Windows XP will not start up in any mode!!

gizwal

hi everyone,
my son turned on his computer this morning expecting to be able to do revision for mock exams. then the black and white screen comes up giving options to start up windows.

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Last Known Good Configuration
Start Windows Normally

each option doesn't work, the windows start up screen appears loading windows then the computer restarts itself back to the black and white screen.

as there anyway of fixing this without having to do destructive system recovery, my son doesn't want to have to lose all his coursework and music!
Can anyone help, thanks in advanced!

superscaper

Not easy to tell what is causing it. Do you have a windows CD? (A Windows repair should keep all data). I would have expected something as important as coursework would be backed up by your son. What if your hard drive fails etc? Seems extremely risky to not back up if that is the case.

Toxteth_OGrady

http://www.memtest.org/

:cool:

TOG

oldagetraveller

Not much help to you I'm afraid but I posed this question a few weeks ago re my daughter's pc which was doing exactly the same thing!!
The only "fix" then was to reload XP from original Windows disc, you'll need the Product Key on the sticker attached to the P.C., which I realise is of no comfort to your son losing his work etc..
If he doesn't regularly back up his stuff to other than the HDD then it's very advisable to do so in future. I'm not trying to be a smart a_rse in advising this and I know we're all wiser after the event.

imho

What about pressing f8 just as it starts up so you can get into safe mode . Then do a system restore to when it was working .

dounome

If you have a windows xp cd you can reboot with that and instead of installing again when prompted choose the repair option, this will let you boot into dos mode to try the chkdsk function.

Pagan98

as there anyway of fixing this without having to do destructive system recovery, my son doesn't want to have to lose all his coursework and music!

If the Windows Repair from CD doesn't work and you know someone with a working pc who is technically savvie, it is a relatively simple task to remove the hard disk from the problem machine and connect it to the working pc, either internally or via an external HDD enclosure, to extract the data. This assumes that the hard disk is still operational.

Indeed, I would be inclined to try this first as it's the safest way to retain the data.