to Maxtor here its just a matter of typing in some numbers, name, address etc and then posting it off. I've returned about 20 or so to Maxtor and almost always got a new drive back within 5-10 working days.

I take it your drive is a Maxtor, then?

Yes it is. I'll be phoning them up today.