Booting up problem

redvanman

When my PC tries to boot up it gets to a page saying there has been some sort of problem, it then says boot it in -safe mode-safe mode networking-safe mode command prompt and start windows normally, then it counts down from 30 seconds, then the page just keeps repeating its self and it doesnt go any further, Im not very PC savvy so I was thinking about reinstalling windows xp.

[Deleted User]

Reinstalling sounds like a good idea - just boot from the CD and follow the instructions. At this point, do not format the hard drive when it asks you to (or you may lose any data currently on the computer). Is there any important information that you need to save or do you have backups?

Lil306

redvanman wrote: »

When my PC tries to boot up it gets to a page saying there has been some sort of problem, it then says boot it in -safe mode-safe mode networking-safe mode command prompt and start windows normally, then it counts down from 30 seconds, then the page just keeps repeating its self and it doesnt go any further, Im not very PC savvy so I was thinking about reinstalling windows xp.

The page you are getting sounds like the Windows "this pc was not shut down correctly" message. Remove any CD's etc and USB Drives from the computer then switch it off by holding in power button for 10 secs and then switch it back on again

If it keeps repeating it's possible your computer is blue screening and then automatically rebooting (hence the message). Which could point to a hardware fault before a reinstall

[Deleted User]

A missing/corrupt driver file or other key Windows file can also cause this (I have seen it many times), so it is definitely easiest to try reinstalling Windows before replacing hardware!

redvanman

There is a full page coming up saying-disk 0 partioning 1 driver 32 system nts, repeating different types of driver.

[Deleted User]

I assume that a brief blue screen then comes up and the computer restarts?

Reinstalling is the best thing that you can do at this point. Remember not to format the drive. However, if it does not work, then reinstalling with a format may increase the chance of success; please post here again before doing that though and I can advise you on recovering any data first. Have you ever install Windows before?

redvanman

The blue screen flashes very quickly, Ive never reinstalled xp, I dont think I would know how to format the drive.

[Deleted User]

It asks you if you want to format the drive or not when installing XP. To start the reinstallation, put the CD in and restart the computer. Hopefully it will start loading the disk and will put up a message saying "press any key to boot from CD..."

If it does not, look at the screen that first appears when the computer turns on. There may be some text telling you that you can press a certain button for a boot menu. If it doesn't say anything about that, try pressing F11 and F12 (separately). If a menu then appears, choose boot from CD.

If none of the above helps, you need to go into the BIOS (which controls various settings on the computer). Once again, there will probably be instructions when the computer first starts (it will say press some key to enter setup). If you can't see anything, trying pressing delete and F1 (separately). Once in the BIOS, you will need to look around for an option on booting from the CD drive instead of the hard drive.

If you have trouble finding anything, please let me know the computer's make and model and I will try to provide more specific instructions.

[Deleted User]

One other thing - please can you say whether there is any information that needs to be saved (e.g. photos, word documents, saved games, internet favourites, etc) or not. It might affect my advice.

redvanman

Thanks I give it a go, cheers.

closed

Before you reinstall - what happens if you select safe mode, and do you need your data?