Windows XP Pro wont load! HELP!!

[kingbob]

Okay here the problem: one of my computers has had win xp pro in it for about 6 months now installed on a 100gb WD drive. I recently installed a program for Quicken and now it gets to the windows loading screen and reboots. I've tried all of the options at the boot menu and nothing works. I can't lose any of the information on the hard drive and would prefer the settings be unchanged but I only have Windows XP Pro upgrade. Is there ANYTHING I can do to fix this?

 

[DannyBoy]

Have you tried RAPIDLY hitting F8 just before windows loads? If you can get to the boot menu then try to boot into safe mode and find the problem through there.

If that doesnt help stick the windows XP cd in the drive and load it up. When you get into the setup (the blue dos type one) you should see the option to repair your windows installing by pressing the R key etc etc. Fairly straight forward from there.

If you need anymore help ill be quite happy to help out

Dan

EDIT: My first post since my accounts been unlocked! Wooooohoooooo!

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: MrFiTTy
Have you tried RAPIDLY hitting F8 just before windows loads? If you can get to the boot menu then try to boot into safe mode and find the problem through there.

If that doesnt help stick the windows XP cd in the drive and load it up. When you get into the setup (the blue dos type one) you should see the option to repair your windows installing by pressing the R key etc etc. Fairly straight forward from there.

If you need anymore help ill be quite happy to help out

Dan

EDIT: My first post since my accounts been unlocked! Wooooohoooooo!

hehe...welcome back

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon

Originally posted by: MrFiTTy
Have you tried RAPIDLY hitting F8 just before windows loads? If you can get to the boot menu then try to boot into safe mode and find the problem through there.

If that doesnt help stick the windows XP cd in the drive and load it up. When you get into the setup (the blue dos type one) you should see the option to repair your windows installing by pressing the R key etc etc. Fairly straight forward from there.

If you need anymore help ill be quite happy to help out

Dan

EDIT: My first post since my accounts been unlocked! Wooooohoooooo!

hehe...welcome back

Ta ta, I shant be doing anything against the rules anytime soon. Been banned for 4 weeks

 

[kingbob]

When I said I tried everything in the boot menu, I meant safe mode too. How can I get into setup if I have a upgrade cd? Is there boot disks somewhere?

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: kingbob
When I said I tried everything in the boot menu, I meant safe mode too. How can I get into setup if I have a upgrade cd? Is there boot disks somewhere?

Mate the Windows XP cd you have should be bootable if it is a retail legal copy.
Place it into the CD drive and switch the computer on. It should load windows xp setup.

If it doesnt then try entering your bios, going into advanced settings, and changing the boot sequence to CDROM FIRST.

After doing that try again.

Tell me how you do

Dan

 

[kingbob]

It's a legal copy, but it wont boot . On the other hand I found WinXP boot floppies and can get into the setup menu now...now what do i do?

 

[kingbob]

Little bit of help...the drive is FAT32. I tried fixing the boot record but it didnt work. Then, i was going to try to fix the MBR but it said my harddrive might go corrupt if I did. What should I do?

 

[Queasy]

Try doing a system restore to a point prior to your last install...or just keep going backwards until you boot up clean.

That is what I had to do because my PC started having hissy fits over my HP printer drivers.

 

[kingbob]

How do I do that in the recovery console?

 

[kingbob]

bump

 

[CraigRT]

Why does this happen so often with Windows XP? this isn't the first time I have heard of things like this.. :disgust:

 

[boyRacer]

My friend's computer just did the same thing over the weekend... considering how i built it for him... i HAD to fix it... even though he has everything he needed to fix it himself... :| at this point i think i should go get a Mac... :Q ...just so i won't be anyone else's personal tech support...

 

[amcdonald]

Don't use recovery console... Boot off the cd, tell it to install to the drive you want to repair... It should ask you if you want to repair in that string somewhere (sorry to be vague).
You can't screw anything up as long as you don't tell it to format something. It should detect that you have an xp installation and ask to repair it.
Pressing r in the beginning prompt will only get you to the recovery console.

 

[LeeTJ]

Originally posted by: MrFiTTy
Have you tried RAPIDLY hitting F8 just before windows loads? If you can get to the boot menu then try to boot into safe mode and find the problem through there.

If that doesnt help stick the windows XP cd in the drive and load it up. When you get into the setup (the blue dos type one) you should see the option to repair your windows installing by pressing the R key etc etc. Fairly straight forward from there.

If you need anymore help ill be quite happy to help out

Dan

EDIT: My first post since my accounts been unlocked! Wooooohoooooo!

wow, i'm impressed, 167 posts and already the veteran of a 4 week lock.

 

[kingbob]

This whole day is bad...I did, but it gets halfway through and I see a BSOD but I can't read it because it restarts so fast . I guess I'm gonna have to format...

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: LeeTJ

Originally posted by: MrFiTTy
Have you tried RAPIDLY hitting F8 just before windows loads? If you can get to the boot menu then try to boot into safe mode and find the problem through there.

If that doesnt help stick the windows XP cd in the drive and load it up. When you get into the setup (the blue dos type one) you should see the option to repair your windows installing by pressing the R key etc etc. Fairly straight forward from there.

If you need anymore help ill be quite happy to help out

Dan

EDIT: My first post since my accounts been unlocked! Wooooohoooooo!

wow, i'm impressed, 167 posts and already the veteran of a 4 week lock.

Lol its not something to be proud of...

...is it?

Hmm... /me *Changes sig*

 

[OverVolt]

I'm having a similar problem... My WinXP PC says "Windows cannot authenticate Product serial key error _______" Then shuts down.

Can i fix that from the XP CD?

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: kingbob
This whole day is bad...I did, but it gets halfway through and I see a BSOD but I can't read it because it restarts so fast . I guess I'm gonna have to format...

If it restarts so fast & you cant read it, try hitting the "pause" key rapidly to read what its telling you.

If you pause on a blank screen then press space or something then pause rapidly again, repeat this till you see something useful

Dan