Windows XP Startup Issue

[MrChris]

Hey there,

I’m typing this message on my iBook as my Windows PC has gone mad.

My specs are in my sig, the problem is that when windows loads and you get to the "Microsoft Windows XP" Screen with the blue loading bar, my HDD light continually blinks and/or does nothing and the system just freezes.

Now it might be worth mentioning that this has happened before a few times, but every time previous it has been fixed with a restart and selecting the "load windows normally" option.

Sometimes it freezes and if you leave it long enough it will start going again (the loading bar)

Its got me baffled!?!? lol

I’m not sure what to do? Can anyone help me out as I really need to get on my computer because it has all my university work stored there!

Thanks in advance,

Regards,

Chris.

 

[djnes]

You could download the bootable diag tool for your hard drive and test that out, but you'd have to do it on a Windows PC. You can also try running a repair install from the XP CD. For future reference, if you have work on the computer that's important, it should be backed up, and you should also have something like a BartPE disc around that let's you access the contents of the drive, in case the system doesn't boot all the way into XP.

 

[PaHick]

Most likely its a corrupt file. First, see if you can boot to Safemode. I would then run any spyware/anti-virus apps. you have to make sure thats not the problem. If that comes up clean I would then use windows Error-checking feature to see if it can find the problem. If you cannot boot into Safemode, then your most likey going to have to do a repair install. Most likely its something simple though, as the problem seems intermittent. If yu install/uninstall programs alot, sometimes files get corrupt and show this exact problem. Good luck.

 

[MrChris]

Thanks for the fast replies guys,

I have managed to start up in safe mode and am now running chkdisk.

I would highly doubt that the problem is spy ware/virus related as I am very careful and run a spy ware and virus scan at least once every week,

I also regularly defrag my system (again, at least once a week) to ensure everything is running smooth.

As for the backing up of work, I have a system where I copy all my important files to one of my laptops and an external hard drive as well as the slave drive in my PC but this time I was caught off guard as I had to shut down the PC and leave in a hurry because I was late for picking my girlfriend up from university.

I was looking at the Netgear Storage Central system for a cheap(ish) solution to backing up my work but after reading about the unit there seems to be a lack of support for MAC and a general "poor" performance opinion from people who have reviewed it,

I will update you as to what my PC does after the chkdisk

Thanks again,

Regards,

Chris.

 

[MrChris]

Just an update on the issue...

After a disk check the system ran fine for a day or so then started doing the same thing.

So i did a repair install of Windows XP to which the system seems to be running ok........




.............for now (touch wood)

Regards,

Chris.