XP locks up completely at agpCPQ.sys

[hazel33]

Hi all. I have been reading some of the threads on here about agpCPQ.sys problems, and although they have been very helpful, none of them are exactly the same problem as I have been having. I didn't want to go ahead and follow the advice, just in case it would make things worse.

I have a Gateway Notebook MX6923b, running XP. I use this computer solely for running my business from and I have always kept it updated and virus free (as far as I know) and last Monday it wouldn't boot up. I haven't added any new software, there has been no new hardware attached. It was running perfectly on Sunday evening, and turned off and powered down properly as well.

When I turn it on, it goes to the Gateway screen and then straight on to the screen saying "We apologise for the inconvenience...etc" and gives 5 options:
Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command prompt
Last Known Good configuration
Start Windows Normally

When I choose the either of the last 2 options, it goes straight to the Windows XP screen, with the loading light running along under the image, and then nothing happens. I have tried leaving it for hours to see if it will eventually start up but it never moves off that screen.

When I choose either of the 3 safe mode options, I get lines and lines of writing, which at the end it says :
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows\system32\drivers\agpCPQ.sys
and then it hangs on that for ages, and goes nowhere.

At this point I googled the "agpCPQ.sys" to see what it was, and up popped threads from this forum.

So having gone through all this, and having read excellent advice from here and from Microsoft having issues with agp440, my questions (after all this writing) are these:

What's wrong and what can I do?
Will I lose ALL my data and files on the hard drive if I use the recovery disk?(I know, I know, I should always back up my info and I do usually. Losing the info is absolutely not an option)
Is there any other way to get round this without having to use the recovery disk? Can I do anything in the BIOS or BOOT menu screens?

As a last resort is there any way to recover the data and files off the hard drive?

Please help! If there are any other details that you need to diagnose what's wrong and how to fix it, I will try to give you it. Thanks for reading and for your time in helping me out.

 

[Badfinger]

Visit this thread:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/mic...60-windows-xp-boot-loop-hangs-agpcpq-sys.html

Looks like only solution is to boot up an XP install CD, go to Recovery Console and type in fixboot

 

[hazel33]

Thanks for your reply.

would that be using the operating system disc? and would I lose any data?

 

[hazel33]

OK, I have booted up from the XP install disc, pressed R for recovery and now it is hanging on a blank screen with "please wait ..." for the past 6 hours. There wasn't a prompt for me to type in fixboot so what should I do now?

 

[Sharam]

You can recover your data by taking the hard drive out, connecting it to another system to access your files. If you have made your documents folder private, you have to take ownership of the folder /s.

You could also try many different available bootable CDs in ISO format, once downloaded, you burn the ISO image on to a CD-R and boot with that CD, this will give you an operating system with graphical user interface, plain DOS (Ultimate Boot CD is one of them) or even a full working operating system as in UBUNTU bootable CD which you can use to access your drive so you can back up on to a USB drive or something.

In some cases, when using the recovery CD, you will have an option to backup files, this might not include option to backup folders created by you or application settings in some cases, using this method sometimes only backs up your document folder and not the Desktop, Favs or any other custom made folders.

If you have an original OEM version of XP other than the recovery disk and your product key on the COA, you might want to try Repair install in which case all your apps and data will be intact, in this case, I would do repair install and once back in Windows, backup all data then perform a full recovery or install which will give you a clean system.

Follow the first link posted by kimsland (post #2) not the second link bellow for Reair Install (not Recovery Console):

https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic122867.html

 

[hazel33]

Hi again.

After many attempts of doing all sorts of things, I gave up and took it to a local computer repair shop.

He managed to get the hard drive accessed, although there were problems connecting it to another computer and had to use a data recovery program to get the information off. Some of the data in my hard drive was corrupted and wouldn't open with his system so I don't know what's happened.

He tried another 2 hard drives in the laptop and the laptop first of all couldn't access the new drives and then came up with an IDE cable problem. After a lot of technical talk (which I admit went straight over my head) the opinion was that it would cost more to fix than the laptop was worth, and having gotten off the info that I so desperately needed, I sold him the laptop for him to use as spares.

Have I done myself out of a perfectly fixable laptop? Could a power surge have caused all these problems? Is an IDE cable hard to repair? And finally, any suggestions for what make/model of laptop to buy next?

 

[Sharam]

OUCH Hazel!

IDE cable doesn't sound right in a notebook and you have SATA hard drive, your notebook is/ was decedent with most recent technology!

I like to think of all technician and stores as honest but have experienced otherwise.

I am very sorry to hear this and wish you had given us a chance to look in to possibilities before giving the system up or taking it in for repairs.

Hope you got fair price for the system, at least you have your important data retrieved and the business can go ON.

Hope this never happens to you again.